The Case That Taylor Swift No Longer Wants to be Country
Last Sunday night’s Academy of Country Music Awards were set up to be Taylor Swift’s night. She was the artist with the most-dominant, most commercially-successful release in country music, and in the entire music world overall. But Taylor didn’t even win one award on the night, not even the fan-voted Entertainer of the Year that she’s taken home the last two years from the support of her massive fan base. Taylor Swift is arguably the most-popular artist in all of music, yet she didn’t even perform at the ACM’s except in an accompaniment role with her record label’s new toy Tim McGraw. The most significant development from the 2013 ACM Awards might not be Luke Bryan’s Entertainer of the Year win or the country rap performances, but Taylor Swift’s 0-fer with the awards and lack of significant participation in the presentation.
So what is going on with Taylor Swift and country music in 2013? For years the droning, tiresome argument of whether Taylor Swift is country or not has raged on incessantly, with the obvious answer from an observance of her music being “no,” but with country radio, country awards shows, and the country media and industry welcoming Taylor and her huge fan base in with open arms. But something has changed since the release of her last album Red in October of 2012, hinting that Taylor Swift herself may be wanting rid of the rigid country format that has firmly ensconced her in the crosshairs of country criticism for years.
Taylor Swift did not feel the need for a solo performance at the ACM Awards, but she scored the opening performance at this year’s Grammy Awards in early February. At the Grammy Awards the year previous, Taylor Swift won two Grammy’s for her song “Mean,” arguably the most country song she’s ever cut. She also performed the song on the Grammy presentation in a very country setting with shards of old wood as her backdrop, wearing a simple country dress and playing a banjo.
At the Grammy Awards this year, one whose underlying theme was the dominance for roots music with Mumford & Sons taking home Album of the Year honors, Taylor 
performed one of her most pop song to date–“We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” that included the most grandiose, ultra-pop live production possible. And even though Taylor Swift didn’t bother with a solo performance at the ACM Awards that were held in Las Vegas, she’s announced she will be back in Vegas for the Billboard Music Awards in May, where she will be contributing a full performance.
And then there’s the business of all of these Taylor Swift pop singles she’s been releasing one after another to Top 40 radio, while country radio goes virtually ignored. During the production process of Taylor’s album Red, at the prodding Big Machine label head and executive producer Scott Borchetta, Taylor Swift brought in pop hit producers Max Martin and Shellback to co-write and produce songs for the album. The collaboration resulted in only three tracks, but the three most pop tracks out of Red‘s 16 total songs. And despite being a small percentage of Red‘s content, the Max Martin / Shellback songs have comprised all of the album’s first major singles–“We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “I Knew You Were Trouble,” and “22.”
The tepid “Begin Again” was released to country radio, but it felt like a token afterthought to the more dominant “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” whose primary mix was purposely labeled “pop.” The “country” version of the song was the remix instead of the primary mix–an unusual reversal for a country artist–and was only available to radio upon request, not to consumers. 7 months into Red‘s album cycle, and country radio has yet to see a substantive single from Taylor Swift, even though the 16 tracks of the album include many songs in the same vein that Swift has found success with on country radio before.
And as to be expected, those pop songs have been massive commercial successes. “We Are Never…” has been certified triple platinum, and “I Knew You Were Trouble” quadruple platinum. And Taylor Swift is said to already be recording new material for a new album. With the overwhelming commercial success from the Max Martin / Shellback collaboration and the virtual ignoring of Red‘s more substantive, more country-palatable tracks, what are the odds of what the direction of her new material will be? Taylor does have a single with her name on it climbing the country charts, but once again it is the “Highway Don’t Care” song of Tim McGraw’s that she appears on.
Sure, as the album cycle of Taylor Swift’s Red continues to elongate, she may make a move back to the more country side of the world, but at this point, why would she? Though a wide view of Red still reveals Taylor’s propensity to be a pop star with substance, the way she’s navigated releasing the singles and handling the award show performances for the album seems to hint that she’s no longer concerned with participating, or even paying homage to either the country format that gave rise to her stardom, or the singer/songwriter depth that created not just a big fan base, but a loyal one; one that would never let a fan-voted award go by without a Taylor Swift win.
So if Taylor Swift is truly attempting to extricate herself from country, when will the country charts catch on and quit including her in their country rankings? And when will the country award shows quit nominating her? And however big of a fish Taylor Swift is, will she be gobbled up by the much bigger pop scene that doesn’t offer as much grass roots support as country? And how does Taylor’s move of not wanting to be perceived as a role model anymore factor in?
The tiresome arguments back and forth of whether Taylor Swift is country or not may soon be coming to an end, but not because one side or the other will win. It’s because Taylor Swift herself seems to be wanting to tell the world she’s no longer wants to be considered a country music artist.
April 12, 2013 @ 10:13 am
Well Carrie was the biggest female country act of 2012 and went home empty handed & with no EOTY nomination.
April 12, 2013 @ 10:30 am
She actually hasn’t won Entertainer of the Year the last 2 years. Mr. Shelton won it and recently remarked something along the lines of “I’m entertainer of the year, I get to decide how country music moves forward”, followed by the old farts and jack@$$ comment.
But in looking at past winners, she did win it in 2011 and 2009.
