Thank you. I happy-cry every time I see that video. I really only know two Taylor Swift songs - the ones you mentioned - and love them both. You're right about all this.
What may surprise these right wing commentators (who may or may not turn out to just be Three Guys Named Cooter) is that Gen Z is more conservative than they think. Or, perhaps more accurately, more of Gen Z is conservative than they think. And they are also apparently more able to separate the artist from the art than their elders are.
I like a lot of Taylor's music, and my daughter is a Swiftie who was looking forward to casting her vote for DeSantis in her first election. (Since he's still on the primary ballot in Florida, she still can, and I'm trying to convince her to do so regardless of the inevitability of the outcome).
I have actually never heard a song by her, or if I have I don’t know it. I am not a fan girl type so I have little interest in entertainers personal lives. I do have favorite entertainers but I like them for their work not their personal lives or opinions. All that said it baffles me why others put so much stock in all of the above. Both the right and the left should take her or leave her based on her work not her personal life. All the hype on both sides is just fatiguing.
The other song I referred to, but didn't link to, is a very sweet love song. "This love is difficult, but it's real; don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess...." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xg3vE8Ie_E
I see it the same way you do. Taylor isn't in my demographic but I knew who Holly was referencing when she described the song. I like that song every time I hear it, as much for the lyrics as for the melody. I've only heard her songs in restaurants and grocery stores. LOL. and as for her personal life, yeah I only know snippets of snark or silly adoration.
I hate to see conservatives allocating this much negative attention to something as inconsequential (in many respects, not all) as a celebrity's personal affairs. I guess the little I know of her more-or-less comes down to gossip about how her relationships are all fodder for topics to write songs about. Um. Isn't that what all song writers do?
I hate pop music, but this makes me want to listen to Taylor Swift. Even though I find most songs about romance annoying.
I used to consider myself more or less conservative, but public conservatives have been so intent on treating women like garbage who are responsible for all the world's ills that they may lose me.
As always, I admire the clarity with which you express your thoughts.
Thanks for this rebuke of stupid people. By coincidence, my latest essay is about Miss Swift and what goes on around her. https://medium.com/@frank.hood/haters-gonna-hate-706a13651697. I guess I don't listen to conservative talk radio anymore, so I wasn't aware that conservatives are attacking her as well. Though not a Swiftie, I am a fan of her music, and her well-deserved rise to fame and riches. She's extraordinarily talented and driven. Sort of the Elon Musk of pop music. Some people focus on the cost of the tickets to her latest tour, but, now that I've seen it, I can say that she puts so much effort and money well-spent into her tour that I can hardly begrudge it.
Seriously, it's like watching a 3 hour version of the best Superbowl halftime show ever. I can't even imagine how much it must cost her to haul all that equipment and huge stage around.
Every time people talk about her I wonder if I'm supposed to care, and since I don't, is there something wrong with me? Being a 40+ year old man, I am not in her target demographic, and although I'm probably someone whose attention the NFL would love to have, I don't care about that, either. I have too many other things going on and time is short. I've tried to generate some sort of passion about this topic, but whenever I proofread any response I've typed to someone regarding this topic I've ended up deleting it because it's so dumb. I have no ability to feel outrage over this, despite my rightward leanings.
I find it hilarious that stupid people, convinced of their own self-importance, invent things to be mad about and think they actually have influence. While 98% of the world couldn't care less what they think, steeped in common sense the way we are, and really just want to enjoy some music and a football game (or maybe not...). Those trying to remove the fun from life. Ignore them!
I suspect jealousy has a lot to do with attacking her. You spend all your days, working hard, doing your best to make people vote Republican, and know that if Taylor Swift ever cared to endorse the Republican Party she would command more votes than you will in your entire life.
Ooooh, you have a really good point here. That could have a lot to do with it, yes. Both the direct jealousy and also perhaps an orthogonal kind -- "why is this so hard, why couldn't we just make it easy, like if this star would do us one favor."
Also you can go from 'I wonder if she is a Conservative?' to 'I wonder why she is not a Conservative?' to 'Curse it all, she _ought_ to be a Conservative! And if she's not she's fake!' in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea if you are of a grievance-bearing mindset.
Still, I agree that the backlash against Swift is unwarranted and probably counterproductive. Many of the conservatives I follow agree, including Brett Cooper:
I would agree with you if I had seen even one of the conservatives criticizing the boyfriend. Not only are they not, they're saying things like that the problem with the world is that she is better known than he. I also think it's extremely unfair to hold people responsible for what their boyfriend or girlfriend does, especially when they did it before their boyfriend or girlfriend was their boyfriend or girlfriend.
They think women should be in the background and only in the background, good-looking wallpaper. Unless they can use them, and when Taylor Swift came out as a Democrat, they discovered they couldn't use her. So how dare she not be wallpaper?
