Taylor Swift Officially Leaves Country Music
Monday afternoon (8-18), Taylor Swift conducted a 30-minute Yahoo! online stream from New York City in front of a live audience with all the irrational exuberance of a Ron Popeil infomercial, where she unveiled a new song called “Shake It Off,” announced that her new album 1989 to be released on October 27th, and after a protracted explanation, made it abundantly clear that this new album will be her “very first documented, official pop album.”
So yes country music, see you later. And sorry Country Music Hall of Fame, but your education wing is now forever named after a pop star who has officially featured twerking asses in one of her videos.
After unveiling her new single, the second portion of the informal Taylor Swift press conference played out like a protracted scene of a nasty breakup where the heartbreaker can barely muster the guts to spit out the bad news. In fact he word “country” was never uttered once throughout the presentation, and it was left very much up to the audience to put together what exactly Taylor Swift was trying to imply.
Along with the portions of Taylor Swift explaining the late 80’s influence to her new album, this is how the scene transpired.
We went into the studio and decided it was our #1 priority to make a song that sounded nothing Max and Johan [Shellback] had done, and sounded like nothing I had done.
I like to work on albums for two years, because two years gives you enough time to grow and to change, and to, you know, change your priorities. Change where you live, change your hair, change what you believe in, change who you hang out with, what’s influencing you, what’s inspiring you. And in the process of all of those changes in the last two years, my music changed. So, what ended up happening was, I woke up every single day I was recording this record not wanting, but needing to make a new a new style of music than I had ever made before. So essentially, what ended up happening was, in my opinion, we made the most sonically cohesive album we’ve ever made. We made my favorite album I’ve ever made.”
“So the inspiration behind this record. I was listening to a lot of late 80’s pop because I really love the chances they were taking. I loved how bold it was. I loved how ahead of its time it was. And so being inspired by that, I started delving into the late 80’s and what that period of time actually meant. And what I found from asking people and reading up on it, and just really just diving into the late 80’s, was that it was apparently a time of just limitless potential. And the idea that you can do what you want, be who you want, wear what you want, love who you want, and you get to decide where your life is going. Bright colors, bold chances, rebellion. And the idea of that was so inspiring to me, and the idea of endless possibility was kind of a theme from the last year of my life.
But basically in thinking about that, in thinking about all those themes, and thinking about how this album is a rebirth for me because it’s so new. I’ve never really made these kinds of changes before. And having been born on December 13th, 1989, this album is called ‘1989.’
And for the record, this is my very first documented, official pop album.
A few observations:
1) Who explained to Taylor Swift that late 80’s pop music was all about “bold chances” and “rebellion”? This is bold revisionist history, or at the least, a greatly slanted perspective.
2) Is the song “Shake It Off” in any way a departure from previous output of Taylor Swift, Max Martin, Shellback, or even what this team released on Taylor Swift’s last album? The answer is an unequivocal, “No.”
3) Lines like, “And the idea that you can do what you want, be who you want, wear what you want, love who you want, and you get to decide where your life is going,” only further this misnomer that somehow country music is this extremely limiting authoritarian regime that extremely constricts the creative aptitude of artists.
So there you go country music, Taylor Swift is gone. At least for now. And as the entire music industry seems to be moving in the direction of country music, Taylor Swift decides to cut against the grain. And along with this move goes the only female “country” music artist who could headline her own arena/stadium tour, the only female artist who could compete for the CMA’s Entertainer of the Year, and one of only three females who could land a single at the top of the country charts, further compounding country music’s female problem. If in fact, country music allows Taylor Swift to leave.
READ: Taylor Swift Is Leaving Country. But Will Country Let Her?
August 18, 2014 @ 3:44 pm
Kudos for calling this Trig.
Somebody should check on Eric and Ahmed.
August 19, 2014 @ 10:19 am
Dear Taylor,
that was the worst song I have ever hurd in my life. I realy meen that to. that is just the wurst song I have ever hurd. Thanx for posing as a country music artist long enuff to run it in to the ground with yur yankee crap. I will not be bying the new album. sugarland blows you off the stage. maybe if they rote yur next song it will not suck.
sincerely, Lil Dale from Pine Bluff.
August 19, 2014 @ 12:26 pm
how about you learn to spell before you insult someone like this? For pop music this song is actually one of the best the industry has seen in a long time. A song that is not just about sex drugs and alcohol. I applaud Taylor for taking this risk and as she racks up the awards she is going to be receiving you probably still will not know how to spell. She is a young girl and is having fun with her career why criticize her for this? She is doing what she loves and loves how shes doing it so y’all should shut the hell up and stop thinking y’all are some big shots over social media.
August 21, 2014 @ 6:54 am
lol it is so much fun to watch these people get their panties in a wad over taylor dipshit justin bieber, miley cyrus and the like. they get so mad it’s awesome
November 10, 2014 @ 11:49 pm
I never heard one country song come out of Taylors mouth or one country song written by Taylor,all her songs belonged in the POP category with Mylie and the others,
Example of a song she wears high heels I wear sneakers (does that sound country?
August 20, 2014 @ 12:28 am
Im truly convinced you’re not a human being, but most likely a stray possum that ran across a keyboard and typed out everything we had the misfortune of having to read. Maybe Lil dale should’ve paid a Lil more attention in english class. Btw props to taylor for admitting she’s finally pop, unfortunately her music still sucks and it has no place on country radio, or on this website anymore.
August 20, 2014 @ 5:45 am
I’m not so sure. I get the impression Lil Dale knew exactly how he was writing this post.
August 18, 2014 @ 3:45 pm
Listening to “1984” right now. Underrated piece of wax.
Van Halen > Van Hagar
🙂 🙂
August 18, 2014 @ 4:36 pm
Not a really big fan of that album, although it had its moments. Too much synth. I can think of several other albums from that year that were far superior but didn’t get nearly the airplay.
Completely agreed on Van Halen vs. Van Hagar, though. 😀 😀
August 20, 2014 @ 5:42 am
Dude, you’re shortchanging yourself. In just a few short years after the release of that album, pop music reached its apotheosis. An era in which bold experimentation was the norm, and avant garde acts like MC Hammer and New Kids On The Block were really pushing the pop envelope.
August 18, 2014 @ 3:50 pm
I forgot to mention. If the late 80s were bold, then hair metal is hopefully about to be replaced by grunge.
August 18, 2014 @ 5:53 pm
I guess you could say that Madonna was pretty bold and she was at her peak in the late 1980s so there is that.
August 18, 2014 @ 8:56 pm
By “peak,” you mean her cone bra, right?
August 18, 2014 @ 9:18 pm
Or the Sex book. That was kinda bold, too. Maybe that’s next for Taylor.
August 18, 2014 @ 11:01 pm
You know just the other morning
I was hanging around in my house
I had that old book with pictures of Madonna naked
And I was checkin’ it out
Well just then a friend of mine came to the door
She said she never pegged me for a scumbag before
Said she didn’t never wanna see me no more
And I still don’t know why
August 19, 2014 @ 3:54 am
This is actually a reply for Spoony:
Gary Allan for the win!! Nice to see someone appreciating his music.
August 19, 2014 @ 8:49 am
I wouldn’t be surprised if Spoony was thinking of Todd Snider, but I really like Gary Allan’s version of that song too.
August 19, 2014 @ 11:37 am
Gary Allen for the win??
August 18, 2014 @ 11:58 pm
Actually 80’s metal was at its height in 1989, it wasn’t until 1991 that it was replaced by Grunge/
August 19, 2014 @ 7:28 am
Yeah, and then once it’s replaced the fans can gravitate towards a select few artists as the “innovators” who weren’t, crown a figurehead that ends up killing himself and spawn a whole new generation of musicians that all of the fans hate because they’re “pretenders” and leave the whole genre neutered for the next 20 years because no one can shake the influence of the movement and the guy that killed himself. Sounds like a great plan.
