Tiste Simeon, on 30 January 2024 - 09:02 AM, said:
Maark Abbott, on 30 January 2024 - 07:40 AM, said:
My main query is how does someone get so famous over such shit music
Like she makes Ed Sheeran sound halfway tolerable and that's an achievement in and of itself
Woah woah woah. I am far from a Swifty but Ed Sheeran is the absolute pits in terms of beige, bland pop.
His falsetto's pretty decent, though it's not my 'cup of meat'....
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That level of achievement is compelling—it's hard not to be interested. Extreme feats of excellence, like summiting Everest, trigger our curiosity. [...]
Taylor Swift's fans [...] have powerful emotions that transcend her music. Swifties are attached to Taylor Swift, the person[...] best described as a parasocial relationship.
Parasocial relationships are one-sided connections. Fans feel strong emotional attachments, or what psychologists [...] argued was the "illusion of intimacy" created through media. Social media amplifies the sense of intimacy by seeming like authentic interpersonal connections.
[...]
Swift has done a masterful job of using all media—not just her music— to create a sense of intimacy and vulnerability, enhancing the tendency of her fans to feel they know her personally, even though it is inherently one-sided. Swift's music reflects her life experiences, and she owns her emotions, increasing her relatability.
Why Do We Care Who Taylor Swift Dates? (fielding.edu)
From Taylor Swift's op-ed in the Wall Street Journal:
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I think forming a bond with fans in the future will come in the form of constantly providing them with the element of surprise. No, I did not say "shock"; I said "surprise." I believe couples can stay in love for decades if they just continue to surprise each other, so why can't this love affair exist between an artist and their fans?
Taylor Swift WSJ Op-Ed (businessinsider.com)
However, the mostly-parasocial relationship is not completely one-sided; there is some (extremely asymmetrical) stochastic
terrorism reciprocity (comparable to a lottery):
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Swift earned nearly $2 billion this year through her music, tour and accompanying tour film and merch — before even accounting for additional revenue from things like synchs and sponsorships.
[... She has]
donated to charities and struggling individuals alike, and showered her fans with lavish presents in a 2014 gift-giving extravaganza known by her fandom as "Swiftmas."
She's also been known to be generous with her time, whether it's meeting fans after almost every show of her pre-Eras tours completely free of charge, or making surprise appearances at unsuspecting Swifties' weddings, bridal showers or engagement parties. There have also been times where fans have opened their front doors to find the musician waiting outside, as well as days spent dropping in to cheer up patients at hospitals.
A Timeline of Taylor Swift's Generosity – Billboard
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How, in just one year, did Swift transition from a Fall Out Boy guest star in a goofy costume to a [...] pop princess [and fancy underwear model ...] Swift had already been spending her whole summer [...] with a coterie of new best friends, almost all of whom were models and who had seemingly come out of nowhere[...]
[...]
In order to make her coronation as Pop Princess of the World complete, Swift knew in 2014 that she couldn't just drop an immaculate album and let the songs speak for themselves; she had to transition her public-facing identity away from Lovelorn Dork (the type who'd noodle over many different genres to spell out heartbreak, as she did on her previous album, Red) and towards Model-Gorgeous Single Girl, a Pop Princess archetype if ever there was one.
[...]
What if I told you she's a mastermind?
How Taylor Swift Turned Herself Into a Victoria's Secret Model (yahoo.com)
But most importantly IMO:
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I didn't stream a single song from Taylor Swift this past year on Spotify. Yet, I seemed to have paid her royalties.
[...] 80% of what I paid into the pool to be distributed as royalties went to other artists.
Since Swift scooped up around 1.3% of Spotify's royalties, that means I contributed around 63 cents toward her $131 million in royalties from Spotify even though I didn't listen to her for one second last year.
Taylor Swift made money off me on Spotify but I never streamed her music (inquirer.com)
No one needs that much money, especially not a singer-songwriter. Since she's not shy about bragging about giving to charity, she's almost certainly not redistributing any of her riches to the numerous non-superstar musicians who are getting shit pay from the streaming services. But she'd rather be #1, and let anyone who might challenge her supremacy languish in poverty and (undesired) obscurity.
[Edit: to clarify: in that last quote, 80% of what they paid to Spotify to be distributed as royalties went to artists that they didn't listen to at all.]
This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 30 January 2024 - 01:30 PM