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The "Look What You Made Me Do" reset

For today's post, I would like to focus on one of the most significant era of Taylor's Swift career : the Reputation Era, more specifically her come back on the mediatic scene and musical scene with the single "Look What You Made Me Do" which was, to my mind, a coup de maître.

After the #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty debacle initiated by a feud with celebrity couple Kim Kardashian and Kanye West over sexist and insulting lyrics that TS may have or may have not approved before publicly denouncing them, Taylor Swift simply disappeared from public life altogether for over a year. All content from her social medias were deleted and there was that.

A year later, these delightful graphics of snakes started popping up, announcing that TS was back and, seemingly, out for blood, or rather, out to get her reputation back.

The mediation constituted by the visuals promoting the song LWYMD and Reputation itself as well as the music video for LWYMD use reappropriation of negative press coverage and of her public persona with the imagery of snakes, diamonds and riches, a manipulative witch hiding behind America's sweetheart.

It seems like TS and her team built and used a mythologization of TS's personal history and public persona through the eras with symbols recognized by her already established audience as well as all the people who witness her fall from grace. People who were not familiar with her could go and search for articles or videos explaining what each detail of the music video for LWYMD referred to. This generated a lot of interest.

The anticipation for the music and new content from TS came from her withdrawal from the public scene for a year, the creation of a mystery "what happened? what is she doing?" which would be used as a promoting tool for her Netflix Documentary "Miss Americana" documenting her journey during that time out of the media's eye.

I feel like this play with fandom history and mythology culminates in this scene where an edgy Taylor Swift dominates past versions of herself during all of her different career eras :

I wonder if an edgier and darker sound was already planned by Taylor Swift as a way to break from her long-established persona after the success of 1989 (because once you reach the top, the only way left to go is down or take a completely different path) or if it actually was, as everything in the promotion material and mediations leads us to believe, the result of a mediatic fall from grace and truthful need to claim back her place in her own public narrative.

What were you reactions to TS's Look What You Made Me Do? Where you aware of any specific symbol relating to her career or the drama surrounding her before the music video? Do you feel like mythologization and using fandom history is a clever way to promote an artist?

[suzonintheory]

Secondary Sources

As part of my project studying the power of eras as marketing tool and an artistic outlet in Taylor's Swift career, I would like to present my secondary sources.

I am still in the process of selecting them and reading through the academic papers on the topic. I am having some trouble choosing the right keywords to find more material as an "era" is used primarily in historical fields and not really in the context of popular music.

- Mary Fogarty & Gina Arnold (2021) Are You Ready for It? Re-Evaluating Taylor Swift, Contemporary Music Review

- Nate Sloan (2021) Taylor Swift and the Work of Songwriting

- The Ideology of Commodification in the Music Industry, as Exemplified by Taylor Swift

As for references to Popular Music in Theory: An Introduction by Keith NEGUS, I will be using the following chapters : Mediations, Industry, Identity.

If you have any suggestions for academic papers on the crossing of marketing strategies and artistic endeavors I would be eternally grateful!

[suzonintheory]

Red (Taylor's Version)

Happy Red (Taylor’s Version) release day! In honor of this event that Taylor Swift and her team have been hinting at and promoting for months, I thought I would analyse the means used to promote the re-release of the iconic album RED.

Red is TS’s fourth album, it was first released in 2012. Its title refers to the conflicting emotions the color red evokes from passionate love to anger. You may remember the hit songs I Knew You Were Trouble, We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together, Red but also a quite striking song : All Too Well.

All Too Well was never a single but it caught the eye (or well, the ears) of a wide audience from dedicated fans who hauled it to a heartbreak classic song to critics like the Rolling Stone who recognized it as a “masterpiece of the break-up ballad form”. Taylor Swift revealed that a 10 minutes long version was originally written but due to the standards in the industry, one just cannot put out a song that long on an album so she had make it much shorter. Since then, fans have regularly pled for the orignal version to no avail... until now!

I think that this song is revealing of the challenges of re-realising an already existing work and it still generating excitement and profit for something that has been out there for for almost ten years and still available in the original version.

Taylor Swift uses fanlore and a form of mystification of All Too Well to generate anticipation for the release of Red (Taylor's Version). She also decided to give it a lyric video and a short film staring well-known stars Dylan O'Brian and Sadie Sink.