August 19, 2014 @ 9:31 am
Yeah, and then once it”™s replaced the fans can gravitate towards a select few artists as the “innovators” who weren”™t, crown a figurehead that ends up killing himself and spawn a whole new generation of musicians that all of the fans hate because they”™re “pretenders” and leave the whole genre neutered for the next 20 years because no one can shake the influence of the movement and the guy that killed himself. Sounds like a great plan.
This has been my exact fear in relation to what happens to country music. There are already enough undesirable parallels between what’s going on in country music anymore and what was going on with hair metal in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I’ve said before that I’d think the Texas scene could survive something like that, but I’d still rather not see the genre as a whole stuck in the mid 20-teens and essentially moribund in the mainstream for the next however many years.
August 19, 2014 @ 11:01 am
This is for you, Acca Dacca. I think you might enjoy it. Cracker circa 1992.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42V8CqWw0xM
August 18, 2014 @ 3:55 pm
At least Taylor admits she’s making pop instead of continuing to try to pass it off as country. And as pop goes, she’s one of the better artists out there.
November 10, 2014 @ 11:57 pm
I completely agree,she had no business passing off her junk as country and THE CMA SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF EVEN LETTING HER JOIN THE COUNTRY MUSIC FAMILY I KNOW REAL COUNTRY SINGERS LIKE ALLAN JACKSON GEORGE STRAIT, VINCE GILL ETC. ARE SECRETLY SAYING THANK GOD AND GRAY HOUNDS SHE’S GONE
August 18, 2014 @ 3:55 pm
So was Gwen Stafani too busy with No Doubt to record these songs. Too old maybe.
August 18, 2014 @ 5:55 pm
Yep this really sounds like a Gwen Stefani cut that wasn’t good enough to make her album.
August 18, 2014 @ 11:31 pm
Yep, I was telling someone about this song earlier and I described it as someone listening to “Mickey” once and “Hollaback Girl” once or twice and then trying to make a generic “eighties” song based on them.
August 18, 2014 @ 3:56 pm
Well, judging by “Burnin’ It Down” by Jason Aldean sitting atop the iTunes top 100 genre-based chart, country music itself is having quite the identity crisis at the moment.
August 18, 2014 @ 5:58 pm
Don’t forget about Sam Hunt.
August 18, 2014 @ 4:09 pm
“be who you want……love who you want.” I think her next big announcement will be that she’s gay. Yawn.
November 23, 2014 @ 8:57 am
Taylor Swift’s songs has definitely been sounding like songs Avril Lavigne would sing. A good example is ‘I knew you were trouble’. Anyways, if she wants to cross over from country to pop, then it’s her choice. She’s still a talented artist in the long run.
August 18, 2014 @ 4:19 pm
So basically, she’ll be doing the same music she always has, just no pretend fiddle?
August 18, 2014 @ 6:30 pm
and THAT says it all Victor ………right on !
August 18, 2014 @ 4:21 pm
Credit to her for not releasing a pop or other album under Country as others have. But, really, who liked the 80s?
August 18, 2014 @ 4:21 pm
My first thoughts on hearing this song:
1) If anything, it sounds like Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend”; and
2) Dear lord, she actually sings “Haters gonna hate.”
Also, 1989? I was 9, 10 years old at the time and just getting into pop music. Fun stuff — the B-52’s ‘Cosmic Thing’ was my first favorite album, and they’re still one of my fave bands — but hardly the rebellious, anything-goes period Taylor’s making it out to be.
August 18, 2014 @ 6:22 pm
“Cosmic Thing” was one of my first cassettes too actually, though I prefer their first couple album at this point.
August 18, 2014 @ 8:26 pm
Oh, same here — looove those first two albums. 😀
August 18, 2014 @ 4:23 pm
I don’t particularly like this, but I don’t hate it either. It’s not intended for me, and I doubt its aimed at you, either. It’s pop music, it’s for kids, it’s not even supposed to be country, and they sure got that right.
August 18, 2014 @ 4:35 pm
No way country radio lets her go. Sadly Whitey Morgan would sound more out of place, this new song isn’t too far off sonically from what is played. They just didn’t even bother burying some fiddles or steel in the mix .
August 18, 2014 @ 4:44 pm
She’ll smash for sure. I like the song, and herself. Wish the best of luck! She’s a global popstar. Leave country to who loves the genre.
August 18, 2014 @ 4:47 pm
I’ve never had a problem with a Taylor Swift. None at all, in fact. She is an extraordinarily talented songwriter and (if you’ve ever seen her live) a performer in the truest sense of the word. I find so many of her songs — “All Too Well” and “Dear John” and “You Belong With Me” to name a few favorites — to be the most perfectly painted pop portraits available today, and they evoke genuine feeling and nostalgia in my heart. Regardless of her pop culture persona, I’ve been impressed with all four of her albums, and I regard both “Red” and “Speak Now” as two of the best albums of the past five years. Her discs are cohesive affairs, and I’ve been pretty excited to hear what was in store for her fifth.
But “Shake It Off” is a profound disappointment. I respectfully disagree with Trigger that this song is just like her former Shellback/Max Martin collaborations. I think “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “I Knew You Were Trouble,” and “22” were each clever affairs in their own right. The first was the epitome of a cheeky tell-off, a breakup anthem delivered with glee. The second was a smart deconstruction of an unhealthy relationship that found Swift taking responsibility for her own bad decision. (And I never minded the dubstep. It’s a pop song, and it sounded cool.) The third was the flimsiest, but it still stirred up the wondering and wandering of youth. I also think each of those songs was well-written. They weren’t up to par with Swift’s self-penned stuff, or her work with Liz Rose or Nathan Chapman, but they were miles above almost everything else on radio right now.
“Shake It Off,” meanwhile, has little strong wordplay anywhere in sight. The chorus is cookie-cutter, dime-a-dozen producer lingo (Hell, it lifts the refrain straight out of 3LW’s “Playas Gon’ Play”) — and it relies on a rhythmic chant instead of the romantic imagery she’s become known for. Thematically, the song feels like a less interesting relative of “Mean.” It has a real hook and an upbeat critic-proof concept, for sure, but it’s the musical “diary entries,” and the storytelling contained therein, that have always made Swift’s music feel magical. That’s not here. This sounds like a Cher Lloyd demo track meant to be optioned for a Venus commercial.
What confuses me most about the single is why Taylor Swift, who’s always seemed to have her eye on becoming a Carly Simon-type of legacy artist, would want to trade in her musical cred (which she absolutely has built up) to sound just like the other singles on pop radio. A friend and I were talking about it today, and he mentioned that he thinks she’s just a natural competitor. She likes to win things. Because no one was coming close to beating her in terms of storytelling, she set her sites on the pop world and began eyeing the Ariana Grandes and Meghan Trainors of the world as her new rivals. That’s his theory. I’m not sure. Maybe it’s that she’s living in New York and in the epicenter of celebrity and media. Maybe it’s something else entirely. Maybe she’s just brilliant (for the record, I do think she is completely self-aware about this image switch-up), and spending two years as a pop diva will extend her career for 20 more. We’ll see.
All I know is that I’ve always felt energized by the substance of Ms. Swift’s music, so to get a song that’s this light feels like a letdown. For any other artist, “Shake It Off” would be a slam-dunk, but Swift has set a high standard for herself. I still look forward to hearing the rest of her album, and I hope she doesn’t completely abandon the country-influenced storytelling on the rest of “1989”s songs.
