Taylor Swift - Conniving Bitch or Shrewd Pop Star?

[quote]Is she just massively successful or is she evil?

Why do you think those two things are mutually exclusive?

Taylor Swift - Conniving Dyke or Shrewd Talentless Pop Star?

fixed for OP

You don't get to the top like Taylor without being both.

R1 has it exactly - she's an evil bitch mean-girl who is also a very successful pop star and professional beard.

I wonder how much she pays her merkins?

She goes through men like a bag of Skittles. I don’t get the love for her “music”. Never liked her.

Calculating, for sure. Know what it takes to succeed and does it. Not impulsive or self-destructive. Will be interesting to see how she deals with aging and losing pop appeal. Nobody stays popular forever, even the massively talented ones.

I prefer "Closeted lezbo who started her career pretending to be a country girl to then start 'dating' all these bunch of closeted male celebs to slowly become in one of the most hypermarketed and prefabricated female singers nowadays".

Of course she is not evil or a conniving bitch- stupid statements that are not witty or funny. She has good politics too. Of course she is shrewd and ver good at the business side of show business. I am not a fan nor do I think she is remarkably talented. But I admire her.

R6 The next Madonna?

Too boring to be any of those things. She's plain unsalted oatmeal but people pretend like she's bacon and eggs.

R10 I thought I was the only one who thought this.

Spoiled teeny bopper female fans whose parents shell out the bucks and drive them to the concerts. Short lived career ahead.

I don't think she is evil...

R9, yes I got that calculating, monster ambitious vibe from Madonna during her successful years. Whether Taylor will fall apart when the stardom fades is anybody's guess.

R10, if she really was that bland a personality she wouldn't achieve that level of stardom unless there was some sort of Svengali behind her directing her every move. It may be her non-threatening, nice girl, not too sexy persona is an act calculated to appeal to young girls and their parents. It clearly works.

Every song I have ever heard seems slightly to significantly out of tune. At least Madonna was on key through studio wizardry and occasionally even live.

She is a hollow corporate entity like every other pop star. Revolting.

She has a formula and doesn't veer far off of it. She knows exactly what her fans want to hear from her.

I thought she was simply a Daddy's little girl whose daddy was rich.

Yes.

For people who supposedly can't stand her yet there is a new thread every third day. She gets under all of your skin in the most delightful way. It's hilarious.

That "article" was nothing more than a click bait piece. Nice try though.

Her parents are terrible too

Of course she's shrewd. She'd have to be, to get to where she is. What I don't understand about her though is how someone so generic is so insanely popular with so many women. Her songs are nothing special, she's pushing middle age, she has horrible taste in men (she was just with a racist though she affects to support Democratic causes), and she just seems to keep getting more and more popular. What am I missing here?

I saw a clip where she had a meeting with her parents and her manager and they were against her supporting the gays and supporting the Democrats.

[quote]She goes through men like a bag of Skittles.

And has thereby earned, EARNED her place in the Datalounge pantheon!

Her music is just so dull and forgettable. She lacks the cool factor that I require of pop stars, has zero style and always looks goofy. I assume most of her fans started listening to her when they were young and failed to register her numerous shortcomings.

r24, 😂

I understand why she's a star. I do. Super relatable songs, with catchy hooks and clever-ish lyrics, about teenage heartbreak or heartache or love. That's a formula that always works.

But I don't understand why she's such a HUGE star. And a huge star that never seems to dim.

She monopolizes the female pop star space by leaps and bounds over any peer. Even her "off" albums are huge. And she never really dips. She releases songs all the time. New albums. Old albums revamped. All are huge. No hint of being overexposed.

She's had peaks that rivaled or surpassed peak Madonna, Gaga, Beyonce. But never the valleys they each went through.

It's utterly bizarre. Over fifteen years into her career and she's, right now, at an all time career high? It simply has never been done. And by HER? She plays the same three chords over and over!

I just don't get it.

Her songs suck R27. That's the mystery. That shake it off thing is awful.

She has always made songs for 13 year olds, but this is actually great marketing on behalf of her team: those 13 year old girls ten years ago now have DIE HARD loyalty to her, and she can raise a new crop of 13 year old cultists.

We’re also in the “poptimist” phase of music criticism, meaning it’s now sexist and invalidating to call shitty pop music for what it is. Swift and her fans love to pull out the victim card.

