r/NuancingTaylorSwift

I saw this thumbnail and saw this Vogue article title and I just don’t think that this is an actual problem that Taylor is going through? Are people just inventing new problems because Taylor’s last album was very much not her trying to “act like a baby”

The photoshoot for Showgirl was sexy but definitely in a mature way. The outfit she is wearing recently has nothing to do with “baby doll fashion”. The songs on her last album were about mature topics. Whether you think the songs were handle maturely or not that’s a different topic but songs like The Fate Of Ophelia and Honey is about adult love, Ruin The Friendship is about grief, Wood is a mixture of sex and superstition, and Eldest Daughter is literally about how much the internet sucks (okay it’s more then that but I don’t think someone who is “stuck in arrested development” would even have a song like Eldest Daughter even if i don’t like that song)

Taylor is a grown woman and she presents herself as a grown woman. I don’t know where this discussion is coming from?

I got to thinking about this after seeing the success of the MJ biopic at the box office as well as the massive streaming bump his music got from it. He had many, many, many scandals but only one seems to have endured after his death and even that is waved off by his fans, despite how serious it is.

Taylor is certainly no stranger to controversy. Every week there seems to be new hysterics online we are apparently now going to war over. Do you think there is any that will truly endure and be part of her legacy? That will be strategically excluded from her biopic?

What does *nuanced* mean in this thread?

For this thread a *nuanced* opinion is a thoughtful opinion, BUT specifically one which is not a widely-held and often repeated opinion of fans, haters or others who pontificate about TS.

A few examples (that I do believe in personally):

•	For such an iconic album, the tour concept was weak. The concert movie is unwatchable (not a “nuancedTM” opinion, I know) and I wonder if we could ever get a better cut. 

•	The “girl squad” didn’t get hate bc it was “inauthentic” but bc it was the first time Taylor had gone away from her relatable image. She is still friends with more “squad” members than people realize.

•	The TVs being seen as drastically inferior is a product of the primacy effect and the mere exposure effect, which combine to make the familiar sound and/or the one you heard first be preferred. As a person who came into the fandom post-1989TV there are only a few tracks where I think the OG is obviously better.

•	The outrage over Taylor “changing the aesthetic” to a beach aesthetic for the TV is weird to me. The album artwork for OG and TV are very different but there’s nothing about the TV art that “betrays” the album. 

NB. Please do not mention eating disorders in this thread. This is not the place to discuss that serious issue.

We can only ask but please DO NOT DOWNVOTE an opinion just because you disagree. However, discussion that includes disagreement is welcome.

I have no idea who all these celebs are so feel free to tell me 😅😅😅

So many new looks lately :0 anyway I love this outfit even if it isn’t my favorite look from her. It’s very chic and preppy and I love the coral lipstick. I’m just someone who prefers a bit of colors over plain white 😅 still really cute outfit!

Gottlieb confirms Taylor Swift was just used as a distraction by Freedman. We all knew it. A sad and obvious tactic which so many fell for.

Today’s song was written for Taylor’s documentary Miss Americana. I feel like I am one of the few people who likes this song and finds it quite affecting but apparently it spikes in streams after elections so maybe I’m not totally alone.

I do feel like the lyrics are not really good but they get to the point. The tune isn’t bad!

I feel compelled, given the general attitude people have to this song, and Taylor’s other “political” songs, that people who wish for her to engage more in world issues are likely to be served more Only the Youngs and The Mans rather than idk… her more personal “issue” songs (where she generally excels, imo).

* How would you rank Taylor’s “political” songs?

For me:
MAATHP
Change
Only the Young
The Man
YNTCD

Rating: 5/10

I had never seen these photos before (Taylor shot 2008 for Rolling Stone before her arena show in Nashville opening for Tim McGraw)

This guy’s photography is great though, and timely with all the black and white she’s been serving up! And there’s apparently more with his “to be continued” at the end. 👀👀👀👀

His retelling of the shoot is a really interesting insight into Taylor’s mind too. She had seen his prior work, brought it up to him for inspiration, wanted to know how he got there, etc. all in their first introduction.

