Taylor Swift

[Ben]

I don't get it, and I'm pretty sure it's not a Boomer thing, because I didn't get any of the disco queens when I was in my 20s and listening to garage rock of the time.

To preface, good for her for being ridiculously successful. This is America, she seems to have worked hard, and work+success is the American dream.

Otherwise, I can honestly say that I've never once consciously listened to one of her songs, nor could I identify one if I heard it. I'm sure I've heard one in the background of something or other without knowing who the artist was.  I guess she was just made Time's person of the year for being the most successful celebrity in the history of celebrities. Her fan base seems to border on the insane for all things Taylor Swift, and if I see one more headline about her and her new boyfriend, I'm going to scream. I get being a fan, but it's almost a religious zealot thing with these swifties.

Up until recently, she was apparently apolitical in her public persona, but is now getting into politics. I saw where she was going to be pitching for her fans to vote for Brandon, which they will if she tells them to. That kind of fame, with those kinds of fans, is a little dangerous. JMO.

[WLJ]

Yeah, you can hardly find a news site that doesn't have a headline telling you who's the current member of her boyfriend of the month club.
And as to her fans she's gotten to the point of being the Borg queen to them.
If she does goes full on Brandon I would love to see her reaction if the current member of the boyfriend of the month club came out and endorsed Trump. 

[dogmush]

She makes decent pop music.  Catchy tunes and decent lyrics, if a little heavily tilted towards lost love and "nobody gets me".

If you like pop music, or are listening to it in the background of another activity it's a lot better than most of the music in that genre.  It seems to have struck a cord with a whole bunch of teens and twenty somethings, and now probably thirty somethings.

As for the crazy fans, same thing that drove the Beatles fans, or any other crazy population.  Some folks take their music hero's too seriously.

I'm normally a metal and hard rock guy, but if I'm driving with the wife and she has Tay-Tay on her playlist, it's loads better than any of the interchangeable acoustic guitar and soft voiced male Ed Sherran wannabes that she also listens to.

[WLJ]

She makes decent pop music.  Catchy tunes and decent lyrics, if a little heavily tilted towards lost love and "nobody gets me".

If you like pop music, or are listening to it in the background of another activity it's a lot better than most of the music in that genre.  It seems to have struck a cord with a whole bunch of teens and twenty somethings, and now probably thirty somethings.

As for the crazy fans, same thing that drove the Beatles fans, or any other crazy population.  Some folks take their music hero's too seriously.

I'm normally a metal and hard rock guy, but if I'm driving with the wife and she has Tay-Tay on her playlist, it's loads better than any of the interchangeable acoustic guitar and soft voiced male Ed Sherran wannabes that she also listens to.

Agreement on her music, it's way better than 90+% of what else is out there.
And on the comparison of her fans to the Beatles's fans, yep. It has always given me the creeps the way some people idolize celebrities.

[K Frame]

I liked her music a LOT better when she was on the Country charts.

Since she's switched over to pop-centric music?

Not really.

[Ben]

She makes decent pop music.  Catchy tunes and decent lyrics

Sure, I get that. Though we have had similar artists pop up pretty much every 5-10 years. She, or at least her fan base, just seems to be exponentially bigger than any other pop stars that I remember in my adult life. For, as stated, "decent pop music". It's just an interesting phenomenon to me. I mean, they talk about "What Taylor Swift had for lunch yesterday" and similar pretty much every day on the Fox Business for crying out loud.

[WLJ]

Just looked it up, she's 33. Think she'll hit the "oh my god I'm getting old!" stage and hit the drugs and bottle and start looking like a plastic surgeon's Etch-A-Sketch after she hits 40?

[dogmush]

Sure, I get that. Though we have had similar artists pop up pretty much every 5-10 years. She, or at least her fan base, just seems to be exponentially bigger than any other pop stars that I remember in my adult life. For, as stated, "decent pop music". It's just an interesting phenomenon to me. I mean, they talk about "What Taylor Swift had for lunch yesterday" and similar pretty much every day on the Fox Business for crying out loud.

Agreed.  I think Taylor is like a once every 25-35 year pop-star phenom.  A Michael Jackson level pop star.  I seem to recall Madonna being this big in the 80's, although I didn't hang out with her fans, so I don't know if they were this virulent.  Every now and then you get someone with real talent hooked up with the right producers and image managers, at the right time in societal music tastes and you get one of these stars.

