Taylor Swift - Eras, Disney +

RocknRollDave

Anyone watched it?

There’s a lot to talk about in there if anyone has, but I’ll start the ball rolling with: she’s a very clever songwriter.

monquixote

I watched at the cinema with my daughter and it was brilliant.

Everyone was standing up and singing like it was a concert.

Fingers657

She’s a very clever young women, Always has been and has surrounded herself with clever good people 
Not sure about her love life choices tho??

monquixote

She's a phenomenal songwriter. She's the youngest person ever to be signed as a staff writer by Sony.

theatreanchor

My kids went to see it and loved it. I’m sure they’ll watch it again at home. Suspect it’ll be good - cos she’s good! 

stickyfiddle

I don't have D+ but looking forward to watching it when I get a chance. 

She's phenomenal

RocknRollDave

I was a little suspicious about the vocals. I mean, she’s singing live, she clearly CAN sing, and it’s not unusual for Pop acts to have a little pre-recorded reinforcement….but I felt I detected a bit of auto-tune wobble in some parts?

goldtop

I'm a newbie Swiftie, but a lightweight, as I don't know much of the background. On the song-writing question, I can't work out if she's great or overly simple.

For sure, she makes a 4-chord progression go a long way. She often uses the same chords for verse and chorus and on a casual listen you don't notice due to some clever arrangement and instrumentation. But she treads the same path time and time again. See:

stickyfiddle

goldtop said:

I'm a newbie Swiftie, but a lightweight, as I don't know much of the background. On the song-writing question, I can't work out if she's great or overly simple.

For sure, she makes a 4-chord progression go a long way. She often uses the same chords for verse and chorus and on a casual listen you don't notice due to some clever arrangement and instrumentation. But she treads the same path time and time again. See:

Sure, but that’s pop music. If it’s not overtly familiar then a lot of listeners won’t bother. If anything I could argue that having songs using the same progressions but sounding  different enough that people don’t get bored is quite impressive 

You could  probably make a similar video for The Beatles or Stone or countless others

CaseOfAce

I FINALLY get what all the fuss is about. Other than hearing "All You Had to Do was Stay" song everything else I'd heard from her left me cold.

What a performer. The choreography and visuals are stunning. How on earth she's remembering to hit all those marks on stage on The Man ("be like Leo in St. Tropez - back in the drawer Mr. Knife).
Is the singing live? no way .. singing to track right? but ... if even <1% of the golden ticket holders / rich kids were bothered I'd be amazed. It's a live band behind her though?

It's not ground breaking - Madonna did all this and more on the Blonde Ambition tour - but right now Swift is the biggest star in the world and this is why.

merlin

This post is going to make my opinion unpopular. 

Axis of Awesome figured it out in a really good way.



Forget the chord progressions. How many of her songs use the millenial whoop and vocal fry?

Her music is deeply formulaic. 

I'm sorry to troll, but I find her the Mcdonalds of pop music. The Marvel Studios of pop music. The Ikea of pop music. No challenge, no surprises, no guts, just commercial pap designed for and to placate the masses. It's dumbing down what we call "music". I can't find the heart in it.

For me it is hard to listen to. Even so I have decided to revisit every now and again to make sure. I'm sure she's a decent enough person and I have no disrespect for her as an individual, I just can't like the over-produced, under nourished stuff that people think is music.

Regardless of her supposed talent, this kind of work (and I'm sure that she works harder than I ever have or will) makes sure that we understand (if we are able) the "Industry" part of "Music Industry". 

I'm sorry if my opinion offends anyone, that's not my intention. I just find it sad that the majority of people don't see/hear beyond it. 

euan

She is the refinement of the business music machine. The perfect combination of excellent songwriting, production, promotion, merchandising and performance. 

Leaves me feeling utterly soulless, and she really does find a way to fleece her fans while screwing artists at all other levels of the industry. 

Six different vinyl version of her next album for her fans to collect, while her existing catalogue is a sink hole of listening hours on streaming platforms.  

lustycourtier

Fingers657 said:

 
Not sure about her love life choices tho??

What? 

darthed1981

merlin said:

This post is going to make my opinion unpopular. 

Axis of Awesome figured it out in a really good way.



Forget the chord progressions. How many of her songs use the millenial whoop and vocal fry?

Her music is deeply formulaic. 

I'm sorry to troll, but I find her the Mcdonalds of pop music. The Marvel Studios of pop music. The Ikea of pop music. No challenge, no surprises, no guts, just commercial pap designed for and to placate the masses. It's dumbing down what we call "music". I can't find the heart in it.

For me it is hard to listen to. Even so I have decided to revisit every now and again to make sure. I'm sure she's a decent enough person and I have no disrespect for her as an individual, I just can't like the over-produced, under nourished stuff that people think is music.

Regardless of her supposed talent, this kind of work (and I'm sure that she works harder than I ever have or will) makes sure that we understand (if we are able) the "Industry" part of "Music Industry". 

I'm sorry if my opinion offends anyone, that's not my intention. I just find it sad that the majority of people don't see/hear beyond it. 

Nothing wrong with an honestly held unpopular opinion!