April 12, 2013 @ 10:52 am
Taylor Swift has won the ACM for Entertainer of the Year the past two years. Blake Shelton won the CMA for Entertainer of the Year in November 2012, and won the CMA for Male Vocalist in 2011, which stimulated him deeming himself the “decider” and followed up by the “old farts and jackasses” comments. Two different awards. It can be confusing. The CMA’s for the record are considered by many as the more prestigious award.
April 12, 2013 @ 10:43 am
I wonder how much longer her contract with Big Machine is?
I do not care I’d I ever hear another Taylor Swift song, and I certainly haven’t followed her career, but my outsiders perspective is that she wants out. Celebrity status has changed her. aside from some faint banjos and forced twang in her songs, they’re all as pop as it gets.
Her fan base is one who will herd to whatever scene is popular at that moment, so maybe she sees a shift away from the country scene.. Who knows, I’m just speculating.
April 12, 2013 @ 11:01 am
I think she can stay with Big Machine and be a pop star just fine. As evil as Big Machine might be in the erosion of the term “country,” they actually treat their artists very well, giving them fair contracts and a lot of creative freedom compared to Nashville’s other major labels. At least they do for the moment.
April 12, 2013 @ 11:28 am
i read somewhere that the acm eoty is decided 50% by fan voting and 50% by a jury but it was on the internet so i dont know if that true or not. if it really is 100% fan voted i cant beleive swift wouldnt have won easily theres no way aldean could send more voters to the acm website. i didnt watch the acm show but a friend who did watch said that audience response towards swifts name as one of the eoty nominees was surprisingly tepid.youve talked before about how the acm awards are decided by how strong the artists label is and how hard it pushes for their artist maybe big machine decided to back off this year to head off any kind of backlash from country fans towards an album that is very uncountry.
April 12, 2013 @ 3:22 pm
The fact that the ACM process is known for being gerrymandered by labels looking to persuade public sentiment about artists, and that Taylor Swift unarguably has the largest fan base of any country artist, and one more likely to take the time to vote (young girls), the only way she couldn’t have not won is if she (and Big Machine) didn’t want her to. I know there’s some conspiracy in that, but there’s no way Luke Bryan’s fan base outvotes Taylor Swift’s, or even Blake Shelton’s.
April 17, 2013 @ 8:56 am
She did not need her fans to win this. She needed the AMC voting body to give their 50% to her which clearly they did not. I am all for conspirocy theories, but this is pretty cut and dry. Weather more fans of Tayors voted or not, she still needed a strong standing with the industry to cement the win. She didn’t get it.
And I think you underestimate the number of Taylors fans are even kids who know what the AMC’s are. HEr larger support is coming from noncountry fans. I think that is pretty obvious.
April 17, 2013 @ 11:07 pm
The ACMs decide privately what the fan/academy voting ratio is each year (look at the small print). My guess is they decided to give it to one of the hosts of their show. Taylor definitely wanted it. She was asking fans at her concerts to vote, and mentioned it lots on twitter in the days leading up to the event (using both photo memes and self-recorded videos). Also, she appeared at the Country Radio Seminar with Florida Georgia Line and did interviews with country radio prior to the ACMs. Plus, she has invited mainly country acts to support her on tour. This was a case of the ACMs not wanting Taylor, not the other way around.
April 12, 2013 @ 1:04 pm
While I largely agree with your points here, Trigger, there’s one present detail that does stand out all the same.
Her Max Martin/Shellback formula appears to be showing signs of wear, in that her current single “22” is positioned at a tepid #29 on the iTunes Top 100 (interestingly, it is faring better internationally, including in the United Kingdom where it is presently on track to make the chart’s Top Ten) ……….which on the surface isn’t bad for sure but nonetheless a significant step down from the digital dominance of its two Max Martin/Shellback predecessors.
I’ve also been keeping tabs on her daily airplay updates. “22” has been plodding along throughout the past two weeks: posting meager to almost non-existent gains day to day on Mainstream Top 40 radio. It only gained +29 spins today and about 340,000 in audience impressions (compare that to a +248 spin gain for Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s “Can’t Hold Us”, and even a ***gulp*** +111 spin gain for the rap re-mix of Florida-Georgia Line’s “Cruise” featuring Nelly)
Like you have previously predicted, I think overexposure is adversely affecting Taylor Swift, and if the current status of “22” is any indication, it will be necessary for her to re-evaluate her formula (and aspects of her image) going forward in order to avoid sharply diminished returns.
April 12, 2013 @ 2:17 pm
I don’t know the demographics – but isn’t her fan base late teens? I think any performer with that fan base is going to have a short shelf life. Fans age, are drawn to more mature music, and the next generation of teens look for someone new. Broadening beyond country might be an attempt to make the transition to more mature artist and find new fans. Maybe her base is broader, and she is more than a teen idol, but it strikes me that way.
April 12, 2013 @ 4:50 pm
That’s the thing. Taylor has been talking like she wants her music to mature, how she’s using more reality and less fantasy in her stage show, etc. But when it comes to the Max Martin/Shellback material, I think it is the most immature material of her career, if not for the only reason that she is not being herself. As silly as this may sound to the cultured music, her appeal was her authenticity and that she wrote her own songs. This is what separated her from the rest of the teen music world, and created loyalty throughout her fan base. People would go to bat for Taylor when others said she was just a pop star.
Also, if you look at the trend in music right now with artists like Darius Rucker, Sheryl Crow, Kelly Clarkson, Jewel, and other “gone country” artists, they CAME to country as they matured, perceiving country to be a more mature audience, more receptive to older artists.
