I love it when someone won't bend to industries because "that's the way it should be done." Swift has upset a lot of different industries by doing this, like rerecording her albums in her name and...
I love it when someone won't bend to industries because "that's the way it should be done."
Swift has upset a lot of different industries by doing this, like rerecording her albums in her name and getting them aired over the original recordings where she wasn't making the money.
So what if she's exploiting her reach? All these things are set up in a way that it's middle man after middle man taking a cut, she's just bypassing and making or using her own connections. If she went the usual route, I bet the ticket sales would be even more expensive to see the same show.
More and more people and businesses are thinking outside of the mainstream and how industries usually behave. When you're high enough in the food chain you just get titled with "a disruptor" and it's a great title to have if you can pull it off.
This is a very impressive list. I know of Taylor Swift but I can't name a single one of her songs. As the article mentioned, she's the world's biggest pop star: clearly the imperfection is mine....
A short list of the things Taylor Swift has radically altered over the course of her relatively young career: the concert industry, Nashville, Apple Music, the National Football League, memes, the vocal cords of girls aged 8 through 12, Ticketmaster, the SEO profiles of Jake Gyllenhaal and Joe Alwyn and John Mayer and Harry Styles and Matt Healy, the very concept of social-media marketing, U.S. presidential elections.
This is a very impressive list.
I know of Taylor Swift but I can't name a single one of her songs. As the article mentioned, she's the world's biggest pop star: clearly the imperfection is mine.
If her other industry disrupting moves are like this, I would definitely enjoy reading more. This Forbes article talks about the sociological explanation for zeitgeist leaders, plus example of her and NFL ticket sales. And this wiki article is very long and discusses her cultural impact. But I'm still looking for a list in the format of "she did X and it resulted in Y." I guess that's it though, what the Forbes article said -- it's not that any human has this much sway, it's that a critical mass of her followers has this much sway. The tides are drawn to the moon, but it's the water molecules that capsizes freighters, while the moon just exists and orbits the planet.
I'm a new fan of her positive cultural impact and disruptive use of power. Perhaps it's time to become a fan of her music as well. She seems to have a very diverse genre of music across 15+ years to choose from.
Here is her tiny desk concert, which I really enjoyed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvVnP8G6ITs @g33kphr33k I think Swift's song the Man, first song in the recording I linked, really gets to...
@g33kphr33k I think Swift's song the Man, first song in the recording I linked, really gets to what you mentioned. It's also a song most women at least in the US, which is my cultural context, can relate to. I'm brand new to listening to Swift, but I respect that she can perform in an acoustic /folk type format and sound polished and skilled. And, as I said, I relate to the stories told in some of her songs. I like singer songwriters who do creative things with lyrics. I'm never going to be a super fan but I like at least some of what I see and hear with her.
To be fair, I was speaking casually about stories. In the songs I have heard, it's not stories such as Boy Named Sue or Ira Hayes or Coward of the County or Kenny Rogers the Gambler. It's more...
To be fair, I was speaking casually about stories. In the songs I have heard, it's not stories such as Boy Named Sue or Ira Hayes or Coward of the County or Kenny Rogers the Gambler. It's more expressing her own experience, possibly comparable to Dont Think Twice It's Alright? But I am not yet a Swift expert, just enjoyed and related to the Tiny Desk concert. I'm not sure I will love her thoroughly produced pop sound.
I'll be honest, I've always hated that song. I get what she's going for and I get why a lot of women feel that way and I support those messages...but it just feels really hypocritical for her to...
I'll be honest, I've always hated that song. I get what she's going for and I get why a lot of women feel that way and I support those messages...but it just feels really hypocritical for her to do that song in that way. Yes, she probably gets some criticism (and certainly attention to her dating life) that an equivalent male would not get. But she is the biggest pop star and probably the biggest celebrity in the world. And that's not despite being a girl/woman, her popularity came originally from being a relatable teenage girl and then a relatable young woman. Her popularity was because her songs were about the experience of being a girl. If the song had been about the problems women face, then I probably wouldn't mind it so much, but "if I was a man, then I'd be the man?" Girl, you are the man.
