Taylor Swift Is Not Going Country. Country Is Going Pop
We’re supposed to be avoiding discussion of Taylor Swift in country music. That wasn’t just the hope of traditional country fans who were glad to see her finally come out a few years ago and say that she wanted to be considered pop and pop only henceforth. That was the wish of Taylor Swift herself and the entire point of her “I’ve gone pop” declaration. We would only be so lucky if half a dozen other so-called “country” artists of today would be as honest with themselves and their fans and do the same. It would save a lot of unnecessary conflict.
But now Taylor Swift is back, at least in a way where it’s going to be difficult to not talk about her in country. This isn’t to say that Taylor is “going country” as some have asserted. There is absolutely no indication Swift wants back in, nor would there be any benefit to Taylor downgrading commercially to country genre at this point. It’s also not something we should anticipate from Swift in the near term. Sure, perhaps there’s a future where Taylor Swift has three kids and hasn’t recorded in some years, and decides she wants to re-connect with her songwriting roots and releases a mostly acoustic album James Taylor style. But that’s not what we’re seeing here.
Taylor Swift as mega pop star franchise is in trouble. Taking the extra year off between albums, and taking a PR beating in the press for the whole Kim Kardashian/Kanye West imbroglio a couple of years ago has allowed a slew of new stars such as Cardi B and Drake to come in an dominate the superstar narrative while Swift was laying low and letting negative headlines blow over. Now she’s struggling mightily to sell tickets on her massive worldwide tour for which she’s asking handsome prices. With both her last record Reputation and her upcoming tour, Swift sought to find out the most aggressive price points the market could bear, and it appears she took one or two steps over the line.
Taylor Swift is a living example of why the biggest problem with money is you can always have more of it. Don’t misunderstand, she is still doing very well. But greed has compromised not just her creative integrity, it has corrupted her economic compass. Just like any corporation, maintaining Swift’s massive revenue is not enough. If you’re not increasing revenue and profits, you’re failing. But this is no longer 2014. Similar to Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, and a host of other pop stars who’ve been around for a while, they’re being slowly sidelined by a crop of new stars, and are finding difficulty in a market where hip-hop is dominating instead of pop.
Only six months since Taylor Swift released Reputation, and she’s already blown through half a dozen singles on radio. Sure the first couple did okay, but their life span was like a sugar rush, like much of pop. It takes the average country music single six months just to make it up the charts. Even with a big video, the best Swift’s latest single “Delicate” could manage on the Billboard Hot 100 was #46. Meanwhile Drake currently has the #1 and #2 spots, and a guy you’ve probably never heard of called J Cole has six songs in the Top 20. And now Taylor Swift’s massive world tour is starting, and she’s already expended all her best ammunition to help promote it while ample tickets still remain.
And so with the lack of any marketable singles left from Reputation, Taylor Swift is doing what all smart artists do when they’re in a slide: they seek strength in their base.
Remember the reports in early 2017 that Taylor Swift was spotted in Nashville and recording country-sounding songs? Some thought this meant selections from Reputation might be country. That didn’t turn out to be the case at all, but a few weeks ago and quite randomly, Swift released a cover of Earth, Wind, And Fire’s “September” as a Spotify single. In fact the full track name is “September-Recorded at The Tracking Room Nashville.” This was probably one of the rumored three songs the unnamed source said they heard Swift recording last year that sounded like country. Since Swift plays “September” on the banjo, it would easy in passing to call the song “country-sounding” if you’re a janitor overhearing a recording session as you’re taking out the trash, for example.
Of course Taylor Swift also took home a CMA Song of the Year trophy last November for a song she wrote for Little Big Town called “Better Man.” If nothing else was proven with the win, it’s that country music still sees value in trying to entice Swift back to awards shows, and to use her name to garner interest in the genre. “Better Man” is fine, but it’s no Song of the Year. This was all about trying to create buzz. Same goes for the random and unexpected appearance by Swift at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville a couple of weeks ago, stimulating even more speculation that Swift is considering a return to country.
But that’s completely foolish. There is no benefit, and only drawbacks to Taylor Swift coming back to country. Swift is just trying to stay in the headlines, and specifically with country fans who may be sitting on the fence about paying for those pricey Reputation stadium tour tickets. Everything coming from the Taylor Swift camp these days is calculated. It’s all meant to buzz the populous. There is no serious reason to be concerned, fearful, or hopeful if you’re a Swift country fan, that she’s planning a country return. At least for now.
But this new single from Sugarland with Taylor Swift called “Babe” changes the calculus completely. It doesn’t change the fact that Taylor Swift is still not “going country.” But it does mean she will most certainly be returning to a country radio station (and streaming playlist) near you, and in a big way.
