Taylor Swift: Fearless Poll

lol @ its good cuz i like it

iatee killing it itt

No, they're not projecting complexity onto her music. Most music is complex, has subtext, some sort of motivation. They're trying to untangle what it all means

um if you need some help untangling what a taylor swift song means, I can help you out

I think a lot of people here don't actually enjoy country music as they'd like to on some philosophical level and taylor swift - who writes decent, approachable pop songs - is a good way to pretend like they actually like country music

this is really stupid -- why would anyone pretend to like country music? i don't fuck with country music at all but taylor is the most mainstream pop country out there -- that's why a lot of people who don't like country dig her

fyi white horse is really abt her challenging battle with cocaine addiction

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/0CNi9wqirCA/0.jpg

i think it's one thing to say "you all are retarded for liking this music" -- i think it's another to say "you all are pretending to like this and are expressing this by writing paragraphs upon paragraphs about this music on a message board thread read by 20 people" -- i really don't think that there's any fronting going on

fyi white horse is really abt her challenging battle with cocaine addiction

O_o

i think it's one thing to say "you all are retarded for liking this music" -- i think it's another to say "you all are pretending to like this and are expressing this by writing paragraphs upon paragraphs about this music on a message board thread read by 20 people" -- i really don't think that there's any fronting going on

right, again and again: I don't think people are pretending to like her. liking taylor swift isn't that hard. I think a lot of people are exaggerating how much they like her and the paragrahps upon paragraphs are be sorta smh embarrassing after her next album comes out and it's more of the same, except a little worse and you guys get bored.

i don't fuck with country music at all but taylor is the most mainstream pop country out there -- that's why a lot of people who don't like country dig her

I said as much...

the "paragraphs upon paragraphs" are a lot less than has been written on ilm about vampire weekend, tv on the radio, animal collective and a whole lot of other schmindie hype that i for the life of me can't figure out how anyone stays interested in enough to listen to much less write about, but i don't think any of those people are or pretending or exaggerating. they just like different stuff than me. i don't know how you'd measure if someone is exaggerating how much they like something, but i know for sure that in the last 16 months or so fearless has been one of the 10 albums i've listened to most, and i wouldn't be surprised if it was in the top 5. i've also made copies of it for friends and family, and made fans of several of them.

so ... yeah. some of us really do like it that much.

yah idk i totally believe u dudes like this garbage "that much" but a lot of the paragraphs strike me as granting whats basically a 2nd rate rilo kiley album a degree of subtlety and complexity is doesnt have & doesnt really much seem to want

I've never heard a Rilo Kiley song, but the song Jenny Lewis did for Bolt was nice.

That shit actually breaks my cold heart, come to think of it.

granting whats basically a 2nd rate rilo kiley album a degree of subtlety and complexity is doesnt have & doesnt really much seem to want

conversely a lot of the anti-taylor snideness here and elsewhere strikes me as almost-not-at-all veiled contempt for the idea that teenage blonde girls could have anything at all to say.

Would prefer it if Taylor Swift's were more along the lines of Voivod, it is true.

conversely a lot of the anti-taylor snideness here and elsewhere strikes me as almost-not-at-all veiled contempt for the idea that teenage blonde girls could have anything at all to say.

they dont, really! i mean i guess u can call t.swift's suburban fairly tale garbage "universal" or w/e but catching feelings off a taylor swift jam is just lol.

Which are the T Swift songs that involve fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, giants or gnomes? That's more like some Finnish metal shit right there.

conversely a lot of the anti-taylor snideness here and elsewhere strikes me as almost-not-at-all veiled contempt for the idea that teenage blonde girls could have anything at all to say.

I don't see why it's even snobby to suggest that your average suburban teenage girl who hasn't finished high school isn't going to have a ton of interesting insights into the world. most of her songwriting ideas seem to come from MTV movies. there's zero depth (musically or lyrically) to any of this stuff and I mean, it's not her fault or anything - people shouldn't be looking for it. reading things in the taylor swift tea leaves is just sorta sad - the absurdist taylor swift analysis paragraphs say more about ilx than they do about her.

ever heard an English/Film Theory/etc... major?

i don't know really what "lyrical depth" entails, but taylor swift's best songs seem honest and clear in a way that goes well beyond cliché. and i mean, not all her songs are her best ones, and she obviously uses plenty of clichés, and even some of my favorites of hers i like more for the tune and the vibe than the words per se. but if songs like "fifteen" and "the best day" don't seem artful and true to you, then i dunno. maybe you just have different ideas about artful and true.

or something like "our song," which is just zippy and fun but has a clever little lyrical device in the chorus.

