Can someone explain to me what makes Taylor Swift so popular?
I don't get it. Her music is sometimes catchy but otherwise unremarkable, from the songs I've heard. How does she break all these records and accumulate so much fame and wealth?
She's pretty, but a lot of singer songwriters are, especially those with makeup and costume people, a support staff.
Is there something else to her that people like?
I'm confused about what makes her so apparently unique or phenomenal.
Update: there are so many things that make swift unique or phenomenal.
I've received tons of great answers from people that have helped me understand, like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle, many factors that makes swift different and consequently more successful than her peers.
Clever lyrics, top-tier production, sharing autobiographical and emotional points in her life very directly, apparent honesty with few or no public blemishes, creating a community of fans through Easter eggs and house parties and unconventional, but always personal methods, an early start supported by wealthy parents, she keeps winning against abusers, and her music itself is popular and fun.
Those are just a few of the puzzle pieces contributed here, and a dive into this post is a pretty good explanation of many of the factors that must be contributing to her phenomenal success and recognition, that set her apart from other pop stars, even pop stars who were phenoms in their own right.
This is a very educational post, thank you to everyone who has contributed.
I like this explanation, but I feel like there are plenty of other artists who fit into that category.
Is it just random that they had to pick one brand of pizza to go crazy over do you think?
The pizza has been carefully crafted by teams of experts to appeal to the largest audience.
As someone who couldn't name a single Swift song up until a couple of months ago — From what I read she writes the vast majority of her songs, which is exceptionally rare for pop stars; especially from such a young age... The songs may be simplistic and formulaic, but the lyrics are decent for the age they were written at, and the work ethic and genre jumping is impressive. The most admirable thing about her is how she's screwing venture capitalists by re-recording all the songs she wrote. I hope she starts redistributing all that wealth she's extracting.
Ok just don't forget she came from money and had opportunities:
Dunno any of her new stuff, but I'd be surprised if you've never heard any of the following as they were very overplayed, even though they are good:
Teardrops from my guitar
Love story
Our song
Blank space
You belong with me
She is a damn fine businesswoman. She was able to use social media to have a relationship with her followers and build a large audience. That's one of the main reasons she became famous.
Also, there have been a couple of situations that benefited her fame, such as the Kanye incident
Thanks
"Relationship"... More like getting liked because she is pretty.
Uh oh, someone is upset because a beautiful woman is also good at other things.
You are right - beautiful woman are always good at things. Can't criticize them because that's just out of bounds. :)
Cause that’s totally what I said 🤣
Luck and timing are big factors. There are many talented artists out there that work hard and make the kind of music that (in theory) should appeal to a large audience but never make it. Either at all or not to the level of Taylor Swift. If you make the right music at the right time, your chances increase but you still need luck.
Edit: what I've heard of Taylor is that she's very good in making the right music at the right time. The songs fit the trends in music. But I've never listened much to her, so I don't know for sure if its correct
Thanks, someone else compared her to other pop stars like Michael Jackson and Madonna, and all of those people were at the forefront of their particular movement.
I feel like Taylor Swift is just in the middle of all the other pop stars.
Appreciate it, I'm going to try and look into it from that perspective, maybe I just don't understand the music world at all. I definitely don't.
I just remembered a big factor as to why artists such as Madonna have a long career: they managed to appeal to the queer crowd, who tend to be fiercely dedicated to anyone who stands up for them.
Don’t forget the money and connections. IIRC her father literally bought(?) or created(?) a label to sign her. There a lot more talented artists out there but she had the money and connections that gave her a very big headstart. Talent can only get you so far in the industry. It’s luck/timing and money/connections that allow you to break through.
My brother is a swiftie and seems to think that her talent is above and beyond a standard artists talent. One thing that is praised is how much range she has covered across her albums.
I'm personally not a fan, and to me she seems overrated, but I also have to recognize the mass following and legitimate consistency in the music quality. She's not like a Katy Perry recycling the same tune.
So I think she's like a really nice pizza, appealing but always good quality, always fresh.
