taylor swift iridescent smoke bombs thread 2019 - lover

it's true, as wealthy as I'm sure she is, the film was careful not to present her as living in some kind of outrageous luxury. the settings for most of the "intimate" or "personal" moments scanned to me as either very upper middle-class or maybe borderline rich. it is sad that she only discovered burritos like two years ago though.

wow astonishing how much i hate both sides of that jezebel piece

There are no diva fits; there’s not even shade. She is palpably elusive in an interview regarding her fraught relationship with food—she only uses the phrase “eating disorder” to note that it’s not a phrase she used when she wasn’t eating (“You don’t ever say to yourself, ‘I’ve got an eating disorder,’ but you make a list of everything you’re putting in your mouth that day and you know that’s probably not right...”). There’s no real indication of how her issues with food resolved if, in fact, they had. To be clear, I’m not suggesting that I’m entitled to know anything about Taylor Swift’s relationship with food, and I’m certainly not suggesting she shouldn’t illustrate how life in the spotlight can affect such matters; what I’m saying is that after not having asked the question, I’ve been given a really threadbare answer from someone who prides herself on her ability to tell stories.

.... i guess it's possible to get a lot of different things out of the eating disorder monologue, but my main reaction to this is..... for fuck's sake??????

the cognitive dissonance involved in approaching a taylor swift documentary expecting diva fits and shade, and then segueing (poorly) into how unconvincing her talking about her eating disorder is for you, personally? and the fact that she actually does, in the documentary, talk about how she resolved her food issues?????? god i should've known better to read beyond the fuckin byline here

If Taylor would fully commit to this adult person that she showed slivers of in Miss Americana, the toxic part of the fanbase would wither away, and the true Swifties would stick around.

as for the positive half of this dumbass discussion, i have no reason to believe this is true and the writer doesn't convince me

also the narrative juzwiak believes the film has, it... doesn't. it's not about how swift decided to make a better record than reputation and wow she sure did and it was sooooo successful (even though it wasn't exactly). it's about the folly of even placing that expectation on yourself in the first place, of thinking "if i just make a better record everyone will love me again"

Yeah, one of the things I liked about this documentary was that it's not an exercise in giving Swift fans everything they've ever wanted in the way of access. It's pared itself down to the story Swift wants to tell, which is about someone who built her entire life and career around thinking that if she just did everything right she could make everyone like her, and who then found out the hard way that her entire worldview was wrong and had to set about remaking herself. It's a good story. It's compelling, it's meaningful, and as far as I can tell, it seems to be true. And it's a story that requires Swift to admit, by implication, that a lot of the way she wrote and talked and presented herself early in her career now comes across as self-deluding and emotionally stunted. So it's by no means an easy story to tell. It's weird to see it from the point of view of a Taylor Swift Fan for whom this level of access simply isn't enough.

And it's weird to see Lover reduced in these pieces to the question of whether or not it wins awards. I mean, the reason I watched the doc in the first place was that I saw a new level of maturity and self-criticism in the album and wanted to see if that was reflected/complemented in the doc. Which it was.

I kind of come at it from the opposite direction. The documentary kind of makes me want to listen to the record, which I mostly avoided, because the first two singles were terrible. But I was intrigued by her approach to those two terrible songs by way of this documentary.

t's about the folly of even placing that expectation on yourself in the first place, of thinking "if i just make a better record everyone will love me again"

― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, February 5, 2020 11:38 AM (fifty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah. Wasn't this the lode star that Michael Jackson followed in the nineties?

The documentary kind of makes me want to listen to the record, which I mostly avoided, because the first two singles were terrible.

Yeah if I've learned anything from all this it's that Taylor Swift's judgement in singles is fairly bonkers. Not entirely, because the third single was "The Archer," which was what made me listen to the album. But really, 18 tracks, at least 13 of which are solidly good, and that's what she releases?

