{"id":2021952,"date":"2023-09-05T08:34:02","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T12:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/taylor-swifts-popularity-is-a-sign-of-societal-decline\/"},"modified":"2023-09-05T08:43:16","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T12:43:16","slug":"taylor-swifts-popularity-is-a-sign-of-societal-decline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/taylor-swifts-popularity-is-a-sign-of-societal-decline\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor Swift’s popularity reflects a decline in society."},"content":{"rendered":"

16<\/div>SHARES<\/span><\/div>

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The Rise of \u2018Me Music\u2019<\/h2>\n
After Tayor Swift\u2019s massive \u201cEras\u201d \u200ctour \u200cis packing stadiums to the point her shows are causing earthquakes<\/a> (even though bad seats are often going for\u2063 $1,000 or more), Swift isn\u2019t just resuscitating the post-Covid live \u200cmusic\u200c industry,\u2062 she\u2019s \u200bthreatening to \u2062help rescue America\u2019s flagging theater business.<\/p>\n
It was recently announced\u2063 that she struck a deal with \u200cAMC \u200dtheaters to show a \u2062three-hour concert film from her smash tour for the millions of\u200c people who couldn\u2019t get tickets. It starts showing in October, AMC is charging higher ticket \u2063prices than normal \u2014 which are already absurd \u2014\u200b and\u200d the presale figures for the \u2062movie tickets are already \u2063breaking records<\/a>. Based on \u2063some back-of-the-envelope math gleaned from some\u200d speculative \u200bnews reports, Swift might make something close to\u200d half\u2063 a billion dollars\u2062 off this tour \u200cand all \u200bthe related revenue.<\/p>\n
\n
And it\u2019s not just that Swift has conquered \u200dthe unwashed masses, America\u2019s elite tastemakers \u200dhave also become unrepentant Swifties. This summer, The New \u200dYork \u200bTimes\u2063 covered \u2064Swift with an enthusiastic zeal<\/a> not reserved for any \u200cother \u2064figure since maybe Obama \u2014 even going so \u2063far as to\u200d publish a \u2062distasteful meditation<\/a> on internet \u2062randos\u2019\u2063 lesbian fantasies\u200c about her.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Most recently, The New Yorker issued its \u2062high-toned blessing by \u200cpublishing a remarkable essay<\/a>, \u201cListening to\u2063 Taylor Swift in Prison: Her\u2064 music makes me \u2064feel that I\u2019m still part of the world I left behind.\u201d \u2064There was a time \u200cwhen we imagined\u200b that everyone in the prison yard \u200bwould stand around overwhelmed by the sheer emotion and elevation of the soul \u200bproduced by\u200c hearing \u201cSull\u2019aria\u201d from Mozart\u2019s Le \u200cNozze\u200c Di \u2062Figaro<\/em>, even though they had no idea what those two Italian\u200b ladies were singing about<\/a>. But\u200d if \u201cBlank Space\u201d is \u2063what \u200cyou\u2019ve\u2063 got on the cheap commissary \u2063radio to help you \u2064count \u200dthe days, I\u2019m not going to begrudge you.<\/p>\n
Still, someone<\/em> who truly, deeply cares about the\u200b state\u200c of popular music \u2064has to stand athwart Taylor Swift, yelling \u201cwhat is this @#?!,\u201d \u2064and it might as well be an intellectually dyspeptic Gen \u2064X guy with nothing\u2063 to lose.<\/p>\n
To be\u2063 clear,\u200c I\u2019m not so hostile or \u200bout\u2062 of touch that\u200b I don\u2019t\u200b get important aspects of her appeal. I think she\u2019s worth paying attention<\/a> to because something \u200dabout Swift\u2064 resonates at the \u2063frequency of America. But I\u2019m genuinely not sure her popularity is\u200b a testament to her \u200btalent, and I can\u2019t\u2062 think \u2062of another major post-WWII music \u200bfigure I\u2019m honestly this conflicted about \u200cestimating their\u2062 gifts. Swift is a phenomenal \u2064marketer, she works very hard, and from what \u2064I\u2064 can tell, almost no one at her level cares about her fans and reaching \u200cout to \u200bthem personally<\/a> the way Swift does.<\/p>\n