The re-release of TS's albums are made relevant by the release of never-heard before songs and the opportunity to make content on already existing works. Profits is also being made by the release of exclusive merch following the aesthetics of each albums and eras.

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Taylor Swift and the strength of “eras”

For my projet, I’d like to talk about the impressive power of “eras” which are a common way of talking about a period of time in an artist career, usually called after the specific project the artist has put out and is currently promoting or touring. They usually come with a specific aesthetic or singular trait or attitude. 

I would like to take the in-depth example of Taylor Swift’s career which I feel has  had very contrasted eras which go hand in hand with the way she has been perceived as a public figure and the way she has presented herself to the media. It seems to me that Taylor Swift has played with expectations and perceptions a lot over the course of her musical career and that her identity as a persona has evolved as a kind of reaction to her depiction in the media. I’d like to see how these eras relates to an effective promoting tool and an artistic outlet. 

I’m not sure if I should focus on a particular series of era or just do them one by one. I feel like the most interesting ones are 1989, Reputation and Folklore+Evermore but it might be more striking to also take into account the earlier eras of her career... I need your help on this one, what do you think? 

In order to do so, I will use the following primary sources :

1989 Era 

- Music Video of Blank Space 

- Album Cover

Reputation Era 

- Reputation Tour, performance of Look What You Made Me Do and the visuals of the tour’s intro 

- Music Video of Look What You Made me Do 

- Music Video of ... Ready for it? 

- Album Cover

Folklore + Evermore Era 

- Album Cover for Folklore 

- Album Cover for Evermore

- Announcement tweet for Folklore 

- Photoshoot and album visuals for Folklore 

- Music Video of Cardigan 

Cross Era Content 

- Compilation of TS looks on the red carpet through the years 

- Woman of the decade acceptance speech in 2019, reflecting on her place in the industry and how scrutiny has influenced her over the years 

- Netflix Documentary “Miss Americana” 

- Article “Every Taylor Swift Era Explained” 

- Tweet from a fan commenting on the crossing of aesthetics now that TS is re-recording her albums 

I would like to find more material from the media (articles, videos) and from the general public’s interactions (tweets, youtube comments), I will keep you updated on what I find! 

Please do tell me if you have suggestions! 

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The rock-star persona and legitimacy

What I’d like to talk to you about today echoes with our class on “Histories”. Earlier posts this year mentioned the shameful and guilty-pleasure aura surrounding popular music. Rock emerges as a legitimate and critic-worthy genre and attitude, something serious and above “mainstream pop”. 

If one wants recognition, one has to be deemed worthy of it by the institutions established for rock. 

There are two examples I find quite striking in that hegemony of rock and rock-star : 

Lady Gaga’s call out of double standards regarding female artists

In this extract from a 2009 interview, Lady Gaga points out that because she is making pop music and because she is a woman, people are judging and frowning upon her open display of sexuality in her music and performances. But that is what is typically praised for males labeled as “rockstars”. 

Harry Styles’ evolution from boyband member to rock star 

The mediation surrounding Harry Styles since the start of his solo career has worked tirelessly to paint him as a rock star rather than a pop star and I believe it is in order to break free of the “was part of a boyband” stigma. 

Music-wise, his first and second album are reminiscent of 70′s and 80′s rock but he also mixes the musical aspect with his public personality by playing with the common rockstar persona like in this article by The Rolling Stone : 

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/harry-styles-cover-interview-album-871568/

It builds the persona of “timeless” rock icon on stage and offstage with all the basis of a mysterious and charismatic aura which lays the ground for becoming a legend in music history : drugs, being linked with numerous of high-profile women, and a go hard or go home mentality. 

Legitimacy and recognition emanates from the rockstar designation.

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One Direction and The Beatles, a boyband and “the greatest band of all time”

In today’s post I would like to analyse the double standard regarding groups with an overwhelmingly female fanbase and how that may shift with time. In order to do so, I will discuss common perceptions and stereotypes. 

I would like you to picture your typical Beatles fan. Who do you imagine? A man in his forties, a bit of a “music critic” with a fondness for timeless music.

Now, try to picture your typical One Direction fan. Who do you imagine? A teenage girl, screaming at the top of her lungs at the mere mention of one of the  members or sighing dreamily in front of her bedroom-posters. 

