#aoty 2014

[music-moon]

Take a journey through time with an archive of my liked songs through the 2010s. The music taste of a millennial girl coming of age.

Sorted by release date for the most part. Always updating, discovering and refining. Cover art is my most listened to albums from each year, according to my last.fm.

My favourite songs organized by release year: 2010s

View more decades: 2000s / 2010s / 2020s

My most played albums from each year:

Data from last.fm + pythfm.

2000 / 2001 / 2002 / 2003 / 2004 / 2005 / 2006 / 2007 / 2008 / 2009 / 2010 / 2011 / 2012 / 2013 / 2014 / 2015 / 2016 / 2017 / 2018 / 2019 / 2020 / 2021 / 2022 / 2023 / 2024

[noxcerasus]

let the light in

[nightangelreviews]

Upon the announcement of the album, I was almost for sure Chiodos would have been my #1 for the entire year, as at the time they were pretty much everything to me, and they still are to a great extent. This year just came in like a hardball with other music I did, and still, listen to over and over at a much higher extent than expected.

[joesalw]

Oh man... that dancing is truly something. Good for the choreographer and the dancers though, the check is fat and they didn't have to overexert themselves. I think that Mandy made the choreo so Taylor can keep up without seemingly struggling and look like the ecocidal billionaire princess she is. I personally don't think that she has any interest in dance. She only does it so the show doesn't look as boring. She doesn't have Adele's natural charisma to pull off a stadium show without dancing. And doesn't have the moves to do so without having pipes. This woman's just mediocre no matter who you compare her with. Olivia Rodrigo is a good lyricist too especially if we're comparing Taylor's work at Olivia's age to 'SOUR' and 'GUTS'. She's certainly a better vocalist than TS, has enough acting chops to act out a performance and is far more confident when she dances (I hadn't seen much though). She's sort of Alanis' regen. No wonder TS felt threatened when Olivia blew up. I'm curious to see if she'll turn on that Sabrina girl if she ever blows up.

I also wonder what kind of tantrum she'll throw when she loses that AOTY Grammy. Especially if she loses to Olivia. There's no shot she's winning it with THAT. I mean, even Beyonce constantly gets snubbed in that category with far better and diverse material that actually sounds like an album and not a bunch of singles thrown together. Mariah Carey doesn't have one either and Amy Winehouse's 'Back to Black' also didn't get it. I also think that '1989' Grammy wasn't deserved. Kendrick should've won. Period. And Beyonce's Renaissance lost because Grammy voters thought that 'she has too many already'. I mean, maybe I'm biased because I'm a Beyhive but the transitions that album has, the cultural impact it has, the history of the genre. I mean, who in their right mind would make a house music album in the year of 2022? Also the genre is built on using the samples. And she did it so marvellously where you couldn't really tell that it was sampled at all without REALLY listening to the original. House is also pretty much the gay music. She brought the ballroom culture back to the forefront and made it and the queer community the centre of the tour. Add the top notch vocal production that she did HERSELF on top of that and she still lost simply because the voters we're like 'nah, she's won one too many already'.

Meanwhile not one of Swift's album had made quite an impact as 'Back to Black', 'Lemonade', 'To Pimp a Butterfly', 'Renaissance', MJ's 'Bad' all of which hadn't won and Pink Floyd's 'The Dark Side of The Moon' which wasn't even nominated. All of Taylor's albums were tailored to the most popular aesthetic at the time. She didn't make shit popular, she just adapted. Especially when she made the transition into pop music. The hipster thing in 2012, the tumblr and polaroid aesthetic in 2014, cottagecore in 2020. Girl, please. The only original thing about her is her birth certificate information. Even her southern accent in her country days was fake.

I was a casual fan until this year when she chose to publicly parade and profess love to her nazi boo.

Excuse me for the long ass rant and thank you for your service x

[notyouraryang0dd3ss]

