two months ago Taylor Swift announced that she would release her new record, The tortured poets department, at the Grammys. She made the statement during her acceptance speech for album of the year which she had just won for "Midnights" her then most recent record. When this happened I cringed because I felt it was too soon , another release amidst a public swiftening that I worried might jeopardize her career. A release cycle that seems to never cease.
I reacted this way not because I didn’t want to hear the music, rather I feel that Taylor is going to further oversaturate the market of cultural attention that she has so thoroughly dominated this year which I don't think is beneficial to her. I do not want to blame Taylor. I don't think she is responsible for the nature of this media coverage which is an economy unto itself. But I do believe she maintains an invisible hand.
Although there are multiple perspective(S). Ultimately I think Taylor is at the whim of her own talent as less productive artists can build greater anticipation between releases.
Sometimes I roam pitchfork comment sections related to Taylor and I feel the fatigue. People are frustrated at the oxygen that the circus consumes. the messages can often be attacks towards her which I think is sad. I wonder if this frustration drives division between us. People with more “enlightened” taste can share this anti Taylor discontent rudely. People might feel more apprehensive about expressing love for Taylor which is sad too. But its silly to fret over these things.
The reason why I have these feelings is that I like Taylor and want her to be appreciated rather than tolerated. I get upset when people scoff at her music and its impact, the unifying quality it serves and the magnitude of the love and understanding she can imbue through her performances. Although maybe that’s selfish...
I have an interpretation of Taylor that emphasizes her ability to bring people together and perhaps I just want more people to share my perception. When she releases “too much” music then I see how the narrative might change, how her reputation shifts and I start to see people’s fatigue grow larger, her appeal to those who are too cool dim.
Because ultimately I love the idea of Taylor because she’s someone who everyone knows, and when we all know someone we become closer to each other. I want that to be what Taylor swift is about but it’s not up to me.
She is prolific, she seems to write songs like copy. In this way, the music almost becomes secondary to the words which are dense with meaning. As a result the stylings of this music can be as white and bland as the pages carrying words in a physical book. The new album has this quality. I do hope the next one takes a turn in terms of production.
But Maybe that's the problem in how we think about her. For a musician we want rhythm movement, we want experimentation, variation but Taylor is more like a traditional.. verbal writer, author, poet. Maybe these albums are treated like a blog , a firing range of words and narratives rather than sounds and instruments and we listen to them instead of read them or rather we read them instead of listen to them.
If you think of it this way the listener becomes secondary. In a post accompanying the album release Taylor says “Once we have spoken our saddest truth, we can be free of it.” She also says that the period of time that inspired the music is over. I think here Taylor is a victim of her own success as her free stylings of personal healing and growth, her efforts to put the past behind her can have the influence of generating overwhelming discourse and criticism. you likely would not think much of an acquaintance for writing too much on a blog, you would choose not to read it. Maybe it feels like a burden when you want to be part of the zeitgeist of Taylor, that blog becomes harder not to read.
I feel that I might relate to Taylor.. … as a photographer. Meaning I take pictures in a way that I imagine she writes songs… quickly. I express myself through these thousands of images, and they become the reference points for my understanding of the narrative progression of my life maybe as Taylor does with her songs. Ultimately though, I never feel like I can understand or move on from a moment in time until these pictures are commemorated on Instagram. this process of sharing allows one to understand and move forward , be rid of the past. When I wait too long to post something I feel that the moment is gone and I’ll never be able to share it and my sense of grasp on the reins of time grow looser. That’s an awful feeling perhaps it comes from my vanity or sense of mortality. I think Taylor might have had a similar inclination with these songs. She likely felt compelled to release them because she is moving on with her life. Carrying them forward ( the songs) , sitting on them, it weighs, and it creates a backward looking perspective which gnaws at an artistic spirit that is highly productive.
Here I think we should appreciate the paradox of Taylor for she is ultimately a very normal person who deserves her own blog. She is however cursed with a genius and a machine like creativity and ambition that has enveloped our media and her ability to be normal. Her personal healing and growth has the unfortunate impact of moving many millions of dollars and cents and maybe the real tragedy would be for that to hinder her creativity, her will to share and express and grow. after all we don’t have to read her blog even if it gives us a reason to talk to one another. And maybe that makes it silly for me to offer any critique but I’m just like her after all.
this is beautiful, thank you for sharing