Taylor Swift - Speak Now (Oct 2010) - hype, anticipation &c

"A Man Don't Die" is sugar, not syrup.

I left his show very impressed. But I'd take Taylor's crowd over his in a second. I saw a barely-standing girl try to smuggle in a water bottle filled with whiskey ... under her mini skirt. Yes, mini skirt. The (drunk) dudes in front of me were cracking up watching her wobble along the pat-down line, the bottle falling out every few feet. She still made it in, by the way! Don't know if she ever made it out, though.

Yeah, I mean, teenage girls are the worst, right?

haha oh wait that zing don't work, I misread you

still dont get why we oughta be essentialist about country in understanding Swift's stardom.

the dumb thing about saying Taylor "isn't country" is that if you listen to modern country radio, basically no one is. Everything sounds like rote classic rock or else grunting hair metal or washed-out Adult Contemporary limpness. It's just easier to blame her and point to her as avatar of all the evils of modern country because she sings about girly things (like love, which of course was never talked about in country, uh sure) instead of patronizing like the boys and inserting the word "country" in every other song title, parading around their Skoal rings and American flag tattoos on their hairy shoulders. But looking at actual songwriting, Swift is much more in line with classic country virtues of rich storytelling and attention to detail (and like, diction and what words mean, and how the way you sing those words can impart meaning) than all the other big country radio stars. I mean if you listen to country radio, what sounds "more country," "Sparks Fly" or "Country Girl (Shake It For Me)"?

If you're lucky enough to get your station to play Sunny Sweeney then great, but otherwise you're stuck with a bunch of crap that doesn't work as either "country" or generally as "good songs." Also, I could forgive Paisley sap (lapped it up, in fact) until the singles off this new album, which I refuse to listen to due to how lousy those singles are.

Sunny Sweeney's dope as fuck.

What country *is* is what country says it is, though.

Just as it doesn't make sense to say dancehall isn't reggae, and just like it made no sense for Philip Larkin to say that modern jazz wasn't jazz. It's an argument that always comes around when genres change, and whoever says "but that's not [genre x]" is always on history's losing sides, heroic or otherwise. Genres evolve, and they evolve around the fights and agreements within the communities of musicians and listeners who identify with that genre.

These arguments have taken place throughout the history of c'n'w, too. It's a genre which seems to enjoy arguing about what counts as country and what doesn't.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN50ZU6jVwM

Everything sounds like rote classic rock or else grunting hair metal or washed-out Adult Contemporary limpness

Country has sounded like this since the early seventies! Shania and Garth just legitimized it.

Begging the question, then: why even call it country? Why not just call it rock? What makes it country except adherence to a few apparently outmoded cliches of what country even "is," or at least "was?" Clearly many purportedly country singers consider themselves country, whether they "sound" like country or not. What is it about what they do that makes them identify as country? And what is it about those that don't identify as country that makes them not country, despite sounding like contemporary notions of country? Like Springsteen, or Aerosmith, or Train or Sheryl Crow?

Genre questions are impossible to answer. I'm with Tim: it's a variant on Charles Evans Hughes' line about the Constitution ("The law is what we say it is").

What makes me uncomfortable is wagging our fingers at contemporary country for falling short of an ideal that never existed. George Jones recorded plenty of schmaltz, while Buck Owens and Hag could make pretty scorching rock.

Pasty Cline was pretty poppy.

Plenty of acts were plenty lots of things. The Beatles did country. The Stones did country. Toots & the Maytals did country. But I do believe genres still exists, and adhere to certain creative parameters. What's impossible, I guess, is a quantitative country scale, but given that there are myriad acts one would not consider country in the least, there must be specific qualities/attributes one can point to that they lack that makes them not country.

Is it just about the accent in the end?

Lou Reed singing "I Think I'll Just Sit Here and Drink" in his Nu Yawk accent would rule.

to be clear, I think the authenticity debate about country is ludicrous, which is why I used scare quotes in that post. If anything, I find the authenticity rhetoric surrounding acts like Jamey Johnson to be far more noxious (cred = beard).

Roy Rogers didn't have a beard, gosh darn it.

But he did have a horse!

Taylor has a goat, close enough.

Fake goat, which is so not country. No teats, no credibility.

I just saw a Alice Cooper video on VH1 classic that was very illuminating for me, in the context of this thread.

I mean, this is pretty much shot-for-shot the same as that Sparks Fly video, yes?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdXGkrUgMHI

Taylor Swift's guitarist needs more MUSCLES.

i'm okay with the tour video for sparks fly but i kinda wish they had made a "proper" video instead

reading on twitter that she's covering nelly in st louis

She sure did

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg5NzM7NKN8

a fuck, i was hoping it wasn't something shitty like that

hahaha -- haven't even heard it but otm

She covers a song from every city at each show. Philly got Pink, Chicago got Fall Out Boy, etc.

WHERE WAS LONDON'S DIZZEE RASCAL COVER

>>>>>>>>:(

And Oslo's... m2m? Actually a bit pissed at that - she had plenty of time to add a cover and she often does 'em well.

Lex, you got hosed. No cover, no goat ...

so would i have to head to detroit to hear her eminem cover? only ever seen shitty youtube clips of it but it's quite something.

OMGGGGG would she do SUPER BASS in NYC???????

i have to follow this girl around the world

would love to see her do a full "Super Bass" omg

she did "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" and it sounded really good on her, I'd love to hear her do 60s soul-pop (apparently she's been listening to the Shirelles a lot! <3)

Taylor: I'd love to do an album of 60s soul-pop.
Record company: Sure, but we won't pay for it, and it won't count toward your contract. And we won't promote it. Or release it. Also, we think "Mutt" Lange is the most obvious choice of producer. Good luck, Taylor!

[The suits all leave and a minute passes]

Taylor: Hmm, were they serious?
Taylor's mom: About the 'good luck' part, maybe.

It seems a terrible missed opportunity to have been in Philadelphia and not do "Typical American" as a duet with the goat.

Was joined by Nicki Minaj for 'Superbass' at Staples.

haha i saw that and was immediately like WHAT, WHERE, OMG, WHY WAS I NOT THERE

fan video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3tzTptE1BY

i wonder if taylor raps the explicit version when she's alone

okay that's the best

aww that's rad

She's even covering Brian Wilson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOX5zjkfoFY

http://listsoplenty.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Belle-and-the-Beast-beauty-and-beast-broadway-show.jpg

in some interview she said she was listening to a lot of 50s and 60s pop like the Shirelles and Beach Boys

came here to post the Taylor/Nicki thing, man that's so awesome, I love Taylor mouthing every word like a total dork

oh shit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUnVbamAuNg

O_O

There's something so endearing about the fact that Taylor is using this tour as an excuse to jam on stage with her favourite singers on their songs.

i like that they always come down the same ridiculous staircase