I find it so bizarre that I’ve seen some of your anons say they remember when she got super famous around 2008… as an international ex-swiftie I can tell you right now that is so far from the reality at least on a global scale. Maybe in the USA she was super famous then but she was still relatively unknown until the whole Kanye VMA situation, and even then only a small number of people knew her for her music itself. I was a fan since her first album but she wasn’t like an overnight global success (tbh I think she hates that she wasn’t cause it definitely feels like she tries to make it seem like she was). And when she did start to become “Taylor Swift” the brand it was NOT COOL to like her. In fact I remember being picked on for liking her. Like why would I like that lame country singer. Country music is lame. It wasn’t till 1989 that she became cool to like her (I could argue I Knew You Were Trouble but for the sake of it I’ll say 1989). Then the whole Kanye 2.0 situation and she went into “hiding” (aka didn’t call paparazzi on herself). Then Reputation is where I think people were back on the Taylor train. She’s not really fallen from grace since well until now. I just find it interesting the perception she was a mega star in 2008 when I don’t think globally she was till 2014/2016. And even then most of the success for her music followed personal drama that increased her fame not the other way around. Don’t get me wrong she has always been in the public eye but definitely more of an American Celebrity than a global one for the most part of the start of her career. Even now I see a lot of other international people saying she’s not got a large global pull like she does in the USA. She’s no Michael / Madonna / Janet / Britney / Beyoncé.

this ask is so funny “(tbh i think she hates that she wasn’t)” is so true. she is the queen of taylor swift historical revisionism and i feel like her rerelease campaign is part of revising the history of her personal brand too

thank you for this ask this is so insightful. im american if it isnt super obvious already enough but she’s always been big here. idk if other americans are aware of this but we’re an incredibly self centered country and assume whatever the american opinion is is the default global opinion which is fundamentally not true. she’s always been big here and her blowing up around 1989 (or her full shift to pop) makes sense. she makes really catchy pop music (if i accidentally hear a song it will get stuck in my head for days) and isn’t vocally challenging to sing along with.

“she went into hiding (aka didnt call the paparazzi on herself)” LMFAO SO TRUE! her reputation era was hilarious cause she framed herself as being universally hated yet had the highest grossing tour of 2017…like let’s be real.

i feel like the eras tour is her establishing herself as a global force on par with michael/madonna/beyoncé/britney etc. but it isn’t really sticking. like it is financially but also…its not? idk i just feel like she doesn’t have that IT factor no matter how much she tries to fabricate it through other means. her brand is not her music (despite being her being the first billionaire solely off her music) its being Taylor Swift™️

idk. only time will tell her actual legacy but she will go down as a musician whose 4 AOTYs did not deserve their awards. and i got so sidetracked but yes swifties do overhype the timeline of her intl fame to fuel their delusion over her

[foxes-that-run]

New Years Day

This song is bittersweet, placed at end to the album because NYE/NYD is an end and a beginning. Like Clean, this song is about moving on, but now with someone who stays. It was a surprise song when 1989 TV was announced. The subject and timing indicates it may have been cut from 1989. Also note the light up Anchor - like Harry's tattoo covering 'I can't change' in the World Premier video.

When Taylor performed it at the 2 June 2018 AT&T Secret Session in Chicago she introduced it by talking about Reputation being a 'bait and switch' that the album is about finding real love in the noise and learning who your friends are. Taylor Nation has a version of this with part of the intro by cuts Taylor off half way through a sentence at 24:38! They removed the part about a 3am icy swim (1:23)

"So... I found myself, um.. like 2 New Years Eve's ago I found myself in the midst of a very like incredible 3am moment where you think you are invincible and you end up like jumping in a pool in the winter and you feel super untouchable in that moment and the next morning you feel very fragile. And you're like this is love, this is what love really is. Like we all wanna find someone to kiss at midnight, that's cool or whatever But who is gonna want to hang out with me the next day? When you are like Advil or nothing! So this is a song about finding real love and finding someone to hang out with on New Year's Day."

WHY did Taylor Nation cut that? Is it because she sounds high? Because Joe was not there??? Inquiring minds need to know. The rest of their video is complete apart from a 8 second intro.

In her 1989 Grammy Museum talk Taylor talked about making 1989 sonically cohesive after Red didn't win AOTY on 26 January 2014. (6 mins) In other words, a song like New Years Day would have been cut to get AOTY. Harry and Taylors NYE kiss is well known and also in Question...?

Lyrics

There's glitter on the floor after the party Girls carrying their shoes down in the lobby Candle wax and Polaroids on the hardwood floor You and me from the night before, but

The first verse sets the scene of a morning after a party. On NYE 2013 they stayed in the Greenwich Hotel which does have hardwood floors in the suites and a lobby in which girls can carry shoes in. (I have always wondered about that combo!) Polaroids are a key theme of 1989.