Last week, “Babe” was the 2nd most added track to country radio. It’s already sitting at #8 on the Hot Country Songs chart, and rising. It hit #1 on the Country Digital Song Sales chart last week. It’s all over Spotify’s big country playlists. Full page ads are filling country radio’s periodicals for the song. Big Machine is pulling out all the stops to make sure “Babe” is a super hit. And how could it not be? It’s using the same exact formula Bebe Rexha’s “Meant To Be” with Florida Georgia Line, and other pop/country collaborations utilized to game the system and get to #1.
It may not immediately evident since Swift is such a familiar face in the country space, but Sugarland’s “Babe” is the latest “country” single to use a pop star to gain market advantage over the competition by playing to Billboard’s lax chart rules that count pop spins and streams on country charts. Since Swift doesn’t have another single impacting radio at the moment and already breezed through the six bullets in her singles gun, Big Machine Records paired her with Sugarland looking to re-launch their career, and viola, it’s Bebe Rexha and “Meant To Be” all over again, and right as Swift is ready to embark on her big Reputation tour and needs the promotion.
This is the brave new world of popular music, where there are little to no delineation lines between genres. It’s not that Taylor Swift is going country, it’s that country is going pop. “Babe” is just the latest example. Just like Bebe Rexha’s “Meant To Be,” it’s not about the quality of the song. As pop, “Babe” is tolerable, and probably better than some of the other alternatives right now on country radio. It’s about how the lines of demarcation continue to blur as labels attempt to use whatever leverage at their dispose to get their tracks heard in an increasingly-crowded marketplace.
In 2009 when Taylor Swift won the CMA Entertainer of the Year, many declared country music dead. Little did we know about the scourge that was just around the corner in Bro-Country. Now it’s Bro-Country that is being chased out in the ever-cyclical nature of music, and it’s cross-genre pop and country collaborations like Sugarland’s “Babe” that are posing the existential threat to the country genre. And it’s a familiar name in the pop vs. country debate in Taylor Swift who is helping this dubious trend along.
May 7, 2018 @ 9:48 am
I know everyone points to Garth and Tim McGraw as focal points for where mainstream country music is now, but I place the blame squarely on Swift. Her whiny kiddy pop was just enough to get a younger mindless generation supposedly interested in country music. Then, her label pulls her out and throws her into the pop world while all the little kiddie fans that “love country music” can be force fed utter bullshit music and be told “it’s real country music.” Hence the surging downloads and skewed charts that we are seeing now. She’s nothing but a farce. Just my 2 cents.
May 7, 2018 @ 2:08 pm
I just find a great bit of irony that Garth’s music stood out on country radio back in the day and now he just sounds like everyone else in the current climate.
May 7, 2018 @ 6:08 pm
Meh- I place on Shania Twain. She did the whole pop version country version. And the pop versions sold more so Music Row never looked back after that.
May 8, 2018 @ 7:51 am
And you can place it on Shania but it was Mutt’s brilliant idea I can assure you….lol
May 7, 2018 @ 6:30 pm
Honestly, I’m not quite sure why people blame Garth Brooks so much for country music’s downward spiral. He is country artist. If he would have had moderate success, instead of selling 150 million records and being the biggest name in country music, he wouldn’t have garnered so much hate. Garth Brooks makes country music. Is it the best country music? Not a chance. But is it anything other than country? Nope.
May 7, 2018 @ 7:52 pm
I concur. I always felt Garth got a raw deal when people started laying the blame on him. Did he contribute to the changing of country music? Absolutely, by being arguably the main driving force that ushered in what came to be known as 90s country.
Some of his deeper tracks, and even some of his earlier big hits are among the best songs recorded in my opinion. Much Too Young? The Dance? Timeless classics.
May 8, 2018 @ 5:13 am
I totally agree. I don’t blame Garth, I blame greedy label executives, promoters, and agents trying to re-capture Garth’s original blueprint and re-package him via other artists. It wasn’t Garth that destroyed country, it was the desire to replicate his cross-over appeal.
May 8, 2018 @ 8:05 am
I think everyone in this comment chain is barking up the wrong tree.
Revisit SCM’s 2013 article “Destroying the Dixie Chicks: Ten Years After.” Just about everything “bad” about mainstream country music in the past 15 years are the lasting effects of country audiences and the country industry banishing the Dixie Chicks and elevating Toby Keith, for reasons that obviously had nothing to do with music.
The Chicks were the “traditional” act in mainstream country music, and the industry failed to elevate any new traditional mainstream acts after expelling them. That left the mainstream wide open to Keith’s “arena rock” sound. Toby Keith was the most successful country act of the 2000s, and he’s more or less the blueprint for every male country act to emerge in his wake. The Aldeans, Sheltons, Bryans, and so forth of today are significantly more influenced by Keith’s rock-lite than they are by Twain or Swift’s pop-country. The dominant sound in country music is Keith’s, not theirs.