April 13, 2013 @ 6:27 am
I really haven’t heard much of her music, so was speaking in general. I do think it is hard to transition from being a youth oriented artist, regardless, but you make an interesting point about country being perceived as a more mature genre. I suppose the emphasis on lyrics has something to do with that. If Swift’s appeal was her authenticity, I wonder if her fans will be hungry for more as they mature, and look beyond superficial pop and pop country.
April 12, 2013 @ 4:41 pm
Good research.
Clearly “22” hasn’t risen to the commercial success of the other two Martin/Shellback songs, but it also hasn’t benefited from a big awards show performances like the other two. Taylor also performed the first two songs on New Years, which had billions of viewers around the world. “22” might get a boost if she performs it at the Billboard Music Awards, but I agree, I don’t expect it to do as well as the other two.
When I go back and read my notes, “22” was the one song out of the Martin/Shellback material that I felt had a little something, and seemed to be a song Taylor started and got help with, instead of a song emerging from Martin/Shellback looking to manufacture a hit. Seeing how I thought this song has something means it probably doesn’t have the mass appeal of the other two ;).
The other symptom of Taylor’s overexposure is possibly her inability to turn out the ACM vote. The girls who grew up with Taylor and defended her as a good songwriter have had to eat some crow with these maga-pop hits and some elements of Taylor’s personal life. Taylor traded short-term success with pop songs for her fan base’s loyalty.
April 12, 2013 @ 7:34 pm
A children’s song about being 22. How stupid is that 😉
April 12, 2013 @ 2:08 pm
I guess this means then that the major enemy left is country rap.
April 12, 2013 @ 2:58 pm
“7 months into Red”˜s album cycle, and country radio has yet to see a substantive single from Taylor Swift” – I would argue that’s entirely true, based on the amount of play “Begin Again” has gotten on country radio.
April 12, 2013 @ 2:59 pm
I meant “not entirely true”
April 12, 2013 @ 3:32 pm
Begin Again would have peaked at number eight on the airplay chart if Big Machine hadn’t unnaturally forced it to a number three peak. It had an immediate drop off the charts within a few weeks of its peak, which is always extremely suspicious and a good sign of manipulation. The fact of the matter is “Begin Again” only peaked at number ten on the ‘all-format’ country chart – it got caught up behind WANEGBT and IKYWT. She probably won’t release another country single from the album with “22” rising, unless she tries to push “Red” to all formats after 22 finishes its run.
April 12, 2013 @ 6:13 pm
Exactly Eric C. I acknowledge that “Begin Again” did do pretty well, but nowhere near “We Are Never…” or “I Knew…” It possibly could have, but all the attention got sucked toward “We Are Never,” and I believe that was on purpose.
I kind of expect “Red” to be the next single after “22,” but even that has very little resemblance to pop country. It could still do well on the country chart. Interesting that “Red” was the song Scott Borchetta was listening to when he suggested (or told) Taylor she should work with Max Martin.
April 12, 2013 @ 3:01 pm
IMHO It’s kind of hard for her to leave “Country Music” since she never really was
April 12, 2013 @ 3:18 pm
what does any of this have to do with Bob Log III?
April 12, 2013 @ 3:35 pm
IMO this was inevitable. She clearly had interest in charting at pop exclusively with “The Story of Us”, but that was an incredibly tremendous flop. It is her only single to peak outside the top 40. If she wants to release pop-only singles, she has to go full-on, which she has this era. Taylor Swift is only country insofar as it helps her advance, and she has basically gone as far as she can there.
April 12, 2013 @ 4:14 pm
I’ll add that I suppose Swift could always pull a Faith Hill (that is a hilariously-beyond-belief desperate stunt for renewed country credentials a la “Mississippi Girl” with lyrics replete with laundry list descriptors and excuse-making as to why she sought pop stardom) if she wanted to in anchoring the eventual follow-up album! 😉
*
“Cuz a Wyomissing girl don’t change her ways,
sippin’ shine from mason jars on jacked-up tailgates,
with the radio cranked up to eleven,
y’all come down and let the party begin,
if you love apple pie, fried chicken and dumplings,
and swimmin’ in the creek past midnight just like me,
hell yeah I’ve been all around the world,
but it’ll never change the fact,
I’m just a Wyomissing girl!”
*
She can even invite one of her rapper friends like B.o.B. (or Jason Aldean! 😉 ) to offer a guest rap! =P
April 12, 2013 @ 7:02 pm
That’s pretty funny. But Wyomissin’ ain’t Mississippi. Faith could fall back on her southern roots. And Faith never dated a Kennedy.
I don’t see Taylor coming back to country.
April 12, 2013 @ 6:53 pm
Taylor Swift leaving country is a good thing for country music and country fans.
She’s been following the Shania playbook. She used country music fans to launch her career, then she abandoned them. “Red” is Taylor’s fourth album. “Up!” was Shania’s fourth album. Both were full on pop. Their music is not country, they do not care about country music’s traditions or its fans, but they show up for the photo ops. I think one of the worst moves in George Strait’s career was letting Taylor open for him. But a good man is allowed to make a mistake or two.
April 13, 2013 @ 11:30 am
I’d argue against the Shania Twain abandonment thing because she never went to the same extent that Taylor has with this album, and she deliberately made a more country tinged version of the tracks (the Green Version). Plus, she released predominately to country radio and actually scratched all the pop radio releases (Nah! and I’m Not In the Mood (to Say No)) in favor of a country release. Finally, if you go see her show in Vegas she has some heavily country influenced aspects of the show. She didn’t leave the country format but transcend at times whereas Taylor seems to just be leaving.