I mean, listening to it as a woman, I hear her talking about getting criticized and shamed for her body count. A male rapper or rock star is expected to make many sexual conquests, right? Praised...
I mean, listening to it as a woman, I hear her talking about getting criticized and shamed for her body count. A male rapper or rock star is expected to make many sexual conquests, right? Praised for being a stud.
Yes, she is hugely successful, but there are still expectations and social norms she faces that aren't true for guys.
As the conversations over in life.men point out, there are also expectations on men that women don't face. It's not a one sided issue or a zero sum game. But that song, line by line, pointed to standards women face that men don't when it comes to power and success and how to handle it.
If he had stuck to socially acceptable age gaps, no one would have cared if it was ten or ten thousand partners. Also criticizing stars for flings with young women is a very recent trend.
If he had stuck to socially acceptable age gaps, no one would have cared if it was ten or ten thousand partners. Also criticizing stars for flings with young women is a very recent trend.
I don't understand why she's not able to have legitimate grievances about these things regardless of her position in the pop world. So she's highly popular, why does that mean she can't also...
I don't understand why she's not able to have legitimate grievances about these things regardless of her position in the pop world. So she's highly popular, why does that mean she can't also lament that she feels she still has an uphill battle in some regards compared to what men would face in similar situations and contexts?
What's the hypocrisy, exactly? It's not like she's putting down other people for being women while also complaining about being put down because she's a woman, I don't know where the impression that she is exactly like the people she's lamenting comes from. This is a song about inequalities that women in her position face.
The fact that the chorus says that she is wondering if she would get there faster if she were a man when she not only was the youngest artist ever to win Album of the Year, but it was also the...
The fact that the chorus says that she is wondering if she would get there faster if she were a man when she not only was the youngest artist ever to win Album of the Year, but it was also the most awarded album in history makes me wonder how serious she is about that question. It's not that she can't feel that she's being treated unfairly for being a woman or commiserate with other women; it's that the things she says are demonstrably false.
She most likely got criticized for her dating life in a way that wouldn't have happened if she were a man. But the song isn't exclusively about that. Plus, she already shook all that off in a much catchier song (which I also don't listen to, but that's mostly just because there's no sick beat! It's a very basic beat!).
This is all about reading a single idiomatic line in a very specific way in order to change the message of the song and throw it away? There's nothing to suggest she's specifically talking about...
This is all about reading a single idiomatic line in a very specific way in order to change the message of the song and throw it away?
There's nothing to suggest she's specifically talking about her personal accolades at a young age and genuinely wondering if she could have got them even younger. The preceding lines are only about the double standards for women serially dating and an expression about how people have a propensity to support men before women:
[Verse 1]
I would be complex, I would be cool
They'd say I played the field before I found someone to commit to
And that would be okay for me to do
Every conquest I had made would make me more of a boss to you
[Pre-Chorus]
I’d be a fearless leader, I'd be an alpha type
When everyone believes ya, what's that like?
[Chorus]
I’m so sick of running as fast as I can
Wonderin' if I'd get there quicker if I was a man
And I'm so sick of them comin' at me again
'Cause if I was a man, then I'd be the man
I'd be the man (Man)
I’d be the man (Man)
I don't know how by the time one gets to that chorus, they would assume she's complaining that she could have attained a couple of very specific accolades quicker if she was a man, and not that she's talking about double standards between men and women in general. Even with the other choruses, there aren't any lyrics in thing song about her own personal accolades and how they were affected by any gender inequalities. She doesn't even mention anything like not being interrupted on stage if she was a man. The song is not exclusively about the double standard with serially dating but it also doesn't stray very far from it—the rest of the song is all about double standards between men and women when it comes to how they carry themselves and what they wear.
