Saturday night I searched Netflix for something to fill a ninety-minute gap in my TV viewing. I could have gone dancing, but the storm made it comfortable to be a couch potato instead.
There was a documentary about Taylor Swift. I’ve always admired her songwriting skills. I heard lately that she has had multiple (5) songs on the top ten list at once. No one has done that since the Beatles.
Like John and Paul, Taylor churns out songs like crazy. She started young like they did, getting her first Grammy at age 17. John and Paul had better melodies, in my mind. Taylor has better lyrics, or at least, as good as. She lacks harmony because she sings alone. Duh.
She grew up singing and playing guitar with scars on her hands where she broke guitar strings. Her parents moved to Nashville so Taylor could become a country singer. She did that, but it crossed over to pop music. Her fan base, like the Beatles, is tween and teen girls.
Taylor is from Tennessee, so when the woman running for a congressional seat took a stand against abortion, gay people, and trans people, Taylor got political. She asked her huge fan base (called Swifties) to register to vote. They did. It was too late to stop that woman, but Taylor is sticking to her plan to get more young people involved with politics and VOTING.
I only knew two of her songs by title, You Belong to Me (excellent first effort) and Shake It Off. I’m not a fan of Shake It Off (again, melody issues) but all live bands learned to play it in the summer of 2014. I felt I was too old to dance to a song by a twenty-something Millennial. Heck, she could be my daughter!
I watched the Shake It Off video for the first time yesterday – hilarious with Taylor poking fun at her herself while ballerinas and hip hoppers dance.
I watched her You Need to Calm Down video about anti-abortionists and anti-LGBTQ people. She has cameos from everyone including transgender Laverne Cox from OITNB, the five gay guys from Queer Eye, Ru Paul from Ru Paul’s Drag Race, Ellen DeGeneres, Ryan Reynolds, and a bunch of drag queens. It’s all good.
To think that Taylor’s home state of Tennessee has outlawed drag shows! Some of most-loved male actors have dressed in drag for parts – Robin Williams for Mrs. Doubtfire, Tom Hanks for Bosom Buddies along with Peter Scolari (may he RIP), Jack Lemon and Tony Curtis for Some Like It Hot, and what’s his name on MASH. Jamie Farr. Even Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble have done it.
I don’t know much else about red-lipped Taylor except that Kanye West took the microphone out of her hand at her first Grammy Awards ceremony. He thought Beyonce should’ve won instead. He now claims he made Taylor famous.
I’ve got news for you, Kanye. Taylor would have become just as famous without you. Fifty years from now, people will still know her name. Yours? Maybe not.
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 