April 13, 2013 @ 12:28 pm
Shania did leave country, but she continued to use country music fans after she left. Most of the music on “Up!” was full on pop, but she continued to push it to country radio. The “country” mix was a joke, because the songs themselves were not country. I have also read her autobiography and what struck me there was that she had nothing of substance to say about the direction of contemporary country music and her influence on the genre. She seemed to have a disinterested attitude about country music in general.
April 13, 2013 @ 7:43 am
I agree with your observation that Taylor is trying to distance herself from country music. The fact that she walked away with nothing at the ACMs shows that her fans are also saying she’s not country anymore either. I’m surprised she’s on the lineup for the CMA Music Festival in June. But that has become a joke as far as “country” acts are concerned. This will be my last year going to “Fan Fest”. I can make better use of my money flying in to see my favorite artists perform at the Ryman instead.
April 13, 2013 @ 11:18 am
I may be part of the 1% when it comes to Taylor’s fanbase, and from what I’ve observed, my fellow 1%-ers are actually as confused as I am. Like, at one point, it seems like she’s tired of the shady system and wants to get out. And it’s like she’s doing whatever Borchetta told her. With the radio deals he had, he’s the one who benefited the most with the pop-hits. But at another point, it seems like she’s trying so hard to cater to they younger crowds, and ignoring those who have grown with her. Weird situation.
Even weirder, why doing pop when the kind of music she used to make (and still, but still stay as album cuts) is just about to take off on the mainstream scene?
So many questions.
April 13, 2013 @ 11:48 am
What’s interesting is that this seems to happen to many singers who achieve huge commercial success, not just Taylor. Shania Twain lost her focus, and lost her touch, on her fourth album, “Up!”. I think she would have stayed more relevant after 2000 if “Up!” had sounded more like “The Woman in Me”. Carrie Underwood had a huge opportunity with Christians in 2005, when millions of Christians fell in love with her after “Jesus Take The Wheel”. But she squandered it by releasing many pop songs with messages that belied her good girl image. The big question is, why do so many of Nashville’s most popular singers lose their focus? Is it because of the singers, or is it because of the system they have to work in?
April 13, 2013 @ 12:05 pm
No one knows, but if it’s because of the shady system, than I’m glad that Taylor chose to leave. Her last disc hit harder than her previous efforts, even with insipid MM tracks. Too bad that it’s MM tracks which got the push and leaving the others only for those who are willing to dig deeper.
April 17, 2013 @ 9:31 am
Sorry, but I gotta step up for Carrie right there. Just because she released a song that meant alot to her and it connected with a lot of Christians does not mean that she is then bound to making Christian music for her christian music fans indefinately.
I personally was afraid of peoples reactions to Before He Cheats after having sung Jesus, Take the Wheel. But only because I was concerned about attitudes like yours.
She herself does not need to be judged on “changing” just because she can sing about different subject matter and make it sound believeable.
She is a christian woman. Everybody knows that. But she is also a creative person and can release different styles of music without compromiseing her integrity.
Ok, I’m done. Back to Taylor…….. hee hee
April 13, 2013 @ 3:11 pm
Taylor Swift pre “Red” seemed to embody a philosophy of letting Taylor be herself and that would to endear her to a world hungry for authenticity. I think what happened with “Red” is they got greedy. Being the biggest music star in the world was not enough. They needed to figure out how to create growth in an already huge franchise. And I think part of the motivation for Scott Borchetta is because he’s attempting to build the biggest media empire possible, and Taylor Swift is his prized hen.
That’s the problem with money, you can always have more.
April 14, 2013 @ 6:29 pm
Which makes me even more mad at her. Why couldn’t she see his intention and chose to go along with it, even if she’s unhappy with it? What has Scotty Boy told her?
I expected more from someone whose dream collab is with Imogen Heap, not pop tarts.
Would be nice if there’s someone who is willing to spill the dirt.
April 17, 2013 @ 9:14 am
Why would it be so difficult for you to believe that this is all of Taylors own making? She herself acknowledged that Scott gave her full freedom to make the album she wanted to make. Scott himself stated that she was clearly making a pop album and he allowed her to do what her creativity wanted to do.
So I think turning her into a vicim of circustance (AGAIN) is just going too far.
To suggest that this is all happening “to” her is to ignore just about every move she has made for the last 5 years. Everything she is doing is to promote herself as a pop act.
Can we please try to steer clear of the “poor taylor is being used” idea. It simply does not float.
April 13, 2013 @ 11:37 am
Here is an interesting article about the erosion of Taylor’s image:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/fashion/for-taylor-swifts-image-erosion-is-a-danger.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
According to the article Taylor’s popularity score has fallen substantially and CoverGirl has let her contract expire.
She has done a number of things starting at the end of 2011 which I think has weakened her brand. She straightened her trademark curly hair. She changed style of dress, replacing innocent sparkly dresses with sexier outfits. She started publicly idolizing the Kennedy family, dated the Kennedy boy, and generally appeared to be “trying too hard” to be a Kennedy. She changed her sound to be much more generically pop.
