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Fan Base: Archived: Taylor Swift (#2)
Member Since: 4/5/2014
Posts: 2,759
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On becoming a Taylor Swift fan
by Chad Gorn
Like many adult audiophiles, especially those with a critical ear (not to mention a critical platform), I eschewed Taylor Swift when she reached ubiquity. At first, she was a teen country sensation and, as I saw it, had no impact on my life. But once her music became inescapable, I grumbled along with everyone else: she can’t sing live, and there is nothing unique about her voice; her songs are immature and banal; she is insincere – what could she possibly know about being unpopular?
In late 2010, however, it all clicked. It happened just before the arrival of her mainstream crossover album, 2010’s Speak Now. She performed “Innocent” at the 2010 MTV VMAs, and not only was that song a melodic departure from the rest of anything I had heard from her, it inspired a song of my own. My eyes were open, and suddenly it was all Taylor, all the time. But I felt the need to justify this new appreciation to myself and my peers; how could A.C. Newman, Damien Rice and Taylor Swift exist on the same playlist? How could I speak her name in the same breath as legends like Paul Simon and Bob Dylan? After listening carefully and repeatedly to her most recent three albums, and after doing my research, I have the answers and I am now comfortable admitting that I 100 percent – a Taylor Swift fan.
Disputing her voice: Whoever said you need to be a perfect vocalist to be a great singer? She had some rough live high-profile performances, and I will not defend those. However, I have seen other concert footage, and rest assured she can sing in tune and on pitch. As for the tone: there is something Taylor Swift does that cannot be taught: she delivers every syllable exactly as she intends to deliver it, and she does so to make sure that her meaning is understood. When she says, “It’s 2 A.M. and I’m cursing your name,” she hits “cursing” with a self-referential vitriol that cannot be disputed. When she remembers that “I left my scarf there at your sister’s house, and you still got it in your drawer even now,” there’s a touch of peaceful sadness and understanding behind it. “We’re happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time; it’s miserable and magical” sung playfully, with both lucidity and relinquishment, perfectly describes a twenty-two year-old. This is what she has in common with Dylan and Simon (and, for that matter, Adam Duritz): you believe every word she says.
Disputing her songwriting: On the one hand, the number of songs that follow the same basic pattern (G, D, Am or Bm or Em, C) is ridiculous. But on the other hand, how many two-chord songs did Lou Reed make famous? Paul McCartney still composes A-D-E tunes to this very day.
Country music may have been her springboard, but Speak Now (2010) and Red (2012) are pop, pop, pop! In fact the latter has more in common with Brit-pop than anything else. Opening number “State of Grace” starts with pounding rock drums and fuzzy guitar, and in a flash her roots are forsaken. But the song still has melodic structures that are identifiably T-Swizzle, not to mention turns of phrase that grab your attention (“So you were never a saint / And I loved the shades of wrong”), and it rocks.
So, for those listeners that, after all this time, still sit on the fence, here is my plea: Don’t turn your back on Taylor. Embrace her. Listen between the lines. Appreciate her songwriting. Understand that when she reacts to an award with shock and awe, it’s because she is still a skinny girl from the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania, swooning in her room to Les Miserables and LeAnn Rimes – no matter how many records she has sold. That kind of humility gives her a grounding and inspiration to grow as a songwriter. You can choose to join her or hate her, but you will not beat her. Me, I chose to join her, and I’ll defend her talents to anyone who disputes them.
Source- Tremble 4/30/13
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Member Since: 8/27/2011
Posts: 14,680
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Quote:
Originally posted by BlueMoon77
Haunted was the smash that got away. And Enchanted being butchered?! Not here for that  Plus, there was no way Scotty B was going to let her sing Enchanted live at any major ceremony  It was a smart decision tbh.
You're right about the single choices, not a lot of options from Speak Now. |
I don't want enchanted to be edited, that's why in part i'm glad that it wasn't a single, I meant that it could have worked. But the truth is that everything would have flopped
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Member Since: 8/25/2012
Posts: 20,985
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Quote:
Originally posted by Finny
When they told us it was Ours getting the music video, and not Enchanted, I was extremely pissed but it made me appreciate Ours so much more now it's one of my favorites.
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Can y'all stop posting all these sexualized dance moves. It's making me uncomfortable 
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 526
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Quote:
Originally posted by BlueMoon77
I just knew she was going to release TSOU as a single, mainly because it was one of the last songs that I wanted as one  |
Any song of hers that I want as a single usually flops as a single.