A couple people have mentioned her range, but they also only mention her relationship and breakup songs. What else does she sing about that gives her range?
She might not recycle the same tune, but it kinda seems like she recycles the same themes verbatim. I'd say she's closer to Papa John's than a good quality pizza shop. Her music is probably good, but I doubt that it's usually great.
You have to explore all her albums in order to really form that opinion. People who like that kind of music will do so, and likely decide that she is phenomenal.
But then folks like you and me will not want to take time to ingest all that music that doesn't appeal to us, so we have to speculate based off what we get exposed to which is generally her pop songs on the radio and such. But we aren't really getting the full Taylor Swift. So it's like we're judging a sample of her stuff (which sounds like a lot of other pop cuz all pop sounds basically the same) and oversimplify what she offers to music.
I'm completely speculating... Like I said we'd have to dive into all those albums and listen to really form a meaningful opinion.
That's a fair opinion. I usually don't listen to albums, even for creators I like, so it didn't really click that her most famous works might not be why people like her.
That being said, there were a few (probably cherrypicked) clips of her concerts where she said something "inspirational" (or quirky?), and her fans go absolutely insane, and to me it just sounds like the most mundane stuff you could say. So until I listen to her stuff I'll keep my existing impression.
And are there not plenty of other popular artists?
There are, and none with so many awards or the same kind of popularity.
She's smart and not lazy. A lot of people get fame and money and massively shift their focus. Longevity is probably the toughest part, not going crazy, and remaining relatable to young people while simultaneously having millions of dollars.
Gordon Ramsay isn't the best chef on the world, still he has the most restaurants by a big margin
A ton of people would say Tswift is their ultimate fantasy fuck even though she isn't the hottest girl on the planet (she still could be a model probably, being slim and tall)
Being famous always has a certain pull to it and if you do it right you can leverage being famous to become even more famous
Worlds top athletes are overpaid (at least in team sports) would you rather have the #1 player or a team full of top 100 players... Well the #1 player sells a ton of merch, but almost always the team with more depth is winning games (if the budget is equal)
Top athletes are grossly underpaid. Basketball straight up truncates them. Giannis would make at least double on the open market. Football, the best players make the same as second and third tier players at their position, entirely dependent on when they hit FA.
Yeah…I’m not sure what sports we're talking here. I don’t want to assume an American perspective, so I genuinely don’t know when it comes to soccer, cricket, rugby, etc.
But here Stateside, the best players are often not the most highly paid. Patrick Mahomes - and I understand people can disagree - is not the most highly paid QB. Not for a while. Prior to this season, Travis Kelce had been the top TE in the NFL for a number of years, but his contract hadn’t reflected it for some time.
Even without the salary cap, in a sport like Major League Baseball, one could argue a player like Shohei Otahni is still not being paid what he’s actually worth, despite his record breaking contract. He’s a Hall of Fame pitcher and hitter in one player. The contracts for each of those individually is worth more than what he got.
She's pretty and blond as well... oh, and white.
It's like Britney all over again.
But way way bigger and with way more awards. And records.
And smarter, a lot smarter than Britney.
Does this take any effort though?
What, being smart?
Being smarter than Britney.
Yeah, to be honest, no 😂. There are rocks that are smarter than Britney 😂.
Smart, pretty, rich parents in positions to boost her early career, generic songs that young women and girls everywhere can project their own issues onto, blonde and white, early career (and again, blonde pretty and white) made her more popular with the country crowd, tons of luck....
Talent can only get you so far.
What is Taylor's 'Toxic' though?
That girl invests in real estate, she's not stupid enough to make a song like that.
How fucking dare you. That's an absolute banger.
Just kidding, yeah it's a good song.
Just like pizza, artist go off after a while. (It just takes longer)
Except for all of the artists who don't.
And a lot of the artists who do "go off" don't get 81 awards in a decade and a half.
Those aren't to many. I can't name many though that made good music 2 decades ago and still do. Only the Stones spring to mind. I never even heard of Taylor Swift until last year.