The aforementioned Beatles and MJ, Elvis, Maybe David Bowie?, Queen, you get these stars every now and then.

On the fans, I do think that Social Media makes it a little worse, because there's so much "personal" interaction with the Star, it's easy for borderline personalities  to feel a super strong connection that isn't really there.  I think Beyonce and her B-Hive are as bad or worse than Swifties.

[griz]

On the fans, I do think that Social Media makes it a little worse, because there's so much "personal" interaction with the Star, it's easy for borderline personalities  to feel a super strong connection that isn't really there. 

I wonder about that.  Specifically, how much of the persona that is displayed by the marketing is actually the real personality.  In the end, I guess it doesn't really matter.  They're reaching out to fans that think they have a hot line to a star; they'll believe whatever their phone tells them to believe.

[K Frame]

Much more than just being a pop star, Swift is also an incredibly savvy business person. She has her hand in virtually every aspect of running her operations and she's been incredibly good at it to a degree rarely seen in the industry.

[dogmush]

I wonder about that.  Specifically, how much of the persona that is displayed by the marketing is actually the real personality.  In the end, I guess it doesn't really matter.  They're reaching out to fans that think they have a hot line to a star; they'll believe whatever their phone tells them to believe.

That's why I put "Personal" in quotes.  I'm sure the feed and interactions are curated by a team to one degree or another, but the dopamine hit is real.

[bedlamite]

If I want canned pop, I'll open a pepsi.

[230RN]

From what little I've incidentally read, I have to agree with the business acumen.  Kudos.

But lemmings beget lemmings.  The total number of lemmings involved seems to be influenced by the number of other lemmings who become aware of the stampede on the net.

One tiny little ray of hope:  if she's that sharp in business, etc., she might see through the chicanery and foolish positioning of the Leftist community and come out for R and Vice-R in 2024.

Or at least keeps her mouth shut.

One hopes a teeny tiny little forlorn itty bitty hope.

[WLJ]

One tiny little ray of hope:  if she's that sharp in business, etc., she might see through the chicanery and foolish positioning of the Leftist community and come out for R and Vice-R in 2024.

Or at least keeps her mouth shut.

If she did that openly that would probably alienate a rather large % of her fan and thus money base.
My guess is either she will come out lefty or keep her mouth shut, which would be the wisest choice IMHO, in order to maintain the money flow.

[Ben]

My guess is either she will come out lefty

She has already done that regarding abortion and support for dems. I heard it on fox business, but just did a quick gazoogle. This is likely in line with a good 70% of her fan base, I would guess.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/taylor-swift-endorses-joe-biden-president-n1242483
https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-recalls-when-she-learned-joe-biden-won-election-9496116/

[230RN]

<sigh>  Oh, well. <snif>

[French G.]

Some of her music is tolerable. She will have Elon musk money soon. The decision to re-release all her old albums since she couldn't buy back the masters is genius. 

[WLJ]

<sigh>  Oh, well. <snif>

Guess asking her out is out of the question now?

[BobR]

One of the last refuges of anything Taylor Swift and along comes Boomer Ben and kills it is a matter of minutes with nothing more than undisciplined posting. Remember kids, think twice, post once.      



bob

[Ben]

One of the last refuges of anything Taylor Swift and along comes Boomer Ben and kills it is a matter of minutes with nothing more than undisciplined posting. Remember kids, think twice, post once.      



bob

You're welcome!

 

[HankB]

Guess asking her out is out of the question now?

I'd rather pursue Jeff Bezos' ex . . . but if I tried it, instead of billions, all I'd get is a restraining order. If I was lucky.

. . . Up until recently, she was apparently apolitical in her public persona, but is now getting into politics. I saw where she was going to be pitching for her fans to vote for Brandon, which they will if she tells them to. That kind of fame, with those kinds of fans, is a little dangerous. JMO.

Hmmm . . . someone should write a book about that sort of thing.

Wait - someone DID!

[WLJ]

I'd rather pursue Jeff Bezos' ex . . . but if I tried it, instead of billions, all I'd get is a restraining order. If I was lucky.

Along those lines

[dogmush]

Some of her music is tolerable. She will have Elon musk money soon. The decision to re-release all her old albums since she couldn't buy back the masters is genius.

No she won't.  She would need almost 250 times for current net worth to have Elon money.

Landing rockets is profitable.

[charby]

[K Frame]

Taylor Swift is worth approximately $1.1 billion.

Elon Musk tips that much at the nudie bar on a Saturday night.