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[MUSIC] THE SAVAGE ANIMAL
"How Taylor Swift Kanye’d My Week" |
11/09/11 |
BY MIKEY MIGO
If you’re reading this expecting the normal random music topics and discussions then you’re sadly out of luck this week. Instead I’m going to share an experience I had this past week pertaining to this column, my music views, and how one rant was taken a bit too seriously.
Last week, I was inspired to rant and ramble. My targeted focus of the ramble was pop star Taylor Swift. I argued my point of view on her talents and shared my opinion on her rise to fame. I then took a look at her level of success and fame before and after the “Kanye West Incident”. I’m a 28 year old man who listens to mainly rock, metal, and the occasional sprinkle of hip hop. I’m NOT the fan base for Taylor Swift.
Maybe I was a little too harsh…
11.02.11: Who The F--- Is Taylor Swift?
After this column, article, blog, or whatever you want to call it went live I got a few comments. I expected this. I know Taylor Swift has a strong fan base. I honestly wasn’t writing to stir shit or to get some cheap attention. Not too long before this column I was given a Taylor Swift related topic in 411mania.com’s “Fact or Fiction”. It stuck with me and simmered. Slowly and surely a rant was being written in my head. I think the final straw was reading that Swift and Kanye recently had an encounter where they shared high fives. At that point, I had the “musing” I needed to go off on my anti-fan ramble.
So I wrote it up, posted it early in the week, and saw it go live on Wednesday as per a typical week. Really, I forgot about it. The hardest part of writing a weekly music column is to think up new topics every week. I rarely ever do any “news” columns. Anyone can copy and paste news from other sites and then add their two cents. I take the extra time and care to figure out something different and interesting (to me at least) to ramble about and discuss. Basically, the second one column is done my brain releases that week and starts to process and plan for the next. That doesn’t mean I don’t devote fully thought out ideas and genuine effort every week, but after this long you get into a comfortable routine.
I got an email from her publicist wanting to speak to me on the phone about the blog about some “factual inaccuracies”. Included was a phone number and contact information. It was already too late in the evening to make a proper business call so I took to google and researched. I wanted to make sure this wasn’t an elaborate prank. I have friends who are cruel and sadistic enough to do something like this.
The information ended up matching releases and the search results. It was all legit.
Over the four plus years of The Savage Animal I’ve had some great conversations and discussions with readers. It’s been a good variety of compliments, arguments, suggestions, and randomness. Hell, I’ve even had a death threat from an overzealous Juggalo, but that’s a different story in itself. I have been contacted by PR people before to cover certain record labels via review, interview, and overall coverage.
Still, I’ve never been approached by an artist or someone representing the artist to address my opinions or to really fact check me.
I scanned over the column to see what could be considered a “factual inaccuracy”. I automatically notice that I made a very loose and I thought obviously sarcastic remark:
”It’s not like she’s singing her own songs. Sure she’s on talk shows getting praised over shit like “I wrote HALF dem songs myself!”, but let’s be realistic here. She’s part of the bubble gum pop machine.
The truth of the matter is that Taylor Swift wrote or co-wrote her all of her stuff.
Was that it though? Couldn’t that fact have been corrected via email? Did it really merit a phone call? At this point, I’m taken back by this. Yeah, I’m a little neurotic. I bring it up on my private facebook page and got a strange variety of interest and support. The two responses I enjoyed most were:
Rob (singer, DJ, cool dude): How dare you say anything negative about Taylor Swift? I would be embarrassed if I were her and had people calling people whenever something negative was written. Is that the first call you received after an article?
Billy Whack (wrestling mastermind, holder of CM truths): Tell 'em Billy Whack said she's too young to write with such "depth". lol. I'm sure she's never been in love, been heartbroken, etc. She's a fraud and the Kanye thing was a work. Eat it, "swift", if that IS your real name.
Rob makes a good point and Whack makes an even better one. I also spoke to a close friend who is a professional journalist and is well versed in writer’s rights. He didn’t think anything crossed the legal lines and was just as baffled by the response.
It was time to call…
I call and Taylor Swift’s PR woman answers. She is a nice sounding professional woman. We are short on our introductions and get right into the meat of the discussion.
