Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 27,856
|
Taylor is "crumbling": Here's why
Quote:
[Taylor's] growth, however, has been accompanied by a mounting anti-Swift backlash. As the scope of her celebrity has spiraled out of control, its flaws have become difficult to ignore. The new skepticism with which many audiences now approach Swift reveals key points about how audiences consume their pop: We love our pop stars — until we realize they are deeply, deeply fake.
We fell in love with the girl who came from "humble" beginnings. She burst into pop stardom back in 2006, with a cute country hit named after one of her heroes: "Tim McGraw." She looked like the sweet, talented, misfit girl next door, one who writes her own songs and cares deeply about her fans.
The Taylor Swift of 2015, however, does not stumble.
The Swift of 2015 lives in the absolute center of the pop universe. As she notches more wins and engineers more brilliant pop moments, it's becoming harder and harder to see her as the adorable misfit we've been rooting for throughout her career.
Her decline started when she became obsessed with sisterhood. Swift started publicly positioning herself as a feminist back in 2013. So when she befriended Lena Dunham and Lorde last year, the pop world swooned. The friendship felt genuine — one that fans could enjoy right with Swift. However, when she officially became "friends" with Julia Roberts at an August 1989 tour stop, it was awkward. It's becoming harder to see her friends as anything more than props boosting her own superstar status — something the previous Taylor Swift seemed to have little interest in doing.
The absurdity of this tension is what made a parody video, which mimics Swift bringing every famous woman ever on stage, go so viral a few weeks ago. The image of Swift calling Gigi Hadid and the Blair Witch her "two best friends" is so absurd, it sticks in the mind.
This is clearest in her "Bad Blood" video. The superstar girl pile that appears in the video working alongside Swift to achieve a single goal might seem like a brilliant celebration of sisterhood, until you consider that team was assembled to tear down a female rival over a petty disagreement. It doesn't neatly fit her bounds of feminism.
Swift complicated that friendly, feminist image again when she bared her teeth during her brief Twitter feud with Nicki Minaj in July. Swift's solution to re-establish peace was to bring Minaj onstage and give her a second-place spot in her girl squad. It read as extraordinarily condescending, and offered further proof that Taylor Swift is concerned with only one thing these days: building her empire.
"Swift isn't here to help women; she's here to make bank," The illusion of Swift as every fans' genuine, relatable best friend that just wants to write fun music is fading. She seems far more interested in becoming an untouchable pop icon, and with that comes a ton more scrutiny.
Authenticity is important in building a fan base in pop. No one did it better than Swift. Yet, until she dials back her convenient feminism from the uncanny valley, the Internet pop pundits and super-fans she once had may work on taking her down.
|
x
Do you agree? Disagree?
I love Taylor, but I really see nothing but truth tea in this analysis. Her image is cracking and we need to talk about it. Is her change just the product of a blossoming music career, or is there something more sinister under the surface?
Also don't forget Taylor's friend Lorde has a collab with Disclosure called "Magnets" out September 25
|
|
|