The Soft Bigotry of Low \u200cMusical Expectations<\/h2>\n
Further, while a \u200dlot of\u200d positive developments \u2063came out \u2062of the internet destroying the cabal of corporate music executives and radio programmers that previously \u200ccontrolled popular tastes, we\u2019re now coming to terms\u2063 with how resulting fragmentation has been detrimental to society. We hardly have anything in the way of a shared common\u200c culture, so people tend to cling \u2062to anything that\u2063 breaks through the din and consolidates any pop culture support like it\u2019s some kind\u200c of life raft. Music has the power to connect people\u2064 through shared\u2064 experience, and people\u2063 desperately want that \u200bconnection\u2062 in this polarizing age.<\/p>\n
In the case of Swift, however, that connection has\u200d to be interpreted, like everything else\u200b these\u200c days, through a political lens<\/a>. Thus New York \u2063Times columnist Michelle Goldberg \u2063declares, \u201cAfter \u200byears of Covid isolation, reactionary politics and\u200d a mental health crisis<\/a> \u200bthat has hit girls and young women particularly hard, there\u2019s a\u200c palpable longing for\u200d both communal delight and catharsis.\u201d While there\u2019s some truth\u200b in this observation, \u200dI regret\u2062 to inform Goldberg that Swift\u2019s\u200b fanbase is so\u200c massive that a huge part of\u200d it agrees with the reactionary \u2063politics New York Times readers seem to deplore.<\/p>\n
The best pop stars simply transcend pedestrian political concerns<\/a>, explaining \u200dSwift\u2019s\u200b appeal doesn\u2019t have to\u200d be done through the lens of \u200bfeminism. Six years \u200bago \u2014 long before, \u2064say, the Dobbs<\/em> decision or \u2062the New Right writing essays about\u200b \u201cThe Longhouse\u201d \u2014 I observed<\/a> after Tom \u200bPetty\u2019s death, \u201ca huge swath of\u200d America, \u2063across beliefs, cultures, generations,\u2063 and \u2064races, would want to claim\u200d Tom Petty\u2019s music and\u2064 feel some solidarity in his loss. We need\u2064 unifying cultural\u200d figures and artists now more than ever.\u201d Petty was obviously very masculine and a baby boomer, but \u200bhis massive appeal over several decades \u2014 at \u200bthe \u200ctime of his death, one out\u200b of every 40 songs played on classic rock \u2062radio was\u200b Tom Petty \u200b\u2014 and Swift\u2019s\u2064 appeal are \u2063both\u200d born of \u200ca universal desire for human connection.<\/p>\n
What\u200d has changed\u200c is the overall cultural milieu that produced\u200d Swift, compared to popstars of previous generations and how they reflect\u2062 changing\u2062 values. Ironically enough, Tom Wolfe\u2064 coined \u2063the phrase \u200c\u201c the Me\u2063 decade<\/a>\u201d\u2062 to \u2062refer \u200dto\u200d the 1970s \u200bwhen artists such as Tom \u2064Petty rose\u2063 to stardom. The\u200c idea was Americans were starting to \u2064move away \u200bfrom having an identity rooted in community and\u2063 moving toward atomization \u2014 and certainly, a big part of that development \u2062was the ability for\u2063 individuals to find meaning in \u2062outside local \u2063communities and identify with distant pop culture figures whose identity and\u2062 branding were created\u200d by \u2064relatively new mass media technologies.<\/p>\n