She appeared to be trying to shed her “sweet and innocent” image that middle America had fallen in love with. This seems to be a stupid move, because a big part of what made her successful was the public’s willingness to overlook her shortcomings and let her get away with just about anything. America’s sweetheart wears Teflon. As Taylor shed her sweetheart image she has also lost her Teflon. And her fans are left with an average looking girl with an average voice, belatedly trying to be the next Britney Spears.
April 13, 2013 @ 1:29 pm
if you want to talk about her personal life or image, you are in the wrong discussion. I recommend, people, us magazine, etc.
April 13, 2013 @ 2:17 pm
The recent change in her image has been accompanied by a change in her music, and with her leaving country.
April 13, 2013 @ 3:22 pm
Generally speaking I don’t think it is our business what’s happening in people’s personal lives, and it’s never healthy to harp or obsess on it. However I do think it is relevant to this particular conversation to an extent. Also, when a celebrity starts dating other celebrities, many times this is done purposely to stir the tabloids and increase exposure for a celebrity brand. In that case, as far as I’m concerned it’s open game because in the end that’s what the celebrity wants–us all talking about it.
April 13, 2013 @ 3:19 pm
Good article and good thoughts Adrian, I agree. The thing about Taylor’s image before “Red” is that it seemed like it wasn’t an “image” it was just Taylor Swift being herself. Now it is clear Taylor Swift is NOT being herself, and no matter what her image is, that will be a turnoff for her fans.
April 13, 2013 @ 4:50 pm
“Now it is clear Taylor Swift is NOT being herself…”
I agree with most of your points in this article, and those here in the comments, but I’m not so sure about this one. I don’t really know if anyone is in a position to judge if she’s truly being herself or not. Let’s not forget that she’s a young woman still, and I don’t know of any woman who didn’t change her style/looks/etc drastically somewhere around the time she turned 20. The transition from teenager to adult is a big one for a woman. I just think of all the people I knew who went away to college and cut off all their hair (me), got some tattoos or piercings, completely changed their wardrobe, etc. There’s a lot of figuring out who you are and reinventing yourself around that age.
Of course, I’m not stupid. I realize she has a team behind her that is likely crafting an image for her brand right now. But it’s just as likely that Taylor herself really HAS matured past the sundresses and cowboy boots (as the article linked above discussed) and wants to try on a more glamorous style.
And there’s nothing to say that she might not come back around to the sundress and boot style someday, just like those of us who grew our hair back out and let those piercings close up. It’s difficult enough to make the transition from girl to woman without having to do it in the public eye. And I’ll give the girl props for managing it relatively gracefully so far. We have certainly seen our share of trainwreck transitions (Britney, Lindsay, Bieber).
April 14, 2013 @ 12:14 pm
Clearly some of the music on “Red” came from Max Martin. And Max has been in the music industry far longer than Taylor has. Thus I don’t think the Max Martin sounds came from Taylor simply being herself.
Your statement that “Taylor herself really HAS matured past the sundresses and cowboy boots” does not make sense to me. Why are sundresses and cowboy boots things that people are supposed to mature out of? Is George Strait less mature because he wears boots? Are sundresses appropriate for a teenage girl but not for a grown woman in her 20s? Or are fashions that are associated with the country style somehow considered to be inferior?
April 14, 2013 @ 5:13 pm
I was speaking just about her image. I have not listened to the album, so wasn’t speaking directly to the music. I also do not have the depth and breadth of knowledge of the industry and all the players involved to speak intelligently on the music itself.
And the “sundresses and boots” comment was in reference to the article you linked to above. Taylor’s style from a few years ago was young and girly with the flowy dresses. It seems to me she’s now trying on a more glamorous style – with the costumes and designer gowns and whatnot. I wasn’t implying that “country style” (boots, etc) in general is immature, but that was a style associated with a younger version of Taylor.
April 17, 2013 @ 9:24 am
And I would, of course, argue that she is being “more Taylor” than she has ever been.
As much as you can theorize that Taylor was that girl in the sundresses and boots sitting in her room at night writing songs about boys, I can theorize that she is and always was focused on being a famous Star. And she is closer to her dream than ever before.
The only real problem now is, people believed her previous personna enough that now it is hard to accept who she really is.
And what is so terrible about who she really is? Nothing! Except that is not who she proclaimed herself to be.
April 13, 2013 @ 11:54 am
Which those are more about marketing than the actual music.
Because other than 3 MM tracks on the last LP, she’s actually heading more ‘alternative’ than pop. And there are fans who don’t really care about those stuffs, even though we are in the minority.
April 13, 2013 @ 1:00 pm
She is a 23 years old girl who has accomplished everything in the music industry, try and explore new things is natural for every young artists, don’t act like she’s a 30 or 40 year old artist who has lost her horizon, at 23 I think she has plenty of time to decide what she wants to be or maybe she wants to be nothing at all just taylor swift the singer songwriter, lately I have heard alot of luke bryan songs and my humble opinion is that, he is as country as taylor, the same thing for carrie and hunter, the difference is that she is taylor swift and everything she does is maximized 100 more times. (cell phone sorry)
April 13, 2013 @ 2:24 pm
It has less to do with Taylor’s age than with popular Nashville artists losing focus after a few albums. Shania Twain was a 37 year old woman when she lost her focus on “Up!”. Faith Hill was a 35 year old woman when she lost her way with “Cry”. Carrie Underwood was in her 20s when she lost her focus by releasing pop songs that catered to the party crowd. Leann Rimes was only in her late teens when she lost her way with “Twisted Angel”.