But this line specifically? It's just a simple metaphor about gender inequality. She's not literally running anywhere, and I really doubt she sees accolades from so early in her career as goal lines. Lyrically, this is a very generically written song because it's supposed to be relatable and, as a result, many women do find the experiences described throughout the song as relatable because they have experienced similar situations. The flipside means she decidedly isn't referring to any of her own uniquely personal experiences or accomplishments. Every line here is a generic expression of an experience that many women can relate to in their own lives. I don't know how one could reasonably look at the lyrics of this song and come out thinking that it's all about Taylor Swift complaining she didn't become the biggest pop star faster, and that she could have if she was a man, without putting a lot of their own suppositions into it.
But let's say that's exactly what she was talking about, and she really was saying that she could have done both those things quicker if she was a man. I don't see how that statement means she's not serious and is lying about something. How would she not be serious for wondering that? She's still wondering about experienced gender inequality from a place where she's one of the very, very few people to even be able to see it, and it seems really strange to say she can't be serious that question just because she's already successful. And what exactly is demonstrably false?
I think you may be taking some things I said and interpreting them slightly differently than intended in a way that significantly alters the point I'm making while ignoring qualifiers that I very...
I think you may be taking some things I said and interpreting them slightly differently than intended in a way that significantly alters the point I'm making while ignoring qualifiers that I very deliberately included.
First, I think it's fairly clear from Taylor Swift's metaphorical lyrics (e.g. "Exile") that consistency is either not her forte or it's not her biggest concern. I would say it's probably not her biggest concern and that she cares more about writing impactful lyrics; they are certainly the thing that has given her music broad appeal despite writing about the experiences of a teenage girl/young woman. This does not alter the meaning of the lyrics (I am not a proponent of death of the author) but it does certainly alter the way they can be perceived. So whether she intended that line to refer to "playing the field" or career achievements or her desire to be an elite marathon runner I think is important, but not really possible to say for sure without "the word of God" (who I hear wishes He could be as popular as T-Swift).
But that's not really important. What is important (at least to this discussion, if nothing else in any way at all) is that I did not say my reading of those lines changes the meaning of the whole song. She's obviously mostly talking about her "serial dating." I never said she can't complain about what people say about her (in fact, I did say that she's already done a better job of commenting on the criticism she receives). I never said she can't make a song about issues that she faces because of her sex. I even said I support the messages she's sending with the song.
I just think that line in particular is a little tone deaf. Even if it's not about achieving things early in life, that line is specifically about her having a harder time achieving things because she's a woman. Many women do have that issue. Very possibly almost all women. But Taylor Swift's achievements were hugely increased by every bit of who she is. I just find it a bit demeaning to pretend otherwise.
Separately, I'm curious how a song like this would be received if she wasn't the pretty, blonde, white girl next door. I think a lot of people would (unfairly) be calling her a bitch, etc., for a song like this if she were Black or Latina. I also think those people's opinions shouldn't matter, just like how the opinions of people who comment on her relationships don't matter. Just a different aspect of where she mentions in the song that she'd be called a bitch if she flaunted her money. She does spend lavishly, but we'll give her an out-of-touch rich girl pass because she doesn't flaunt it the way the rappers she's talking about flaunt their (much less significant) money.
But that also has me sitting here thinking about why she's making up these situations to complain about. Like, girl, if you want to flaunt your money then just do it. You have the most dedicated fanbase in the world. You'll survive and we'll get to see if people really crucify you. Plus, then you'd have something tangible to complain about in that last verse of the song because it's a bit odd that the first two verses are "I would be x instead of how I am y" whereas the last verse is "I wish I could brag about how cool I am."
Anyway, I think parts of the song are a bit disingenuous and other parts are absolutely true and relatable, and I think it's too bad that the negative attention that she got has gotten to her and affected her mental health. It's sad what illogical positions our minds will work us into and I wish for her sake that she can forget that the critics exist, even if that would render two of the first three songs of that album pointless.