What type of music do you like, iatee and Lamp?

lamp has really good taste

Not questioning that. I'm just.asking.

uh, my itunes top played artists are john cale, smog, jacques brel and the beach boys. have at me.

seriously if Rilo Kiley could write even one song even 10% as enjoyable as anything on Fearless i'd be pretty surprised.

You haven't even attempted to discuss this on the basis of her music, it's "teenage music shouldn't be taken seriously". Why should you be taken seriously?

I don't see why it's even snobby to suggest that your average suburban teenage girl who hasn't finished high school isn't going to have a ton of interesting insights into the world.

She's 20 years old and got her high school diploma in 2008. Not that that necessarily impacts the point you're trying to make, I guess, but still. And not to make untoward comparisons, but, like, John Lennon wrote "In My Life" when he was 25, you know?

seriously if Rilo Kiley could write even one song even 10% as enjoyable as anything on Fearless i'd be pretty surprised.

Well, this is just nonsense.

do we really need to bring sockpuppets into this discussion xp

we've been discussing nothing *but* the basis of her music

seriously if Rilo Kiley could write even one song even 10% as enjoyable as anything on Fearless i'd be pretty surprised.

I'm only a casual Taylor Swift fan (enjoy the singles, can't be bothered to pay $ for the album and hear the other songs) but this is the most OTM thing I've seen on this thread all week.

iatee, you are a fucking retard.

wikipedia says: 'In July 2008, Swift graduated from the Aaron Academy, a Christian school in Hendersonville, Tennessee, which offers a home-schooling program'

haha sounds like she was trying to get into the UT football program

John Lennon wrote "In My Life" when he was 25, you know?

is your point 'young people can write good songs'? that's not being debated. but 'in my life' doesn't sound like a song that was limited by the author's limited experience w/ this world. 'you belong with me' does.

When he was 18, he wrote "Lve Me Do."

can't wait for taylor's revolution no.9

Is that something to be proud of?

Serious question, not trolling. Taylor has written better songs than "Love Me Do."

xpost

liking taylor swift isn't that hard

man if only we could have a taste as great as iatee, think of all the complicated music we could appreciate

so you're saying...there's music more complex than taylor swift? do tell!

is your point 'young people can write good songs'? that's not being debated. but 'in my life' doesn't sound like a song that was limited by the author's limited experience w/ this world. 'you belong with me' does.

Maybe so, maybe not, but it's not contingent on the writer being your average suburban teenage girl who hasn't finished high school.

so glad we're finally comparing taylor swift to the beatles

after her next album comes out and it's more of the same, except a little worse and you guys get bored.

<3 music that "progresses"

No, I was trying to make a point about how ""Love me do isnt that great of a song, ut Lennon grew, whereas TSwift has written a beast like "Forever and Always" it is fine musical craftsmanship

xpost
and of course her next album definitely could be more of the same but not as good, and it might be boring. but fearless will still sound great.

Also, I've only heard the singles off of "Fearless," but, like, the sudden Rilo Kiley slagging is baffling to me. I enjoy "Wires and Waves," "Silver Lining," "I Never" and "Breaking Up" at least as much as anything Taylor Swift has ever done.

xxp

so glad we're finally comparing taylor swift to the beatles

See, this is a strawman, which is why I said I didn't want to make untoward comparisons. You're the one who brought up her (incorrect) age and the (incorrect) fact that she's in high school. If you don't want people to engage with dumb fucking arguments, don't make them.

so sorry I said she was in high school when she really graduated from some online christian diploma mill?

i need my artists to 'speak to me'.

lyrical depth is v important to me

i am an altbro. we are all altbros

I think I broke k3vin k :(

i don't know really what "lyrical depth" entails, but taylor swift's best songs seem honest and clear in a way that goes well beyond cliché.

idk i think "lyrical depth" requires a distance & nuance that a 20 yo or 18yo or w/e the fuck she was when she wrote those songs doesnt really have. or at least that she doesnt. like the song abt her rad family & getting malts & car rides cuz sum1 made fun of her ratface in junior high - i can see liking that songs blatant emotionalism but its too str8 forward and unalloyed to be "deep" or really worthy of much thought. its a nice song & its p catchy but its entirely flat. i mean mb u can read something in the irony of a teenager posing her past self as unknowing (the bit abt the leaves) or w/e but... its 2 much.

lamp you are the man but i pretty much disagree with every point you just made there. maybe we should all just take a step back

seriously if Rilo Kiley could write even one song even 10% as enjoyable...

Oh come on. That's silly.