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Member Since: 8/25/2012
Posts: 20,985
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Quote:
Originally posted by GeorgiaStars
she was clearly annoyed by the interviewer  |
As anybody would've been. She said she didn't want to talk about the 2009 incident, and the interviewer wouldn't let it go
I would've resorted to drinking my Starbucks as well
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Member Since: 8/25/2012
Posts: 20,985
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Quote:
Originally posted by IStanHard
They probably think they're smart for saying that. I love how they come to every 'who's more respected, talended...' threads that include Taylor and spew out same $hits like it haven't been said before. At first, annoyed me, but now... 
Let them be...
Taylor's gonna outsell all of their faves when her album drops, anyway... |
Same here.
And notice how you always see the same people that are saying the same things, still referring to the same 2 songs instead of being educated on her other material
I love Taylor Swift
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Member Since: 8/17/2011
Posts: 3,613
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Quote:
Originally posted by BlueMoon77
The fact that everybody uses only Taylor's MM singles |
Literally the first thing they run to  Poor them
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Member Since: 8/17/2011
Posts: 3,613
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Quote:
Originally posted by BlueMoon77
As anybody would've been. She said she didn't want to talk about the 2009 incident, and the interviewer wouldn't let it go
I would've resorted to drinking my Starbucks as well |
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Member Since: 8/25/2012
Posts: 20,985
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Quote:
Originally posted by taylor__fan
It happened to me too, after her performance in the CMA's and the music video I listened a lot to ours, and it became one of my favourites from speak now, before it was my less listened track
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Ours was always a stand out track to me. I wondered from the first listen why it was a bonus track.
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Member Since: 8/25/2012
Posts: 20,985
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Quote:
Originally posted by revel8
Thread killer.
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Nnnnnnnnn Wait. 
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 11,618
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Quote:
Originally posted by BlueMoon77
Ours was always a stand out track to me. I wondered from the first listen why it was a bonus track.
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I think it's the 5th/6th song that I've ever heard from her 
Part of the reasons why I became a stan
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Member Since: 4/4/2014
Posts: 2,055
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Quote:
Originally posted by BlueMoon77
As anybody would've been. She said she didn't want to talk about the 2009 incident, and the interviewer wouldn't let it go
I would've resorted to drinking my Starbucks as well |
It surprises me that they didn't cut this awkwardness.
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Member Since: 3/14/2013
Posts: 3,519
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Quote:
Originally posted by BlueMoon77
Can y'all stop posting all these sexualized dance moves. It's making me uncomfortable |
It feels like one of those nights.... We ditched the whole scene...
It feels like one of those nights.... We won't be sleepin'...
It feels like one of those nights... You look like bad news...
I gotta have you...
I gotta have YOOOOOOUUUUUUU...
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Member Since: 8/27/2011
Posts: 14,680
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Quote:
Originally posted by BlueMoon77
Ours was always a stand out track to me. I wondered from the first listen why it was a bonus track.
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You saw the light before us
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Member Since: 4/4/2014
Posts: 2,055
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When I first listened to the bonus tracks of Red I thought Girl At Home would be the bonus single of this era 
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Member Since: 3/14/2013
Posts: 3,519
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Quote:
Originally posted by BlueMoon77
Same here.
And notice how you always see the same people that are saying the same things, still referring to the same 2 songs instead of being educated on her other material
I love Taylor Swift |
I suddenly miss tylerbv and getback
I remember one of them making a blog about this base and our way of stanning...
Their pressedness...
I love Taylor Swift
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Member Since: 8/25/2012
Posts: 20,985
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Quote:
Originally posted by IStanHard
I wonder if Taylor made a piano version of 22... It'd probably sound sad... I mean the acoustic version of it (the Webchat one) sounded melancholic...  |
IKYWT acoustic clip at the Winter Whites Gala
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Member Since: 4/4/2014
Posts: 2,055
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Dumb question: How do you create a thread? Never created one yet.... haha
EDIT; never mind, found it
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Member Since: 3/14/2013
Posts: 3,519
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Quote:
Originally posted by GeorgiaStars
When I first listened to the bonus tracks of Red I thought Girl At Home would be the bonus single of this era |
And then she released The Moment I Knew (It's Going To Flop But I'm Releasing It Anyway) hi hi hi
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Member Since: 8/25/2012
Posts: 20,985
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Quote:
Originally posted by mdddb4
Any song of hers that I want as a single usually flops as a single.
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Mean though 
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