August 18, 2014 @ 5:58 pm
Great thoughts, Grady. I always enjoyed your work at EW and it’s cool to see you commenting on here.
August 18, 2014 @ 7:52 pm
Grady,
It’s easier to grasp from the music video, so may I suggest that you watch “Shake It Off” with a view to confirming or disproving my theory that the song is SATIRE. It’s deeply ironic on several levels, and brilliant. This is part of the new Taylor Swift (she even calls it a “rebirth”), and so far it’s clear she intends to demonstrate her fierce wit and brilliantly comic mind much more than she has to date. She will not stop being a really polite and nice person, but she will no longer suffer fools.
August 18, 2014 @ 8:41 pm
God, I hope you’re being sarcastic with this comment.
August 18, 2014 @ 10:52 pm
You know, it’s possible that Mr. Papanos was demonstrating the alleged “deeply ironic” intent of the video by leaving a purposefully ironic comment.
Otherwise, he just stated that a video in which Taylor Swift crawls face-first through a gauntlet of twerking asses is a demonstration of her “brilliantly comic mind.”
August 18, 2014 @ 8:57 pm
The fact that so many will not have the patience to watch the video, and so many are already approaching her new stuff with a chip on their shoulder, makes me think “Well, why WOULND’T she leave country music if it’s full of people who are positively allergic to a certain drum beat and ANY effort at sonic evolution/change?”
August 19, 2014 @ 9:39 am
I think you mean “sonic DE-evolution” there, fangurl.
August 18, 2014 @ 8:39 pm
“…the song feels like a less interesting relative of ‘Mean.'”
Well put! As soon as I first heard the “haters gonna hate” stuff, it struck me as little more than a dumbed-down version of “Mean.”
August 18, 2014 @ 9:47 pm
I don’t have a problem with her either. Her music wasn’t country except for a few glimmers of hope here and there but she is a very talented songwriter. “Last Kiss” is actually a very well written song, she could retire now and have enough money to feed us all for 1,000 years so I think she’s doing it because she wants to honestly do it vs. Luke Bryan etc. selling out their sound
August 18, 2014 @ 5:00 pm
Good riddance! One down…
August 18, 2014 @ 5:04 pm
1989 HAS to be better than 1994. Right?
August 18, 2014 @ 5:09 pm
She showed us over and over that she couldn’t sing, but people kept praising her business acumen and propping her up. Some even said she had improved and might become a singer. Awe, good for her. Now she has proven that she can’t dance either, but the ticket-buying kids will think she can. And, wow can she wear those costumes and that makeup and hair! OMG the hair -(extensions)!!!! Only in mythical pop culture can someone fake it for years, rake in millions and market themselves as “she gives so much back to her fans” (using the millions they paid just to bask in her ……um…….talent…)???? Someone very aptly put it, “with the lack of vocal chops, where else can she go?”
Suckers.
August 18, 2014 @ 6:38 pm
Yes Karen . T.S is a DREADFUL singer and I don’t think most people- fans or not- would argue that point . Well …its a point that can’t be argued if you’ve listened to just about any LIVE TS performance .
Thing a bout POP is …you don’t need to be a great singer .
Thing about COUNTRY is…you HAVE to be ! That simple .
The vocal delivery is responsible for a HUGE chunk of that emotional response the music is trying to elicit . Taylor Swift has never sung a country song EVER. I Mean a REAL country song. One that lives or dies by the vocal delivery of the artist . She has always been a pop artist , at best .
August 18, 2014 @ 6:52 pm
Albert. 🙂 Amen.
I’ve been saying for years, What. About. The. Singing??
Way back when I first discovered this place, I wrote about the fact that my daughter has to audition live all the time to get her next gig and if she sang like T.S, she’d never work again and many people understood and agreed, but then something happened on this website, it became almost a fan club for her sometimes even though she, like you said, NEVER sang country. I guess, it was enough for some people that she brought $$ to Nashville and that must suffice as enough of a definition of ‘saving country music’ for some, fake banjos and fiddles aside……… She’s not the only person in music who can’t sing, obviously, but it is so obvious to anyone without a tin ear or to anyone who isn’t in love with her looks or those who live vicariously through their little idol on stage. I encourage kids and parents to develop their own talents; learn an instrument, learn how to really sing and if you aren’t musical, don’t fake it, find your true skills and talents. We all have something so I hate to see kids worshiping any celebrities, let alone someone who doesn’t deserve their adulation.
August 18, 2014 @ 9:55 pm
Some of the most amazing singer/songwriters out there can’t sing a lick in the traditional sense, but they can make you love their voices. I suggest you dig into Chris Knight. His music is like the worn wood of a barn that’s still stable. Strong, sturdy, aesthetically pleasing, and only gets better. But you’d never accuse him of being a fantastic singer.
August 19, 2014 @ 7:10 am
Will do, Bware, thanks. I’ve never thought Chris Kristofferson was the greatest singer either but his classics songs will live forever, AND, he can carry a tune. I grew to love his sound. I could never grow to love T.S.’s live sound or autotuned sound.. I can appreciate that her lyrics appeal to a segment of society, to each their own, but vocal awards?
August 18, 2014 @ 9:49 pm
Watch her cover of “Run” by George Strait…..
August 21, 2014 @ 2:12 pm
I watched it Dean, well, most of it. It almost bored me to tears with her almost two octave monotone presentation. If not for the background instrumentals and the paid arm wavers in the front row, it wouldn’t have anything of interest or musical. Sorry.
August 21, 2014 @ 1:58 pm
Britney’s been doing it for 15 years. Taylor’s song writing skills will carry her back to the future. Britney did pave the way and she can dance….that’s it.
August 18, 2014 @ 5:37 pm
If you have a young daughter who worships Taylor Swift please tell her this is crap and teach her about “good music.” She may not listen to you but its worth a try.
August 18, 2014 @ 11:10 pm
I don’t want to defend Taylor or this song, but there are two points that are important to consider here:
1) Very few girls “worship” Taylor, in the sense of seeing her as someone superior and unattainable. Instead, they view her as someone who has lived through what they are currently going through and can write songs that relate to their lives.
2) Criticizing others’ musical tastes is the absolute worst way to convince them to like your preferred music. It will cause them to further entrench themselves into their favorite songs, and it will result in them listening to your favorite songs with a far more negative ear than they otherwise would have.
August 18, 2014 @ 5:51 pm
A few thoughts on this:
1) ‘Change where you live, change your hair’ these are the first two things that she thinks of when she talks about changes. Deep, deep thoughts from the ‘voice of her generation’.
2) ‘Haters Gonna Hate’ and ‘Hella Good’. Way to stay up with the phrases of 2005.
3) On a more serious note for the country music industry this is going to have a very big influence on it’s overall market share. Without the every other year influx of digital track sales and overall album sales being credited to the country genre the numbers will take a big hit.
4) I’m predicting she will be about 38 with a couple of divorces and a stint in rehab when she comes back to her true love country music.
August 18, 2014 @ 5:57 pm
Wait, you’re saying Taylor Swift’s use of slang is dated? Talk to the hand, Scotty J.
August 19, 2014 @ 11:07 am
when Taylor is 38, Kacy Musgraves will be 39, and Leann Rimes will be 45. You just know that the latter two’s musical catalogs are going to be a lot more substantive than Taylor’s.
