The Taylor Swift Topic: Teen Country Sensation to World-Dominating Pop Star

[UYI]

Honestly, I'm just glad I got to use the phrase Blonde Giraffes. :P

[Athena]

Swift's on the Cover of Vogue Australia offering these comments on friendship:

 

“My friendship group is one of my favorite things about my life right now. Our friends really have each others’ back. It’s the first time in my life that I’ve had anything strong like that in the friendship department.”

 

“A lot of the time I’ll reach out to people to tell them they’re great and a friendship will come out of them. Ella and I — Lorde — we met on our own because her album came out and I sent her flowers and told her it was great, and now she’s one of my best friends.”

 

“Friendship often comes from admiration and that feels like a natural way to be friends with someone because you’ve established you respect what the person does.”

 

I have some particular definitions of friendship so I understand other people's are more broad, but hers seems a bit too artificial. I also wonder what she and Lorde talk about if they are "best friends."

[DeLurker]

She CLAIMS she's taking a break after everything involving 1989 is done, because she thinks we need a break from her. GEE... YOU THINK?!

http://www.people.com/people/mobile/article/0,,20958148,00.html

How can we miss her if she won't go away?

[UYI]

I've always gotten the impression that her closest friends are Abigail Anderson (her best friend since high school--she's mentioned by name in her song "Fifteen"), Selena Gomez, and Karlie Kloss. Maybe Lena Dunham for introducing her to some form of feminism (and since Lena's boyfriend, Jack Antonoff of the the bands fun. and Bleachers, produced some of the songs on 1989--"You Are In Love", from the deluxe edition, is about his relationship with Lena), and there's another childhood friend she's brought to an award show or two before. But after that? Who knows.

Edited October 13, 2015 by UYI

[funkopop]

It all sounds a bit someday, and that day may never come,  I'll call upon you to do a service for me.

Edited October 13, 2015 by funkopop

[BW Manilowe]

Don't ask me how, but Miss Entitled has been named 1 of the Co-Chairs for the 2016 Met Gala (this HUGE annual fundraising dinner in NYC benefitting the costume collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where everyone has to come dressed based on that year's theme [which is "tech" for 2016], which is timed to coincide with the opening of the costume collection's annual exhibit... I think I have that all/mostly correct; I posted something connected to this year's Gala in another forum & I think I remembered at least most of what I looked up about it then).

http://stylenews.peoplestylewatch.com/2015/10/13/2016-met-gala-taylor-swift-co-chair-technology-theme/

Edited October 14, 2015 by BW Manilowe

[galax-arena]

Taylor Swift's GQ interview

You never say who your songs are about, but you concede that if enough people believe something, it essentially becomes fact. So by not saying who you’re writing about, aren’t you allowing public consensus to dictate the meaning of your work? If everyone assumes that “Bad Blood” is about a specific person, aren’t you allowing the culture to create a fact about your life?

You’re in a Rolling Stone interview, and the writer says, “Who is that song about? That sounds like a really intense moment from your life.” And you sit there, and you know you’re on good terms with your ex-boyfriend, and you don’t want him—or his family—to think you’re firing shots at him. So you say, “That was about losing a friend.” And that’s basically all you say. But then people cryptically tweet about what you meant. I never said anything that would point a finger in the specific direction of one specific person, and I can sleep at night knowing that.

(Second paragraph bolding mine.)

 

Oh, Taylor, Taylor, Taylor... you live in the Internet age, you shouldn't bullshit about not pointing fingers when that can so easily be disproven nowadays. From an old Rolling Stone article:

The angriest song on 1989 is called "Bad Blood," and it's about another female artist Swift declines to name. "For years, I was never sure if we were friends or not," she says. "She would come up to me at awards shows and say something and walk away, and I would think, 'Are we friends, or did she just give me the harshest insult of my life?'" Then last year, the other star crossed a line. "She did something so horrible," Swift says. "I was like, 'Oh, we're just straight-up enemies.' And it wasn't even about a guy! It had to do with business. She basically tried to sabotage an entire arena tour. She tried to hire a bunch of people out from under me. And I'm surprisingly non-confrontational – you would not believe how much I hate conflict. So now I have to avoid her. It's awkward, and I don't like it."

It's hilarious because the GQ writer actually calls Taylor out on lying about this in the article.