Holly - you have made a point about celebrity culture that has always driven me nuts. Personally, I think the comments of conservative commentators are every bit as irrelevant as Ms. Swift's political views. What makes them think they matter? Most of us (all of us...?) have more informed sources of influence. I tried to make a similar point here: https://open.substack.com/pub/joelelorentzen/p/the-truth-of-consequence?r=1p5p1m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Let artists be artists, and let people who love them love them, and go do something for a living...
LOOOOOOOOL. I swear, that wasn't on purpose, but it's hilarious. (I had to google to find out when the Superbowl was and I saw the team names then, so it was recency bias.) Still, hilarious!!
I have a love…not hate, but exasperation with her. Her first album is definitely my favorite of hers, but Fearless comes close. Still coming at it as someone who was way more in love with Country than Pop, I’ve hardly listened to anything she’s done in the last ~10 years.
That said, the amount of time on the NFL games devoted to her did take away from my enjoyment of them, and one reason I’m stepping back from the product they offer. But whatever that’s not really her fault. I might like it less this way, but they don’t owe me the product I want.
But the boyfriend himself, I hate. I used to say that in the context of football because his team was always rivals with mine. But at this point I’ve come to believe that he is publicly supporting and taking payment for a product that has the potential to be very harmful to men his age and younger who idolize him. And I think he’s in more than a reasonable position to know better. I could go on about this, but this was the thing that made me decide that yes, I hate him. The fact that their relationship has become an item of public consumption makes me shake my head and think “Really, Taylor? Why him?”
It's amazing how conservatives manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Lots of women are unsatisfied with the left and looking for other options and conservatives are like, ok, we've got arresting women for miscarriages, a guy who brags about grabbing women by the pussy, and calling women with careers vain shallow whores - wait, where are you going??
There are any number of hills for the conservative media to die on. This definitely is not one of them. Most of the artist crowd is lefty. They have an outsized influence. Move on to something that matters, like the border.
The one criticism I'm surprised I'm not seeing is from the left about Miss Swift seemingly wanting to be the tradwife.
Thank you. I happy-cry every time I see that video. I really only know two Taylor Swift songs - the ones you mentioned - and love them both. You're right about all this.
I had already bought "Love Story", maybe a year ago. I just now bought the other one. It's such a refreshing change.
What may surprise these right wing commentators (who may or may not turn out to just be Three Guys Named Cooter) is that Gen Z is more conservative than they think. Or, perhaps more accurately, more of Gen Z is conservative than they think. And they are also apparently more able to separate the artist from the art than their elders are.
I like a lot of Taylor's music, and my daughter is a Swiftie who was looking forward to casting her vote for DeSantis in her first election. (Since he's still on the primary ballot in Florida, she still can, and I'm trying to convince her to do so regardless of the inevitability of the outcome).
I have actually never heard a song by her, or if I have I don’t know it. I am not a fan girl type so I have little interest in entertainers personal lives. I do have favorite entertainers but I like them for their work not their personal lives or opinions. All that said it baffles me why others put so much stock in all of the above. Both the right and the left should take her or leave her based on her work not her personal life. All the hype on both sides is just fatiguing.
The other song I referred to, but didn't link to, is a very sweet love song. "This love is difficult, but it's real; don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess...." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xg3vE8Ie_E
I see it the same way you do. Taylor isn't in my demographic but I knew who Holly was referencing when she described the song. I like that song every time I hear it, as much for the lyrics as for the melody. I've only heard her songs in restaurants and grocery stores. LOL. and as for her personal life, yeah I only know snippets of snark or silly adoration.
I hate to see conservatives allocating this much negative attention to something as inconsequential (in many respects, not all) as a celebrity's personal affairs. I guess the little I know of her more-or-less comes down to gossip about how her relationships are all fodder for topics to write songs about. Um. Isn't that what all song writers do?
I hate pop music, but this makes me want to listen to Taylor Swift. Even though I find most songs about romance annoying.
I used to consider myself more or less conservative, but public conservatives have been so intent on treating women like garbage who are responsible for all the world's ills that they may lose me.
As always, I admire the clarity with which you express your thoughts.
Thanks for this rebuke of stupid people. By coincidence, my latest essay is about Miss Swift and what goes on around her. https://medium.com/@frank.hood/haters-gonna-hate-706a13651697. I guess I don't listen to conservative talk radio anymore, so I wasn't aware that conservatives are attacking her as well. Though not a Swiftie, I am a fan of her music, and her well-deserved rise to fame and riches. She's extraordinarily talented and driven. Sort of the Elon Musk of pop music. Some people focus on the cost of the tickets to her latest tour, but, now that I've seen it, I can say that she puts so much effort and money well-spent into her tour that I can hardly begrudge it.
Seriously, it's like watching a 3 hour version of the best Superbowl halftime show ever. I can't even imagine how much it must cost her to haul all that equipment and huge stage around.