At first it annoyed me, but then I realized I was being a crotchety old man about it. Saw a tiktok of someone reading tweets from women who were watching football for the first time (because of...
plus example of her and NFL ticket sales
At first it annoyed me, but then I realized I was being a crotchety old man about it. Saw a tiktok of someone reading tweets from women who were watching football for the first time (because of Swift) and they had some wild questions. It's fun seeing something through the eyes of a newcomer like that. My favorite was referring to "uniforms" as "costumes" and their confusion about why teams have so many different ones. Someone very kindly explained that there are just three in a given season -- home, away, and throwback uniforms. It was sweet.
Here is a story from the start of the summer but I'm not aware of anything conclusive yet happening regarding antitrust enforcement. The Biden government agencies are a lot more aggresssive about...
Here is a story from the start of the summer but I'm not aware of anything conclusive yet happening regarding antitrust enforcement. The Biden government agencies are a lot more aggresssive about antitrust than previous adminsitrations though.
I don't see where the author corroborates the inflammatory headline that studios are 'infuriated', did he just make that up? It's not atypical for an event movie like this to skip studio distribution.
I don't see where the author corroborates the inflammatory headline that studios are 'infuriated', did he just make that up? It's not atypical for an event movie like this to skip studio distribution.
I love it when someone won't bend to industries because "that's the way it should be done."
Swift has upset a lot of different industries by doing this, like rerecording her albums in her name and getting them aired over the original recordings where she wasn't making the money.
So what if she's exploiting her reach? All these things are set up in a way that it's middle man after middle man taking a cut, she's just bypassing and making or using her own connections. If she went the usual route, I bet the ticket sales would be even more expensive to see the same show.
More and more people and businesses are thinking outside of the mainstream and how industries usually behave. When you're high enough in the food chain you just get titled with "a disruptor" and it's a great title to have if you can pull it off.
This is a very impressive list.
I know of Taylor Swift but I can't name a single one of her songs. As the article mentioned, she's the world's biggest pop star: clearly the imperfection is mine.
If her other industry disrupting moves are like this, I would definitely enjoy reading more. This Forbes article talks about the sociological explanation for zeitgeist leaders, plus example of her and NFL ticket sales. And this wiki article is very long and discusses her cultural impact. But I'm still looking for a list in the format of "she did X and it resulted in Y." I guess that's it though, what the Forbes article said -- it's not that any human has this much sway, it's that a critical mass of her followers has this much sway. The tides are drawn to the moon, but it's the water molecules that capsizes freighters, while the moon just exists and orbits the planet.
I'm a new fan of her positive cultural impact and disruptive use of power. Perhaps it's time to become a fan of her music as well. She seems to have a very diverse genre of music across 15+ years to choose from.
Here is her tiny desk concert, which I really enjoyed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvVnP8G6ITs
@g33kphr33k I think Swift's song the Man, first song in the recording I linked, really gets to what you mentioned. It's also a song most women at least in the US, which is my cultural context, can relate to. I'm brand new to listening to Swift, but I respect that she can perform in an acoustic /folk type format and sound polished and skilled. And, as I said, I relate to the stories told in some of her songs. I like singer songwriters who do creative things with lyrics. I'm never going to be a super fan but I like at least some of what I see and hear with her.
I'm a big fan of stories being told in lyrics!
To be fair, I was speaking casually about stories. In the songs I have heard, it's not stories such as Boy Named Sue or Ira Hayes or Coward of the County or Kenny Rogers the Gambler. It's more expressing her own experience, possibly comparable to Dont Think Twice It's Alright? But I am not yet a Swift expert, just enjoyed and related to the Tiny Desk concert. I'm not sure I will love her thoroughly produced pop sound.
I'll be honest, I've always hated that song. I get what she's going for and I get why a lot of women feel that way and I support those messages...but it just feels really hypocritical for her to do that song in that way. Yes, she probably gets some criticism (and certainly attention to her dating life) that an equivalent male would not get. But she is the biggest pop star and probably the biggest celebrity in the world. And that's not despite being a girl/woman, her popularity came originally from being a relatable teenage girl and then a relatable young woman. Her popularity was because her songs were about the experience of being a girl. If the song had been about the problems women face, then I probably wouldn't mind it so much, but "if I was a man, then I'd be the man?" Girl, you are the man.