[UYI]

I KNOW RIGHT? I was STUNNED by how the interviewer, in the overall piece, was just like "um..no" in his notes.

 

What I was more interested in was how strongly (read: negatively) she reacted to being called "calculating." I guess it would be off-brand for her to do so, but I'd kind of like her to just own that side of herself already. "Calculating" doesn't have to be a dirty word. 

[Bastet]

And it wasn't even about a guy! It had to do with business.

 

I can only shake my head that she’s seemingly dumbfounded by the very notion.

[Kromm]

It's funny, the more I admire her business savvy and ambition, the more conflicted I am with how obviously she uses people (her endless stream of celebs she wants on her "team" for example) and also how eyerollworthy it is that she isn't even getting her story straight about what she's (claimed) about her own songs in the past.

It's kind of like she's the most admirable and horrible person in show-business rolled into the same person, sometimes.

[lovemytvshows]

Just holding my breath and waiting for T-Swizzle to jump on some sort of Adele bandwagon (faux-happy or subtle shade) cause that juggernaut is about to knock her off her pedestal.

Edited October 26, 2015 by lovemytvshows

[AimingforYoko]

Just holding my breath and waiting for T-Swizzle to jump on some sort of Adele bandwagon (faux-happy or subtle shade) cause that juggernaut is about to knock her off her pedestal.

Blasphemer! Taylor doesn't jump on anybody's bandwagon, they jump on hers. Does Adele have any kind of "squad"? I think not.

[lovemytvshows]

Does Adele have any kind of "squad"? I think not.

 

Does her retro flip phone with its contacts list of her songwriters and producers count? Ha!

[EyewatchTV211]

She can easily make one with all the celebs who fangirled over her music video on social media. :-)

[BW Manilowe]

Taylor Swift accused of lifting the lyrics to Shake It Off.

http://m.billboard.com/entry/view/id/145849?utm_source=twitter

[ChaseMCP]

Taylor Swift accused of lifting the lyrics to Shake It Off.

http://m.billboard.com/entry/view/id/145849?utm_source=twitter

I'll be honest, the reason I originally couldn't stand Taylor Swift was because I was just so sick of hearing her everywhere. whether it would be her songs or who was in her squad or whatever. But what made me actually start to dislike her was when I found out that she was suing people who made stuff with the line "haters gonna hate" cause she had trademarked it - because really the woman is richer than God knows how many people, and the people using the line are her fans so I don't see the need for the legal action, AND it's a saying that was around before she sung it. So I find this amusing, even if it doesn't end up going anywhere.

[methodwriter85]

Just holding my breath and waiting for T-Swizzle to jump on some sort of Adele bandwagon (faux-happy or subtle shade) cause that juggernaut is about to knock her off her pedestal.

"Wildest Dreams" actually started to get some trajectory going, and peaked at number 5 last week, but then Adele has pretty much pushed everybody down the chart and this tune is at number 7 now. I don't think it's going to get higher than 5, although it does seem to be playing on the radio a lot more now than it did back in September.

[smiley13]

It was so nice to be able to watch the CMA Awards last night and not have to see the oh so annoying Taylor Swift contorting around in the front row.

[Rick Kitchen]

"Wildest Dreams" may be the worst song she has ever sung.  You can hear the weakness of her voice from the very beginning.

[Kromm]

Taylor Swift accused of lifting the lyrics to Shake It Off.

http://m.billboard.com/entry/view/id/145849?utm_source=twitter

Well if her enemy Katy Perry was up to stealing the melody of "Roar", then I'm sure Tay-Tay could steal some lyrics to one up her!

[truthaboutluv]

So the woman who is all about celebrating other women, girl power-rah rah, feminism, hasn't tweeted, posted or stated one thing about Adele's current smash success. Very interesting. And for the record, before it's stated, I don't think Taylor is obligated to tweet out some congratulations to Adele but she is the one who spent this whole year on this "I support women and am all about celebrating women" crap, complete with bullshit never-ending parade of "best girlfriends." So it is awfully conspicuous when a woman has the kind of out of this world success Adele is having right now and she says nothing. But it's hardly surprising.