These are of course heavily stereotyped perceptions of fans. The “crazy fangirl in love with the looks of the members” type of behavior is judged harshly and this judgement contributes heavily to the dismissal of boybands as artists. I feel like this judgment relies on the misogynistic view that young women are incapable of recognizing true artists and enjoying art beyond how attractive the artists are. 

What about the Beatles then? They are now considered as the “greatest band of all time” by many critics and are highly praised for their numerous and timeless hits. But it wasn’t always the case : 

“The full house was made up largely of upper-middle-class young ladies, stylishly dressed, carefully made up, brought into town by private cars or suburban buses for their night to howl, to let go, scream, bump, twist and clutch themselves ecstatically out there in the floodlights for everyone to see.”

I found this review of The Nation published in March 1964 regarding a Beatles concert. It feels like critics disliked the Beatles for a long time until a shift in their fanbase appeared long after the band had broken up. 

Is it possible that they were dismissed as artists because of their largely female fanbase? I believe that it may have been the case and now that Beatles fans are perceived as middle aged men, they are now a respectable band to listen to and praise. 

I wonder if that will be the case with bands such as One Direction. What do you think? 

[suzonintheory]

Blank Space, playing with Taylor Swift’s depiction in the media

Taylor Swift is known for reclaiming unflattering depiction of herself as a public figure and in the media and playing it to her own advantage, turning the situation around. In her song Blank Space, she adopts the point of view of the woman the media had been painting a picture of for years : a psychotic serial dater who can get any man she wants but is eventually too much of a mess to be worth sticking around for.

The music video of Blank Space is, in my view, an amplification as well as an illustration of that song. The narrative follows the progression of the song from the fairy tale to the nightmarish behaviour. The biting irony of the lyrics are brought to life by the music video thanks to the over-the-top scenery and narrative.

In order to illustrate the endless circles of men coming and leaving the persona’s life, the music video follows the narrative of a passionate and troubled love story : a man enters the castle of the Taylor Swift’s character, they fall in love and live a passionate romance until eventually the jealousy of the persona get the better of it. Cue screaming, setting clothes on fire, smashing an expensive car and messy crying. The man eventually runs away but is quickly followed by a new man arriving in a car as the last few shots mirror the first shots of the video. Here are the lyrics from the chorus which set the tone of the video :

Got a long list of ex-lovers

They'll tell you I'm insane

'Cause you know I love the players

And you love the game

Just like the song, the music video starts by the beginning of the love story, conjuring images we associate with fairy tales but the dramatic aspect of it guides the audience into believing how ridiculous the persona is.

Cherry lips, crystal skies

I could show you incredible things

Stolen kisses, pretty lies

You're the King, baby, I'm your Queen

Eventually, the honeymoon is over and, again, the music video perfectly illustrates common behaviours of the misogynistic stereotype of the “crazy ex-girlfriend” by showing the persona with mascara running down her cheeks, setting clothes on fire,  even attempting to cut down a tree with the lovers’ initials on it. The whirlwind of emotions seems inordinate and excessive.

Screaming, crying, perfect storms

I can make all the tables turn

Rose garden filled with thorns

Keep you second guessing like

"Oh my God, who is she?"

I get drunk on jealousy

All in all, I believe that this music video is a companion piece to the song in the sense that it illustrates the narrative of the song while amplifying its message by highlighting how far-fetched and charicatural the depiction of Taylor Swift as this persona is.

[suzonintheory]

From folk music to popular music : the evolution of the Wellerman song

I don’t know if you were as surprised as me to hear on the radio a song about sailors hunting a whale while longing for sugar, tea and rum, or perhaps you were part of the people already boppin and singing along to the tik tok version of this song. I became fascinated by the haunting repetition of the chorus which made me want to sing along and it felt like this song was made to be sung by a bunch of people, it called for participation and prompted an energetic response from an audience. It reminded me of the songs my great-grandparents would sing to me, bursting into songs at random moments when a word or a situation reminded them of it and more particularly when the work in the kitchen or the garden would need a quicker pace. All in all, it did not fit my expectations of what could be heard on the radio, it was folk music.

And yet? The recording of the song is 2.35 minutes long, complete with an official music video. The rhythm is simple, the lyrics repetitive and the song short enough to make you want to listen to it on and on and on.