But \u2063this development, however startling it \u200dwas\u200b to astute critics such as Wolfe, was embryonic 50 years ago.\u200b With Taylor Swift we see it in full flower; maybe it took \u206230-some years, but \u200dthe\u200d cultural trends that emerged from \u2064the \u201970s finally produced an artist almost\u200c wholly dedicated to \u201cMe \u200dMusic.\u201d\u2062 This finally brings me to my actual\u200b gripe, the specifics \u200dof why and how her music\u2063 sucks: It\u2019s\u2063 utterly defined by self-obsession rather \u2064than introspection.\u200b Where other artists will occasionally do a Christmas album, it \u2062seems \u200dlike every Taylor Swift\u200b album is a Festivus \u200drecord<\/a> devoted to the airing of grievances and feats of artistic\u200d strength.<\/p>\n
To \u2063that end, she has almost \u2064wholly pioneered a new\u2063 genre of what an acquaintance \u2063of mine calls the \u201cbellyaching about a boyfriend\u201d song. It\u2019s true that young \u200cmen are frequently terrible \u2062to young\u200b women \u2062and \u2063there\u2019s nothing inherently wrong with this being fodder for pop songs, but there are limits. There\u2019s \u200c yet another song<\/a> \u200bon \u200bher latest record bashing one of her \u2064famous exes,\u2063 John Mayer, following\u200c up on her infamous breakup song \u201cDear John\u201d in 2010. Look, everyone knows Mayer \u2062was a terrible \u200bwomanizer \u2014 but this was known \u2063before he dated her\u200d \u2014 and that \u2062was 14 YEARS AGO. \u2064Whether he\u2019s\u200d fully atoned \u2064or not, the\u2063 guy has since gotten sober and moved to Montana or whatever. \u2062It\u2019s, as the kids say, \u200bpretty cringe to still be exploiting these past relationships, which considering Swift\u2019s had a charmed life since she was \u2062a teenager, seem like pretty hollow examples of genuine heartbreak.<\/p>\n
Aside from\u200c generally objectionable thematic content, it\u2019s also true that a great many of her \u2062lyrics are just so forced as to\u200c be terrible. In \u201cAnti-Hero\u201d she sings, \u201cDid\u2063 you hear my covert narcissism\/I\u200d disguise as altruism\/Like some kind of \u200ccongressman?\u201d which hangs in\u2063 the Louvre of lyrics where \u200cI audibly groaned the first time I\u200d heard it (though \u2062it\u2019s a\u200c bit further down the hall from the place \u2062of honor occupied by \u201cHike up your skirt and show your\u200d world to me\u201d). \u2063Aside from the\u2063 clunker of a reference to congressmen, it\u2019s just adorable \u2064she thinks \u200dher narcissism is \u201ccovert,\u201d but\u200b since this is what passes for self-reflection coming from Swift, don\u2019t look a gift\u2062 horse in the \u200dmouth.<\/p>\n
Still, I \u200dknow enough Swifties whose judgment I respect, and they\u2062 insist she \u2062is a talented lyricist. When pressed for an \u200bexample of said talent, one suggested this \u2063lyric from \u201cAll Too\u200c Well\u201d\u2063 of\u2063 the \u200d Red<\/em> album: \u201cAnd\u200b you\u200c call me \u2062up again just to break me like a\u2062 promise\/So casually cruel in the name of being honest.\u201d And you\u200b know what\u2026\u2064 that\u2019s \u200ba pretty good lyric!<\/p>\n
But in context, \u201cAll Too Well\u201d is just another breakup song, and \u2062some of the lyrics \u2062demonstrate a degree of obliviousness that\u2019s concerning: \u201c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
with a major theater chain to screen a concert film of her tour. This collaboration aims to attract fans who couldn’t attend the live shows or prefer a cinematic experience. Swift’s influence extends beyond music, as she revitalizes both the live music and theater industries, offering fans various ways to enjoy her performances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":274,"featured_media":2021953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2021952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/274"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2021952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2021953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2021952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2021952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2021952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}