 

In my opinion, Taylor is only supportive of other women when they don't threaten or compete with her. It is hardly a coincidence in my opinion that none of her "squad" matches her success. The ones who are in the music industry like Selena Gomez aren't even close to Taylor's success. And the other women don't compete in the same industry as her and even then she's still more famous and successful than them. And I know some of her fans will say she can't post or say anything because the people who don't like her will think it's fake and for publicity but hell, people who can't stand Taylor already think she's fake and a lot of girl power crap is PR. Her not saying anything about Adele in my opinion just makes her look worse than if she'd made a simple tweet some weeks ago. 

Edited December 1, 2015 by truthaboutluv

[DeLurker]

I don't think all that highly of Taylor's talents and find her non-stop media coverage exhausting,  so I find it hard to muster the energy to venture an opinion that might be construed as defending her. 

 

If she uses social media a lot, it does seem suspiciously absent, but perhaps she called or otherwise reached out to Adele in a less public manner. 

 

And not knowing a lot about Adele, does she even consider Taylor to be in the stratosphere as her?  Would she be hurt by not receiving the congrats?

[UYI]

Well if her enemy Katy Perry was up to stealing the melody of "Roar", then I'm sure Tay-Tay could steal some lyrics to one up her!

 

To be fair, Sara Bareilles, whose song "Brave" is what "Roar" sounds like, is friends with Katy, and said she was aware of the song's similarities from the beginning, and that it doesn't bother her, so she doesn't understand why it would bother anyone else.

 

I mean, Sara is DEFINITELY the better singer, so I do understand it to a point (although I think Katy can be fine when she doesn't try to hit TOO many high notes--I think she has a limited range that she should try to stick to more often), but there you go.

[UYI]

I don't think all that highly of Taylor's talents and find her non-stop media coverage exhausting,  so I find it hard to muster the energy to venture an opinion that might be construed as defending her. 

 

If she uses social media a lot, it does seem suspiciously absent, but perhaps she called or otherwise reached out to Adele in a less public manner. 

 

And not knowing a lot about Adele, does she even consider Taylor to be in the stratosphere as her?  Would she be hurt by not receiving the congrats?

 

She may not care at all, but I can see why people might notice.

 

The constant "Adele vs. Taylor" stuff going on right now really doesn't bother me much, for one key reason: It has been said, almost from the moment that 1989 came out last year, that literally the only person on Earth who could beat her records was Adele, should she ever put out another album (and even then, there were those who doubted she could top 21). Well, it's now officially safe to say that is 100 percent true, AND HOW. It's unfortunate that it can bring on a "pitting women against other women" debate, but the truth is, they are literally the ONLY two people on Earth who can sell albums the way they were selling back in the old days. No one else can touch them. In fact, I think it's AWESOME that that distinction is held by two women. That's incredible!

 

But they bring up the old style vs. substance argument as well. Overall, Adele's music may be considered less catchy and repeatable than Taylor's (and less suited to a person's individual taste), which is perfectly fair, and VERY subjective. But when it comes to sheer vocal talent? It's no comparison. Adele sounds fantastic, inside or out of the studio, Taylor...um...has struggled in live performances, to put it mildly. Unless you are a HARDCORE Swiftie, I can't see ANYONE saying Taylor sounds better than Adele with a straight face (then again, I don't think even the most devoted Britney fan would DARE say she sounds better live than Christina, so...).

Edited December 1, 2015 by UYI

[UYI]

The Grammy nominations are out and Taylor has a few of them, including Record of the Year (for "Blank Space") and Album of the Year. But with Adele back and almost certainly performing at the Grammys, I feel like some of the buzz of whether Taylor will win anything this year or not has been somewhat deflated. I could be wrong, but it's possible.

[Athena]

The Grammy nominations are out and Taylor has a few of them, including Record of the Year (for "Blank Space") and Album of the Year. But with Adele back and almost certainly performing at the Grammys, I feel like some of the buzz of whether Taylor will win anything this year or not has been somewhat deflated. I could be wrong, but it's possible.

 

Swift did not even get the most nominations either. Kendrick Lamar beat her out on that. It depends on how Swift campaigns because I do know that her media coverage and presence has been deflated with not only Adele, but Bieber's record as well.

