Many grumpy old music snobs like myself enjoy dumping truckloads of snark and smack onto today’s younger pop stars. But when I read or hear someone trying to tear down Taylor Swift, I leap to her defense.
Let’s look at the evidence. The girl can sing, and I mean really sing, has the pipes galore and can deliver a song with finesse, skill and winning sincerity.
She’s a quite gifted and prolific songwriter who gets better with every album.
She is so good to her fans. She knows who butters her bread and treats them like friends.
Her videos are vivid and fun. And I hate videos.
She also has the best legs in show business, and dances wonderfully. Plus, to my tastes, is a quite fetching young woman.
And then there’s her emerging politicization. In 2016, neo-Nazis tried to anoint Tay Tay as their “pure Aryan goddess.” Guess again, white supremacist subhumans.
She’s spoken out about gun control and #MeToo and supported the 2017 Women’s March on Washington and is a fervent supporter of LGBTQ rights. In 2018 she endorsed Dem candidates for Senate and House in Tennessee, where she primarily lives and votes. She also spoke out against Tennessee GOP Congressperson Marsha Blackburn, saying her record “appalls and terrifies” her. “She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic violence, stalking, and date rape. She believes businesses have a right to refuse service to gay couples. She also believes they should not have the right to marry.”
Swift’s politicization was the big media hook for her from last year’s Netflix documentary “Miss Americana.” I like that she said in it, “I need to be on the right side of history.” You go girl!
Being already aware that Swift was a fine human being politically, what I liked in the doc was seeing the ease with which song ideas just roll outta her very creative soul. She comes off as real, warm, sincere and modest.
I could feel her deep pain when she discussed all the hate directed at her when she was just a teen. And how awful it felt when the unctuous Kanye West invaded her stage time at the MTV Awards. Yet Swift has a strength of self that helped her get through it all. As she has grown into adulthood she has matured into a young woman I quite admire.
Anyone who stupidly doubts her massive talent needs to watch her solo NPR Tiny Desk Concert on You Tube. Her performance is excellent. Her singing and songwriting are superb. And, again, her warn regard she shows for her fans that managed to get into that stuffed room speaks volumes for her class and high character.
Mark my words: She will do so many great things in the future, not just as a magically-creative soul but also as a damn fine person.
TV Documentary: “Phillip Roth: Un” – Highly incisive and (for a writer like me) inspirational PBS American Masters segment about the man considered a master Jewish-American writer who considers himself an American writer who happens to be Jewish. The bulk of it is Roth discussing himself and his work with a quite likable and wry honesty.
TV Documentary: “The Last 24 Hours: Elvis” – The details of the monumental cultural moment mixed with much commentary from Presley’s “Memphis Mafia” (read: paid pals) on the original rock superstar’s decline and demise. A bittersweet treat for fans of Elvis’s music and/or Elvis the cultural icon.
Rob Patterson is a music and entertainment writer in Austin, Texas. Email orca@prismnet.com.
From The Progressive Populist, August 15, 2020
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