(Chorus) Don't read the last page But I stay when you're lost, and I'm scared, and you're turning away I want your midnights But I'll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year's Day

"Don't read the last page" is asking her muse to not close the book on them, to stick the relationship out through the hard and unfun times. There is a similar, or almost responding lyric in Death by a Thousand Cuts: "You said it was a great love / One for the ages / But if the story's over / Why am I still writing pages?" (Avoiding spoilers there’s also chapter references in a 1989 vault track)

Taylor is saying she will stay when it is hard and unglamorous. 'Stay' is in many HS/TS songs. Most recently in As it was "Seems you cannot be replaced / And I'm the one who will stay".

In the last lines of the chorus Taylor says she wants her muses midnights, meaning fun times, but that she will also be there to clean up the figurative and literal messes.

You squeeze my hand three times in the back of the taxi I can tell that it's gonna be a long road I'll be there if you're the toast of the town, babe Or if you strike out and you're crawling home

The first line of this verse gives us a glimpse of what happened after that Times Square kiss, Harry squeezing her hand to reassure her, them both knowing it was going to be hard. This video captures them as kids, people were yelling their names and police to get to the car. This line explores both 1 night and what was part of the downfall of the relationship.

The second half of the verse is Taylor reiterating that she will stay, if he is the toast of the town or strikes out, meaning regardless of fame. In Sweet Creature, (Released 6 months before Reputation) Harry has a similar message "When I run out of road, you bring me home"

[Bridge] Please don't ever become a stranger Whose laugh I could recognize anywhere

In the Bridge Taylor entertains that they may not stay. “whose laugh I could recognise anywhere" is so beautiful, perfectly capturing holding someone so dear fearing them becoming distant.

[Verse 3] There’s glitter on the floor after the party Girls carrying their shoes down in the lobby Candle wax and Polaroids on the hardwood floor You and me forevermore

After the bridge the first verse is repeated with 'you and me forevermore' instead of 'from the night before'. Making a vow to hold onto the relationship forever.

[Chorus] Don't read the last page But I stay when it's hard or it's wrong or we're making mistakes I want your midnights But I'll be cleaning up bottles with you on New Year's Day

Lost/scared/"you're" turning away becomes hard/wrong/"we're" making mistakes. This shows maturity. Rather than turning inward or away in a hard time they are supporting each other and accepting their mistakes.

In the context of the end of the Reputation album about drama and feeling alone Taylor is matured, looking ahead to a partnership.

[Post-Chorus] Hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you And I will hold on to you

In the closing Taylor is imploring her muse to hold on, remember the good in them despite hard times and promising to hold on too.

New Years Day has Taymojis

[sharonccrter]

Dont you feel her very immense stardom (especially in recent years) has made her much more regressive and immature? I didnt think she was this petty back in 2014 but who knows, i heard about her pr attacks anyone who criticises her so it was all buried but now its seriously concerning how she behaves in public (imagine her private antics!) bullying, mass harassment and refusual to admit any slight criticism is blatant textbook narcissist activity.

I used to love and adore her in my early teen years but im so deeply embarrassed to even admit that im her fan. Shes in mid 30s and i always forget this fact bc she acts like shes in early 20s😭

She definitely needs to realise it or her career will be in quick falldown before she even blinks

I definitely think that's a part of it. I mean, I think anyone would get a big head after being praised the way she has been. She literally can do no wrong in her fans' eyes; she's being labelled America's darling. The press by large is afraid to criticise her; she won AOTY based on her tour sales and not the album. And don't get me wrong, I liked Midnight's, but when it was up against Ocean Blvd and other great albums, it was very obvious she won it because of who she was and not because of the music. All that would give anyone a big head. I still really like a lot of her music, don't get me wrong. But I don't like her as a person, and really, I don't think we're meant to like billionaires as a whole.

[magxit]

The Swift Agenda 02 | Aug. 16 to Sep. 20, 2023

Taylor Swift — all the way from the physical and digital sales era — has now surpassed the unstoppable force, streaming juggernaut Bad Bunny as the #2 most-streamed artist in Spotify history.

Despite giving the industry a massive head start in algorithm dominance by removing her music at her peak (2014–2017) and thus losing out on Spotify’s crucial audience-building years, Taylor Swift is now only behind the king of streams, Drake, in the all-time rank and is vying for the Spotify crown as she continually DOUBLES his numbers (with a whopping 40M+ lead) on a daily basis.

It would take her approximately 4 months to ultimately close the 5-billion gap standing between her and the highly coveted title — with the impending release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version) more than ready to offset whatever damage that a new Drake album may cause in the near future.

