What is so Special About Taylor Swift

[Private Dancer]

I have noticed that a lot of people here and huge TS fans. What is it that you like about Taylor? I'm curious to find out

[dremolus - solarpunk]

Oof, where to begin...

Well just on a baseline: she is a very talented songwriter and musician. As in the way she's a very talented and a bit underrated as a composer: she can play the piano and compose a melody plus write a hook so easily and transform it into a song in a fascinatingly fast way (watch her documentary if you don't believe me). Whether you like her songs or not, I think it'd be disrespectful to say she's got no talent.

From a more subjective standpoint, first off as just a simple straightforward pop artist for radio friendly songs and hits on the charts. Swifties like myself complain and often mock her singles choices but when she chooses a god single, it's often great. White Horse, Back to December, Sparks Fly, Begin Again, Black Space, Style, New Romantics, Wildest Dreams, Delicate, Lover, even some of her less good singles. At least they're an earworm and are fun

And for the big reason: she is a good songwriter. Again, you wouldn't know it from the singles she'd choose but if you give her the chance and listen to her albums, she is a very insightful, poetic writer. And now that folklore, evermore, and the re-recordings of Red are out with a big promotion and emphasis on her writing, I think it is slowly changing the perception of Taylor Swift by the general public as not just a popular singer but a singer who is also a great writer. As someone who's taste definitely is on the snobbier side, folklore and evermore do live up to the hype and would stand up against some of the best indie and underground singer-songwriter releases as some of the past few years.

There are other things to admire like how much she's reinvented herself and actually evolved in her pop and songwriting over the years, as well as some of her music videos (even though some are cheesy) being genuinely beautiful.

[Hefty Hanna]

Her songwriting is wonderful and she is a great storyteller. As a writer, I appreciate that. She also seems like a really nice girl with a good heart.

Her vocals aren't fabulous. Her dancing isn't fabulous. Her music videos aren't fabulous. The writing is easily the draw for me.

[born]

One fan said it best: "I found Taylor because of her music, but I stayed because of her character."

[Private Dancer]

What songs would yall suggest people listen to to as evidence to her songwriting skills?

[dremolus - solarpunk]

Good place to start:
Back to December
Begin Again
All Too Well (preferably the 10 minute version)
The Last Time
Clean
Delicate
New Year's Day
The Archer
Soon You'll Get Better
Afterglow
All of folklore but especially exile, the last great american dynasty, and this is me trying
Most of evermore but especially Coney island, tis the damn season, and cowboy like me

[born]

Back To December, Dear John, Treacherous, All Too Well, Begin Again, Clean, Getaway Car, Lover, The Archer, Cornelia Street, Death By A Thousand Cuts, cardigan, the last great american dynasty, exile, my tears ricochet, the lakes, champagne problems, tolerate it, marjorie - and those are only a few.

[Koochie]

The pick me gays can relate to her lol

[Private Dancer]

Nov 16, 2021 14:25:08 GMT -5 dremolus - solarpunk said:

Good place to start:
Back to December
Begin Again
All Too Well (preferably the 10 minute version)
The Last Time
Clean
Delicate
New Year's Day
The Archer
Soon You'll Get Better
Afterglow
All of folklore but especially exile, the last great american dynasty, and this is me trying
Most of evermore but especially Coney island, tis the damn season, and cowboy like me

I know Back To December and Delicate but I'll check out the other ones

[Rose "Payola" Nylund]

She was always just there to me before. Someone I recognized as a singer and songwriter people liked but someone I dismissed because I didn’t connect with anything she sang beyond enjoying her songs as good pop songs. Until Lover. And I’ve said this enough that Taylor stans probsbly mock me now but Lover (the song) just drew me in. I think it was just in how casual and conversational the lyrics were. Happy songs are so hard to make good but somehow, Lover was just it. I was single at the time but when I heard it, I felt it and the sentiment of that song was what I wanted.
And then for some reason, after I listened to the rest of the album, it was exactly what I felt I needed at that moment in time. I don’t know why but the album just clicked. Literally every song. 2019 wasn’t a good year for me but this album made me feel much better.