How does such an old song make its way to the top of the charts? It went to being chanted by sailors to re-emerging on Tik Tok. It came down to a participative way of interacting with the song as people would add percussions, instruments, harmonies to the original video. Eventually, it was picked up by a label and recorded as a hit song. The spirit of the song evolved from seamen chanting together to people on the internet connecting with one another through screen.

We discussed Adorno’s view of popular music and the threat of music being too easy to listen to, reducing the audience as passive. But I wonder how the shift of the Wellerman song from folk music to popular music fits into that debate?

The simplicity of the song is what kept it alive, it’s simple enough to pick it up, learn the words and sing along to a simple beat, a clap of hands or percussions. I think it became so popular because the very nature of a shanty and a folk song is to have people join in and make it their own, which went well with Tik Tok. But because the song has since been recorded and produced as popular music, it does feel like it altered the purpose of the song. 

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This made me think about a segment of an interview of Miley Cyrus on the Howard Stern Show where she explains her process with songwriting which had never quite heard so clearly put into words which made me realize the very fine line there is between authenticity and inspiration. 

As an audience, I guess we are bound to feel closer to an artist we feel is sharing their thoughts and experiences with us. It creates an intimacy and connection that we crave, but it also creates a false sense of closeness with a person we have never met and don’t know personally which I feel is the work of strong marketing strategies. 

But music that doesn’t draw from personal experience can sometimes feel so much more powerful : I’m thinking of Hozier’s songs whose otherworldly melodies and songs don’t seem to hold much of a narrative or any kind of ties to him as person and are more abstract :

Thank you for delving into the topic of authenticity and inspiration, I look forward to reading more of your thoughts on the matter!

Authenticity and inspiration

When discussing the idea of an ‘inspired and authentic singer-songwriter’ in class, I was almost instantly reminded of Billie Eilish’s song Lovely and of her own thoughts about this.

We discussed how there was a shift in ideology from the 19th century idea (the authentic, inspired artist) to the current music industry. I thought I would provide the point of view of Billie Eilish, a currently popular singer-songwriter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMjMCD90ytQ

This first video is an example of how people attribute meaning to lyrics and music and how songs are always often thought to have a personal experience at the base of a song.

However, in an interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGKGaJzA0uE) , Eilish says the following: “A lot of my music is heartfelt, it’s real. But then there’s a lot of my music that’s completely fictional and, you know, me as a character, which is just a fun way to write.”

There was another interview, which I could not find, where she admitted that the song Lovely does not actually have a meaning, that it is not about anything personal. But she also acknowledges the power of the possibility to attribute meaning to a song or text.

This provides an interesting point of view on the question of ‘authenticity’ and ‘inspiration’. And perhaps I will dive a bit deeper into this topic next week.

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The shift in Taylor Swift’s narrative and public perception.

For years, I couldn’t stand Taylor Swift. That’s a strong and ridiculous statement to make, even more so that it had little to do with her music.  Why did I feel so strongly about an artist whose hit songs I listened to shamefully when in intense need of catchy and feel-good tunes or have an impromptu singing contest with my siblings? It took the public narrative surrounding Taylor Swift to shift  to give me an answer : internalised misogyny.

Taylor Swift has been in the public spotlight for over a decade. Until very recently, I guess we all had more or less the same perception of Taylor Swift : a pretty serial dater who wrote love songs about her exes. The mass speculation of the media over her love life and the systematic scrutiny of the lyrics in search of who the song could be referring to was definitely what shaped my dislike. I thought : again? can’t she write about anything else?

I did not see her as a serious artist and yet she was at the top of the charts, I was listening to her songs and (dare I say) enjoying them. The renewed credibility and admiration of the public regarding her songwriting really made realise that I dismissed her as an artist because of what her public image was and what the media thought of her. That depiction of her was deeply misogynistic. It’s insane how much her public image has changed over the course of the last year with the release of Folklore and Evermore. She is now celebrated as a songwriter at the peak of her mastery whereas she had always been criticized for being a slanderous writer, it is now described and embraced as honest and personal writing. How the tables have turned!

I wonder if that shift tells us about an evolving mentality and recognition of women as artists or if it is just a conscious and long-term effort from Taylor’s Swift PR team.

→ Have you had a similar experience with an artist? Do you think that an audience can overlook the way an artist is depicted in mass media or that in some way, we all are influenced by it?