Taylor swift perfect litmus test for zero?

[rubato]

Voice = zero
Singing = zero
Songwriting = zero
Dance = zero.

I’m not saying she is bad especially just not worth experiencing twice, ever.

We have millions of hours of recorded music available with the smallest effort and THIS is what people (meaning pubescent girls) borrow thousands of dollars to experience? No wonder the trans activists preach abject delusion with a straight face.

Yrs rubato

[MajGenl.Meade]

Join the Q

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=23087&p=328086&hili ... ft#p328086

[Bicycle Bill]

After looking at the pictures of all the production, costuming, background singers, and visual effects as posted on the site that Sue U linked to in the other thread, I'm reminded of a brief bit of byplay I saw at a David Copperfield show almost 25 years ago...

After taking his applause for the illusion just completed, he then looked out at the crowd and said something like, "I know there are people out there who say that I couldn't do any of this without smoke, flashing lights, dancing, music, and... " — looking cross-stage at one of his female assistants — "...beautiful girls."   He paused, then continued, "This next illusion will prove...   that they re absolutely correct!"

Looks like that attitude has crossed over to ALL forms of on-stage entertainment these days.

-"BB"-

[Jarlaxle]

Most modern performers can't sing and don't write their own songs. (And what is written for them is often infantile.)

[liberty]

I went to a Charlie Pride concert in Monroe 50 years ago; it wasn't expensive, and I thought he was a good singer, and I enjoyed his show. He also struck me as a genuine person. Taylor Swift, on the other hand, seems like a phony. She got her start in country music, and when she left, she said she had always hated country music and its fans.

[Joe Guy]

I don't know a lot about Taylor Swift but I really doubt that she ever said she hated country music and its fans.

[liberty]

I don't know a lot about Taylor Swift but I really doubt that she ever said she hated country music and its fans.

Not in so many words. One must read between the lines and consider the L L factor the lying liberal factor. We know that liberals lie; here are a few of the lies:

Trump committed treason, but Jane Fonda didn't. Just the opposite is true. There is no proof that Trump committed treason, but there's plenty of video evidence that Jane Fonda did.

Bush lied about WMD; to say that Bush lied about WMD is in itself a lie. It is not a lie to be wrong, and the Bush administration wasn't the only Western government that thought Iraq had WMD.

There is no such thing as race. That is wishful thinking, not the truth; race does exist. Forensic anthropologists can determine the victim's race from their skeletal remains. One can see racial characteristics in DNA.

Other people contributed to the scientific revolution, but the concept of science is a European idea. Many Western European countries had royal scientific societies, but I know of no such organizations in the Arab World before 1700.

[Joe Guy]

Not in so many words. One must read between the lines and consider the L L factor the lying liberal factor. We know that liberals lie...

And we know that Trump never lies...

[liberty]

Not in so many words. One must read between the lines and consider the L L factor the lying liberal factor. We know that liberals lie...

And we know that Trump never lies...

I said nothing about Trump lying. I said he didn't commit treason, or at least there's no proof of it.

[Joe Guy]

I said nothing about Trump lying. I said he didn't commit treason, or at least there's no proof of it.

But what about the lying Trump factor? How do we know he didn't give top secret documents to Putin?

[BoSoxGal]

Other people contributed to the scientific revolution, but the concept of science is a European idea. Many Western European countries had royal scientific societies, but I know of no such organizations in the Arab World before 1700.

I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry. In any case I feel sorry for your ignorance which is doubtless the product of a substandard education.

Google the Islamic Golden Age, liberty. Learn how the scientific method still utilized today is a creation of an Arab scientist, in a time when Europeans were still throwing their shit in the streets and bedding with rats.

[Sue U]

I don't know a lot about Taylor Swift but I really doubt that she ever said she hated country music and its fans.

Not in so many words. One must read between the lines and consider the L L factor the lying liberal factor.

"Not in so many words." So then it's never. She never said any such thing. And she has included plenty of her country hits on her current tour. What she actually *has* said is that her fans will be her fans whether she does country or pop or indie rock or whatever other genre she wants to try because she is tuned into what they like in her lyrics. In fact, her most recent project has been re-recording and re-releasing her album Fearless, which was every bit a country album --the original won Album of the Year at the Country Music Awards and Best Country Album at the Grammys.

Your attempt to change the subject to "lying liberals" and your batshit racist drivel is gross and pathetic. If you got your head out of your ass you might someday see the world around you. But apparently you just like sniffing your own farts too damn much.