I mean, listening to it as a woman, I hear her talking about getting criticized and shamed for her body count. A male rapper or rock star is expected to make many sexual conquests, right? Praised for being a stud.
Yes, she is hugely successful, but there are still expectations and social norms she faces that aren't true for guys.
As the conversations over in life.men point out, there are also expectations on men that women don't face. It's not a one sided issue or a zero sum game. But that song, line by line, pointed to standards women face that men don't when it comes to power and success and how to handle it.
Except for the fact that Leo's body count of under 25 year olds has been heavily scrutinized for years...
If he had stuck to socially acceptable age gaps, no one would have cared if it was ten or ten thousand partners. Also criticizing stars for flings with young women is a very recent trend.
I don't understand why she's not able to have legitimate grievances about these things regardless of her position in the pop world. So she's highly popular, why does that mean she can't also lament that she feels she still has an uphill battle in some regards compared to what men would face in similar situations and contexts?
What's the hypocrisy, exactly? It's not like she's putting down other people for being women while also complaining about being put down because she's a woman, I don't know where the impression that she is exactly like the people she's lamenting comes from. This is a song about inequalities that women in her position face.
The fact that the chorus says that she is wondering if she would get there faster if she were a man when she not only was the youngest artist ever to win Album of the Year, but it was also the most awarded album in history makes me wonder how serious she is about that question. It's not that she can't feel that she's being treated unfairly for being a woman or commiserate with other women; it's that the things she says are demonstrably false.
She most likely got criticized for her dating life in a way that wouldn't have happened if she were a man. But the song isn't exclusively about that. Plus, she already shook all that off in a much catchier song (which I also don't listen to, but that's mostly just because there's no sick beat! It's a very basic beat!).
This is all about reading a single idiomatic line in a very specific way in order to change the message of the song and throw it away?
There's nothing to suggest she's specifically talking about her personal accolades at a young age and genuinely wondering if she could have got them even younger. The preceding lines are only about the double standards for women serially dating and an expression about how people have a propensity to support men before women:
I don't know how by the time one gets to that chorus, they would assume she's complaining that she could have attained a couple of very specific accolades quicker if she was a man, and not that she's talking about double standards between men and women in general. Even with the other choruses, there aren't any lyrics in thing song about her own personal accolades and how they were affected by any gender inequalities. She doesn't even mention anything like not being interrupted on stage if she was a man. The song is not exclusively about the double standard with serially dating but it also doesn't stray very far from it—the rest of the song is all about double standards between men and women when it comes to how they carry themselves and what they wear.
But this line specifically? It's just a simple metaphor about gender inequality. She's not literally running anywhere, and I really doubt she sees accolades from so early in her career as goal lines. Lyrically, this is a very generically written song because it's supposed to be relatable and, as a result, many women do find the experiences described throughout the song as relatable because they have experienced similar situations. The flipside means she decidedly isn't referring to any of her own uniquely personal experiences or accomplishments. Every line here is a generic expression of an experience that many women can relate to in their own lives. I don't know how one could reasonably look at the lyrics of this song and come out thinking that it's all about Taylor Swift complaining she didn't become the biggest pop star faster, and that she could have if she was a man, without putting a lot of their own suppositions into it.
But let's say that's exactly what she was talking about, and she really was saying that she could have done both those things quicker if she was a man. I don't see how that statement means she's not serious and is lying about something. How would she not be serious for wondering that? She's still wondering about experienced gender inequality from a place where she's one of the very, very few people to even be able to see it, and it seems really strange to say she can't be serious that question just because she's already successful. And what exactly is demonstrably false?
I think you may be taking some things I said and interpreting them slightly differently than intended in a way that significantly alters the point I'm making while ignoring qualifiers that I very deliberately included.