One could argue that Swift cared less about the "best" songs, instead focusing on the singles that could be bigger statements - i.e. pulling in the PATD collaboration and the timeliness of the pro-LGBTQIA message with "You Need to Calm Down". Undoubtedly they are among the weaker songs on the record, but they sure seem to have done the job of getting PR attention.

i love that the movie extensively documents the writing and recording of "me!" which doesn't help make any sense of it as a song someone would ever write and record. it sounds much nicer on piano though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqAJLh9wuZ0

cancelled

“No Scooters” — lol

But why would The Man take the subway, instead of having a driver?

because it was the only way to make sure they got a manspreading shot?

some very subtle commentary going on there

So she posted a thing on her Instagram stories about some old live radio performance Scooter Braun is releasing tonight that she had no say in. I guess I haven't been paying close enough attention to the whole thing, but how exactly is the Soros family all wrapped up in this saga?

Scanning through her statement with little context might almost feel like reading some right-wing FB conspiracy rant.

As far as I can tell from some quick searching, 23 Capital is a UK-based investment firm which helped finance the Braun/Big Machine deal; and one of 23 Capital’s shareholders is “Quantum Partners LP, a private investment fund managed by Soros Fund Management.”

I am not sure why she is singling out the Soros Family specifically as part of all this, and agree it has certain uncomfortable connotations.

Thanks, I was (and still kinda am) genuinely curious about it. It started out as a pretty typical thing about the situation with Braun, I just didn't expect the swerve to the Soros' family.

For those curious, or without IG access, here's what her story said:

"Hey guys - I want to thank my fans for making me aware that my former record label is putting out an "album" of live performances of mine tonight. This recording is from a 2008 radio show performance I did when I was 18. Big Machine has listed the date as a 2017 release but they're actually releasing it tonight at midnight.

I'm always honest with you guys about this stuff so I just wanted to tell you that this release is not approved by me. It looks like Scooter Braun and his financial backers, 23 Capital, Alex Soros and the Soros family and The Carlyle Group have seen the latest Balance sheets and realized that paying $330 MILLION for my music wasn't exactly a wise choice and they need money (crying smiley emoji)

In my opinion...Just another case of shameless greed in the time of Coronavirus. So tasteless, but very important."

She also mentioned Soros in a Dec. 2019 statement about private equity firms getting involved in music deals: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-13/taylor-swift-calls-out-soros-family-in-fight-with-private-equity

Missed that one, guess this has been a thing for her a bit now.

Apparently this is the new release she’s referring to.

the fucking carlyle group

She just posted a B&W mosaic of herself in the woods, hmm

new album at midnight ET

Surprise 🤗 Tonight at midnight I’ll be releasing my 8th studio album, folklore; an entire brand new album of songs I’ve poured all of my whims, dreams, fears, and musings into. Pre-order at https://t.co/zSHpnhUlLb pic.twitter.com/4ZVGy4l23b

— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) July 23, 2020

Holy shit

that list of collaborators not exciting me much.

Woman of the Woods

wow

I've heard the National, should I?

also have never heard Bon Iver

RIP

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

(new thread needs to be titled "whims, dreams, fears and musings" btw)

Freeform is heavily promoting a new series called Cruel Summer - so that song has been running thru my head all week.

‘1989’ the next re-do?

lol if she re-records/releases this album before she even tours it

she's not doing this one, it wasn't under big machine

nm just remembered that this wasn't on Big Machine mods delete post

xp jinx

“Cruel Summer” was recently released as a single.

ngl it sounds better to me now than it did at the time

loved it at the time, was mystified as to how it wasn't a single then, better late than never I guess?

i didn't know the song until now b/c i avoided listening to this album (thanks "me!"). it's good but i couldn't help but think of parts of other, better songs of hers? like idk i couldn't help but think of the bridge from "out of the woods" for instance. but yeah i guess it's been a fan fav for a while, i had heard mentions of it here n there for years

was mystified as to how it wasn't a single then

You mean a planned 'song of the summer' single for 2020 not happening? Hm, wonder why.

I’ve never connected with a TS song
Is it too late?

xp Eh, it was released in Aug. 2019 (and actually charted, in the Top 40, as an album track).

i think i’ve had the opposite reaction to dyl insofar as i hear “cruel summer” on the radio alongside “anti hero” and “karma” and think, so nice of them to show us what it would be like if those songs were good

oh and i guess this is the song whose writers were added to the olivia rodrigo "deja vu" credits due to a vague similarity in one line

"Cruel Summer," one her best singles, finally hits #1.