[Crackpot]

How about the simple fact that we use Arabic numerals?

The renaissance was a direct result of Arabic knowledge being spread back to Europe post crusades.

[liberty]

Other people contributed to the scientific revolution, but the concept of science is a European idea. Many Western European countries had royal scientific societies, but I know of no such organizations in the Arab World before 1700.

I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry. In any case I feel sorry for your ignorance which is doubtless the product of a substandard education.

Google the Islamic Golden Age, liberty. Learn how the scientific method still utilized today is a creation of an Arab scientist, in a time when Europeans were still throwing their shit in the streets and bedding with rats.

My opinion is based on a book I read: Invitation to Chemistry by Ira D. Garard
Garden City NY.
Doubleday and Company inc
1969

I never said the Europeans invented science in a vacuum; many cultures contributed. Both the Greeks and the Arabs came close, but in neither case did the fire take hold and light up their world. It was Europe where the scientific revolution happened, and the evidence can be seen in the change in the culture. They stopped hanging women as witches.

The Greeks developed the philosophy of empiricism and passed it on to the Arabs through conquest. It helped them improve their knowledge base, especially in medicine and astronomy. But it still wasn't science. Science is more than observation; if not, Pytheas would have been the first scientist. His observations of the far north were very accurate, but it wasn't science.

This philosophy and the other knowledge of the Greeks made its way through the Arabs to Spain and into the rest of Europe. Spain was the little-known crusade that Europeans won. As they conquered the Arabs, they seized their libraries, and that knowledge made its way to Europe and was the stimulant for the scientific revolution that changed the world.

Why is it that liberals you don't want to give the Europeans credit for their achievements; is it because they're white?

[MGMcAnick]

Not to change the subject, back to the original, but I think Taylor Swift is a pretty talented kid. I wouldn't pay to go to one of her concerts, but I'd go if someone gave me two tickets.

[rubato]

Nothing against her as a person. She seems quite sincere and genuine. Pleasant and sweet- natured to a fault But with no artistic value of any kind. She raises vacuous to new heights.

Astonishing.

Yrs,
Rubato

[Joe Guy]

Artistic value is in the eyes and ears of Taylor’s millions of beholders.

(And their pocket books)

[Big RR]

Indeed; I recall going to a number of Aiice Cooper concerts when the group was big. The singing wasn't all that good, the songs as well (except for Be My Lover, there isn't a lot I still like), but the shows were unbelievable--especially the executions at the end (as I recall, one of them was orchestrated by one of my favorite magicians at the time--James Randi). FWIW, I think concerts are much more for the experience than the music (even more so in this era of overproduced recordings), and I can think of many concerts I went to where the experience was much more than the sum of the musical parts.

I am surprised that she has caught on, but maybe she does produce a good concert experience. Not one I think I would enjoy mind you, but one that her fans want. I do recall going with one of my daughters to a Brittany Spears concert, and while I did not like it all that much, I could see the attraction of the production to those who enjoy that sort of choreographed thing (something I personally hate--even the Temptations turned me off with their repetitive dance routines). I think Swift is a lot like that; she knows what her audience wants and gives it to them.

[MGMcAnick]

I will admit I've never heard any of her music on the radio. (She might be too young to know what one is.) Besides, most of my radio time is in a car, listening to NPR. What I have heard of her music I find interesting for both wording and, often odd, phrasing. She does write, or co-writes all of her own stuff, and has since she was twelve. Then there's the fact that she's not at all hard to look at.

[Sue U]

I will admit I've never heard any of her music on the radio. (She might be too young to know what one is.)

Don't worry, the radio certainly knows who she is. From waaaaayyyy back in ancient times (January):

‘Anti-Hero’ Becomes Taylor Swift’s Longest-Running No. 1 Single, With Eight Weeks on Top

By Chris Willman

“Anti-Hero” has officially become Taylor Swift’s biggest single to date by at least one metric: It’s topped the Billboard Hot 100 now for eight non-consecutive weeks. That’s one more than the seven weeks her previous leader in that ranking, “Blank Space,” managed back in 2014-15.

“What on earth — I love you guys,” Swift wrote to fans in a social media message reposting the Billboard news about her breaking her personal record at the top of the Hot 100.