Beyond that, Toby Keith’s song “Red Solo Cup” overlapped with the start of “bro-country,” and was meant to appeal to the audience of that trend: straight white college-aged men. This is the demographic that every male country act under 35 targets now. It’s also a demographic that Twain and Swift were never strong with. The target demographic of most of country music’s biggest acts is Keith’s, not theirs.
And if y’all really feel the need to pin the problems of country music on Swift, it’s worth noting that Keith was also involved in the formation of Big Machine Records… which means that he can more or less be “blamed” for bringing Scott Borchetta to Nashville and inadvertently launching Swift’s career.
All that aside, the thing about mainstream country music is that the overwhelming majority of its superstars, hitmakers, and trendsetters are men—and the men of country music are not particularly influenced by the women of the genre. Yes, Twain and Swift have been influential, but that influence is largely limited to other women / groups with female members (ie: Lady Antebellum or Sugarland). And those are not the artists driving country music.
It wasn’t women who brought the dominant arena-rock sound to country music. It wasn’t women who started bro-country. It wasn’t women who initiated the new “collaborating with a popstar” trend. Hell, women in country music barely have the power or appeal to get themselves to the top of the charts, let alone to be setting the prevailing trends or influencing the overall direction of the genre.
Toby Keith—not Taylor Swift or Shania Twain—is the most influential country artist of the 21st century. Now, one could probably argue that Garth Brooks was the primary precursor to Toby Keith, but ultimately Keith’s rise was more deeply intertwined with the Dixie Chicks’ decline than anything else.
And country music did that to itself.
But I guess it’s easier to target Swift or Twain than it is to address the lasting implications of the “Dixie Chicks vs Toby Keith” showdown.
May 8, 2018 @ 11:10 am
I think you’re giving Toby Keith way too much credit here. Toby Keith was never more than a bit player in country, despite the sales. He was way too polarizing to give him the credit you are. He never won Entertainer of the Year. Florida Georgia Line, and even Jason Aldean’s “Dirt Road Anthem” had way more impact on the advent of Bro-Country than Toby Keith ever did. By that time, Keith was whiskey-nosed and irrelevant. “Red Solo Cup” was a last dying gasp, and reviled by many.
May 8, 2018 @ 6:41 pm
I would argue that Kenny Chesney is way more influential to country than Toby Keith. Go up and down t
May 8, 2018 @ 6:43 pm
The list of male singers 90 percent want to be Kenny. They sing about partying and lost love and being forever young. They all want to play outdoor festivals and stadiums.
May 7, 2018 @ 10:00 am
“Taylor Swift is a living example of why the biggest problem with money is you can always have more of it. Don’t misunderstand, she is still doing very well. But greed has compromised not just her creative integrity, it has corrupted her economic compass. Just like any corporation, maintaining Swift’s massive revenue is not enough. If you’re not increasing revenue and profits, you’re failing. But this is no longer 2014. Similar to Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, and a host of other pop stars who’ve been around for a while, they’re being slowly sidelined by a crop of new stars, and are finding difficulty in a market where hip-hop is dominating instead of pop.
Only six months since Taylor Swift released Reputation, and she’s already blown through half a dozen singles on radio. Sure the first couple did okay, but their life span was like a sugar rush, like much of pop. It takes the average country music single six months just to make it up the charts. Even with a big video, the best Swift’s latest single “Delicate” could manage on the Billboard Hot 100 was #46. Meanwhile Drake currently has the #1 and #2 spots, and a guy you’ve probably never heard of called J Cole has six songs in the Top 20. And now Taylor Swift’s massive world tour is starting, and she’s already expended all her best ammunition to help promote it while ample tickets still remain.”
*
And on “reputation”, it is clear Taylor Swift sensed the changing tides towards hip-hop; in that there are numerous egregious instances where she attempts pseudo-rap cadences in her vocal delivery (most blatantly on the short-lived singles “End Game” and “…Ready For It”)………………as well as incorporating somnambulistic soundscapes and pseudo-trap percussion loops in place of live percussion on the majority of tracks.
It clearly didn’t connect with her target audience. So now she’s in the midst of a course correction.
And it’s quite remarkable she’s using a song she wrote with Train’s Pat Monahan of all people about five years ago as a means of doing so. It underscores just how shocked Taylor’s promotional team and management must be feeling in how muted the response to “reputation” has been since the front-loaded opening sales week frame.
May 7, 2018 @ 10:15 am
Always happy when you chime in with your perspective Nadia.
May 7, 2018 @ 1:18 pm
Yes, good to see your thoughts here, Nadia.
It seems to me that if you would go back in the past and look for the moment when formerly huge bullet proof superstars lose their spot it would always be shocking in the moment but then with some reflection would be really predictable. In pop music even the biggest stars rarely have a run at the top more than 5-6 years and then the decline begins. This was always different in country with long careers but even that is changing now I suspect.
May 7, 2018 @ 6:12 pm
I think being able to see your celebrities all the time on the web helped change that. Now 30 is old so kids are looking to younger faces that represent them. Because teens are the market for mainstream music.