[Pickles Aplenty]

I fell down the Taylor Swift rabbit-hole with all those articles about her painfully contrived "squad".  I had wondered why People.com (the only celebrity gossip site I frequent) kept posting headlines like, "Proof That Taylor Swift Had the Best Thanksgiving Ever!" with pics of Taylor baking pumpkin pie with Gigi Hadid or whoever, and this explains it beautifully.  I had no idea her Instagram had the following it did (I live under a rock), and I had no idea she quite literally collects BFF's like they were seashells or stamps, or out-of-state coins ("This one is a pretty model!"  "This one is a pretty actress!").  It's all very, very creepy.  It's like no one ever sat her down and told her that grown-ups don't have friends like this, that grown-ups just, you know, invite people over and chill without recording it in the most obnoxiously faux-girl power way possible.  Makes me wonder if Taylor is emotionally stuck at the age of fifteen, the age she was when she got famous and everyone started kissing her ass.  A lot of other things make sense if that is the case...after all, why would you mature emotionally when the whole world is telling you that the songs you write about your teen angst are OMG, SOME OF THE BEST SONGS EVER WRITTEN!?!? *smoochsmoochsmooch*

 

The funny thing is, I am not totally averse to Taylor; I like some of her songs and will sing along with them if the mood strikes me.  When it comes to writing catchy pop tunes, she has it down.  That's fine, but I have yet to hear anything truly deep or introspective from her, unless I missed it.  Now, not every artist *needs* to be deep, I get that, but the amount of praise and adoration Taylor gets just doesn't match up with her level of talent, IMO.  Of course, I am completely ignoring the fact that Taylor isn't just a musician, she is a POP STAR, and I know those are two very different animals.  The package she is selling appeals to her demographic, so she doesn't *need* to be Joni Mitchell.  Okay, fine, but...shouldn't she have something more to say at this point in her life?  She is 25/26 years old and has had a TON of experiences, yet her attitude is still the same.  I remember reading a Glamour interview with her back in the day, right after her first album came out, where she talked about seeing a girl in high school crying in the bathroom over a boyfriend, and Taylor oh-so-smugly saying, "I told myself I was never going to be that girl, crying over some guy."  It's like her whole persona/brand/whatever is based on putting other women down in order to put herself up, and that makes me HUGELY uncomfortable.  And that is the most I have ever had to say about Taylor Swift. :P

 

One more thing, though: am I the only one who thinks her Girl Squad activities are kind of lame?  They're very home-y and Martha Stewart.  Nothing wrong with that, of course, but I hate it when the, "Don't you wish you were hanging out with us?" thing is implied, because no, I DON'T want to bake cookies with you in your Manhattan apartment, Taylor.  It looks boring as fuck.  Sorry, not sorry.

[UYI]

Whatever serious/more substantial songs she has are generally album tracks only--which, I mean, I understand the idea of having an upbeat pop song to show off your new album with, but at times it seems like, even if some of them are fun to listen to, she's still pandering/going by the idea that people are morons who won't accept something deeper from her. And at this point, if I were her, I would just be like, "So what? I'll release this song anyway, commercial success be damned."

 

"The Lucky One" from Red is a favorite of mine (it's most likely the subjects of the book Girls Like Us--Carly Simon, Carole King, and Joni Mitchell--at one point she was rumored to be playing the latter in a film version of this book; Joni herself ultimately stopped the project from going forward, saying it had more rumors than facts), and "Clean" from 1989 is another. They're definitely not the type of songs she's generally known for.

[katha]

I think her friends-collecting is the main reason that her silence on Adele seems very loud now. No matter how much she dominates, no one is obligated to love Adele and pretend that they find her great if they don't. But since Taylor's so smoochie smoochie with most of the industry, her not reaching out and reacting seems very loaded with meaning...so she opened herself up for speculation there IMO.

 

I like quite a few of her songs, but some of the mean girling sticks in my craw. "Dear John" is a great song and no one deserves a diss track like that more than John Mayer, but that part about all the other girls he's used and left broken but not Taylor because she's stronger than that? Ugh. IMO some of this (unconscious?) "I'm better than those other girls" that whiffs through her older output is creepy. She's got it under control now, but "Bad Blood" was terrible for the media campaign and the faux empowerment. That Katy Perry feud wasn't a good look, period.

[nameless slob]

Camille Paglia:

 

In our wide-open modern era of independent careers, girl squads can help women advance if they avoid presenting a silly, regressive public image — as in the tittering, tongues-out mugging of Swift's bear-hugging posse. Swift herself should retire that obnoxious Nazi Barbie routine of wheeling out friends and celebrities as performance props, an exhibitionistic overkill that Lara Marie Schoenhals brilliantly parodied in her scathing viral video "Please Welcome to the Stage."