I see a pattern here. I’m not sure whether it was the social pressure to fit in that eventually got to their heads, or whether it’s the suits in Nashville who are pushing female crossover artists in this direction.
I hear some defensiveness in your comments, I guess you must be a Taylor fan.
April 13, 2013 @ 1:28 pm
It’s not as if Taylor Swift did not try and rally her fan base to vote for her at the ACMs. My daughter received weekly e-mails from “Taylor Nation” reminding fans to vote for Swift for EOY.
April 13, 2013 @ 1:33 pm
nop 50% fans and 50% jury, I guess the jury was the last word
April 14, 2013 @ 10:00 am
I find this whole discussion irrelevant. (Not because of honest opinions or someone’s likes or dislikes, but because in my opinion, she never was a country singer in the first place and no matter what genre her handlers decide to market to death next time, she still won’t be……..). She is an ‘entertainer,’ according to some. I, personally, have to leave stores when her stuff starts playing.
The day that the quality of music and who was a singer or not a singer, started being decided by teenage popular vote, was the day the music died. Sorry, Don McLean.
April 14, 2013 @ 12:40 pm
The ACM criteria says EOTY is “…determined by a combination of votes from the professional membership of the ACM and fan voting (online and/or text).” So I think she didn’t get enough votes from the industry mainly because she went so pop with the Red album. Also most of her fans are teen pop fans and how many of them pay attention to and vote on country awards?
I don’t know if Taylor no longer wants to be country but she’s over 90% pop. Some of her songs are pop country but I don’t think she’s ever recorded a pure country song and her newer albums barely have any country in a few songs. I don’t dislike her but hated her label releasing a pure pop song to country radio, annoying the heck out of country fans like me every time it plays. For that she or her label should gotten the Most Annoying of the Year award. It’s the equivalent of putting Geroge Strait’s “Twang” on pop radio only that would be an improvement. And Billboard changing the Hot Country chart rules to cater to pop songs like WANEGBTA is also inexcuseable. Bill Werde said some people in Nashville don’t like it but country is going pop. Terrible. It has to be the label and radio suits doing this and my guess is Universal Music Group led the way. After all they are the biggest and most powerful label and benefitted from this.
Clearly Taylor’s camp is doing whatever it takes to sell the most records and make the most money, which for her is to go as pop as possible since she has that huge teen pop fan base, lyrics, and voice. She was destined to go all out pop a few albums back when Big Machine struck a deal with the biggest international label (Universal) to distribute her music worldwide, where pop is far more popular than country, for huge global sales like Kelly Clarkson and Britney Spears. That’s when they started remixing her songs for pop radio.
I don’t care what Taylor does and it’s her music and career, but please keep pop songs off of country radio! Country radio playing WANEGBTA is the same as them playing a Britney Spears song. I listen to country to get away from pop and there’s plenty of pop stations we can tune to if we want to hear it. The less country and more pop country radio plays, the less I listen.
April 14, 2013 @ 2:45 pm
I don’t think she wants to be country. The popular culture of teens and young adults has also become more urban in recent years. Most young people want to move to big cities. This has also coincided with the election of Barack Obama, the first big city liberal President in several decades, and the increasing influence of urban and hip hop sounds in mainstream pop music. This is a big cultural shift from 20 years ago, when country music was very popular with young people and many cities saw a “white flight” to the suburbs.
The old “sweet and innocent” Taylor sound might still appeal to the 10-15 year old tween crowd, but the trend towards cultural urbanization is likely to be affecting the tastes of girls in their late teens and early 20s. If Taylor wants a Hollywood career she might be feeling some pressure to change her image to fit in and try to be more “sophisticated”. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the negative comments from the feminists on the left about Taylor’s “traditional” image had started to get to her head, either.
April 15, 2013 @ 9:00 pm
“And her fans are left with an average looking girl with an average voice, belatedly trying to be the next Britney Spears.”
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Who you looking at ?
That’s why she has been named “100 Most Beautiful Women” and “Most Beautiful Musician” etc… by various magazines from 2008 to 2012.
She was on the cover of every major fashion magazine and magazines like Rolling Stone, including most recently on the cover of Elle and Vanity Fair earilier this year.
To me, that’s quite an impressive and stunning display for someone who is “average” looking…
it’s like Tiger Woods beating Michael Phelps in swimming.
I could stay here all day contradicting your comment but I have to go.
April 15, 2013 @ 9:53 pm
She has appeared on lists of the “100 most beautiful women” because 1) she’s famous, and famous celebrities get more attention, and 2) she had carefully cultivated her image as “America’s sweetheart”, e.g. by wearing sparkly dresses, making hand heart gestures, and generally acting young and girly and helpless. Many other mainstream female pop and crossover artists e.g. Carrie Underwood, Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Britney Spears, etc were much prettier than Taylor.
April 16, 2013 @ 3:32 am
It doesn’t really matter, but she performed ‘we are never getting back together’ at the grammy’s, not ‘I knew you were trouble.’
I don’t think taylor WANTS to get out of country music, I think she wants to have her cake and eat it too-I think she’s hoping to venture out into pop, and still fit in with the country crowd. she tried to get herself votes for EOTY, reminded her fans it was coming up, etc. I don’t know how the EOTY voting/decision works, i’m just glad she didn’t win. anyway just my thoughts but I don’t think she would have tried to get herself votes for EOTY, released begin again, do a duo with tim McGraw (maybe she just wasn’t offered a time slot for a full performance at the acms?) or agree to play at upcoming CMT fest is she wanted to distance herself from the genre. I think country music alone maybe just isn’t big enough for her ambitions anymore.