August 18, 2014 @ 6:04 pm
WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT TAYLOR SWIFT FUCK TAYLOR SWIFT AND THIS WEBSITE SAVE COUNTRY MUSIC MY ASS MY SHARING THERE SONGS YOUR PROMOTING THERE MUSIC
August 18, 2014 @ 7:31 pm
The idea that just because you talk about someone’s music you’re “promoting” it is the scourge of the underground and the reason those artists are forever stuck there and artists are folding left and right. I am NOT a promoter. Promoters get paid. I am a journalist and a critic. Even when I write a positive feature on an artist or album, I am not promoting them, I am giving my honest opinion about them.
August 18, 2014 @ 7:42 pm
Their songs*
You’re promoting*
Their music*
Buddy, if you’re going to try to make any sort of a rational or compelling argument, at least try to write it so that some of us can try to read and understand what you’re trying to say. First, Google the term “sentence”. We’ll continue to work our way up from there.
August 19, 2014 @ 3:28 am
Ole Justin Chambers,
Despite the fact that your poor grammar and use of all caps makes you come off like an inbred, I mostly agree with you. I abhor Taylor Swift, hate everything about her from head to toe, and would prefer not to see articles about her on my favorite music website.
August 19, 2014 @ 9:11 am
Believing that if we don’t talk about things then they either do not exist or will cease to exist is the absolute seat of vanity. It’s like a young child who thinks if they close their eyes, they disappear from the rest of the world, especially when concerning an artist as big as Taylor Swift. I don’t like talking about Taylor Swift either, but in a situation like this, it is essential for a site called “Saving Country Music” to at least address the issue.
August 18, 2014 @ 6:26 pm
“I like to work on albums for two years, because two years gives you enough time to grow and to change, and to, you know, change your priorities. Change where you live, change your hair, change what you believe in, change who you hang out with, what”™s influencing you, what”™s inspiring you”
all i can say is, if a person changes all those things every two years ”¦ there doesn’t seem to be much of a real person there.
August 18, 2014 @ 6:42 pm
Plus she makes it sound so organic when in fact her albums have been put out almost two years to the date from each other. I don’t know of any other act that has had such a rigid release schedule as she has and that makes the whole thing look so calculated.
She may as well as announce a media event for mid August 2016 right now.
August 18, 2014 @ 6:33 pm
I know I may get hate for this, but I actually quite like the song. I’m very interested to see what the rest of 1989 is like and it doesn’t bother me that she’s going pop, but I hope that the other songs have the substance that she had with the previous album
August 19, 2014 @ 2:05 pm
When I listened and watched the video, I actually didn’t hate it.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a terrible song; basically a vapid, meaningless version of “Mean.” She’s never been very country, but her songs have always been very personal and meaningful. Some of them I would even call “good.”
Something about the fact that she abandoned the “country” label, and then proceded to release something so hilariously polished and devoid of personality, somehow makes me like her as a person a little bit more. Like she’s just trolling everyone a bit and poking fun at how we’re taking this all so seriously.
I don’t know, I probably won’t listen to the album more than once, and I hope this song doesn’t get tons of radio play, but I was surprised by my own reaction watching the video.
August 18, 2014 @ 6:48 pm
Commence the countdown clock until the first time we hear this song on country radio.
August 18, 2014 @ 8:40 pm
Tomorrow morning on the Bobby Bones show. He’s apparently played that Meghan Trainor song so why not this.
August 18, 2014 @ 7:04 pm
The prose version of my reaction:
I have never had much patience for TS, at least not when she was pretending to be country. Some of my female friends in the U of Minnesota’s MGIS programme like this type of music and even my male friends don’t understand my primary interests in music (prog rock, heavy metal and, of course, REAL country). This, however, was the last straw in my dealings with TS. She has become little more than an Autotuned Disney type.
The poetic version of my reaction:
What passing thoughts for her who has this done?
Only the monstrous drum machines do play.
The synthesizers make me scream and run
As Radio Disney plays this all day.
This mockery of music’s brought me here
Unto my last resort, which prompts me now
To take my boombox to a window near
And chuck it out onto the grass unmowed.
On my computer, I downloaded tracks
With substance, talent and intelligence.
Each cost about ten bits, then four more cents
To give me that which Taylor sorely lacks.
Alas, my buddies do not understand
My music; old-school country is most grand.
The short, unadulterated, simply unfucked around with version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH4hK3KTGVE
August 18, 2014 @ 7:33 pm
I think it’s a very risky move for Swift to completely abandon country music. I don’t think that once her pop career slows down (pop music landscape is very fickle), she will be embraced again by country music especially country radio. If I remember correctly, after the massive crossover success by Faith, Shania, and LeAnn, they never really made it back to list of top women of country radio. LeAnn has been making incredible records as of late, but she is not longer a radio darling.
But hopefully, after Swift’s departure to pop music, country radio will really start playing other talented ladies who deserve to be heard.
August 19, 2014 @ 7:37 am
I don’t think LeAnn can ever come back from the whole crazy, home wrecker image. Once she decided to start broadcasting her every crazy thought on twitter, she lost alot of fans. Well the ones that she hadn’t already lost when she cheated on her husband/helped break up another family.
As for Faith, I’m not sure where she went wrong. The whole “reaction to Carrie Underwood winning” thing should have been easier for her to brush off. Personally, there is just something unlikable to me about Faith. I can’t exactly put my finger on what it is though.
I think Taylor is likable. She seems goofy and a bit immature but she is still comes across as down to earth (as down to earth as a young multi millionaire can be). As long as her material ages with her, (go easy on the teeny bopper breakup songs) I think her fan base will follow her to whatever genre she chooses.
August 19, 2014 @ 11:32 am
True, but country has gone so far pop these days that I doubt there’s any or much backlash anymore for “not staying true to country’s roots” like when Shania and Faith and LeAnn did it. And Shania became a global superstar, she didn’t need country music anymore (and still doesn’t). And if Shania would ever get around to releasing an album, my guess is country radio would be all over it. If Taylor releases something remotely country in the future, like she did with “Begin Again,” my guess is country radio will play it. Because it doesn’t sound anything different from all the pop stuff on county radio right now anyway.
August 18, 2014 @ 8:10 pm
She’ll be back. Pop artists do not last. Let’s hope Country Music forgets her too – but it won’t. Not if money can be made.
August 18, 2014 @ 8:33 pm
I wonder, will she still sing “Tim McGraw” in her live shows? Would most people at those shows even know that song?
August 18, 2014 @ 8:51 pm
Let me get this straight: the word country was *gasp* never uttered once in this broadcast, as you point out, and yet the line of “And the idea that you can do what you want, be who you want, wear what you want, love who you want, and you get to decide where your life is going,” is somehow a direct characterization of country as counter to those ideas? It only “furthers” that misnomer if you were watching some other broadcast called “Taylor Swift Gives Country the Middle Finger.” Maybe in your head, you were.
Sorry, trig, but that’s trying to have it both ways and you’re being a hammer looking for a nail there, like the jilted lover who takes their ex’s exultation of a new beau as a direct attack on HIM (the old beau). So many people chastised her for even considering HERSELF country, and now that she’s conceding explicitly to not being so, she’s being chastised for that. The girl can’t win with some folks I guess.
Not to mention the fact that the whole video was meant to be an example of self-effacing humor. She’s not expecting her “twerking” to be taken as a serious evolution in “maturity.” You’re thinking of Miley Cyrus. I also don’t think the kids visiting the Taylor Swift Education Center give a rat’s ass what “genre” the girl who built it is currently engaging in. Pretty sure they’re just happy to have the opportunity to learn some music.
August 18, 2014 @ 9:07 pm
‘The girl can’t win’
She’s almost 25 years old she’s not a girl, she’s a woman.
The infantilizing of a mega rich woman just amazes me.