The interesting thing about Taylor Swift is that for some reason, you’re led to believe that you SHOULD like her music. For a brief period of time about 10 years ago, I kept trying to convince myself that her music was good, because it SEEMED as though everyone else liked her music. But no matter what, I just couldn’t bring myself to like it, and I still can’t.

R27 I've always thought that behind Taylor's hypermarketed success there are shady interests from big corporations, cause that's the only way to explain her undeserved success and wich also proves how rotten and corrupt is music business nowadays.

Sensible people can tell how bland and untalented Swifty is, there's no mistaking that black hole of nothingness.

My favorite thing about Tay-tay is the way that Joni Mitchell gave her the smackdown when Tay-tay wanted to buy the rights to Joni's life story and, of course, star in the movie.

Joni being a brilliant, talented, massive cunt all these years really paid off.

I get it you guys are assholes. And it fun to dump on her. But guess what, the joke's on you. The bitch won. She is on her way to becoming THE most successful pop artist in history. And you can critizise her all you want but for some reason her music resonates for with half of the population. She is connecting with them. And she seems like a hard worker. And not a cunt. And is on the right side of politics. So be bitter. It's fun right. And keep devoting endless bitter threads to her, while she earns a billion dollars a month. Because I honestly don't see the issue.

Madonna's best pop songs destroy Taylor's hit songs. Shake it off sounds like it was written by a high school student. Not that Madonna is a songwriting genius but still.

R33 you got it all right except the part about her not being a cunt.

Madonna doesn't write songs any more than Tay-tay does. Both of them use actual songwriters and "tweak" a word here or there for the co-writing credit and money.

Gowns. Beautiful gowns.

R36 Miley Cyrus too? Billie Eilish?

She just had two concerts, on Friday and Saturday night. Each drew 70,000 fans to the seats. Just as many people were sitting outside the stadium, listening. The merchandise truck arrived Wednesday morning; people lined up overnight. When the truck opened, the line was blocks and blocks long.

The concerts were hyped all week long by the local media. Middle-aged women were making friendship bracelets and hoping to trade as many as possible. Some people drove from Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Atlanta...

I never listened to her music; I have always thought she was too commercial. I was stunned but what I saw.

Cartoon people going to buy merch and listen to a mediocre cartoon singer.

She's just another closeted lesbian unable to deal with the reality of who and what she actually is. She pretends solidarity with women and girls and they're so stupid that they fall for it along with her corporate soft-rock bullshit "music". It's sweet that her little cartoon victims/fans attempt to stick up for her.

Beyonce would beat this little shit to death. No black girls worship boring, safe and predictable Tay. Went to her concert in Cincy this weekend, and I just don't get it. I took my niece and her 2 gf;s, they are 15 and devoted to her. My niece panicked all week because storms were forecast, she was checking weather apps every 5 minutes. She spent ovee $400 on 'merch' - her parents gave her $500 to do so. She lol never thanked me for driving them, and having to endure the concert. The visuals were okay - ladies in parachutes or butterfly wings, I wasn't sure. I didn't drink at all - until I got home and my bf asked how it was. I did appreciate Tay is not crude like Madonna, but that's about it.

r41 I'd love to hear more details of your concert experience. Was the crowd mostly bland white females who loudly sang along to every word of every song?

[quote] She is on her way to becoming THE most successful pop artist in history.

She has a long, long way to go before she catches up to the likes of Madonna and MJ. If that ever happens.

I'm R39. Those concerts in R39 were in Cincinnati. I have dementia, sometimes I can't get entire thoughts together, and I don't realize it until I read my own writing later.

The merch angle is interesting and new; that people go to the venue the day before just to buy a Tshirt, with no intention (or opportunity) to return to watch the concert. I can't think of that happening with anyone else before.

Shrewd

R43 Far surpassed

Both

R47 You're delusional. Her sales are a joke in Europe. Even Jennifer Lopez and Avril Lavigne outsold her there.

Her outfits look like skating costumes. She is so corny yet a lot of celebs have been going to her concerts

I asked my partner if we could have a three way to spice up our sex life, and he said “we-EE are never ever ever lickin’ ass together.”

She's a product.

Is Taylor just an American phenomenon? I thought she was huge globally, like Adele.

R53, globally, I think I read that it's Rihanna and Gaga who are the biggest American pop stars overall.