 

More Camille Plagia:

 

 

"Writing about Taylor Swift is a horrific ordeal for me because her twinkly persona is such a scary flashback to the fascist blondes who ruled the social scene during my youth,”

 

Source: The Hollywood Reporter, 12/10/2015.

Camille Paglia Takes on Taylor Swift, Hollywood's #GirlSquad Culture

Edited December 10, 2015 by nameless slob

[Dejana]

Oh, evoking the ghosts of Nazis to make a point about a completely unrelated, far less consequential subject. That always ends well. And here's that "brilliant" Please Welcome To The Stage Parody:

 

 

Not even thirty seconds in, and I felt the joke being run beneath the ground. I know Taylor Swift has a huge ego, can be a mean girl, and the harem of "friends" she parades around feels like a calculated effort to bolster her fame, but...she's a celebrity. I guess I hold stars to incredibly low standards? I could go to work or church and see a dozen people who claim to be nice and humble but are actually arrogant, vain and/or catty gossips, who paint false-but-cheery pictures of their lives on social media, who surround themselves with weaker personalities in order to reinforce their own perceived fabulousness, and they barely have two nickles to rub together. I guess I'm not terribly surprised to see the same behavior out of people who have millions of dollars and adoring fans. If anything, it makes more sense coming from them. 

 

Taylor isn't afraid to speak her mind and exercises a great degree of control of her very lucrative image and career, but she can also not be supportive of women she doesn't like in a very stereotypical way, and the "Girl Squad" seems quite cliquish, with care taken to assure that she is always the queen bee. She has something of a social conscious but is a celebrity first. Before, she would have been judged as imperfect, with good and bad qualities, with some people liking her, but others, not so much. Now we have to have clickbait headlines debating how great or problematic she is, and the dangerous messages allegedly propagated whenever she so much as walks, talks, sings, or Instagrams. I just find that aspect of current pop culture discussion extremely tedious.

Edited December 11, 2015 by Dejana

[katha]

Paglia is being way, way over the top to be provocative, as usual, agree that it's not helpful at all. Also agree that pop culture thinkpieces tend to get tedious, mostly because in the age of the internet there's 3 million on every possible topic. But, OTOH, these are business decisions Swift makes and the articles are treating it accordingly. She's not only hanging with these #squads in private, she's promoting this all over the place. It's in her videos, in her photo shoots, in her interviews, she makes cookie baking sessions public knowledge so People and over gossip mags can write about it. It's part of her brand building. Just as you have the various showmances of young starlets and models with boybanders and young actors. Everyone more or less knows it's for PR, but it gets everyone fame and headlines, so the media plays into it. While other media questions the strategies behind it.

[Wishing Well]

That video was actually made by Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear and his friend, the girl in the video. Apparently at some time during a party, Ed spilled a drink on himself and a drunk Taylor supposedly laughed at him. That sparked over six months of him of him attacking her nonstop on Twitter, calling her a monster, bitch, disgusting...sending hate towards her fans and just because downright horrific. Meanwhile, Taylor didn't say anything to this guy at all in public. The final straw came towards the end of her 1989 tour when he called everybody appearing during the tour a sellout and Haim, her opening act and friends, and also Ed's friends, publicly ended their friendship and collaboration with him.

Keep in mind that this is all one-sided though, since Taylor has never once interacted with this guy on social media...while he didn't keep his mouth shut for over half a year.

[DeLurker]

During which time he probably was getting more press than ever...no Taylor fan, but as Dejana articulated so well, she knows how to manage her image and celebrity.

[truthaboutluv]

I wasn't aware of all the drama behind that video but to be honest, I'm like the poster above who thought it was completely stupid and lame. I remember seeing links to it and so many commenting on how funny it was and acting like it was the greatest thing ever and I got through two fake introductions before I was bored. A joke loses its luster and punch when it is basically ran into the ground and this was with that video, in my opinion. 

[UYI]

I'm sorry, but I love that video. It will never NOT be funny, in my opinion. And hey, I posted that on this thread awhile ago! How dare you guys forget? :P

 

Come on, the Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan part? That's great. I'll sit at my little table of one, I guess. It was just a joke about bringing out some of the most random people out on stage with her during her tour. I like it. *shrug*

 

But Camille Paglia was a troll long before the Internet existed, not to mention batshit insane. I wouldn't worry too much about her. She might sometimes have a good point to make, but even a broken clock is right twice a day.