Every time people talk about her I wonder if I'm supposed to care, and since I don't, is there something wrong with me? Being a 40+ year old man, I am not in her target demographic, and although I'm probably someone whose attention the NFL would love to have, I don't care about that, either. I have too many other things going on and time is short. I've tried to generate some sort of passion about this topic, but whenever I proofread any response I've typed to someone regarding this topic I've ended up deleting it because it's so dumb. I have no ability to feel outrage over this, despite my rightward leanings.
I find it hilarious that stupid people, convinced of their own self-importance, invent things to be mad about and think they actually have influence. While 98% of the world couldn't care less what they think, steeped in common sense the way we are, and really just want to enjoy some music and a football game (or maybe not...). Those trying to remove the fun from life. Ignore them!
I suspect jealousy has a lot to do with attacking her. You spend all your days, working hard, doing your best to make people vote Republican, and know that if Taylor Swift ever cared to endorse the Republican Party she would command more votes than you will in your entire life.
Ooooh, you have a really good point here. That could have a lot to do with it, yes. Both the direct jealousy and also perhaps an orthogonal kind -- "why is this so hard, why couldn't we just make it easy, like if this star would do us one favor."
Also you can go from 'I wonder if she is a Conservative?' to 'I wonder why she is not a Conservative?' to 'Curse it all, she _ought_ to be a Conservative! And if she's not she's fake!' in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea if you are of a grievance-bearing mindset.
To be fair to those critical of Taylor Swift, her boyfriend is an outspoken proponent of the COVID shot and has been part of a Pfizer campaign:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2023/10/02/travis-kelce-promotes-flu-covid-19-shots-pfizer/71033013007/
Still, I agree that the backlash against Swift is unwarranted and probably counterproductive. Many of the conservatives I follow agree, including Brett Cooper:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Cit8PIio4v0
I would agree with you if I had seen even one of the conservatives criticizing the boyfriend. Not only are they not, they're saying things like that the problem with the world is that she is better known than he. I also think it's extremely unfair to hold people responsible for what their boyfriend or girlfriend does, especially when they did it before their boyfriend or girlfriend was their boyfriend or girlfriend.
They think women should be in the background and only in the background, good-looking wallpaper. Unless they can use them, and when Taylor Swift came out as a Democrat, they discovered they couldn't use her. So how dare she not be wallpaper?
I think the Hodge Twins complained about Kelce's vax campaign. They love to complain about the vax every chance they get.
As a conservative-leaning father of two young swifties, I love this take. Everyone chill out and enjoy some of her catchy tunes.
(Our Song is especially lovely, IMHO.)
I haven't heard that one! I'm at best a casual fan (I've now spent money on a grand total of two of her songs, LOL.) I'll look it up, thanks!
Holly - you have made a point about celebrity culture that has always driven me nuts. Personally, I think the comments of conservative commentators are every bit as irrelevant as Ms. Swift's political views. What makes them think they matter? Most of us (all of us...?) have more informed sources of influence. I tried to make a similar point here: https://open.substack.com/pub/joelelorentzen/p/the-truth-of-consequence?r=1p5p1m&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Let artists be artists, and let people who love them love them, and go do something for a living...
My “Chief” worry. I see what you did there 😉
LOOOOOOOOL. I swear, that wasn't on purpose, but it's hilarious. (I had to google to find out when the Superbowl was and I saw the team names then, so it was recency bias.) Still, hilarious!!
I have a love…not hate, but exasperation with her. Her first album is definitely my favorite of hers, but Fearless comes close. Still coming at it as someone who was way more in love with Country than Pop, I’ve hardly listened to anything she’s done in the last ~10 years.
That said, the amount of time on the NFL games devoted to her did take away from my enjoyment of them, and one reason I’m stepping back from the product they offer. But whatever that’s not really her fault. I might like it less this way, but they don’t owe me the product I want.
But the boyfriend himself, I hate. I used to say that in the context of football because his team was always rivals with mine. But at this point I’ve come to believe that he is publicly supporting and taking payment for a product that has the potential to be very harmful to men his age and younger who idolize him. And I think he’s in more than a reasonable position to know better. I could go on about this, but this was the thing that made me decide that yes, I hate him. The fact that their relationship has become an item of public consumption makes me shake my head and think “Really, Taylor? Why him?”
Also, I definitely suggest “Only me when I’m with you.”
It's amazing how conservatives manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Lots of women are unsatisfied with the left and looking for other options and conservatives are like, ok, we've got arresting women for miscarriages, a guy who brags about grabbing women by the pussy, and calling women with careers vain shallow whores - wait, where are you going??
*nods solemnly*
Am I off base or is this about Ethel Merman
There are any number of hills for the conservative media to die on. This definitely is not one of them. Most of the artist crowd is lefty. They have an outsized influence. Move on to something that matters, like the border.
The one criticism I'm surprised I'm not seeing is from the left about Miss Swift seemingly wanting to be the tradwife.