She also added a postscript about SZA, the artist with whom she is sharing adjacent spaces at the top of both the album and singles charts right now. “PS — Been listening to SZA’s album nonstop. Absolutely adore her music. So much love and respect for her!” That’s an acknowledgement of an apparently friendly chart rivalry at the moment (or at least friendly between the artists, if not all fans): On the Hot 100, a SZA single is currently No. 2 to Swift’s No. 1, while their roles are reversed in the top two spots of the Billboard 200 album rankings.

In all, Swift has had nine songs reach No. 1 over the years, all of them since 2012. Besides “Anti-Hero” and “Blank Space,” she’s had chart-toppers with “Shake It Off” (four weeks at No. 1), “Look What You Made Me Do” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” (three weeks each at the top) and “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version),” “Willow,” “Cardigan” and “Bad Blood” (each enjoying a single week at No. 1).

Some of the songs that would be considered Swift’s most iconic numbers stalled short of No. 1 on the chart for one reason or another, including “Love Story,” an early smash that only made it to No. 4 despite being ultimately certified eight-times platinum. “You Belong With Me” and “I Knew You Were Trouble” both share the honor of having been stopped at No. 2 and each going seven-times platinum. “Wildest Dreams” went four-times platinum but only got to No. 5.

With the “Midnights” album, Swift flipped the script on the typical album rollout pattern and did not release any singles, or even a tease of a song, prior to the moment the full album was released in October. At the moment the album hit, it wasn’t entirely clear what, if any, smashes the album might generate, with videos for both “Bejeweled” and “Anti-Hero” arriving during release week. Even Variety‘s rave review pondered “who knows?” in speculating that “Anti-Hero” might — but also might not — become a breakout single. But what initially seemed like a self-deprecating peculiarity in Swift’s discography, with bloggers everywhere debating whether the “sexy baby” line was cringe or hilarious, quickly took off as one of the chant-along hits of the year.

One thing putting a big distance between “Anti-Hero” and other recent Swift songs is how readily radio took to it, with the tune now enjoying its fourth week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Radio Songs chart. (It also remains on top of the Digital Song Sales chart, and is at No. 5 on Streaming Songs after having previously topped that chart as well.)

The singles from her more acoustically inclined “Folklore” and “Evermore” albums may have been streaming fan favorites, and as indicated above, “Cardigan” and “Willow” both made it to No. 1, as did the re-recorded version of the somber “All Too Well” that followed, but none of those was particularly well-suited production-wise for hit radio. Swift’s and Jack Antonoff’s more electronic take with “Anti-Hero” was more in the pocket — even if, lyrically and thematically, it still counts as peculiar (and, apparently, welcomely so) in the top 40 format.

Swift and SZA have traded compliments in recent weeks, even as their respective fans have seen them as being in competition for the charts’ respective top spots. Both artists have released digital variations on their albums or singles that have boosted consumption for their releases.

Tweeted SZA on Jan. 5, “Uhh I feel silly that I even have to say this but I see supporters arguing and I hate that,” SZA tweeted. “I don’t have beef w ANYONE especially not Taylor lmao. I genuinely loved her album and the writing! Everyone’s jus tryna do their BEST as we all should. LOVE TO EVERYONE. Gn.” (This followed a tweet that “there’s 1 minute left in the tracking week thank you for STREAMING SOS and copping digitals,” a message that many took as encouragement to help her beat Swift’s numbers.)

SZA’s “SOS” is currently No. 1 on the album chart for a fifth straight week, with Swift’s “Midnights” at No. 2; the latter album spent its first five weeks on the chart at No. 1 as well. On the Hot 100, “Anti-Hero” is now followed by SZA’s “Kill Bill” at No. 2.

Source: Variety, cause it's the entertainment biz

Nothing against her as a person. She seems quite sincere and genuine. Pleasant and sweet- natured to a fault But with no artistic value of any kind. She raises vacuous to new heights.

Astonishing.

Yrs,
Rubato

Really? How many Number 1 hits have *you* had?

Not that popularity is necessarily the mark of "artistic value," but as I said in the other Taylor Swift thread:

As a rule, pop is not big-A Art, it is craft; where one draws the line can be debated, but no one ever accused Taylor Swift albums of being high-minded explorations of big questions -- and they are not meant to be. That she has found a market for catchy hooks and sappy/simple/banal lyrics in 12-to-25-year-old girls is thoroughly unsurprising and says next to nothing about "the culture" except that Taylor Swift is totally dialed in to the emotions of that particular demographic, where she very consciously aims her songs, regardless of how autobiographical they appear to be.

***

There is absolutely nothing wrong with well-crafted pop songs and dance music.