The first thing I bring up is the one and only “factual inaccuracy” I could find. I admitted to the fact that Taylor Swift does write or co write all of her lyrics. She confirms this. I ask about the writing and ask if she write the music, as in composes it too. She confirms this.
With this established she felt it wasn’t fair to categorize her as part of the “bubble gum pop machine”. She brought up how the term came about and I already knew this. It goes back to the Nsync, Backstreet Boy, boy band stuff. To me, it’s STILL bubble gum pop. To my eclectic ears, the similarities of a Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, and the old boyband era pop stuff is all in the same. They are some variations there, sure… but it’s the same themes… aimed at the same audience… marketed the same way… and as disposable as a candy ballad can be.
We did not share the same opinion and we moved on.
The other debate was the success of Taylor Swift before and after the “Kanye West Incident”. My stance on it, as I wrote last week, was that she was dominate in country and was doing very well for herself but once it happened she had a major crossover. I never said she wasn’t successful, didn’t sell A LOT, and wasn’t out there already. My view was that afterwards, it was a huge boost in her status. Again, I stuck to my guns on this one. What I wrote is what I said in my defense.
Her argument was that Taylor Swift was already a huge crossover success. She had cold hard facts. She rattled off a huge list of magazines and appearances she had before the “incident”. The one that got me was that she was on the cover of Rolling Stone twice. I’ve been a subscriber of the magazine for years, but if you had shown me a picture of Taylor Swift before the “incident” I wouldn’t have been able to pick her out of a line up. And really, does all of this automatically equal mass fame?
THAT is the perspective of what I was rambling about. I know I’m not alone. A million magazine covers and scheduled television interviews isn’t going to change the fact that there is a HUGE group of people out there that didn’t have Taylor Swift on their radar until Kanye West got on stage and interrupted her acceptance speech of an MTV award.
She would also talk to me about how Taylor Swift isn’t “lame” and how she’s down to earth, fun, and is very kind. She gave a lot of money to charity and does do good for the community. That’s awesome. I never said she wasn’t. She does seem like a nice girl and I respect performers for doing their thing. I wish her well and I’d hope more musicians and singers would follow her lead and give when and what they can.
That said, I don’t know what this has to do with anything. Being fun and a generous philanthropist doesn’t change the sound of someone’s music. THAT is what I think is lame.
I’m sure I’m missing stuff and all that. It was like a fifteen minute conversation. A good one too. I always enjoy a good music discussion. My intention here isn’t to debate the phone call. It basically comes down to everything I wrote last week being disagreed on. That’s cool with me. I just appreciate the time and consideration. That goes for everyone.
After all of this, I can say this was a pretty entertaining and interesting experience. I have no regrets. I still don’t after typing this either. I don’t feel as if I said anything unfair or untrue. Taylor Swift is not my cup of tea and my opinion on that is strong enough to ramble about it. The public relations woman was respectful. We listened to each other’s side of things. In the end, we really didn’t agree on anything but I don’t hold any grudge. The woman was kind, patient, and showcased a respectable passion for her side. She was just doing her job in defending her client.
I still question how this column got in front of their eyes and then why would they even bother.
The same day the phone call was made there was a whole hoopla of controversy over some sleazy website putting up fake adult pictures of Taylor Swift. I would think that’d take precedence over a fifteen minute phone conversation about a rock fan’s blog. My opinions are my opinions as are yours are yours. I’m just a fan of music who enjoys rambling about it.
So fellow music listeners, let me ask YOU a few questions…
1.) Was I too harsh?
2.) Is it unfair to include Taylor Swift in the grouping of being part of the “bubble gum pop machine”?
3.) What is YOUR opinion of Taylor Swift?
4.) Do YOU think Taylor Swift has had more fame and success AFTER the “The Kanye Incident” than BEFORE?
Please respond. I’d like to figure this one out. I’m still a bit miffed by the results of sharing my views and ranting about a pop star. Now, let’s get back to the regularly scheduled programming.
Discuss!
If this week has proven anything, EVERYONE’S opinion counts.
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