Folklore and evermore I liked because of how they came out. The surprise element. The complete change of direction. But also the songwriting. I hadn’t realized before how interesting and actually good her songwriting is. And it’s often not entire songs but single lines and phrases that jump out at me. They’re not complicated but they’re so clever. She’s really good at creating a scene or a story and going with it. Songs like Cornelia Street, Champaign Problems, Ivy, they’re so well-written and captivating.

[Hefty Hanna]

The writing has certainly been fine-tuned the longer her career has progressed. Some of her earlier stuff is a bit cringe, but there was always such potential and promise if she were given the time and space to hone her craft. She's done a great job. I think the ball really started to roll that way with Speak Now and it just kept going from there.

[Glove Slap]

Nov 16, 2021 18:36:52 GMT -5 Hefty Hanna said:

The writing has certainly been fine-tuned the longer her career has progressed. Some of her earlier stuff is a bit cringe, but there was always such potential and promise if she were given the time and space to hone her craft. She's done a great job. I think the ball really started to roll that way with Speak Now and it just kept going from there.

I agree. I remember listening to that album for the first time after finding the first two to be overrated and not that interesting as whole efforts. I was so impressed, and even moreso with Red two years later.

Now not every single track from every single album has stuck for all those years, and there have been clunkers (WTNY and End Game come to mind at once), but on the whole she has maintained an extremely high level of quality control from then on when you take her material from that point onward for me. And she did this by being very prolific as well.

She also connects with the songs she writes and you can tell. And she has been able to shift as a songwriter through various sounds and genres while always maintaining a signature style with her writing, whether solo or with others. The only other act I can think of that did that over and over for a long time off the top of my head was Madonna. Some of the songs along the way haven't aged as well as other sure, but that's part of it and doesn't mean that those songs are not of a good quality. As a singer, Taylor isn't impressive in terms of runs, belts, etc., but she is emotive, and that counts for a lot. It all combines to make an act/artist that is very impressive as a whole. To give an example, I think Frank Sinatra and Whitney Houston were FAR FAR better singers than Taylor has ever been. But Taylor Swift is a much more interesting artist for me because of all the other factors combined.

And this is all separate from her image for me. A lot of her approaches, statements, and complaints over the years have come across as very whiny and ill advised. The brouhaha around her dating life was stupid then and is still stupid in retrospect. But there have been masterstroke genius moments along the way too. Re-recording her albums is one of those (even if I'm much more interested in the next proper new album). The way 1989 was done is another, just like Folklore later in its own way. She started out with Shania Twain as an obvious model for crossover success, but then she did something different and actually changed genres to success.

[Joe1240]

Taylor has great songwriting abilities that make every song unique and special. There is a lot to like as a fan and her many great performances over the years.

[fearlessarrow]

I joined the Taylor Swift fandom during the Fearless era as a teenager, and looking back maybe what pulled me in was the melodramatic tendencies she had in her songwriting in her early days. She has a ear for catchy melodies as well. Also in an era where dance-pop dominated, Taylor's music seemed really different from the crowd with its focus on imagery in lyrics which obviously comes from country music. But I think what has kept me in her fandom for so long is this notion of growing together. I'm younger than Taylor but going through the tumultuous transition period of adolescence into young adulthood following her footsteps has been really interesting, you can see the shifts in Taylor's perspective throughout the years as mine does too even if it might not be in the same way.

Musically, like others have mentioned, her songwriting is solid and even if her musical style has shifted multiple times in her career, there are lines where you can tell that it's Taylor. I think there was a Switched on Pop episode talking about how even in non-country tracks in evermore, you can still see influences of country music in her lyricism.

And the fact that no one has mentioned "State of Grace" in examples of great lyricism is sad, the whole "These are the hands of fate, You're my Achilles heel, This is the golden age of something good and right and real" line is absolute gold.

[spiritboy]

I like Taylor casually, i don't consider myself a fan yet i like her albums and her personality. I'm one of the few people who prefers melody of a song to its lyrical content so her songwriting doesn't make a difference to me. Some people have hype and nothing else, Taylor has the hype and the talent to back it up so i'll always be glad to see her doing well.