Though I think Taylor has her hot spots. Like Pink. She's huge in Australia,

[quote]Taylor Swift - Conniving Bitch or Shrewd Pop Star?

I think she is both a floor wax and a dessert topping.

How many hours does one have to work at Walmart or the Amazon warehouse to have a good shopping experience at the "merch trucks"?

[quote] I think she is both a floor wax and a dessert topping.

For some reason, whenever I hear Taylor SWIFT, I think of the Swiffer Sweeper. Well, that's about how interesting she is.

No, Taylor is definitely the biggest pop star right now. Far bigger than Rihanna and absolutely bigger than Gaga. She is a global star but she isn't popular in Europe. She is massive in Latin America and Asia. She is the most popular western female artist in Asia, ever. She is popular throughout the entire continent which is just insane.

My bad--she is actually massive in the Middle East/North Africa, East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, North America and Australia. I hate her music though and I don't understand her appeal at all. But facts are facts

Outside of the US, her biggest markets are The Philippines, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, Argentina. India, Thailand the UK and Canada. So her popularity in Latin America has increased since the time that heatmap was made.

She certainly has classic bitchface.

The Cincinnati Reds don't care about Taylor.

I was in the grocery store waiting to check out when I first heard of this creature. The store I frequent likes to hire people with disabilities like Down's and the girl (obviously Down's) bagging asked me if I liked Taylor Swift so my impression is her audience is very young teen girls. To me her music is on a level that only they can get. She also seems to write hit pieces on every guy she dates like a vindictive teen would.

R4 Professional beard that pays her merkins? You are not making any sense. How can she be/do both of those things. Plus, majority of those men are just gay od Datalounge, not gay in real life

Swift is very bland. I'm surprised she's so successful.

I couldn’t name any of her songs. That’s how memorable she is.

I can name some of her songs but I hate all of them. Her pop songs are terrible. I know someone who really likes her and he doesn't like any of her pop songs but really likes her album cuts. I'll trust him on that one, I'm not gonna sort through her catalogue to find out.

She just too bland. I can't remember anything about her. I just google imaged her and even all her different clothes are bland. She always looks the same. And wasn't she the one who had that horrific car crash of a fake relationship with Hiddleston? It was so transparently fake and then didn't it kill his career? I remember that.

Atta girl!!!!!!

I don’t really get her appeal, either, but she plays to an audience that I long aged out of. I hear one of her songs and it sounds like all her other songs. I can’t tell them apart. I said before, she owes her popularity and career to being pretty, social media and digital downloads. Sure, she’s got talent, but she’s not remarkable in any way. She’s like what AI would come up with if you said create a pop star for Gen Z.

I remember the five biggest tabloid stories that hundreds of millions of people have heard about this girlie over her career. I'm going to mention each one in this thread because I assume many of you have not heard them, or you have and surely you'd want to discuss them all again! Because Swift is so fascinating to mature gay men.

She will be the Super Bowl halftime entertainment, so you have all that time to take a shit.

^ And throw some at the TV.

3). She cradle robbed a Kennedy and bought a house near the compound to stalk him.

2) She had a "girl squad" that included DL Fav Lens Dunham and a bunch of "bi" super models, many who went on to marry rich men with COCKS.

5) "She never got over" kissing her pretty, homosexsicle beards such as that cad, Jake Gyllenhaal.

Her traits are mismatched. She checks all the boxes - blond, blue eyes, thin - but the combination isn’t really that hot. For some reason her face looks like her pussy smells like rotten salmon.

She's charming.

Never heard any of her music, could barely pick her out of a lineup.

Makes me nostalgic for songstresses like Carole King and Joan Baez.

All I think of when I see her is how fucking cheesy and annoying she is when she's at any awards show. She acts like a ridiculous 9th grade girl trying to look cool and fun. I bet she gets to pick exactly where she sits (and who sits next to her) at those stupid events.

.... writes r81 from the fat girl table

Elder Gay here who LOVES shading this megalomaniac monster….but I will sadly admit, a couple of her songs make me nostalgic, downright wistful. “Cardigan” makes me almost teary-eyed due to its feel of melancholy and past love. I know it isn’t written or performed for me or people like me, but I seemed to have attached some overlay to it that connects with me. I guess that happens when the world no longer targets your demographic for all the cool stuff. You have to look for things to relate to and even sometimes make-up those connections so not to feel so left behind or isolated. Anyway, it’s a nice song. You all should take a listen some time.