Last weekend and it’s my turn to share my week’s forthcoming plans around a pub table. I’m buying linen at John Lewis. (I know!) I’m going on a date. And Best. Night. Ever. I’m off to the TAYLOR SWIFT CONCERT. How good is that, guys! Guys?
‘You’re joking. Ahahahaha. You are joking, right?’
About which part? The date? Believe it or not, we’ve actually made it to date two.
‘No, not the date! TAYLOR SWIFT? Don’t you find her, like, really annoying?’
My mate’s outrage was written all over his face. (I’ve tried to express it in capitals). But it’s not the first example of Taylor Swiftism I’ve encountered. It’s rife – but it’s wrong.
My mate’s outrage was written all over his face. But it’s not the first example of Taylor Swiftism I’ve encountered
Despite the fact that she’s sold out five nights at the 02 arena(with 15,000 people a pop) – even during a Tube strike – it seems like it’s legitimate to be sort of snidey about Swifty. Even the utterly relatable simplicity of lyrics like, ‘I knew you were trouble when you walked in’ don’t help her. (I mean, come on – we’ve all been there).
Other ‘tolerable’ and rad people have endorsed Taylor; Lena Dunham, Lorde and the folk at Rookie are all Swifty’s homies. And – if we must go there – her lovelife dalliances aren’t limited to Harry Styles. She’s also bagged Jake Gyllenhaal, that dude from Twilight who’s also called Taylor, and if I do a quick final check on ‘Swiftipedia’, ah yes – Taylor Swift’s scored a fucking Kennedy. But even that doesn’t seem to make her more popular – if anything it harms her cause, resulting in endless ‘man-eater’ headlines being trotted out because it’s not OK for a girl to go out with more than a few guys in their early twenties. Er, OK then?
Let’s not forget the transmitted joy of watching a performance by someone who properly loves their job and is living their dream, especially when that performance involves her walking a plank suspended in mid-air over the audience without a safety wire attached. Taylor's years spent growing up in the industry haven’t left her screwed up or lobotomised. Rather, it’s left her kind of… super nice? I know, right: what a phenomenally irritating child. Or as my mate put it: ‘If you’d have said you were going to see Hilary Duff that would have been acceptable.’
Taylor's years spent growing up in the industry haven’t left her screwed up or lobotomised. Rather, it’s left her kind of… super nice
So what is all this anti-Taylor Swift sentiment about? Is ‘Taylor Swiftism’ a snobbery about ‘country’ music stars? Because surely US TV show Nashville has nipped a Dolly Parton-sized Botox needle in that bud. Is it because Taylor Swift is ‘clean cut’, and therefore not cool? We scrutinise female popstars for being too risqué, too naked, too gobby. Then one comes along who allays all our blog-sized fears and we call her out for being lame? This isn’t making sense, people.
Taylor Swift is so not lame. Taylor Swift is a young Leslie Knope, except the singing version – and not fictional. She doesn’t seek controversy or do anything outrageous and yet people still buy her records, even though she wears practical (yet sparkly) Keds onstage and dances like Kirsten Dunst in Bring It On. (Basically, not well, but trying.)
Later a different friend on Facebook chat is also utterly perplexed as to why I, a music journalist, would attend a London arena show that was sold out five times over. I tell her that Taylor Swift has quietly – and humbly – overtaken every other female recording artist in America. ‘Even Beyonce?,’ asks my Facebook friend. Yes. Even Beyonce.
Eve is Deputy Editor of NME. Follow her on Twitter @Eve_Barlow
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.