April 16, 2013 @ 6:18 pm
Good! I say– let Tonedeaf Taylor go full pop and don’t bother coming back. She was never country anyway, raised in PA the daughter of a rich stock broker who helped finance her record deal. She has never been country, and I am tired of her pretense.
April 17, 2013 @ 5:08 pm
Taylor is most likely going to return into the country scene. She ended her album with a moderately country song “Begin Again” and is ending her first segment/leg of the RED TOUR in Nashville.. Sorry for all the haters out there, but she is most likely going to return to country music.
April 17, 2013 @ 8:39 pm
Return? When was she actually country to begin with? She was already aiming at pop with her second single of her career (Teardrops on my Guitar), and that one was actually pretty country for what it is worth. She aimed to cross over with her second album and it worked, but by the end she had was struggling to hit the country top ten. After everything from Speak Now failed at pop radio (including the pop-only single “The Story of Us”, which failed to even hit the top 40 on the Hot 100) she had to go full-out with her first two singles from Red.
The fact of the matter is she only used country as a bootleg to pop success. That is blatantly obvious, especially when you compare it to Carrie Underwood, who had been releasing pop singles with her last three singles but hasn’t tried to market them to top 40 or even HAC. Taylor isn’t country, she is a pop singer who used country to get a head-start.
April 19, 2013 @ 11:24 pm
I don’t see Taylor becoming more country in the future. The genie is out of the bottle. She has gone too far away from country to “go back”. It is now obvious to most country fans that she used them to get into the pop scene. All the things that make Taylor less appealing to country fans – the rich northeastern girl with the limited voice, the manipulative temperament, and the socially elitist attitudes – have been laid bare for all to see. And the reason why country fans accepted her before – her “sweet and innocent” act – is no longer available to her, because innocence lost cannot be regained.
April 17, 2013 @ 9:34 pm
“Many other mainstream female pop and crossover artists e.g. Carrie Underwood, Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Britney Spears, etc were much prettier than Taylor.”
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Well… the funny thing is I could say exactly the opposite-
that Talylor Swift is much prettier than all the women that you’ve mentioned.
But I guess when it comes to beauty, it is subjective… so that is fine with me.
You seem to suggest or at least hint that Taylor was in the “100 list” only because she is famous.
I would rather say by being famous helped her into the list.
She did not go there by default. You still need to be “selected” among thousands of others to make the list.
I think I have made a strong enough case to show that Taylor is by no means “average” looking.
But then again, beauty is very subjective so I’ll leave it to that.
April 17, 2013 @ 10:42 pm
Her rise to the top astonished me, even today. She is a phenomenon but there are things that I like about Taylor and things that I don’t ( like the way she handled people in a relationship etc.)
and I feel that her song “22” is quite awful… I’m puzzled why the song is released as a single or even at all….
The reason why it even reached “Gold” status of over 500,000 digital downloads has nothing to do with music.
I believe her appeal and her fame sells it……. but thankfully she has other more mature and nice melody songs to redeem herself.
There are 2 things about Taylor I find interesting –
1) the general believe that her fans are just tweens and teens 2} her singing or her voice.
Many people think that her fans are just little girls or tweens. If that is the case then her album sales would ended up in the neighbourhood of Justin Bieber. But when it comes to sales of any kind…. Taylor kills Bieber….to the extent that it is completely and without mercy.
Her musical reach is much deeper and wider then that. If you have been to her stadium shows you will know why.
When she performed in front of capacity crowds of more than 50,000 people, there were mothers with their children, there were young adults and grown ups….and of course there were the tweens and teens all screaming her name in the stadium.
You have to be there to realize what her music can do to people. It is one thing to perform at arena of 10,000 people but to perform at stadiums of 50,000 night after night is a totally different animal. It is very very intimidating…. it can freak you out.
There aren’t many stadium shows these days but I quote from someone who interviewed her in a magazine last year…
“she is the only kid on the table when it comes to filling huge stadiums”
There are many criticism about her singing and her voice but not enough credit given to actually what she is singing.
There are many teenage girls in school picking up guitars and writing songs hoping to be the next Taylor Swift.
Her influence is enormous and she’s in the list of “100 most influential people” for a good reason. I know for a fact that some people might find that hard to accept… It is a bitter pill to swallow….including for me.
Afterall we are talking about someone whos’ age is just 23 and who achievements has been unprecedented.
Most people give respect only to legends or someone who is dead, not to someone who many still see as a kid.
But I give credit when it is due and I will say the obvious when I feel something is not quite right like her dreadful song “22”.
There’re people who feel that singing and music is all about having a big voice and reaching all the high notes.
Sure, having a better than decent voice is an advantage (no one in the right mind will deny that).. but it is only an advantage.
Music it’s also about reaching out and that connection between the singer and the listeners. Why do legendary groups like The Beatles and Aerosmith became so successful? Paul McCartney is not the best singer by any means, not even
close. And lead singer of Aerosmith Steven Tyler is even known as a “screamer” rather than a singer. These groups and individuals they are all unique in their own way, they have the charisma, and most importantly…..their music reached people….
Sure…. they do sing off-key live like Taylor but who doesn’t? Their fans couldn’t care less because that only show that they are humans just like us and the bonding became even stronger because of that.
