I don’t get it. Her music is sometimes catchy but otherwise unremarkable, from the songs I’ve heard. How does she break all these records and accumulate so much fame and wealth?
She’s pretty, but a lot of singer songwriters are, especially those with makeup and costume people, a support staff.
Is there something else to her that people like?
I’m confused about what makes her so apparently unique or phenomenal.
Update: there are so many things that make swift unique or phenomenal.
I’ve received tons of great answers from people that have helped me understand, like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle, many factors that makes swift different and consequently more successful than her peers.
Clever lyrics, top-tier production, sharing autobiographical and emotional points in her life very directly, apparent honesty with few or no public blemishes, creating a community of fans through Easter eggs and house parties and unconventional, but always personal methods, an early start supported by wealthy parents, she keeps winning against abusers, and her music itself is popular and fun.
Those are just a few of the puzzle pieces contributed here, and a dive into this post is a pretty good explanation of many of the factors that must be contributing to her phenomenal success and recognition, that set her apart from other pop stars, even pop stars who were phenoms in their own right.
This is a very educational post, thank you to everyone who has contributed.
-Very skilled songwriter. I don’t necessarily like all her stuff but I legitimately think she’s the best songwriter (meaning, composing music and writing lyrics) of her generation. Probably since Bruce Springsteen or Billy Joel.
-Very attractive and a good performer
-Well connected in the music industry let her get an early start/inside track
-obsessed with being popular. I don’t mean that in a negative way, but her primary objective with her music is to please as many people as possible. I think the documentary “Miss Americana” on Netflix explains that very well-at one point she straight up says “I just want people to like me” or something like that. That means her music/career has always focused on mass appeal as opposed to making more… limited-appeal music like most artists do at some point in their career
-she’s kept a remarkably clean image even through being famous for close to two decades. It’s very telling that the worst thing her haters can say about her is “but her plane uses a lot of carbon!” This means parents let kids listen to her, brands love her as a sponsor, nobody boycotts her, etc.
-one last thing, I think people love her songs because they feel like they’re true. Her songs have a very intimate, almost confessional quality that a lot of artists strive for buy often comes off as fake.
She’s just lately a decent songwriter. For most of her career, her songs were written for her by the heavy hitters behind virtually every top 100 hit. Her producer/mixer/writer Jack Antonoff still does most of the heavy lifting.
I am tired of seeing the sentiment that she’s some brilliant songwriter–she really only kind of plays the guitar. The reality is that if anyone is made to be a billionaire, and work with one of the best musical minds of our time (Antonoff), and collaborate with the other top song writers/ghost writers, of course, a decade later, they’ll be able to write songs. It was never some innate talent of hers, or else the songs she truly did write early in her career would have been the hits, instead of the mutually agreed upon worst on the album.
By early in her career do you mean when she was like 18? I’m not saying she hasn’t had a lot of help. But I disagree with the idea that she’s just a figurehead. She is listed as a writer for pretty much all her songs, and you can usually tell a Taylor Swift song just by the sound/lyrics, which isnt something i can say for a lot of pop artists. If it was Antonoff the whole time then Bleachers would be more popular (relative to Swift).
No, she really only started to write with “Lover”. Prior to that, it was Antonoff, and prior to that it was a lot of different writers/ghost writers.
I also don’t think she’s just a figure head. I appreciate everything she’s done to get artists paid more, I think she’s a good role model for girls/women, etc. But, I do not think she’s a talented song writer. She’s not a multi-instrumentalist. And, she is a billionaire, hoarding wealth like all the others.
you are lying.
I don’t know anything about anything in this Taylor Swift conversation but Elvis was listed as a writer on all of his songs but wrote none of them. It was a requirement of his management that if he performed it, he got a writing credit.
your analysis is correct. the commenter you are replying to is like literally lying and i’m making an effort to point that out because they are getting far too many upvotes for someone whose sources contradict their own statements. check out my other comments if interested lol and have a great day 😊
Source?
Co-writing means nothing at the mega-pop industry level, and starts having little meaning far before that. But, if you are genuinely under the impression that it has meaning, I have a bridge to sell you.
The source for my claims of brilliant songwriters writing her entire early career is visible in Genius for everything pre-Lover.
demonstrably false
this commenter is lying and the sources they claim to cite contradict their own claims.
i am sick and tired of this misogynistic bile. i do not write this comment for your sake commenter, but for the sake of anyone who might be swayed by your bullshit rhetoric.
let’s break this down:
“sHe ReAlLy only PlAys ThE GUitaR” you can’t even get that factoid right. Taylor Swift plays at least four instruments.
“she doesn’t write her songs herself and the ones she does write are mutually agreed to be the worst”—
outright false:
too late for you? Our Song (2006, written solely by Swift) was one of the “Award-Winning Songs” at the 2008 BMI Country Awards, which honors the year’s best songwriters.[35] It featured on Rolling Stone’s 2019 list of the best female country songs from 2000.[36]
“Jack Antonoff does the heavy lifting” Antonoff is a FUCKING incredible artist and I do not deny that, but who sings the songs with a critically acclaimed voice? who performs the music live to meticulous, hours-long choreography? spoiler: not Antonoff, buddy! you might be shocked to hear it was a woman.
Next time you want to just lie on the internet maybe ar least try to find some supporting evidence instead of making empty assertions like a freshman in high school. Like damn. 🗿
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Her very first hit was about being a farmer’s daughter.
And Tom Clancy was never a Russian submarine captain or spy
Do people like Tom Clancy novels because “they feel like they’re true”?
Sorry if you missed the point, but what I intended to say is that, artists frequently create pieces that they haven’t actually experienced.
Your point was completely obvious but Tom Clancy was a very poor choice to illustrate that point. Of course some artists produce works that have an essence of truth despite being fiction; perhaps Taylor Swift is such an artist, but Tom Clancy definitely isn’t.
Fair, I was going to say look at “I was only 19” by red gum, but that wouldn’t work for an international audience, so I tried to go with a non fantasy author that is recognisable
Not sure what song that is off the top of my head, but I didn’t mean “true” in the literal sense. More like, people feel like the songs give them a glimpse of the real Taylor swift. That’s particularly true of her more recent albums I feel like. For example, “Folklore” is told largely through stories about other (fictional) people, but it feels like a reflection of emotions and experiences she really has been through. It’s all very parasocial and I’m not sure how much of it is genuine, but my point is it FEELS genuine.
Not just that, but Republicans hating her so much made her even more popular.
Thanks! Those are all interesting points and I have never heard of that documentary but love documentaries, so I’ll definitely be checking that out.
Especially since you’re the first person who’s mentioned how much she wants to be popular, or how much she is focused on that.
That’s very interesting and obviously seems very relevant, thanks.