August 18, 2014 @ 9:09 pm
You’re right. She is a grown woman. I’m not saying she NEEDS the approval of the people who already have a bias against her, I’m saying they might wanna find an actual punching bag. It’s probably a healthier tool for exercising their frustrations.
August 18, 2014 @ 9:16 pm
Bias? Maybe they just don’t like her or the direction her music is going.
Why so defensive? She’s just a pop singer.
Frankly, you sound like some cult member talking about Dear Leader.
August 18, 2014 @ 11:40 pm
I’m sure that the bro-country “artists” would also argue that their songs are meant to be humorous.
The humor defense simply does not excuse bad songs.
August 19, 2014 @ 6:55 pm
Amen Eric . AND I would argue that for a song to appeal ,on a humorous level across the board , it has to be a much BETTER , much more crafted lyric than most contemporary lyrics are.
( Weird Al ?-genius ).
August 18, 2014 @ 8:53 pm
Just wanna follow-up a bit to my recent comment: it’d be one thing if she was casting the POP genre as one that allows more freedom; then MAYBE you could argue that she was implicitly attacking country as being restrictive. But she was talking about a period of time and the spirit it embodied. Actually, though, even if she WAS saying that country is a creative straightjacket, considering how many people wanted to burn her at the stake for shipping anything without a prominent banjo and fiddle to country radio (and Sugarland for Stuck Like Glue’s reggae-stuff), she wouldn’t be totally wrong, would she?
August 18, 2014 @ 9:23 pm
Clear Channel apparently has an artist deal for this song as it’s being played once an hour at the top of each hour on the CC-owned Top 40 and Hot AC stations around here. At first glance it appears (not surprisingly) the Country stations are not included, as they were with “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” In light of that I’ve now heard the song on the radio several times, including on the CBS-owned Top 40 radio station in Detroit. To me it sounds like Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend” – or even (anyone remember this?) Madonna’s “Gimme All Your Luvin'” (another song that had a CC airplay deal on CHR and Hot AC stations, and crashed and burned after the deal was over) – meets Pharrell Williams’ “Happy.” Above average as far as Top 40 music goes, but to me Taylor’s best and most mature music has come when she was working within a country, or at least country-ish, style (i.e. “Begin Again” on “Red”). If her whole album is full of songs like this, it doesn’t bode well for the album’s shelf life or her pop career in general.
August 18, 2014 @ 11:02 pm
Since my name has been invoked in this thread, I will give my opinion on this song.
Warning to Taylor fans, though: you might not like what I have to say.
The fact that Taylor has gone completely pop does not surprise me very much, given that she has heading at a rocket-like speed in that direction for two years now. What disappoints me about this song more than anything else, quite honestly, is how dumb the chorus lyrics are:
Cause the players gonna play, play, play
And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate
Baby I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake
Shake it off
The silliness of this almost descends to the level of parody.
The people who should really feel insulted here are not country fans, but pop fans. It seems that whenever Taylor writes a pop song, she descends far below her own standards to put out the shallowest and most stereotypical lyrics possible. Apparently, she views pop fans with the same level of respect as bro-country “artists” and labels afford to country fans. Given that pop fans are the very demographic that propelled Lorde to the top of the charts over the past year, this type of condescension seems to be a surprising miscalculation from such a marketing-savvy artist.
Furthermore, the first verse seems to reveal a disturbing and unwarranted inferiority complex that I had not heard Taylor previously express:
“Got nothing in my brain”
I have heard many critics slam Taylor for being “not country”, a bad vocalist, a one-note songwriter, etc. However, I have heard very few people ever accuse her lacking intelligence. In fact, one of the reasons that I came to like Taylor to begin with was her thoughtful articulation in interviews. Ironically (and sadly), songs like this may actually create a reputation of “having nothing in the brain” where almost none has previously existed.
One more thing: if her album is based on an 80’s pop theme, then shouldn’t the lead single sound like an actual representation of 80’s songs? As an aficionado of 80’s music, I can say with confidence that I would have never become a fan of that decade’s songs if the general sonic style had resembled “Shake It Off”.
This may seem off topic, but I think I have good antidote for this mess of a song. It is an underrated Patty Loveless gem that has become one of my favorite songs to listen to on repeat ever since Country Universe introduced me to it a few weeks back:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob4T87XxS3Y
August 18, 2014 @ 11:20 pm
She is this decade’s Leann Rimes and 1989 is 2014’a Twisted Angel.
August 18, 2014 @ 11:31 pm
“I was listening to a lot of late 80”²s pop because I really love the chances they were taking. I loved how bold it was.”
Yeah, sure, if Debbie Gibson and Tiffany were “bold” and “risk-taking.” ;p The early-mid 80s had some interesting pop music, but by the end of the decade it was pretty warmed-over. And that’s what this sounds like, the new Debbie Gibson. I will give her credit for making a truly “pop” sounding record and not something that crawled out of the bowels of a club.
I don’t have any problem with this as long as it isn’t played on country radio.
August 19, 2014 @ 7:45 am
Remember the rapping cat in that one Paula Abdul video? I’m pretty sure he was NWA’s heaviest influence.
August 18, 2014 @ 11:37 pm
If Taylor Swift thinks that country music is not rebellious enough or too limited in what you can sing about than I’ll be personally willing to buy her a couple of EmmyLou Harris, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, John Prine and Merle Haggard albums. When she starts singing material akin to “To Daddy”, “D-I-V-O-R-C-E”, “X Rated”, “Mama Tried”, “Hobo’s Lullaby” etc. then I’ll call her rebellious and out there. And those songs and the many, many more like them in no way limit an artists creative potential.
Singing 80’s style pop is in no way close to being “rebellious” or “free with the musical wind” unless we’re specifically talking about Madonna or a very select few other artists. I don’t recall a-ha, Whitney Houston, Devo or Men At Work being particularly rebellious.
August 19, 2014 @ 6:59 am
Taylor Swift was once pictured in a record store buying the “Trio” album by Emmylou, Dolly and Linda.
August 19, 2014 @ 8:12 am
Did she put it back on the shelf after the flash went off?
August 19, 2014 @ 8:58 am
Motown Mike, while they’re some of the greatest artist of the genre, if they were just starting out today none would get airplay, their music is too substancial.
August 19, 2014 @ 10:49 am
You really don’t know anything about Devo, do you?
August 19, 2014 @ 12:29 pm
Marty Stuart said it best about rebellion in country music: “Today the most outlaw thing you can possibly do in Nashville, Tennessee, is play country music.”
August 19, 2014 @ 7:03 pm
“If Taylor Swift thinks that country music is not rebellious enough or too limited in what you can sing about than I”™ll be personally willing to buy her a couple of EmmyLou Harris, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, John Prine and Merle Haggard albums. When she starts singing material akin to “To Daddy”, “D-I-V-O-R-C-E”, “X Rated”, “Mama Tried”, “Hobo”™s Lullaby” etc. then I”™ll call her rebellious and out there.”
Well said….. and an excellent observation M’nM .
This was my contention a few posts ago on this thread . You need to be a COUNTRY SINGER to sing a COUNTRY SONG such as the ones you’ve pointed out . TS NEVER was a COUNTRY singer ….she may have been singing what SHE thought were country SONGS …but she was never a COUNTRY SINGER . At the risk of repeating myself ( oh to hell with that ..) she is BARELY a singer at all !! A lovely person ? Probably . Passionate about music ? Sure , I guess . A presentable role model ? OK …compared to many others…yes…sure she is ! A COUNTRY singer ? Sadly …no .
August 18, 2014 @ 11:52 pm
This is the best thing that has happened to mainstream country in years. As much as I dislike her music, I gotta give her a little bit of credit for being more up front than many other crossover artists about leaving the country genre.
