Swift's transition from mainstream country star to would-be pop diva has led many pop fans and gay men to call Swift a term typically reserved for Spears and Madonna,*the acknowledged*queen of pop. This week on gay Twitter and Facebook, Swift earned praise from that rarely praiseful, normally salty sphere of*social media.
(More at link below what I've posted here)
But the passionate gays who helped push*Azealia Banks's debut album to number three on the iTunes chart haven't much like Swift—though that may be changing.
Over the summer at*the Belvedere, a luxury clothing-optional hotel on Fire Island, I met a twink and budding drag queen named Nigel who worshiped Swift. Wearing nothing but a towel on a balcony overlooking the water, Nigel bounced around, singing "Shake It Off," and*described how he lip-synced the song when he performed in drag the first time the previous weekend.
"I prefer*Speak Now," he said. "Red*is a good album. 'All Too Well' is deep. Like, girl, did you just lose your virginity?"
But Nigel couldn't understand why so many gays disliked his gay icon, his Cher. After all, Swift mostly sings about bad boys and breakups, and as Nigel pointed out, "All gay men do is break up."
If you're a country artist and your name isn't Dolly or Shania, your songs probably rarely play at dance music–heavy gay bars. In my time in those places*I only heard one Swift song ever play (the dubstep-influenced "I Knew You Were Trouble"), and even then that was rare. (That song also wasn't taken too seriously, and the pretentious video was mocked by critics as*a Lana Del Rey ripoff.)
Similarly, when Swift announced her first full pop album with the widely played, and widely mocked, "Shake It Off," few gay bloggers thought Swift would rise to the level of*Spears or even Selena Gomez. As Bradley Stern*wrote*his popular blog MuuMuse:
On "Out of the Woods" and "Blank Space," her new album's best track, Swift sounds like a natural pop singer. The repetitive choruses are as catchy as the best Madge singles and come across as poppy without in-your-face dubstep drops or the overt cuteness of "Shake It Off."*
Throughout the album, Swift also sings about the subject she sings and writes about better than everyone else: short relationships gone awry. Against a sweet melody, she mocks her image with boys: "They'll tell you I'm insane." On "Wildest Dreams," she aches with world-weariness even as she starts a new relationship:*"He's so bad but he does it so well /*I can see the end as it begins."*
Swift's lyrics have always mined that vein, but*1989*finally matches her melancholy with the pop sounds gay men love. After years of experimenting with pop on*country albums,*Swift is finally a*pop star. If you don't believe me, just ask gay men—we know what we're talking about, trust me.
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For clarification; I by no means think this proves or establishes her as queen of gays. I dont think there is one single pop lady who is the ultimate representer of gay people and culture.
I just thought it was interesting that an article like this would actually be written. To me it shows how far she has come in image that some in the gay culture and world are starting to acknowledge her openly enough so this article came about and puts her in the discussion as someone that many gay people love.
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http://www.vice.com/read/gay-men-dec...een-of-pop-632
What?