When someone sing a song to you, and you don’t feel connected or related to the singer, the lyrics or the music,
it’s just doesn’t matter what kind of voice that singer has. If you feel it, you feel it….and if you don’t, you don’t.
It’s as simple as that. It’s a shame that some people couldn’t appreciate the whole beauty of music….and what music supposed to do.
And that’s when Taylor Swift comes into the picture. She has the ability to connect to people… to her fans with her songs…emotionally….and they felt it….they felt something….they feel related to her in one way or another…
and they return in kind…. by listening to her, by buying her albums and going to her concerts….
June 26, 2013 @ 4:22 pm
Wow, Taylor Swift is losing her country music department this year since Red made Taylor Swift changed her music department to pop. Hey, I know, I wish Taylor Swift should play her library of country songs on pop music stations later this year, or next year if this year doesn’t cut it. Picture to this, I think her country music would be a fine addition to the pop music department since Taylor Swift most likely shifted towards pop later this year which means, she can collaborate her country music with her pop music. That way, Taylor Swift will have her country music and pop music shown on pop music stations at the same time. As much as I prefer Taylor Swift’s country songs over her pop songs, Taylor Swift won’t be able to play her country music on country music stations anytime soon. So I think that Taylor Swift moving her country songs away from country music stations and put them on pop music stations is a great idea. That way fans of Taylor Swift who prefers country music over pop music can listen to Taylor Swift’s country music on pop music stations. As a bonus, pop music stations can even throw Tim McGraw’s Highway Don’t Care onto the pop stations so pop music department will get familiar with Taylor Swift’s country songs just for fun. I have a blogging website if you want to check it out.
Link: http://personaltought.blogspot.com/2013/06/speculation-for-taylor-swift-country.html
I hope you enjoy my latest article in my blogging website. I would love to have Taylor Swift brings her entire country music library to pop music stations along with a popular Tim McGraw/Taylor Swift crossover songs, Highway Don’t Care. Once Taylor Swift moves her country songs into pop music stations, Carrie Underwood should play all of her country songs onto pop music stations that way pop music stations will get interested in Carrie Underwood’s country music. P.S. Taylor Swift ftw.
September 9, 2013 @ 11:16 am
Pop music is not a genre. Pop means “popular”. Country music is Pop. Its Popular and many elements of Country music go into the larger spectrum of Popular music. For Taylor Swift to go from Country to Pop is like going from green to hunter green. Its not a big shift. If she did heavy metal or Punk Rock, then yes, that would be a different. Country music has always been Pop. Country fans try to distance themselves from the Pop scene and vice versa, but this has happened long before The Nashville Sound. Hank Williams Sr Cold,Cold, Heart was covered by Tony Bennett. Most Pop songs are simple, just like Country. Replace a fiddle with an electric guitar. Pedal steel with synth, and you have Pop.
September 9, 2013 @ 1:34 pm
birth of pop-country was the 1927 Bristol sessions with the carter family , Jimmie Rodgers and the stoneman family (duck & cover)
thanks for your post I was too big a pussy to mention the Bristol sessions till I read your comment.
September 9, 2013 @ 2:55 pm
Pop music is a genre. But pop music also means popular music. There are 2 different pop music. Pop music as a popular music genre and pop music as referred to popular music. Do you understand? Thank you.
September 9, 2013 @ 4:46 pm
No, I don’t understand , actually. “Pop” music is short for the term “Popular”. It means Garth Brooks was on the Pop charts and he was Pop. He may have worn a cowboy hat and sang about the rodeo, but his music was Popular. Its defined as what appeals to a broad audience. It encompasses as of today, rock, r n’ b, soul, country, dance music, etc. Define for me if you will Pop music as a musical genre? What constitutes that style? Are you referring to Adult Contemporary music? Most of that is just watered down Blues. Pop music itself is not a genre of music. I could be a style of music, but not a specific genre. There are elements of country, rock, and other things in the broad spectrum of Popular music.
September 9, 2013 @ 4:51 pm
Basically, in other words, Pop means whatever ain’t Classical. BTW, most Country songs- the ones we think of as “Pure Country” were based on Tin Pan Alley tunes from the 1920s, combined with church hymns from rural Appalachia. Real real Country music is actually Bluegrass. Thanks.
November 6, 2013 @ 3:18 am
I agree with everything u say! Fortunately, I studied music too and that was exactly what I learned!!!
February 21, 2014 @ 10:53 pm
I LOVE TAYLOR SWIFT. She didn’t have to change for me, yet she changed for the world. If I remember right, she herself said, “You’re lucky enough to be different, never change.” I wanted to see her in concert for my birthday one year because I really like her beautiful curly hair, how sweet, country, and appropriate she is, and I really loved all her songs. I guess it’s too late now. I just hope she moves back to who she was and realizes that all of her fans will be there for her, no matter what, including me. I love you Taylor!
August 19, 2014 @ 8:26 pm
I used to really like taylor, thought she was a really classy young women, that wrote beautiful songs but this whole transition to pop I personally thing is all wrong for her and a big mistake. She is looking more trashing and following the foot steps of britney, miley and all the other young girls who were classy young women at one time and is turning into the next sex symbol . This world is obviously getting worse and the christian people can see it plain as day. Its really sad to see this beautiful girls that are so talented through away there morals and values to impress all the scum of the world. She was way better in her dressy and boots and played that guitar so good!