August 19, 2014 @ 5:07 am
I am hugely disappointed because I think she’s hugely talented, incredibly special. I was hoping the max martin stuff was just a temporary phase, something she wanted to try for one album.
I don’t own Taylor swift and she can do what she wants, and not to sound too dramatic, but I can’t help but feel like I’m witnessing the death of a ‘career that could have been’. She’ll leave a legacy, but I just wish she wanted to leave a different one than this.
August 19, 2014 @ 5:43 am
Sounds like one of those crappy music videos you sometimes see at a movie theater before the movie trailers start.
August 19, 2014 @ 5:45 am
Here’s an article that best explain Taylor’s new single and video…
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/08/18/taylor_swift_shake_it_off_video_swift_shakes_off_her_haters_and_her_old.html
August 19, 2014 @ 8:49 am
Why does that article “best explain” the single/video? To me, it’s just another fawning article about a pop star.
August 19, 2014 @ 5:46 am
A hack is a hack.
August 19, 2014 @ 5:52 am
Well written, as usual, but just wanted to point this out:
“………… and it was left very much up to the audience to put together what exactly Taylor Swift was trying to infer.”
Imply. The speaker implies, the listener infers.
Not being a smartass, just passing it along.
August 19, 2014 @ 6:13 am
I can’t believe how bad this song is. I like good pop music. This is not it.
Haters gonna hate hate hate? Players gonna play play play? This from a person who actually has bona fide songwriting cred is very disappointing. (Did she forget “regulators born to regulate late late?”)
In some ways I give her more respect for doing this than going the Shania route and releasing a pop and country version of the same record. Still, to pretend that this is some kind of bold sonic statement is a bit much. Whatever she departed brought her even closer to the lowest common denominator.
August 19, 2014 @ 9:36 am
Did she forget “regulators born to regulate late late?”
HAHAHA! Great minds think alike, Big A. 😀
August 19, 2014 @ 6:22 am
What an awful “song.” The only thing worse than the “song” is the abysmal video. I wouldn’t want my kids within 100 feet of that collected assortment of undesirables gyrating in that manner. Disgusting.
August 19, 2014 @ 6:44 am
I’m not going to write T-Swift off just yet. Her lead of single for Red was a generic, catchy, radio-friendly pop song. But the album produced some well written, frankly good pop songs. I, shamelessly, like 22, All Too Well, Everything Has Changed, and Red itself isn’t a bad song.
Even think about Speak Now… that album led off with “Mine” as the first single. Another generic, pop-country, radio-friendly song relying on catchy hooks. But dig into Speak Now, and you get songs like Sparks Fly and Long Live (which I’d argue are some of her better songs over the span of four albums thus far).
It seems to be Taylor’s thing to kick off an album with a lead single relying more on catchy musical beats, lyrics, etc. and not necessarily good lyrics. I’m not going to base my opinions on her albums on the lead single… she’s proven wrong before.
August 19, 2014 @ 8:09 am
You know what I found most interesting about this whole endeavor? The fact that Taylor Swift made it very clear that she wanted her newest album to harken back to the late 80s pop scene.
Here’s my question: WHY? You want to know the top artists of 1989? Chicago. Paula Abdul. Will To Power. Richard Marx. Warrant. Bette Midler with ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’. Debbie Gibson (the proto-Taylor Swift). MILLI VANILLI.
These were years where hair metal and synthpop were collapsing, hip-hop was still lodged underground, and a load of soft rock glop ruled the airwaves. When your best contributors to the top ten are Janet Jackson and Bobby Brown, and your longest-lasting song is ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorn’ by Poison, you’re in serious trouble. And Taylor Swift claims to be inspired by this era?
Well, in some way, I’m not surprised that milquetoast soft rock moves her. Sure as hell matches the general tempo of her music.
August 19, 2014 @ 9:09 am
The reason Taylor Swift thinks the late 80’s was such an awesome time in pop music is because Max Martin told her so. It was the time when producers ruled, and used artists simply as vehicles for their studio incarnations. Look at Milli Vanilli—the entire thing was cooked up by a producer in a studio, and they got two German models to act the thing out on stage. Max Martin and Shellback are using Taylor Swift as their animatronic money-making puppet, and so no wonder it will hearken back to the time when electronic music became universally accepted and the human element was eradicated from popular music. At least in the mid 80’s you had some one hit wonder who actually composed from inspiration.
August 19, 2014 @ 3:03 pm
This career path of hers is really kind of odd when you think about it. Most teen stars that last start out being controlled by producers and promoters and then they break out and establish their own identities. Think Ricky Nelson all the way through Justin Timberlake. And the music usually gets deeper as this evolution continues but with Swift the opposite seems to be happening. She started with a producer who was willing to let her be the focus and now she is going to these Svengali types.
It really is an interesting career path. Start introspective and even a little artsy and then become more superficial. And I’m not talking about genres I’m talking about depth.
August 19, 2014 @ 9:51 pm
Or maybe it’s simply because she was born in 1989.
August 19, 2014 @ 12:11 pm
Well, it was piano-driven pop. That year had Gibson’s “Lost In Your Eyes,” Marx’s “Right Here Waiting,” and Warrant’s “Heaven.” Guns N’ Roses even released the piano-driven “Patience” that year (a song that Carrie Underwood routinely covered in concert during her early years in country music).
As this site alluded to a few months ago, that type of music that doesn’t fly well on radio anymore because it’s mostly concert-driven (upbeat tempo) songs that get released to radio these days.
August 19, 2014 @ 2:33 pm
Guns N”™ Roses even released the piano-driven “Patience” that year
I think you may be thinking of “November Rain.” Now that you mention it, though, it would be interesting to see if that song was Axl Rose’s attempt to keep up with the times. I remember reading that he did have a bit of artiste in him that Slash et al didn’t, but I am still curious.
(I remember all those other songs. God, pre-adolescence was aaaaawwwwwkwaaarrrd.)
I was thinking hair metal circa 1989 had at least a couple of years left, but either way I’d agree that it by and large was not an era to look back fondly on ”” but then I’m a bigger fan of the more traditional metal bands like Metallica, Judas Priest, and Iron Maiden, so take that for what it’s worth.
August 19, 2014 @ 2:53 pm
Yeah ‘Patience’ was 1989. It was on the quickly released album ‘G N R Lies’ which was rushed out when ‘Appetite’ totally blew up. The thing I remember about ‘Patience’ was how totally different from the songs on ‘Appetite’. It was like a totally different act. ‘November Rain’ was from the ‘Use Your Illusion’ records in 1992.
For me as I was graduating high school and starting college Guns N Roses were absolutely huge. They just seemed so authentic as opposed to hair metal acts. They were hard rock gods to me.
August 19, 2014 @ 3:04 pm
”˜November Rain”™ was from the ”˜Use Your Illusion”™ records
So it was. My mistake! I only have Use Your Illusion II and “November Rain” was from Use Your Illusion I.
And yeah, GnR Lies was a completely different animal compared to AfD. I had almost forgotten about “Used to Love Her”…
August 19, 2014 @ 3:07 pm
…But I had to kill her.
August 19, 2014 @ 3:13 pm
“I had to put her six feet under, and I can still hear her complaaaaaiiiiiiiiiin…”
August 19, 2014 @ 8:44 am
Trig, You called this long ago.
August 19, 2014 @ 9:03 am
Trying not to gloat 😉
August 19, 2014 @ 4:59 pm
But what about Timberlake?
You need him for a perfect score!
August 19, 2014 @ 5:01 pm
Once the track list is revealed we’ll find out for sure.