Taylor Swift has surpassed Metallica and is now the #19 best-selling artist of all time (via @chartmastersorg ), shifting 168,860,000 equivalent album units since the start of her legendary seventeen-year career, solidifying her status as the de facto leader of today’s music industry and widening the ASTRONOMICAL gap between her and the remaining 21st-century artists in the all-time Top 100 (with the nearest one having 121M):

— Taylor in the 160M–169M range — 0 artists in the 150M–159M range — 0 artists in the 140M–149M range — 0 artists in the 130M–139M range — 5 artists in the 100M–129M range — 5 artists in the 80M–99M range — 5 artists in the 60M–79M range

Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” movie takes the world by storm as it shatters the 24-hour pre-sales record in AMC’s eleven-decade history, edging out several Marvel blockbusters.

With its STAGGERING demand, it will swiftly claim the title for the biggest concert film of all time (and beyond) upon its October 13 release.

Taylor Swift’s “reputation” has surpassed 6 billion streams on Spotify, making her the ONLY artist in history with 4 different albums achieving this feat (Lover, 1989, Midnights, and reputation).

With “folklore” merely 60M+ streams away, Taylor Swift will very soon have FIVE different albums surpassing the 6B milestone — one that is supposedly reserved for A-list artists’ absolute, definitive, career-defining PEAK eras. And, once again, just to let it sink in: she is about to have FIVE.

Taylor Swift has spent SEVERAL more weeks at #1 on Billboard Artist 100, extending her all-time record to 79 weeks.

— Nearest male: 37 — Nearest female: 20 — Nearest group: 21

Taylor Swift’s “Lover” is now the #6 most-streamed female album in Spotify history, surpassing Ariana Grande’s “thank u, next”, becoming the FIRST among the SEVERAL Taylor Swift albums projected to do so.

With 1989 (Taylor’s Version)’s preorders alone ALREADY surpassing folklore’s actual first-week debut (846K), the pop bible’s re-recording is poised to OBLITERATE its predecessor’s original numbers in 2014 (1.287M) and even challenge the streaming-era giant “Midnights” (1.578M) for the biggest Billboard 200 debut for any streamable album ever.

Currently, GoldDerby predictions put Taylor Swift at the helm of the upcoming GRAMMYs:

— #1 frontrunner for AOTY — #1 frontrunner for SOTY — #2 frontrunner for ROTY

Taylor Swift has tied the record for the most VMAs wins in a single night, bagging 9 out of 11 awards and SWEEPING all major categories.

She now holds the all-time winning records for the BIGGEST categories in the VMAs, AMAs, and GRAMMYs.

— most wins for VMAs “Video of the Year” (4x) — most wins for AMAs “Artist of the Year” (7x) — most wins for GRAMMYs “Album of the Year” (3x; tied with Stevie Wonder and Frank Sinatra)

Going way beyond everyone’s wildest dreams, 33 MILLION PUZZLES for the 1989 (Taylor’s Version) Vault were SOLVED in less than a day on Google, signaling an earthshaking demand for what is shaping up to be THE most powerful album release of the decade.

[this-daydream-is-dangerous-13]

Here—for comparison—are the stolen 1989 benchmarks. I am going to pin and edit this post as we smash them (🙏🙏🤞🤞🕯️🕯️)

Some of the these are just “her 2nd AOTY Grammy”, “2 already released tracks” and “5 vault tracks” so there are not 9.

1. 3 No. 1 Hot 100 Hits

Prediction: She is going to knock HERSELF out of #1 this week! I don’t know if we will get three over time, but 1 for sure, and maybe more.

Actual: we got 1, with It Is Over Now? but Cruel Summer is unstoppable! So that might be it.

2. 5 Top 10 Hot 100 Hits

Prediction: She’ll once again take the entire top 10. Not sure what will happen with Cruel Summer in the mix, or for how long she can maintain it.

Actual: During the first week, she had 8 in the top 10, 7 of which were from 1989. It’s wild to see Style charting on the top 10 again. All 5 vault tracks landed in the top 10, along with Bad Blood (thanks Kendrick) and Style, plus Cruel Summer.

3. 1.287 million copies sold in its first week

Prediction: She might surpass this in pure preorder sales alone. I am excited to see how high this number goes when non-preorder pure sales and streaming get in the mix.

Actual: 1.653 million, surpassing not only original 1989 (and Rep) but even Midnights and its 1.57.