Country lioke Blues and jazz have deep roots so you can survive longer their because there is a lineage of hand it down and the young cats studying with the elders. But nowadays anyone can be a star thanks to Idol and the internet so to heck with being an understudy or earning your stripes in the trenches.
May 7, 2018 @ 6:29 pm
Yep, and then there is a period of time where a performer is treated as still being the biggest thing going while at the same time selling less and having smaller hits. Have seen that with Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake and now Taylor Swift in the last few years. I suspect it is as you say about the younger people moving on to new faces and the older (or even just slightly older) fans still clinging to an earlier generation of star.
Reminds of something I have been thinking about lately. Touring has become so much more important for an act and for the music business in general and I wonder who are going to be the big touring acts in 15-25 years? So many of the biggest touring acts are literally senior citizens. Is this generation going to cling to these acts like earlier ones did with the Eagles, Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, etc.? I have my doubts. And that will be huge for the music business.
May 10, 2018 @ 10:22 am
I can’t imagine people seeing a 50 year olf Britney Speares singing Opps I Did It Again. Or Beyonce singing Girls Run The World etc. And most of the mainstream acts do not have the chops to evolve like say Annie Lennox and do any album of jazz standards or something similar. Maybe they will write hits for younger people. But Lady Gaga singing Poker Face after 40…
I mean Cher still tours as does Elton but their careers were noit built largely on sex, scandal, and shock the music had more substance.
I like Madonna but really her time is done. I don’t need to hear Like a Virgin from her now. But admittedly I could see The Stones singing Satisfaction but I guess that is partly because it is band with instrument actually playing and singing and not just theater.
But I also know I am seeing more and more younger acts (many mentioned on here) because legacy acts can just be a sad show.
May 7, 2018 @ 6:55 pm
If Taylor hadn’t released Look What You Made Me Do as the opening single, I bet she wouldn’t have hit as massive of a brick wall as she hit a few months later. It may have hit #1 in the short run, but that was mainly because of the infamy behind it. Go past its run at #1, and it just kept falling and falling, leaving the Hot 100 after 20 weeks and she hasn’t had any song that was able to replicate that success. Mind you, she had 5 songs in the Year-End Hot 100 of 2015, three of which were #1 hits.
Meanwhile, her concert tickets have been doing very poorly, as she is really struggling to sell out tours thanks to the Ticketmaster scam and overcharged prices. Not only has the streaming era of music caught on with Taylor, but her audience also seems to have started calling her out on her greedy tactics. Now she’s releasing a collaboration with Sugarland of all people.
This Reputation era of hers was doomed from the start, and I’ll be amazed if she can recover from it.
May 7, 2018 @ 10:07 am
Dem’ legs doe’ Am I right?
May 7, 2018 @ 12:14 pm
No. You’re not.
May 7, 2018 @ 10:23 am
My kids have grown up a little since being really into her first few albums. They are still somewhat at her target audience age, but she’s lost them. It started with the last record and there is just no substance or melodies for them to latch onto anymore. This new record didn’t even register with them.
May 7, 2018 @ 10:23 am
You mean those “Reputation” album covers spread across UPS trucks didn’t work?
May 7, 2018 @ 10:36 am
Babe isn’t like Meant To Be, it sounds pop-country and fits in with Sugarland’s style. Moreover, Taylor just sings background vocals most of the time.
May 7, 2018 @ 10:58 am
It’s like “Meant To Be” in the fact that it hopes that pop spins and pop attention for Taylor Swift will push it over the top in country, and we’re already seeing that happen.
May 7, 2018 @ 11:29 am
Meant To Be started out as a pop song, being promoted on pop radio. Babe, just like “Better Man”, is being promoted on country radio with the help of Taylor’s name as a songwriter. Very different to me.
May 7, 2018 @ 12:21 pm
Of course they’re not exact side by side comparisons, but the fact is the song is using an established pop star to promote itself to country radio.
The case with “Better Man” is different entirely, though without Swift writing the song, it never gets cut. Country is using Taylor Swift’s name as a marketing tool.
May 7, 2018 @ 1:07 pm
Better Man was floundering on the charts until they announced it was written by Taylor. In both cases they used her name to have a hit, the only difference being that in “Babe” she also provides backing vocals and so she gets a “featuring”.
Meant To Be didn’t use an established popstar, it used a flop one and teamed her up with FGL hoping to find success. When the song actually did good in pop (much to the shock of who unleashed it, I am sure), they sent it to country radio because of FGL.
Babe and Better Man used Taylor’s name to gain traction on the country format, they could never work in pop. They’re too pop-country, and Nettles’ voice will never connect with pop audiences
May 7, 2018 @ 11:36 am
I’m going to disagree on comparing this to the FGL and Bebe fiasco. Taylor has at least some roots in country and though I’m not a fan of her new music, she does have some respect to the past as can be seen in her dontion to the library at the Hall of Fame.