I'd like to make the counter though...

Nothing is designed to "placate the masses" - people want to make things that people like, because that will likely return on their investment, at a corporate level, and at a more basic level, pay the mortgage.

Popular music may be art, but it is also entertainment and a business.  We don't (sadly) live in the Star Trek universe, we are all expected to earn our living.

I'm going to out and out say it...there is nothing fundamentally superior about music that leans towards being "art" at the expense of being entertaining or indeed making money.

This point often gets made about pop stars and I always think what specifically is being referred to as superior?  Radiohead?  They had a global hit single with a four-chord pop song on their debut, etc... is there someone specific you have in mind?

Ultimately, if one wants to be a professional musician, one better make damn sure people like you enough to hand-over their hard-earned to you because that's your job, making "art" doesn't pay the bills, entertaining people does...

Now TayTay is rapidly becoming one of the biggest musicians, well, ever.  She's brought entertainment to millions, supplied profits and indeed jobs to thousands, and also made some pop songs which we will likely still be hearing in fifty years time.

If she was instead sitting in a squat working on her latest avant-garde fifty-chord, jazz-metal fusion masterpiece, I doubt her credibility would keep the cold out?

digitalkettle

...and she wrote every track on Ryan Adams' '1989' album!

Pjon

monquixote said:

She's a phenomenal songwriter. She's the youngest person ever to be signed as a staff writer by Sony.

What an odd fact. Who was the youngest before her? Is being a Sony staff writer really impressive? Does anybody care, other than Taylor Swift fans?

She may or may not be a great song writer, but I struggle to buy into that while she attempts to extract as much money from young teenaged girls as possible. 

monquixote

Pjon said:

monquixote said:

She's a phenomenal songwriter. She's the youngest person ever to be signed as a staff writer by Sony.

What an odd fact. Who was the youngest before her? Is being a Sony staff writer really impressive? Does anybody care, other than Taylor Swift fans?

She may or may not be a great song writer, but I struggle to buy into that while she attempts to extract as much money from young teenaged girls as possible. 

I don't understand how being signed as a songwriter by one of the biggest labels in the world at the age of 14 isn't very obviously an absolutely astonishing achievement. (She was then poached by RCA).

chrisj1602

 This is a great version of Wildest Dreams, on a Johnny Marr Jaguar too…

https://youtu.be/OGDkg3QiJmk?si=LIgSsPcg5rpYjpHU

darthed1981

monquixote said:

I don't understand how being signed as a songwriter by one of the biggest labels in the world at the age of 14 isn't very obviously an absolutely astonishing achievement. (She was then poached by RCA).

Because it wasn't achieved by someone with long hair, a coke habit and a beard, I assume.

Pjon

monquixote said:

Pjon said:

monquixote said:

She's a phenomenal songwriter. She's the youngest person ever to be signed as a staff writer by Sony.

What an odd fact. Who was the youngest before her? Is being a Sony staff writer really impressive? Does anybody care, other than Taylor Swift fans?

She may or may not be a great song writer, but I struggle to buy into that while she attempts to extract as much money from young teenaged girls as possible. 

I don't understand how being signed as a songwriter by one of the biggest labels in the world at the age of 14 isn't very obviously an absolutely astonishing achievement. (She was then poached by RCA).

Good for her.

It still doesn't change the fact that she's trying to strip my bank account of all my readies through the medium of my daughters. 'Yes, girls, I'll take to you see her in Cardiff. Hold up, that's a month's pay*, lets feed ourselves instead shall we!'  'Oh but Dad, her lip-syncing is so perfect'...

*A month's pay for me, obviously, not Tayls who earns considerably more than a couple of k per month just off the back of the cynical limited edition vinyl. 'Dad, can you buy me 4 copies of that because it makes a clock when I put it on the wall....' 'Dad, can you buy me the third version of that album because it has another different bonus track...'

She isn't my favourite person.

monquixote

Pjon said:

monquixote said:

Pjon said:

monquixote said:

She's a phenomenal songwriter. She's the youngest person ever to be signed as a staff writer by Sony.

What an odd fact. Who was the youngest before her? Is being a Sony staff writer really impressive? Does anybody care, other than Taylor Swift fans?

She may or may not be a great song writer, but I struggle to buy into that while she attempts to extract as much money from young teenaged girls as possible. 

I don't understand how being signed as a songwriter by one of the biggest labels in the world at the age of 14 isn't very obviously an absolutely astonishing achievement. (She was then poached by RCA).

Good for her.

It still doesn't change the fact that she's trying to strip my bank account of all my readies through the medium of my daughters. 'Yes, girls, I'll take to you see her in Cardiff. Hold up, that's a month's pay*, lets feed ourselves instead shall we!'  'Oh but Dad, her lip-syncing is so perfect'...

*A month's pay for me, obviously, not Tayls who earns considerably more than a couple of k per month just off the back of the cynical limited edition vinyl. 'Dad, can you buy me 4 copies of that because it makes a clock when I put it on the wall....' 'Dad, can you buy me the third version of that album because it has another different bonus track...'

She isn't my favourite person.

Just say "No"