4. 11 Total Weeks at No. 1 in the Billboard 200

Prediction: We’ll get a few, maybe 3 or 4? If we approach 11, they’ll be non-consecutive with the holiday season (and Mariah Carey) about to disrupt the charts.

Actual: As of Nov 12th, we had 2 consecutive weeks at the top (sorry Jungkook).

5. 12.3 Million equivalent album units to date

Prediction: This will take a while, for sure. But I have faith that steady streaming numbers will one day allow TV to overtake the stolen version.

6. $250.7 Million gross on the 1989 World Tour

Prediction: Since the Eras tour will gross billions by its conclusion, I think that 1/9 of the gross (aka the share of EACH era, lol) will top $250 million. We’ll have to check back in 13 months’ time!

Go team 1989TV!!

[falsegod]

i just remembered that after taylor lost aoty in 2014 i wrote hate comments on all of the recording academy’s instagram posts

[evermoredeluxe]

i feel what you all must’ve felt when red lost aoty at the 2014 grammys

[music-moon]

My most played albums released in the year 2014:

Taylor Swift - 1989

Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence

Mother Mother - Very Good Bad Thing

Ed Sheeran - X

alt-J - This Is All Yours

Glass Animals - ZABA

Mariah Carey - Me. I Am Mariah…The Elusive Chanteuse

Sia - 1000 Forms of Fear

Nicki Minaj - The Pinkprint

Banks - Goddess

Data from last.fm + pythfm.

2000 / 2001 / 2002 / 2003 / 2004 / 2005 / 2006 / 2007 / 2008 / 2009 / 2010 / 2011 / 2012 / 2013 / 2014 / 2015 / 2016 / 2017 / 2018 / 2019 / 2020 / 2021 / 2022 / 2023 / 2024

[whatiwillsay]

I'm making a quick add on to the 1989 era/Met Gala anons: I think it's SO fun when she overlaps eras! The 2014 Met Gala was in May 2014, when you said the 1989 era started - but she was still doing the Red Tour (it was over a month later in June). I'm SUCH a nerd for her era overlaps from back in the day!

she started writing 1989 during the red era and came up with the whole concept of the album the night red lost the aoty grammy. the albums by definition overlap! 🥰

[cyarsk52-20]

"Cowboy Carter doesnt have enough streams to win AOTY"

they always just moving the goalposts cause they know Black Women too powerful

Btw the photo of beck winning the album of the year over Beyonce ground breaking self titled album is giving severe PTSD vibes and that’s in a world where this also gives me PTSD

That’s Macklemore and Ryan Lewis by the way who won Grammy awards back in 2014. Not that there’s anything wrong with that of new artists getting their first Grammy nominations let alone winning one …. Except for the fact that they won best new artist and rap album (the heist) over the heavily favored (and currently 17 time Grammy award winning) Kendrick Lamar

that tells me everything I need to know about the Grammy awards . Yes they do write some some wrongs (like giving rap legend Nas his first Grammy award after being in the industry for over three decades, and best believe he had some albums that should’ve gotten him Grammy sooner , Illmatic anyone?) but it doesn’t excuse them from committing many wrongs they have committed either. Like this is also the same Grammys where Beyoncé was the most decorated Grammy award winner last year and yet regarding the album of the year award Harry Styles won that one (I mean, nothing against him really but it’s Beyoncé people, and her not winning album of the year four times is just mind boggling to me)

[policemanofprincesspark]

Doesn't an aoty need at least one big hit tho? None of the Brat singles even went top ten. Highest was Guess at 12 and that was because Billie was on it. If Brat was a 1d solo album you'd be saying it flopped lmao. In the eyes of the public Charli only had one hit with Fancy back in 2014 and again she was only a feature on Iggy Azalea's song. Maybe Boom Clap too but more in the UK.

Wrong. Multiple AOTY winners had no hit songs.

And AOTY is about the album as a whole. Not "singles" artists.

[bisluthq]

Oh I don’t think Harry is dumb at all. He’s not the best at expressing himself, I think the problem is that he overthinks every word and is desperately afraid of saying something that will ruin his career. It’s not a rational thought, but he’s described himself as very anxious multiple times and we can’t really control anxiety, nor is mental health a sign of someone’s intelligence.

He talked about being afraid of doing drugs in 1D and being caught, so he waited until he went solo. There’s a tattoo artist who said Harry was once threatened with being thrown out of the band for not being very careful with the way he got his tattoo (the one he got with Ed Sheeran). Like, Simon personally called him to tell him he might be thrown out (which I believe cause Louis told a similar story of Simon flying him from London to LA and threatening with taking him out of the band for getting drunk during a performance).

