For the love of God, leave Taylor Swift ALONE. Does this sound familiar to Chris Crocker’s infamous Britney Spears-related YouTube tirade? Good, then you better buckle up.
Last week, Taylor Swift debuted her newest album, 1989, and she has been met with an abundance of praise, as well as some biting criticism. I would say everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, but there should be some kind of clause in there that stipulates that you’re not entitled to your opinion if it’s stupid.
Feel free not be a fan of Taylor Swift’s music, or even Taylor Swift herself; personally, my loyalty doesn’t particularly lie on either side of the Swift debate. What I do disagree with is how people can be so judgmental and critical over the fact that Swift’s sound has clearly changed. Artists grow and change all the time, and Swift is no different, so it’s ridiculous to critique her for “not sounding country anymore.”
A prime example of this hypocrisy would be Miley Cyrus, who I would consider to be on an equal playing field with Swift.
When Cyrus chopped off her locks, ended her engagement and began running around with foam fingers, whining about how she “can’t stop and won’t stop,” she was considered by many to be revolutionary. While the overuse of her tongue and twerking eventually caused her to be the butt (no pun intended) of many a joke, she was initially embraced for completely breaking away from her formerly bubblegum pop-country vibe Disney set up for her.
Another prime example is Kid Rock. The dude went from rap to country. Country. He’s about as country as all the girls from Connecticut who go see Luke Bryan at the Civic Center wearing their crop tops and high-waisted shorts are. Yet, nobody even thinks twice, even though Kid Rock is not exactly one of the world’s musical geniuses. (His claim to fame is Pamela Anderson. That’s it. I’ll just leave it at that…)
If Taylor Swift sounded absolutely terrible, then sure, maybe these arguments would be valid. But she doesn’t.
Like it or not, Swift’s new sound is changing music, and you can’t deny that she’s putting in a lot of hard work. Maybe you’re just really not a fan of the music, but given the amount of people who just love to hate Swift and her god-awful awards show dance moves, I don’t think everybody truly hates her new sound. They just hate her.
If everybody—even the FCC—can forgive Miley Cyrus, why not give Swift a chance?
It doesn’t mean you have to prance around in 1950’s era clothes and date a member of One Direction. It just means that her sound is currently changing how the world views music, like her or not, and, if you consider yourself a music aficionado, it might be worth it to figure out the root of your criticism and give the album a fair shot.
Not that Swift particularly cares what you think. Haven’t you heard? She’ll just shake it off.
