Bad opinions • Page 817

I've tried giving both her most recent albums a chance but I just don't like Taylor Swift's music. Her lyrics are awful to me and I don't like the melodies. It just does nothing for me at all.

Also, not liking something just cos it's popular is strange to me but we're all different I guess!

 

Is it not literally the exact opposite? She has only grown in acclaim over the past decade. Hating her music was definitively *not* a bold take nearly a decade ago. The people who liked her on AP were in the minority

 

you can't prove she isn't in Van Halen

 

Taylor is great. A truly gifted lyricist and songwriter, a pop icon. Of the poptimism pendulum swing that has occurred in the past 5-7 years, I think that the praise for her is warranted.

 

Taylor has a third of a billion dollars and what 6 houses it truly doesn't matter if some people hate her and in fact it's inevitable that someone of her stature would have lots of people not vibe with her, stan culture has made it impossible for artists to handle criticism and it sucks


I say this as someone who likes Taylor haha

 

An interesting thing that I have seen with Taylor is that she really, really is not popular among my students. And I don't mean that they hate her either, it's more of apathy. I've been at my high school for 5 years and 4 albums cycles and...no one really cares haha. I talked about the release when the news broke on Thursday and couldn't muster more than a shrug from most of them. In my upperclassmen class, one girl who is a music fan vehemently hates her, and one really likes her. That was legitimately the only discussion I could generate, and they're typically opinionated and talkative.

 

yeah my 18 year old cousin used to love her and is now like she's fine, I also never hear people talk about her the way they do say Ari Beyonce or Rihanna

totally anecdotal obviously

 

Yeah when the new album was announced, Zola Jesus made a couple tweets criticizing Swift for trying to cosplay as indie. Which, regardless of whether you think that’s a fair criticism or not, she was almost immediately inundated with insane swifties saying a bunch of really vile shit to her. I think she just ended up deleting it

 

Yeah, the numbers are undeniable but I hear people in their 20s talking about her infinitely more than any of my students.

 

maybe in critical circles sure, but I’m speaking to more of the general populace. You know the “look at me I hate this extremely popular thing!”

idk maybe it’s more bold in the folklore cycle

 

Totally huge evidence that she is now more popular with people in their late 20s and into their 30s (and probably even skewing older now given the style shift of these two records). Which makes sense given that said fans were in their teens when she first came out.

Dare I ask who/what artists your students care most about? Lol

 

It would not at all surprise me if her biggest fan bases were (1) young (pre-high school) girls, and (2) adult men lol

In law school I had two different professors, both men in their 40s with families, who adored her and used her/her lyrics in their hypos constantly. They likely never listened to her until their young daughters inundated them with it, but it was very clear that they were unironic fans

 

Hm. Lil Durk is the name that I heard the most in the beginning of the year. Billie Eillish, Mac Miller, Uzi, Rod Wave, BTS, Harry Styles, 5SOS, Youtube/TikTok artists, Brent Faiyaz is a name I hear often.

In terms of the kids digging into more eclectic shit, a lot are going back to the typical old school acts: AC/DC, Queen, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Green Day. In terms of newer alternative: 21 Pilots, Imagine Dragons, Front Bottoms

 

Dude I honestly think cut the first category, haha. I even asked the kids if they were ever fans of her and most were like...not really no. A few said maybe when they were like 3-4

 

Lil.... Durk. Lol thanks but no thanks. Crazy, reading through that makes me feel incredibly old and out of touch. (Not around kids much/don't have any of my own yet).

Also interesting to me that the old school acts that you mentioned are all ones that have been in the mainstream spotlight very recently - Queen/Elton both had biopics, Fleetwood Mac with the tiktok viral skateboard guy vid, ACDC has a new album out and got random plugs on NFL network/ESPN etc....

 

wow is that a real bummer to see "old school acts" followed by "like Fleetwood Mac or Green Day"

life is fleeting

 

the first time you hear Green Day on the classic rock station your soul leaves your body

 

Haha, they are absolutely “old school” now

 

Definitely old school. Their debut came out 6 years before I was born haha

 

If 80s music was “classic” rock by the early 00s then even American Idiot-era Green Day is reaching that point

 

I always have these types of comparisons in my head, especially when I see the "anniversary" articles for albums.

My best current example is to think that Hot Fuss is as old now as Van Halen's 1984 was in the year 2000. 16 year old version of myself in 2000 thought that Van Halen was "dinosaur rock" and now I have a hard time believing that The Killers have been around for 16+ years.

 

In terms of Hip Hop, I’ve seen people refer not only to Biggie and Tupac as “old school”, which for me feels like a stretch, but even to like 50 Cent, Ja Rule and Nelly, which blows my mind

 

If you’re using “old school” as a term for a specific era of hip hop then sure they definitely aren’t that, but they’re also closer in time to the beginning of hip hop than they are to the current day lol

 

I don’t mean the specific era. Yeah you’re right of course but it still sounds weird lol

 

taylor + ally maine crossover thanks