Oh Taylor Swift. Where to start with you dear, where to start. First off: I love that song “Teardrops On My Guitar”, and that other one “Love Story”... Oh, and that other one, “You Belong With Me”. They get in in my head and stay there. Damn you for that. Our relationship could’ve ended there and I would’ve been fine, but alas you had to win dozens of awards, beat Beyonce on MTV, incur the wrath of an ego-maniac, win more awards, and be the only female artist in history (IN HISTORY) to end the year with two albums in the top 10. Oh, and you have had more legal (and probably illegal) downloads of your music since that particular stat has been tracked. All of this has got me thinking about you and now I think that perhaps you are far more than just some girl with a guitar... you actually might matter to music.
Awhile back, in sticking to my theory that you are only important to pop culture if Andy Warhol would’ve painted you, I said just that to some friends who were “hating” on you. Now, keep in mind that doesn’t neccessairly mean that your music in any good (the fact that I think Warhol would’ve painted you), but I defintely think you are a pop culture reference point. This has happened for several reasons; mainly by accident.
First off you are the 'great white young hope of singer-songwriter female driven “country” music'. No stress there... just thought you should know that this is the burden that has been bestowed upon you by your friends in Nashville. I have started referring to you as America’s Sweetheart and I actually mean it with no irony. You are inspiring a generation of girls to pick up a guitar and write a song and that is HUGE. Anybody who wants to give you shit about that... you send them to me. I mean as much as I love Lady Gaga, Little Boots, Beyonce, and such; if i had a little girl I think I feel a little less overwhelmed if she listened to, admired, and wanted to be Taylor Swift (then say Ke$ha). There is a 'princess next door' quality about you that some find annoying, but I find somewhat endearing; if not charming. Part of your attraction is that some people want to believe in a fairytale every now and then and you've somehow incorporated this ideal into your persona. It might even be an accident, but it kinda works... for now at least.
Second of all, you are somehow becoming the bridge between the old-falling-apart notions of the the way music industry was and the glossy-digital-downloadable reality of what music wants to become. A lot of this is due to your age. Your first album came out at 16... word spread about your MySpace page (yeah, it was that long ago), and before you know it your were becoming a country-folk phenom. Couple that with the fact you can play a guitar and write your own songs and you were just the girl Nashville was wating for. The perfect combination of the past and the future. Country music had new safe little bubble to float on for a bit. Ahh, but then someone at your label had the wherewithal to do a pop mix of “Teardrops On My Guitar” (which is how I began my interest in you) and you then started to infiltrate the pop world. Brilliant, but dangerous. You now have a new whole audience of fickle people to deal with... good luck with that.
See, this leads to the third phase on your road to pop culture relevance: Kanye West and the MTV Music awards. You could have just stayed in your happy, safe world of white horses, acoustic guitars, and girlish notions of romance; but you entered the leagues of the big boys( & girls) and you beat them. And I cheered a little, because I thought you were the underdog, wrote pretty good songs, and are kinda ‘adorkable’ yourself to boot. Kayne, (who I love) did what the biggest artist in world of any era does... he makes a exhibition of himself and in doing so brought you along for the ride. Welcome to pop culture relevance, where you too can be a question in 'Trivial Pursuit'
Now you’re here. This the is big girl ride now. The backlash has started: Your live performances aren’t good enough (even though you really sing), you win too many awards (even though your songs are quite good), you are a little too awkward and “awshucks” for some people (even though you are but 20 years and probably still figuring out life...much less all this pop shit).
But unlike Gaga, Beyonce, Ke$ha, or some random American Idol winner you didn’t get dropped into this world by choice; you arrived here sorta by accident. Now you outsell those gals and probably will for years to come. On top of that you'll only half to expel a quarter of the energy they do to remain relevant. You don't have to wear crazy outfits, experiment with 'new sounds', or even have big elaborate tours. You just have to write good songs and sing them... fairly well. This is why you might get hated on for a bit, but hang in there. If you stay smart I think you’re gonna be ok and I actually have a feeling a lot of really great, ‘award winning’ music is still in you; hell, maybe some anger might even come out of you eventually...that could be fun. Don’t get hung up on all this awards crap though...they are meaningless. Just write me another song like “Love Story”.
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