You know what I love? Intimate lady writing, especially when it’s all about girls going unfiltered and getting Some Serious Feelings off their chests. You know what I don’t love? That one Taylor Swift album. It’s not just that the album is named after a song about stealing someone’s husband, and contains another song about how boyfriend-stealing sluts are God’s most hated children, or that the song where she snarls over and over again into the microphone about her undying thirst for revenge is directly followed by a song about her superior powers of compassion and forgiveness. It’s not just that it contains a song called “Never Grow Up,” although it’s good to know that’s part of the official mission statement. It’s not just that Swift is working in a genre which relies on lyrical ingenuity, self-awareness, and the ability to push familiar emotional states past the point of cliche and to the point of containing new insight about how emotion itself works, and just doesn’t seem to deliver on any of the above, like a professional meteorologist who never gives you the temperature or the forecast but can only say that it’s cold in winter and often damp on days when it happens to be raining. It’s a lot of reasons. Some are here. And if I enjoyed her lyrics, I’m willing to admit, none of them would really matter.
All About Tiger Beatdown
-
-
Please help keep Tiger Beatdown alive by subscribing for $15 per month or making a one-time donation of any amount.
Archives
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
-
Subscribe
6 Comments
Sady, I would love to read your thoughts on the recent assault of Lauren Valle. Although most blogs I’ve read have framed it as a liberal/conservative, activist/oppressor issue, it seems quite likely to me that her sex played a role in her treatment. A woman with a voice and a different opinion? The excessive and unjustified violence against her is about as surprising as the violence against the Suffragettes who picketed the White House.
I really appreciate your thoughts on Swift. The more I hear of her, the less substance she seems to have. :/
I’m far from Swift’s target audience, but I’ve tried to give her music a fair shake, and not dismiss it as top forty pap. But, agreeing with Sooz above me, there’s little substance to her music — and I like a good revenge song (Marianne Faithfull’s “Why’d Ya Do It” comes to mind), or an entire album of them.
I know there’s some unexamined privilege involved, and I’m probably not articulating properly what I want to say, but the song that’s allegedly about Kanye just seems patronizing. She’s young, yeah, but there are other songwriters her age — Janelle Monae, Thao Nguyen, hell, even GaGa, who show a greater level of self awareness.
OH MY GOD.
Thank you.
I was beginning to think that I was the only one weirded out by Taylor Swift’s lyrics, which only seem to be about famous boys, vengence on man-stealers, and belittling Kanye.
ick.
Have you already read this?
Sums up my issues with Swift pretty well… at least re: Kanye.
http://www.blogher.com/white-women-tears-and-coded-images
I don’t even like her to start with!