August 19, 2014 @ 9:31 am
I watched the whole video because she as hotter than hell in some of those outfits. Jesus Christ. Give me a tall, slender blonde any damn day of the week.
August 19, 2014 @ 12:35 pm
So many hot looking women have really bad taste in music.
August 19, 2014 @ 3:03 pm
Yuck.
August 19, 2014 @ 10:14 am
Who explained to Taylor Swift that late 80”²s pop music was all about “bold chances” and “rebellion”? This is bold revisionist history, or at the least, a greatly slanted perspective.
No shit, right? I mean, I really like a lot of that stuff, even if a fair amount of it falls under the “guilty pleasure” category, but it strikes me that the terms “rebellion” and “pop music” are mutually exclusive, at least in theory. The rebellion in the ’80s was underground, just like it always is.
August 19, 2014 @ 10:22 am
Complete departure. We get it, but you have to say, this is one catchy song and will completely rule radio for the next few months, Boo hoo all you want, but her fan base is just getting larger. She’s young and having fun. I’m sure she will be back in country, as she slows down and gets a bit older.
August 19, 2014 @ 11:05 am
I have to say I’m of two minds about this.
One the one hand, it’s disappointing that this is the same woman who released the great “Safe & Sound” with the Civil Wars. An album’s worth of songs in that vein and of that caliber from an artist as big as TS would be a game changer for country music.
It’s also disappointing, as others have noted here, that she’s basically rewriting history and putting one of the worst eras of pop music on a pedestal that it doesn’t deserve. This wouldn’t be so egregious if the age of her fans didn’t mean that they’ll buy it hook, line & sinker.
On the other hand, as pop music goes – this is pretty great stuff. The lyrics may be dumb, but they’re catchy and still relay a positive message. The song’s got a great beat – maybe not as intricate as “One Thing” or “Milkshake”, but it’s infectious and makes me want to hit the repeat button & the horns are a great colorful addition and work well with her voice. Taylor seems to be having alot of fun with this song and there has to be room for her not to take herself so seriously all the time.
August 19, 2014 @ 11:28 am
As Mötley Crüe sang in 1989 (See what I did there?), “Don’t go away mad – just go away”.
August 19, 2014 @ 11:55 am
And if the sound of the song is any indication of how the album as a whole is going to sound, the title 1989 is false advertising, because it really sounds more like Avril Lavigne circa 2007. Yes, Gena R., you really were spot-on with your remark that it sounds like “Girlfriend.” I had the chorus of that song running through my head the whole damn time.
Not my bag, for sure, but kudos to her for calling it a pop record. Here’s hoping the country music establishment accepts that country and Taylor Swift are well and truly over as opposed to shifting the goalposts for country just so she can even technically still be considered to be as much.
August 19, 2014 @ 12:33 pm
If any of you really listened to her music you would have seen the shift over the past 5 albums. Her first album IS country. documented and all. As she got older yes her music shifted more pop. But look at all the big name country stars out there, most of them are “Country-Pop” like Taylor was. So why are they not being criticized for it? Why just because Taylor Swift is the only one to say it out loud it makes it okay for you all to bash her and her music? She is 24. Most 24 year olds don’t want to sing and dance to songs about the country and all of that junk. What matters is that Taylor is still making music to still be a role model for your little girls. She is not making music about sex and drugs or humping a foam finger on stage. She is young and is having fun which i see no reason for bashing. It is a good song. It is different and will take getting used to but it is very good. I predict a few years down the road she will return to country music one day but as for now shes young and living up her life in one of the best ways we have seen a young artist do.
August 19, 2014 @ 12:55 pm
I understand you’re speaking from your own perspective Megan, but there is plenty of criticism out there for all the artists who are being more pop than country in what is supposed to be the country genre.
“Most 24 year olds don”™t want to sing and dance to songs about the country and all of that junk.”
Well, okay.
She is not making music about sex and drugs or humping a foam finger on stage.
But this new video did cross a pretty significant line with the twerking and Taylor’s pelvic thrusts. I don’t want to come across as stuffy, but Taylor is definitely breaking new ground here towards the raunch side of things.
August 19, 2014 @ 9:58 pm
I agree, Trig. I read a post on her FB page from a mother who said her 10 year old will not be watching the video.
August 19, 2014 @ 2:29 pm
“She is not making music about sex and drugs or humping a foam finger on stage.”
….Giver time, Meagan….Give her time!
August 19, 2014 @ 10:01 pm
And, megan, if people are bashing her music it’s because they don’t like it. Happens.
August 20, 2014 @ 6:06 am
Tay will never be truly pop until she puts a “Feat. (insert rapper-of-the-moment’s name here)” on all her singles. Seriously, does anyone in pop ever cut a track that’s not a duet? With the regularity that they show up on each others records, it’s like they’re all members of the same shitty band.
August 23, 2014 @ 2:37 pm
Funny I just thinking about how there have been no really great duets in mainstream music in the last ten or so years. The “featured artist” sings maybe three lines simple to cash in on the single sales. I remember a music journalist on Charlie Rose maybe six years ago complained in a interview that hip-hop wasn’t getting enough credit at awards shows as it should because of all the collaborating going on. I laughed out loud because she made it sound like some great masterstrokes were being created along the lines of Waylon and Willie (can’t think of a great hip-hop reference right now). But the fact is even back then collaborations like these were damn cliches and were just checklist lyrics 0 and bridges. Not true duets like Conway and Loretta or Salt ‘n’ Pepa a En Vogue to site some hip-hop example. It all sounds so bloody phoned in that it just reeks of cash grab. It may make some some perfectly fine top forty pop but artistically it is void. Bring back the art of the duet to mainstream music!
August 19, 2014 @ 1:19 pm
I was going to complain about the song but then I realized I’ve been watching every episode of that horrible (I mean BAD) show “The Dome” just because Dwight Yoakum is in it.
I guess if she makes people happy and isn’t helping to screw up country music anymore, more power to her.
August 19, 2014 @ 1:22 pm
Did you forget about Shania Twain? She was the first one to do all those things. She holds the title of BEST SELLING FEMALE COUNTRY ARTIST OF ALL TIME. She has the BEST SELLING COUNTRY ALBUM OF ALL TIME. Come On Over is THE BEST SELLING FEMALE ALBUM (in any genre) OF ALL TIME. Shania filled arenas, she won Entertainer of the year, had many number 1s on country & had many hits on the hot 100. Taylor isn’t the first Female to accomplish these things. Shania was!
August 19, 2014 @ 2:21 pm
Everything you said is only true because Shania Twain is from a time period where people still bought albums. It was also a time period where people were still buying cassette tapes (especially for cars) and then later buying the same albums again on CD.
I don’t mean to take anything away from her at all, but she hit it big during a magical album sales time period.
August 20, 2014 @ 5:56 am
Shania never played stadiums.
August 23, 2014 @ 2:31 pm
True and I BLAME Shania for country music’s downfall. When she released both “country” and “pop” versions of the same album. The record execs saw just exactly how the could still make “country music” and cash in big time on the mainstream pop market. Simple: Still call it country music but make pure pop music. The audiences will never know.
And I believe Shaina did sell out stadiums round here.
August 19, 2014 @ 1:35 pm
“rebellion” ?
guffaw.
August 19, 2014 @ 5:46 pm
I friggin love love love this. Pure pop greatness right here. Can’t wait to hear the rest of this album.
August 19, 2014 @ 7:12 pm
Unless I missed it in the thread , is this song not a near-ripoff of the ‘HAPPY’ vibe…the one Pharell Williams is getting all the attention for these days?- An up-tempo positive message , retro-sounding dance video with fairly trite lyrics and ” a good beat you can dance too” as the American Bandstanders would have described it ? Sounds way more Go-Go dancing 60’s than 80’s to my “ancient ” ears .