May 7, 2018 @ 11:54 am
I wouldn’t call a “I’ll donate a million dollars to the Hall of Fame if you name this wing after me” respect to the past.
May 7, 2018 @ 12:02 pm
Actually it was 4 million and by all indications it offers a lot of programs for kids to gain interest in music. You can crap on it but I haven’t seen anyone else step up to the plate and make a donation for an impact like that.
May 7, 2018 @ 6:15 pm
Maybe or maybe they didn’t leak it or announce it. Like Trigger said everything the Taylor camp does is calculated. At this point I don’t think she has an altruistic bone in her body anymore.
May 7, 2018 @ 12:15 pm
She doesn’t have any roots in Country.
May 7, 2018 @ 2:09 pm
If I had the money, I’d pay 5 million to have her name removed.
May 7, 2018 @ 3:10 pm
I get it, it’s cool to hate on Taylor Swift and some of that hate is rightfully warranted. However, her first album had some solid songs on there especially, “Tim McGraw” and considering she was mid teens and wrote just about every song, sorry folks that’s talent. I’m assuming also that her program has helped a lot of kids get into music and play who may of not had the chance. Why do I have such optimism? Easy, there’s been several times I’ve been to places such as Hard Rock on Broadway and heard a kid’s talent show and heard a young girl talk about how Taylor inspired them into country and then play songs by Patsy Cline and Reba. Because of that, I’m not too up in arms about Taylor occasionally coming back and dropping a song, especially when compared to worst examples.
May 7, 2018 @ 11:54 am
Too bad! I was hoping to never hear about Sugerland ever again!… What’s next? A duet with Chase Rice?
May 7, 2018 @ 10:50 am
Never heard of J Cole? I don’t even listen to hip hop and I know J Cole.
May 7, 2018 @ 10:56 am
Isn’t he a clothier?
May 7, 2018 @ 11:33 am
J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar are about the only 2 “new” rappers I can tolerate because they dont mumble and actually still have traces of the socio-political narratives that rap was created in
May 7, 2018 @ 11:52 am
Taylor Swift has been terrible for country music. Instead of country being perceived as its own independent, unique genre, artists like Taylor Swift lend credibility to the widely-held belief that country is a minor league for music. We see it happen all the time; country artists like Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, and Shania Twain (to name a few) leave country behind for larger pop audiences. I think that’s why bro-country exists. They’re not talented enough to be pop so they become a hideous chimera of sorts, a combination of R&B, pop, and country. This impression of country as a minor league needs to be ended if we want any sort of quality in the music, or it will just attract opportunists who leave as soon as their fan bases get large enough.
May 7, 2018 @ 6:38 pm
Very well put!
Part of the problem might be that some pundits assume Swift, Urban, Chesney, Twain, etc. “represent” Country Music. In reality, “unrepresentative” is more appropriate because they have morphed into a style that is more acceptable to pop-loving teens.
May 7, 2018 @ 12:32 pm
Taylor is still selling around 5 000 albums a week after her monster debut numbers. She’s far from struggling. Her show tickets was an over estimation of what fans can and are willing to pay though. I think she’s dipping her toes into country because she can. She’s flexing and proving that she still the influence and writing ability to put big songs out like Better Man. I don’t know what that means as far as her return to country but I do think she’s at that point in her career where she can do whatever type of album she wants and it’s going to sell extremely well.
May 7, 2018 @ 6:17 pm
Well it did not sell well by Swift Standards. But every pop star has a decline. It just seems to be happening faster and faster. Kind going back to how it was in the late 50s. A teen idol last maybe 3-4 ate best.
May 8, 2018 @ 9:40 pm
very true Bear
May 7, 2018 @ 12:53 pm
Country or not, I’m a Taylor Swift fan. Not a Sugarland fan though. They suck.
May 7, 2018 @ 1:11 pm
Taylor Swift is a self-made superstar. She’s written all of her hits, most as a solo writer. She’s plays a ton of instruments and started not by winning a reality show, but on a label that no one knew about. Yeah, maybe she has changed what Country Music is, but she started from the bottom and wrote and performed her way to the top.
And when she got tired of people saying her music wasn’t country, she said fine, call it pop.
If every up and coming performer was as talented and driven as Taylor Swift, country music would be fine. But unfortunately, we now live in an auto-tune, 5 or 6 songwriters on every son, different producers on every track and collaboration after collaboration on the radio. Country radio sucks ass because there aren’t enough true performers like Taylor Swift.
I’m not a Taylor fan. I don’t own her CDs, and I hate the fact that my co-worker had to pay $120 bucks face value for each of her young daughters to see her in concert. I mean c’mon, but she’s a talent and nowhere near the reason country music sucks.
May 7, 2018 @ 2:12 pm
Meh, I wouldn’t go as far as her being “self-made.”