His instagram handle is @davidmcclisterphotography if anyone wants to go to check out his post himself! His other work on there is so interesting too!

Taylor is the apex predator of the music industry. The orca if you will… people fear her so much they react pre-emptively and cluster defensively, and only move when she is nowhere to be seen.

I wonder if some of the “industry reaction” against Taylor isn’t from the direct remarks she’s made since Showgirl (and on the album) about how she’s not going gentle into that good night.

Like, maybe a lot of people in the industry quietly thought she was going to get married and have babies and they would “finally get a chance” without her taking up all the oxygen. But her saying “nah actually I’m sticking around” has them lashing out.

The whole recent hate train reeks of jealousy and desperation, but this one is interesting bc it seems to be “organic” in the sense that it is being led by low-level pop players. Sure, they are looking for PR but they are spewing lies and distortions bc of real feelings, or at least that’s what it looks like to me

I have often thought that Taylor’s ability to write beautiful and/or catchy melodies doesn’t get nearly enough credit in discussion of her songwriting.

* What’s your favorite melody?

* What album overall is best for melody?

* Do you think her work with any particular producer brings out better melodies?

* Do you have a melody you dislike?

Today’s song is the most popular album track from TTPD and it’s a song about topics you don’t want to talk about with your in-laws at dinner: religion and sex.

This song was also the winner of our recent “songs about cheating” poll, which is interesting bc what cheating there is in the song is purely emotional. The song is a fan favorite for its tortured portrayal of yearning for the greener grass you think you see on the other side of the fence, or at least the grass someone is texting you about and telling you how green it is. It also has a good beat, a haunting melody and incisive lyrics.

The feelings of sexual longing and religious-adjacent guilt make a potent emotional stew, and even tho there was some backlash initially due to the presumed muse of the song not being deemed “worthy” of inspiring such a song, that subsided fairly quickly.

I will talk about the religious symbolism more elsewhere but I do have a vivid memory of arguing with several different people about how “sacrilegious” the song is to compare herself to Jesus (and yes she is doing that) and also that she was showing that “she didn’t understand the Bible” bc she “got the events of the crucifixion in the wrong order” (which should have been a warning about the bad faith critiques The Fate of Ophelia would get…). The “point” of the religious symbolism imo is pretty straightforward— to demonstrate the depth of feeling and extremity that the singer is being driven to.

Anyway, one of Taylor’s best songs imo and one of the songs where her vivid imagery, because it was about sex, flew over a lot of heads. Which is an interesting topic in its own right: why do people respond so weirdly to any TS song that is clearly sensual/sexual?

Some of the lyrics are a little wordy but they flow well and match the emotional world of the song.

Favorite lyrics: (very hard for me to choose)

I keep these longings locked
In lowercase inside a vault
Someone told me
There's no such thing as bad thoughts
Only your actions talk

Instrumental: 9/10 (I love the cut out before the last chorus)

Rating: 9.5/10

What do you guys think about the outfit? I personally think it looks great but I think it would look better with a nude or dusty rose lipstick

Alright, I guess I didn't really start listening to her music at this point, but the sexual assault case - where she was completely unforgiving about how that DJ treated her - I gained so much respect for her.

(Pic from random Tubi thriller.)

I'm sharing this image from a movie because I remember reading an article about her case on Jezebel (y'know, the "feminist" Gawker blog), and every other comment was, "How can he grab her ass when she has no ass?"

Forever soured that blog for me, though I wasn't even a fan, but I AM a fan of women taking their abusers to court and winning.

Now I'm a fan of the music as well, but that was the first big chink in the "Taylor is stuck in high school and always a victim" armor. She didn't deal with that like a victim, she dealt with that like a motherfucking boss.

I’m sure there are better examples, so weigh in. 😄

Suffice it to say, most of my favorites live in the reactive or volatile columns: things I wish I could say, or had said, but didn’t.

There are so many way our favorite b-ll-ona-re could be raking in even more cash, but she chooses to deprive us of even more products to purchase!

Where is the Eras tour Live album (with a variant for each Eras featuring selected surprise songs/mashups from that Era?)

What would you buy if she deigned to sell it?