Harry said he cried tears of joy when he signed his solo contract, after asking his manager what happened if he got arrested. He’s clearly someone who’s afraid of making the wrong move and saying the wrong thing, and has been that way since he was 16, so I’m never gonna come for him for having issues verbalizing his thoughts in public. I mean, he said that as a working class, poorly connected, former boybander who came from a reality show (he didn’t say all of this, but context), he never thought he’d win AOTY and was crucified online for being “a white straight male” (even though he’s probably not straight). I don’t blame him for being careful.

Like, “a movie that feels like a movie” is a quote that was paraphrasing what Olivia Wilde said (“it’s a movie-movie” were her exact words), very early in the morning for him, after performing like 5 shows in a row in New York and taking a red eye to Venice the prior day. He said in multiple interviews that day that he was exhausted and hadn’t slept.

So, in terms of his interviews and stuff, I really don’t think Harry is the least bit dumb. He’s just overly careful and often misconstrued or taken out of context, because of the level of fame he has, where every word that comes out of his mouth is analyzed to death. This happens to Taylor too, except she doesn’t come off dumb cause she’s more assertive in her words, but people accuse her of being self-centered, cunning, and completely out of touch, which I’m sure she is to SOME degree but not because she said stuff like “Travis and I aren’t hiding” (Joe’s widows would claim that she was actually dissing Joe in juxtaposition and I personally don’t think it’s that deep).

Beyonce swore off interviews because of this. People would accuse her of being dumb as well, which I think is so ridiculous because you don’t get to be on that level of successful on some many aspects if you’re not smart.

Anyway, and in terms of decisions during DWD, I think he made the best out of a bad situation. He couldn’t have known what a mess the whole thing would be. I mean, Olivia is incredibly smart and well-educated and she was the main issue with that whole thing. Harry was thinking with his dick (his heart, really, I don’t wanna be cheesy but I do think he was in love), when he got with her, because I think he knows that he should never mix relationships with work. But oh well, it’s something that he did once and most likely learned from it. Taylor thinks with her clit 90% of the time and she’s an incredibly smart celebrity.

Harry is doing the lifestyle brand in a really smart way. He invested in stuff like the Calm App and an arena in Manchester, which were both really smart. He has an entire company just for investments. He created a record label and a publishing company for his music. He reads a lot and has good takes on the books he reads. He knows how to speak two languages fluently (aside from English). He started networking in 1D when he was 17 years old. He said stuff like “we’re exhausting the fan base” when asking for a break from 1D in 2014, and got Irving Azoff, one of the biggest music moguls of all time, to be on his side. He self invests on his tours which means he gets most of the profits. He’s best buddies with the CEO of Sony Music and literally recorded As It Was on his living room. He taught himself how to play guitar and piano, and how to write music. He created his current collaboration team from scratch, out of two mid to low tier producers who weren’t working with anyone big. Now they’re working with everyone and literally stood behind Miley Cyrus when she won ROTY this year. One of them worked on Cowboy Carter with Beyonce on multiple tracks!

He talked about not diluting his brand, which is why he does very few interviews and appearances. He will absolutely not show up at an awards show unless he’s nominated. He will not do any events. He only went to the met gala when he co-chaired. The only two clothing brands he’s associated directly with are Adidas, because they collaborated with Gucci, and his collaboration made sales up 1,900%, and his tenure as a Gucci ambassador was the most successful one of the brand’s history. His Gucci capsule is the most sold capsule in Gucci’s existence. He’s only ever done one other commercial ad, for Apple Music, and it was talked about a ton and won awards.

He did all of that without any music industry connections btw! No singing lessons as a child, no stage mom pushing him, not even a cousin in the music industry. He’s had a few missteps of course, he’s been in the industry 14 years, but his amazing decisions outweighs the few meh ones by miles.

The guy won AOTY, swept the Brit Awards, had the biggest song of 2022 (and one of the biggest of all time, 15 weeks #1, on track of becoming the most streamed song on Spotify), the fifth biggest tour of all time, he has the highest average per track on Spotify (that is above Taylor btw), and that’s with 3 albums, 35 tracks, never collaborating with anyone, never releasing a remix song.

There’s not an aspect of his life or career that’s dumb imo

fair enough.