I live in Nashville. The rumors that have floated outside of Music City are pretty much true.
May 7, 2018 @ 2:48 pm
Self made? Didn’t her father buy a share of Big Machine records before she was signed? At what, 15 years old?
It’s not really organic so much as force feeding
May 7, 2018 @ 4:32 pm
Daddy Swift bankrolled the capital to start Big Machine.
May 7, 2018 @ 4:59 pm
Taylor started from the top from dad’s help with money. Lets be real most artists who go the organic route don’t start doing well as she did at young age. She isn’t that great of a performer either. A lot of her songs are ordinary. Talk about overhype.
May 7, 2018 @ 5:08 pm
TS is a barbie doll that sang and played guitar . Her songs are dreadful , in fact , albeit popular BECAUSE she is a barbie doll that sang and played guitar . she was a marketable package to an unknowing , very young and extremely impressionable demographic who all wanted to be heer ….and their moms by default .
Seriously , Derek , can you even begin to compare a TS song to something by Merle , Overstreet , Webb, Kristofferson , Prestwood , Schlitz, Musgraves , Brandy Clark or countless other incredible COUNTRY writers ??
May 8, 2018 @ 5:57 am
Your disdain for Taylor Swift almost seems pathological, albert.
Like Derek, I’m no Swift fan and would never choose to listen to her for pleasure. The one album that I’m very familiar with is Fearless as it made its way onto the hard disk of one of our cars and I have two young daughters. It’s a decent, kind of pop rocky listen. Of course, not remotely country. I think the songs are pretty good. I mean, they are not written for me, but neither are Laurie Berkner’s children songs. I don’t have your musical experience, but I’ve been a much more passionate than average music fan since my teens, and that’s over 40 years. I find much of her music to be tolerable and I will take her over Maren Morris anytime, flawed voice and all. But then again, I would take Lou Reed over Def Leppard all day long, so there’s that, I guess.
May 8, 2018 @ 7:40 am
”I mean, they are not written for me, but neither are Laurie Berkner’s children songs.”
I don’t know Laurie Berkner , Jack, but it seems to me you’ve made my point with that comparison. TS ‘ stuff really is children’s music . My ‘disdain’ for her music is that her children’s music changed the face of real country radio. With her success , the target market became children . I think we can all agree how disastrous that has been for the genre.
As bad as Shania ‘s stuff was lyrically , I don’t recall a huge shift in radio’s playlists after her success . We still got plenty of Joe Nichols , Josh Turner , AJ , George , some GREAT Easton Corbin …some great Miranda ..etc. Radio was still playing music for adults .It saddens and frustrates me that the industry lets this happen now ( FGL , Rexa ,Kane Brown , Walker Hayes etc..) AND that , ironically , the BEST songs are written and performed by female artists and rarely get the attention from radio they deserve. ( Ashley McBryde, Musgraves, Ortega , even Miranda now ….wth ? )
I’m glad your kids liked TS and Laurie’s music . Its FOR kids !
May 8, 2018 @ 8:04 am
I just love when people tell me I just made their point. That and I “missed their point” are two of my favorites.
May 8, 2018 @ 6:34 am
I’m not saying Taylor Swift is a hall-of-famer. I’m not putting her in the same class as Merle Haggard and other legends. I’m just saying she’s not Florida Georgia Line or other bro-country acts which have turned country radio into a place where I get sick to my stomach.
Just because someone isn’t the cause of country music’s recent downturn, and I believe the last few years have been the deep valley of country music, and Swift hasn’t even been on the scene, it doesn’t automatically mean they are one of the all-time greats.
Is Swift the worst thing to happen to Country music? Hell no. Does that mean I comparing her with Kris Kristofferson, Hell no! They are two completely different things.
May 8, 2018 @ 7:42 am
”I’m just saying she’s not Florida Georgia Line or other bro-country acts which have turned country radio into a place where I get sick to my stomach. ”
I’ll give you that , Derek and yeah ….it really is sickening .
May 7, 2018 @ 2:18 pm
i’ll take ‘meant to be’ all day over this flaming bag of dog turd. Quit trying to sneak back in taylor you blew it! Sell your house and get a smaller one if you’re losing money lmao
May 7, 2018 @ 2:53 pm
I’m sensing a collaboration with Kane.
May 7, 2018 @ 5:54 pm
“Prison tats on my guitar” or “When you think urban sprawl”.
May 7, 2018 @ 3:30 pm
Jennifer Nettles solo, Kristian Bush solo & Sugarland are yesterday’s news. Country radio moved forward leaving artists behind & not only Sugarland or the solo “success” of Kristian Bush (not existing) or the fast slide of Jennifer Nettles music-career.
Now we have former (?) “country” star Taylor Swift. The pop superstar is on the downswing too…but still a much bigger name in the country format than Sugarland.
On the paper “Babe” might be a win-win situation for both acts.