First, I think it's fairly clear from Taylor Swift's metaphorical lyrics (e.g. "Exile") that consistency is either not her forte or it's not her biggest concern. I would say it's probably not her biggest concern and that she cares more about writing impactful lyrics; they are certainly the thing that has given her music broad appeal despite writing about the experiences of a teenage girl/young woman. This does not alter the meaning of the lyrics (I am not a proponent of death of the author) but it does certainly alter the way they can be perceived. So whether she intended that line to refer to "playing the field" or career achievements or her desire to be an elite marathon runner I think is important, but not really possible to say for sure without "the word of God" (who I hear wishes He could be as popular as T-Swift).
But that's not really important. What is important (at least to this discussion, if nothing else in any way at all) is that I did not say my reading of those lines changes the meaning of the whole song. She's obviously mostly talking about her "serial dating." I never said she can't complain about what people say about her (in fact, I did say that she's already done a better job of commenting on the criticism she receives). I never said she can't make a song about issues that she faces because of her sex. I even said I support the messages she's sending with the song.
I just think that line in particular is a little tone deaf. Even if it's not about achieving things early in life, that line is specifically about her having a harder time achieving things because she's a woman. Many women do have that issue. Very possibly almost all women. But Taylor Swift's achievements were hugely increased by every bit of who she is. I just find it a bit demeaning to pretend otherwise.
Separately, I'm curious how a song like this would be received if she wasn't the pretty, blonde, white girl next door. I think a lot of people would (unfairly) be calling her a bitch, etc., for a song like this if she were Black or Latina. I also think those people's opinions shouldn't matter, just like how the opinions of people who comment on her relationships don't matter. Just a different aspect of where she mentions in the song that she'd be called a bitch if she flaunted her money. She does spend lavishly, but we'll give her an out-of-touch rich girl pass because she doesn't flaunt it the way the rappers she's talking about flaunt their (much less significant) money.
But that also has me sitting here thinking about why she's making up these situations to complain about. Like, girl, if you want to flaunt your money then just do it. You have the most dedicated fanbase in the world. You'll survive and we'll get to see if people really crucify you. Plus, then you'd have something tangible to complain about in that last verse of the song because it's a bit odd that the first two verses are "I would be x instead of how I am y" whereas the last verse is "I wish I could brag about how cool I am."
Anyway, I think parts of the song are a bit disingenuous and other parts are absolutely true and relatable, and I think it's too bad that the negative attention that she got has gotten to her and affected her mental health. It's sad what illogical positions our minds will work us into and I wish for her sake that she can forget that the critics exist, even if that would render two of the first three songs of that album pointless.
At first it annoyed me, but then I realized I was being a crotchety old man about it. Saw a tiktok of someone reading tweets from women who were watching football for the first time (because of Swift) and they had some wild questions. It's fun seeing something through the eyes of a newcomer like that. My favorite was referring to "uniforms" as "costumes" and their confusion about why teams have so many different ones. Someone very kindly explained that there are just three in a given season -- home, away, and throwback uniforms. It was sweet.
ticketmaster is as bad or worse than ever, so whatever she "radically altered" in it clearly didn't end up benefitting the rest of us
Here is a story from the start of the summer but I'm not aware of anything conclusive yet happening regarding antitrust enforcement. The Biden government agencies are a lot more aggresssive about antitrust than previous adminsitrations though.
Swifties rejoice: Feds home in on Ticketmaster Antitrust case
Goddamn Taylor Swift money-making machine and pretty much "Jesus for white women" sobriquet lmao
Seems apt, she has done more for white woman than Jesus ever has.
Nice use of sobriquet. I've only ever seen that word in old books
At the end of the article they mention that Beyonce is going to try this next.
I don't see where the author corroborates the inflammatory headline that studios are 'infuriated', did he just make that up? It's not atypical for an event movie like this to skip studio distribution.
The article appears to be behind a paywall. Is there a way to access without a subscription?
This is an archive link.
Thank you!
EDIT: actually, that link doesn't seem to work... I'll keep trying it
Works for me so it may be geo locked. Globe and Mail is Canadian, so that might be the issue if you're trying to read from outside Canada.
I'm able to access the archive link from the US.
Good to know. I'll try to access it with a VPN later today. Thanks
You can also access it by blocking javascript with something like uBlock or NoScript