 

She DID once call Katy Perry a Manic Cyborg Cheerleader, though, which I'm saving to use as a screen name somewhere someday. 

Edited December 11, 2015 by UYI

[Wishing Well]

It was SO WEIRD though, since this guy's Twitter was just fighting with her fans every day and yelling at her but no one actually knew what she did! For months he was just going around calling her a monster, and then all of a sudden Haim turned on him and he deleted his Twitter and scurried off. The only thing that fans figured out that could have offended him was when he either spilled on himself or Taylor spilled on him and then she laughed.

Which quite frankly happened to me last weekend but you don't see me making videos and screaming on Twitter.

During which time he probably was getting more press than ever...no Taylor fan, but as Dejana articulated so well, she knows how to manage her image and celebrity.

He was getting press but he never once promoted himself or his music, just how much he hated Taylor.

[truthaboutluv]

I'm sorry, but I love that video. It will never NOT be funny, in my opinion. And hey, I posted that on this thread awhile ago! How dare you guys forget? :P

Come on, the Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan part? That's great. I'll sit at my little table of one, I guess. It was just a joke about bringing out some of the most random people out on stage with her during her tour. I like it. *shrug*

 

Hey, you don't have to defend what you find funny. I'm just speaking for myself, as I'm sure others are. I saw the link first on ONTD and then it was all over my timeline thanks to Buzzfeed so curiosity got the better of me and I watched it. And well I just didn't find it that funny. Again it just felt like a punchline that dragged on way too long but to each his own. 

Edited December 11, 2015 by truthaboutluv

[Wishing Well]

I never had a problem with the celebrity guests tbh. The Style walkers were never planned, at the show I went to Russell Wilson and Ciara were already at the show backstage when she asked if they wanted to walk. It was genuinely incredible to see them, and the guest performances are just icing on the cake.

Okay so maybe I got a little miffed that Seattle got Fetty Wap while other cities got Timberlake, Little Mix, Idina Menzel...

[UYI]

Hey, you don't have to defend what you find funny. I'm just speaking for myself, as I'm sure others are. I saw the link first on ONTD and then it was all over my timeline thanks to Buzzfeed so curiosity got the better of me and I watched it. And well I just didn't find it that funny. Again it just felt like a punchline that dragged on way too long but to each his own. 

 

Oh no, of course not, I understand that some of it might seem kind of lame. I guess, for me, some of the humor came due to the time period when it was first out: the Twitter kerfuffle with Nicki Minaj had just happened (although I DO like that she apologized), and people were noticing just how many people she was bringing onstage (although the musicians make sense--I'm not counting those). Plus, it's frustrating that she seems to be someone who people feel personally affronted when someone DARES to say something critical about her, like that she says she's a feminist without supporting women's causes, or has some criticism about her music, and the more hard core Swifties call you a "jelly hater" or something. I have a lot I like about her, but I'm not above calling her out on her shit. So just seeing someone like Lara do that video and make fun of the ridiculousness of her guests, knowing that the Swifties probably came at her hard, was kind of refreshing. 

[UYI]

When a 14 year old calls you out on your crap:

 

http://www.popsugar.com/celebrity/Rowan-Blanchard-Quotes-Taylor-Swift-Friend-Group-39372932

[AimingforYoko]

When a 14 year old calls you out on your crap:

 

http://www.popsugar.com/celebrity/Rowan-Blanchard-Quotes-Taylor-Swift-Friend-Group-39372932

Wow, what a thoughtful 14-year old. 

[Miss Dee]

Dang. Somebody raised that girl right.

[VCRTracking]

Adam Scott didn't really get "dissed" as the title of the video implies but it's a nice backstage look at Taylor bringing out the celebrities at her shows.

 

 

Here's the show. Adam changed the order to make it a better story but it's still funny:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cBZT5Gwvh8

Edited December 13, 2015 by VCRTracking

[BW Manilowe]

The 1989 Tour finally ended, in Australia, either last night or the night before (I can't remember which, plus there's the US/Australia time difference to consider--though that's more about hours different between the 2 countries than days).