“Babe” is the “one last hit”-ticket for Sugarland & the “keep the fire burning”-ticket for TS.
After the bad chart performance of Sugarlands last track (“Still The Same” – #26 Country Airplay) & the flop of “New Year’s Day” (#41 Country Airplay) the win-win situation can become a lose-lose situation soon.
May 7, 2018 @ 3:44 pm
1. “Babe” happened because Sugarland joined Big Machine, and recording something by the label’s biggest artist was the easiest way to reinvigorate a nearly-dead career. The collaboration is much more beneficial to Sugarland than it is to Swift. More than anything, the “Babe” situation is comparable to when Florida-Georgia Line debuted on the BMR label and Swift used her star-power to promote “Cruise” on several occasions. At any rate, I expect that “Babe” will probably cross over to AC but not Top 40. And Sugarland has a history of success on AC, so it’s not like it’ll only happen because Swift’s name is on the track.
2. Swift’s stadium tour is using a slow-ticketing method that generally prevents shows from selling out until the final days / hours before the show. Overall, ticket sales are excellent, despite reports to the contrary. The reputation campaign is not the overwhelming failure that it’s been portrayed as. True, the singles haven’t done so well, but its streams are strong, its total sales are still above anyone bar Adele, and the tour will be absolutely massive.
3. In the past several years, Swift has discussed her intention of writing more songs for other artists as her career progresses. “Better Man” and “Babe” are two of the first three examples of her doing this (the third example being Rihanna’s “This Is What You Came For”). I’d say that Swift has something of a knack for knowing which songs are meant for which artists; her old country-pop demos found their way to country-pop artists who did them justice, while the dance-pop song went to a popstar. I don’t think we’ll ever have to worry about her trying to pass purely pop songs off to country-associated acts because she’ll be able to give them to actual pop acts.
4. Probably the ONLY thing in this article that I agree with is that Swift won’t be returning to country music any time soon (apart from some appearances on writing credits or as a featured artist, as we’ve already seen). Honestly, I’m not sure if she’s even going to do the “middle-aged with kids” country comeback that is predicted here. Her audience outside of country music is too large for her to ever fully return to the genre, so I expect her late-career trajectory to fall somewhere in the acoustic-pop / acoustic-rock area. It may appeal to country audiences, but it won’t be labelled or marketed as such.
May 7, 2018 @ 5:17 pm
I don’t think it matters artistically WHO records a TS song if the song is not good .And her songs are just NOT good . Acts and their labels , like average listeners ,have always been and will always be under the impression that if something is popular it MUST be good . TS’ music proves beyond a doubt that isn’t the case . People record her songs because they are HER songs and they can exploit HER name. It says NOTHING about the quality and integrity of a song that it may become popular ( Meant To Be , Body Like A Backroad , Cruise )
May 8, 2018 @ 11:19 am
“In the past several years, Swift has discussed her intention of writing more songs for other artists as her career progresses.”
“Babe” was written no earlier than 2013 with that dude from Train, and probably before that. That makes the song about 5 years old.
“Swift’s stadium tour is using a slow-ticketing method that generally prevents shows from selling out until the final days / hours before the show.”
Spin. Sure, maybe the slow ticket method had part to do with it and they’re not as bad as some have said, but sales are lagging regardless.
May 7, 2018 @ 4:01 pm
Shania Twain and Taylor Swift were the one two combo that KO Country music.
May 7, 2018 @ 4:51 pm
”an increasingly-crowded marketplace.”
this cannot be overstated , trigger ……
is it a good thing ….hmmmm….?
being involved in the business as a writer/performer/producer , I deal with LOTS of writers/acts and have a large network of folks I deal with regularly and who constantly send me links to artists I’ve overlooked . Add to that , of course , all of the artists SCM introduces us to , all of the singers ” Star Search” contests throw at us , all of the stuff radio throws at us , U-Tube , satellite etc…5 acts every week on each of the late night talk shows ( 5acts x 3 shows a night x 50 weeks give or take …or roughly 750 guest shots for bands ..) ….. its an absolute traffic jam out there musically .
personally , I know , as do a lot of folks , where to find all the great music I need . but I still feel an obligation to defend , protect and screen country and other genres from posers exploiting country radio to further ends that have NOTHING to do with art or authenticity …pop, country or otherwise . NOTHING !
I have never understood the hoopla surrounding T.S. …..beyond being a ‘ role model ‘ for pre-teens and there parents collaterally , this woman brought nothing lasting to country and is only generic at best as a pop artist . SHE HAS NOTHING TO SAY .
as trigger points out ‘ better man ‘ needed to be a better song with lyrics that weren’t judgemental and ONLY got a pass because of the name attached to it . give us a break ….hasn’t country music insulted our intelligence long enough ??
indeed there is tons of music out there ….new, classic , undiscovered and some just plain dreadful .