August 19, 2014 @ 8:08 pm
I would like to think Taylor’s just trolling herself when she released “Shake It Off”. It’s near disgusting. Don’t even begin with the cringe-worthy video.
PS: I am a die hard fan of Taylor Swift.
August 19, 2014 @ 8:21 pm
You give her waaaaaaay too much credit.
August 19, 2014 @ 10:03 pm
Hope it’s just a Chris Gaines phase for Taylor Swift. Country or not, she’s miles way better than this.
August 19, 2014 @ 11:57 pm
Actually, I”™m a Chinese high school student. Last night I came across “Shake it off” and that”™s the very reason why I couldn”™t fall asleep until around 3:00 (thanks to “Captain, Captain” by Crooked Still saving me, otherwise even later). It”™s catchy, energetic and inspiring as a pop song, but disappointing for Taylor”™s bypast country fans. Upon listening to the song, two kinds of contradictive feelings occupied my mind. For one thing, I shamefully enjoyed this song. I simply felt high about the melodies and beats with my feet uncontrollably stamping. For another, such an imitation of typical Avril or Katy Perry products is so far away from country, and ceaselessly repeated lyrics, the kind of tell-you-I-have-grown-up-pop voice and her “fashionable” dressing in the mv made me somewhat uncomfortable.
Several years ago, a friend recommended Taylor to me (my ears from the cocoon) so I had a try. Songs like “Our Song” and “Mean” were quite impressing. The sound of violin and banjo freshed the whole day for me. That”™s when I began to crazily fall in love with country music. For me, Taylor aroused my interests in it, and stars like Brad, Miranda and Denver drew me deep into this kind of fantastic genre. In my mind, country music is rooted in life and nature. It can be a story about our neighbor”™s car being stolen, or a hymn to sunshine on one”™s shoulders, or a country boy”™s gratitude to the small town where he was born and raised. It”™s so sincere, so honest and therefore so touching. This is why country music is so special compared with all those hot singles yelling “you hurt me I hate you we break up I love him” or “it”™s a good time it”™s a good time it”™s a good time”, which are irrefutably brainwashing but nutrition-lacking as well.
The friend claims she”™s a fan of country music, but in fact she”™s more a fan of Taylor. She is merely one of the many who simply feel crazy about her melodies and appearance and affairs, rather than country style. Now, a lot of my schoolmates knows Taylor, but very few knows about Miranda. Perhaps it”™s because many of them appreciate more of transient pleasure music products bring to them than the essence of the five letter word: music. They often forget that how great a song is shouldn”™t be simply judged by the number of people listening to it.
Taylor”™s changed. Or we can say she never changes. It”™s also correct. Just now I came across a line on Billboard: Taylor Swift is going pop, and that is a good thing. Maybe it”™s commercially good for the big machine pushing behind her and politically good for the pop market. And yes, dimensionally good for her purse. As for country music? For country fans? For CMA? For herself? I beg to differ. The only thing I know is that I”™m high and sad.
BTW, this is really a fantastic fabulous awesome website! And Trigger thank you so much for sharing much information and views! Seems like I have to improve my English to fully understand the article”¦
August 20, 2014 @ 5:35 am
I’ve always been a Taylor fan. I’ve never considered her “country,” but I respected the fact that, in the monotone world of pre-packaged, autotuned pap, she wrote her own stuff and played her own instruments. And she did it all without flashing her kibbles and bits at every opportunity. But I feel like she used country as nothing more than a stepping stone to become what she wanted to be all along, a pop princess.
Because let’s face it, she’s pretty but not gorgeous. Cute, but not sexy. Talented, but not flashy. There is no way she would’ve made it in pop if she had started out in that genre. She used us. Plain and simple.
Oh and I don’t know who lied to her and told her that late ’80s pop was somehow transcendent. It was shit.
August 20, 2014 @ 8:03 am
So it looks like Taylor Swift will no longer making anymore country music. I’m glad her next album has no country music and I’m glad Shake It Off is pure pop. Let’s hope Taylor Swift gets to move all her country music to pop stations. Why? I want Taylor Swift to play all her country songs in general on pop radio. It needs to happen. Tim McGraw and Sparks Fly would be perfect of pop radio so that country radio will no longer play country Taylor Swift songs like Red. Please pop radio, please play Tim McGraw, Picture To Burn, Should’ve Said No, White Horse, Mean, Sparks Fly, Ours, Begin Again, Red and Tim McGraw’s Highway Don’t Care on pop radio stations. Pop radio needs to play these “country” songs. This really needs to happen this year.
P.S. Shake If Off dents the building Country Airplay chart at No. 49 according to Billboard. What the fart? How about no. Taylor Swift’s pop songs is for pop radio only, not country radio or crossover for country. So get over it, country Billboard charts and country radio.
August 21, 2014 @ 3:09 am
What a relief to know she’s quit foolin’ people with the word ‘country’.
August 22, 2014 @ 8:41 am
Taylor Swift is a Sith, we always knew she was a Sith… and now we can move on.
August 25, 2014 @ 7:45 am
Cringe worthy!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/25/taylor-swift-isolated-vocals-vmas_n_5708143.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592
October 28, 2014 @ 11:38 am
taylor swift had country class, a young icon
nows she just another average pop artist
October 28, 2014 @ 11:45 am
Lamont U R right on and I agree 110%.
Swift was a gracefull country artist, but she’s tossed that for soda pop. Next thing I suppose she’ll do some RAP CRAP. If she does that she can never go back to country.
U nailed it on the head when you said:
” she”™s pretty but not gorgeous. Cute, but not sexy. Talented, but not flashy. There is no way she would”™ve made it in pop if she had started out in that genre. She used us. Plain and simple. “
November 4, 2014 @ 6:58 pm
Taylor Swift was never country, never liked her songs. Just sharing Altair’s opinion don’t hate because that guard knows how it feels!
November 16, 2014 @ 5:59 pm
We won’t be missing much. She’s going to turn into Gagya.
November 19, 2014 @ 1:53 pm
I’ll admit Taylor Swift has had one prosperous, fast paced career so far and she is no doubt talented (if you like songs that teenage girls swoon over!). Of course, as she gets older (WOW, she’s a big 24 now, right?) I do believe her song themes and lyrics will mature. As long as she has an audience whether it be Pop or Country fans – or both for that matter – her songs should become the kind of music that more adult audiences can relate to..
I disagree with the comments by “country” on 8/18. First, Taylor Swift can’t hold a candle to the REAL ladies of country (like those you mentioned – Martina, Shania and LeAnn Womac.) However it has been my experience that the Country Music community including artists, songwriters, all the execs. and so on are the most open, forgiving, and welcoming folks in any of the major music industries. As we all know there have been more than a few country music artists that have screwed up royally with everything from alcohol, drugs, sex, and you name it, only – down the road – to get themselves right with their Maker, Universal Spirit, or whatever they believe in. After proving that they are sincere and “pay their dues” once again, are welcomed back into the world of Country Music and given the support needed to work their way back into the hearts of the Country music fans. Taylor Swift just might turn out to be one of those lucky few.
So, everyone should buy her music, or not and let her live her life doing what she is obviously convinced is best for her at the present time and fan or not we should wish her the best and not add any more stress to her life (even if she has brought a good portion of that stress on herself)!
While I am not a big fan of Taylor’s music, I do think she is a talented young lady who just MAYBE following the lead of those who don’t have her best interest at heart – at least not for her future in the music business. Currently she is on fire but as she begins to mature she may realize the folks from her country music roots were in her corner and hopefully will be again.