Let's see if Taylor keeps to her word about taking a break now, &/or how fast she actually breaks that word.

[UYI]

Today's her 26th birthday, too--she had the end of the tour coincide with her birthday. Makes sense.

 

I'm curious about whether her break is actually happening, too. I know she's co-chairing the Met Ball next spring, which is pretty high profile.

[BW Manilowe]

She isn't--quite--leaving as soon as she said. Apple Music Tweeted earlier today they're airing a special from her 1989 World Tour on/starting December 20th.

https://twitter.com/applemusic/status/676089613165858816

And, of course, she's doing the requisite interview to promote it (NOTE: I *DO NOT* follow TS; I follow Apple Music--which was iTunes Music when I started following it, years ago--& I got her Tweet because they ReTweeted it).

https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/676114632361119744

I find it ironic Apple Music's airing/streaming her concert special, in light of that kerfuffle TS got into with them, earlier this year, over her music being played for free--horror of horrors--during that free preview period Apple Music did, with her threatening to pull her music from the service entirely if they didn't stop using it over the free preview period, as I remember.

My how times have changed. Though I'm sure it's not the times changing as much as it is the, literally, ZILLIONS of dollars that probably got added to her already massive bank account by Apple/Apple Music for the rights to the special.

Taylor, Taylor, Taylor... HOW THE HELL CAN WE MISS YOU (if we're inclined to) IF YOU WON'T FREAKING GO AWAY??!! Just asking.

Edited December 13, 2015 by BW Manilowe

[Dejana]

She isn't--quite--leaving as soon as she said. Apple Music Tweeted earlier today they're airing a special from her 1989 World Tour on/starting December 20th.

https://twitter.com/applemusic/status/676089613165858816

And, of course, she's doing the requisite interview to promote it (NOTE: I *DO NOT* follow TS; I follow Apple Music--which was iTunes Music when I started following it, years ago--& I got her Tweet because they ReTweeted it).

https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/676114632361119744

I find it ironic Apple Music's airing/streaming her concert special, in light of that kerfuffle TS got into with them, earlier this year, over her music being played for free--horror of horrors--during that free preview period Apple Music did, with her threatening to pull her music from the service entirely if they didn't stop using it over the free preview period, as I remember.

My how times have changed. Though I'm sure it's not the times changing as much as it is the, literally, ZILLIONS of dollars that probably got added to her already massive bank account by Apple/Apple Music for the rights to the special.

Taylor, Taylor, Taylor... HOW THE HELL CAN WE MISS YOU (if we're inclined to) IF YOU WON'T FREAKING GO AWAY??!! Just asking.

 

 

But that's...not how it works. If a business, all on its own, decides to have a promotion or sale on a product to get people into its doors, it's called a "loss leader" and the business is expected to eat the costs. Places like Target, Walmart and Amazon did this back when the Harry Potter books were first being released: they knew they had millions of customers assured of buying one thing, so they'd sell the latest installment for 40-50 percent off and hope to make up for it with people buying a hundred dollars worth of other stuff. I'm pretty sure JK Rowling and the book publishers didn't get stiffed because Barnes & Noble was having a sale, even if she was already really, really rich. The people/corporations who own the stores tend to be even richer.

 

When Amazon sold Lady Gaga's album for 99 cents as part of luring people to their cloud service, I think it was, they didn't just say, welp, Interscope, we're having a sale, sorry about your royalties! If the label agrees to that, fine, but if the music outlet has a sale/promotion on its own, that's really not the problem of the label/aritst and they have every right to expect to get paid at the going rate, whatever it is. Apple just thought they could be cheap when launching their new streaming service and hoped no one would really notice. IMO, it was galling that they even tried.

 

Taylor's last single went Top 5 and pre-Adele comeback, I was pretty sure she'd release single #6. Maybe she will anyway: 1989 is still selling and usually album eras end when the hits dry up, unless it's a rare case where the artist chooses to leave a bit of extra gas in the tank.

Edited December 14, 2015 by Dejana

[Wishing Well]

Out of the Woods is being released in Australia already and the video was just shot in NZ! I'm really looking forward to this, the song is truly genius.

[UYI]

The video for 1989's sixth single, "Out of the Woods", will premiere during New Year's Rockin' Eve:

 

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/12/22/taylor-swift-out-woods-music-video-premiere-rockin-eve