I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures . If TS on your record dupes a few more Kardashian Kulture minions and sells product , you do what you have to to survive in the biz , I guess . But c’mon ….we ALL know how many better options exist and buying into a half-baked song cuz its written by a pop culture diva is mindless in light of that .
May 7, 2018 @ 5:18 pm
Haters gonna hate….
There is no doubt that Taylor is a pop artist.
Regardless of the musical direction her career went, her first three albums are impressive on any level.
Here’s a 16 year old kid who writes her own songs, plays a multitude of instruments and co-produces her own albums and manages to sell 20 million copies in the process.
Other than Stevie Wonder, I truly can’t recall any artist in any genre that was that accomplished, at that age.
Whether you like her music or not, she is a shining example of an artist who is constantly evolving and challenging herself to be a songwriter and musician whose career progresses.
Nashville and country music would be wise to open the door and roll out a fucking red carpet.
May 7, 2018 @ 5:25 pm
”Whether you like her music or not, she is a shining example of an artist who is constantly evolving and challenging herself to be a songwriter and musician whose career progresses”
or simply put …she chases trends . this week its hip hop
May 7, 2018 @ 5:54 pm
How is Taylor “challenging” herself as songwriter and musician ? How exactly is she “evolving” as songwriter and musician ? Hoping on different genres doesn’t mean someone is evolving and challenging themselves especially when the music is bad. Who cares if she wrote some corny songs when she was teen? Taylor is an adult women. For someone her age the music is terrible. If New Years Day is any indication she should be much better as musician than she is currently for the amount of praise she gets.
May 7, 2018 @ 6:20 pm
Debbie Gibson produced her first album herself. Can’t recall if she wrote the songs. Not sure how old Prince was on his first album. And while many don’t sell millions I’ve seen enough “prodigies” cross my FB page and on YouTube that it is not special anymore.
Some get a leg like Swift, when their parents have money. And writing songs is one thing. Writing good songs is another.
May 7, 2018 @ 6:32 pm
I think Debbie Gibson did write most if not all of her songs.
May 7, 2018 @ 5:23 pm
Taylor Swift didnt ruin country music. The people buying Taylor Swift’s records ruined country music.
May 7, 2018 @ 6:11 pm
Couldn’t agree more, and I can’t help wonder why people chose calculated business entertainment image machine driven promotional propaganda “entertainers” over real artists, once they pass the age of 15. It’s depressing how soulless most people are.
May 7, 2018 @ 5:23 pm
”Haters gonna hate…”
Fitting to think that TS the ‘songwriter ‘ will be remembered for such a stupid phrase above all else ..
May 7, 2018 @ 6:21 pm
This all reminds of the early sixties song “Teenage Has-Been” by Barry Mann. Swift need to grow up and quit chasing the teenage market it will start to get creepy.
May 7, 2018 @ 8:25 pm
ineresting that no one has made mention in this thread of the fact that TS just CANNOT sing on tune . and even if she could , her voice is just not a voice that can move you emotionally . it is soulless …it isn’t a maren morris voice …or a powerful katy perry kinda voice ….it kight years from an adele voice ………it has little character to it at all really . its the voice “PEOPLE’ magazine would pick as the ‘voice of the year ‘ simply because it belongs to TS. even shania has more character in her vocals …and that is NOT a compliment to shania .
May 7, 2018 @ 11:19 pm
“Some guy you’ve probably never heard of called J Cole…”
Dude, plenty of non-rap fans know who J Cole is; dude has had like four platinum-selling albums in a row and is easily one of the top five most popular rap artists in the industry next to the likes of Drake and Kendrick Lamar. He’s been one of the most popular music artists of the past decade, no question about it.
May 8, 2018 @ 11:15 am
Eh, never heard of him.
May 8, 2018 @ 1:33 am
F*** Garth Brooks.
May 8, 2018 @ 2:22 am
On a related note, you did call it Trig and the Kane Brown- Camila Cabelo has made it’s way onto the “hot country” playlist on spotify
May 9, 2018 @ 6:11 am
Eh, the issue has always been whether it would go to radio. “Hot Country” isn’t an indication of much; I believe they had Taylor Swift’s “Delicate” on there recently.
That’s going to be the place where “anything remotely connected to country” is going to receive support, because pop, EDM and hip-hop fare far better on streaming services. The issue – and problem – would be Camila-Kane going to country radio.
May 8, 2018 @ 5:34 pm
John Mayer was right.
May 16, 2018 @ 10:02 am
“Now she’s struggling mightily to sell tickets on her massive worldwide tour for which she’s asking handsome prices.”
May 8th – University Of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, AZ 59,157/59,157 $7,214,478
May 11th – 12th – Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, CA 107,550/107,550 $14,006,96
May 17, 2018 @ 4:00 pm
Trigger, I enjoyed this article. I especially liked the comment about Taylor being honest as a recording artist while in Country music, to leave it for the Pop world.