Let’s be honest, for a moment. I don’t like country music, or anything related to it, and pop is becoming a bit too repetitive in terms of the artists on the scene. It’s always the same singers or groups winning all of the Grammy and other music awards.
Think of a blond singer who fits into both of those country and pop categories. The person that comes to my mind is Taylor Swift. She is everywhere.
With her recently released album, “Red,” Swift has made leaps and bounds in album and single sales since her debut in 2006. And yet, I don’t understand why. Her vocals are just okay, her song themes are predictable, and she can’t seem to stick to one celebrity boyfriend.
Let’s break it down a bit further:
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With her first album, self-titled “Taylor Swift,” which was released in 2006, Swift was considered a country artist because of her music containing strong attributes of the genre. From the familiar twang of a guitar to the country-sounding voice, Swift covered all of the bases in her debut.
Her vocals are respectable, but she tends to leave an impression on people based on the content of her music. It’s as though she can never seem to settle long enough to deem herself happy before she’s out writing songs about her next celebrity ex-boyfriend.
For example, having a relationship that lasts six months and then writing a song about it and how bad the break-up was isn’t exactly what parents want their 10-year-olds listening to.
No, not every song is about that, like “Ronan,” about a child who passed away from cancer, and “Mean” about mean girls in schools, that provide a different view to touchy subjects to better inform her fans.
Topics like this come along with writing your own songs in your bedroom in your parents’ house while reflecting upon the days’ events. Amid the sometimes mature material, there are upsides to Swift’s song choices. She doesn’t just spend her writing time venting about the men in her life, but rather she takes serious, relatable topics and makes them worth standing up for.
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Swift has always been on teenage girls’ radars and, for some reason, has been recently named one of “America’s Sweethearts,” according to Vogue magazine, alongside Julia Roberts, Keira Knightley and Jennifer Aniston.
The fact that she can be a role model for young girls without wearing scandalous or revealing clothing shows a lot about her character. She is not one to gain a following by her appearance. She stays true to herself by expressing her feelings in the lightest way possible.
Swift can seem to be a songwriter with recurring themes, however, she has a knack for gaining a fan base through her personality, and not one molded by media. She, like every other human, makes poor choices, particularly in men, but owns up to them and shares these stories with her fans through her music.
I guess that’s why people like her; she is consistent in what she does and refuses to let people break her. Though she is constantly being criticized because of her emphasis on the same topics over and over, she will continue to be on my radar.