Scooter must be seething in hell after seeing Red TV's success. :kii:

[back2blk]

She's a white girl with a guitar. I guess her writing is what really stands her out, because her vocals are just not there for me.

[bat1990]

Nov 16, 2021 19:43:06 GMT -5 Glove Slap said:

The only other act I can think of that did that over and over for a long time off the top of my head was Madonna. Some of the songs along the way haven't aged as well as other sure, but that's part of it and doesn't mean that those songs are not of a good quality.

Personally, I think of Taylor and Mariah Carey when thinking of prolific songwriters who maintain a signature evocative lyrical style of their own while being able to shift through different genres with ease and grow without abandoning their foundation.

While Taylor does not also have the technical vocal abilities of Mariah (and lbr who does? Mariah usually wins technical analyses when vocal coaches analyze her singing on YouTube), these two always stick out in my mind as amazing female songwriters with truckloads of commercial success and now BOTH are finally getting their dues as writers.

That said, there are so many amazing female songwriters who don't have the commercial success of these two and it is a travesty of the sexist music industry.

[dremolus - solarpunk]

Nov 17, 2021 11:36:56 GMT -5 back2blk said:

She's a white girl with a guitar. I guess her writing is what really stands her out, because her vocals are just not there for me.

I think if you don't like Taylor's vocals that's fine. I don't think even the biggest Swiftie will say she's one of the best vocalists on a technical level.

[#LisaRinna]

Nothing.

Nov 16, 2021 13:38:02 GMT -5 Hefty Hanna said:

Her vocals aren't fabulous. Her dancing isn't fabulous. Her music videos aren't fabulous. The writing is easily the draw for me mediocre.

[Ling-Ling]

I'm a casual fan, she has quite a few songs that I love, but I don't find myself drawn to her discography overall though. She's one of those artists where I appreciate and acknowledge her talent more than I enjoy the actual music most of the time. Most of that is down to her song-writing, when she is on, she's ON. Incredibly relatable songs that are written dynamically, but never indigestible.

[jenglisbe]

I'm not a huge Swift fan and don't fully understand the absolutely rabid/die-hard nature of so many of her fans, but I do think she's a hugely talented writer. She's always had a knack for song construction, and as she's gotten older her lyrics have become a real strength as well. She also knows how to market her shit very well.

[irice22]

To put it quite simply, she's the greatest singer/songwriter of our generation. Folklore/Evermore and now this Red rerelease pretty much solidified that.

[irice22]

Nov 16, 2021 14:11:06 GMT -5 Private Dancer said:

What songs would yall suggest people listen to to as evidence to her songwriting skills?

All Too Well
My Tears Ricochet
Last Great American Dynasty
Champagne Problems

[bornfearless2000]

Everything is special about Taylor Swift

[Deleted]

A shorter answer, though I love all the insight in this thread:

- Versatile
- Storyteller
- Interacts fans and engages them through social media
- Visuals

[Deleted]

Nov 16, 2021 14:11:06 GMT -5 Private Dancer said:

What songs would yall suggest people listen to to as evidence to her songwriting skills?

A lot of people are naming the same ones (All Too Well, Back to December, Clean, champagne problems) but I'll name some that aren't as usually recognized:

- Cold As You
- You Belong With Me (Taylor's Version) (you probably know this one, but focus on the great lyricism)
- Mine
- Last Kiss
- I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor's Version)
- Blank Space (again, focus on the lyrics)
- Call It What You Want
- Lover
- The Man
- peace
- ivy

...and I think that's enough. Going back to what I said in my previous post, there's so much versatility in these 11 songs, country mixed with pop mixed with folk, it's insane. They also showcase how capable Swift was as such a young writer, and how much she has matured through the 15 years! Have fun!

[spiritboy]

She plays the hype game very well but she has the talent to back that hype up, unlike most of pop stars of her generation.

[Choco]

The songwriting is the basis on which everything else is built. It's great songwriting but it's usually also great storytelling. She makes the fans feel like part of her own journey and so they adore her more and more with every lyrical clue or scavenger hunt.

She's also a terrific business woman. Her switch from Country (one of the few genres that was consistently selling) to Pop (a bigger genre but one where the fandom is usually way more fickle and relying on you keeping the hype machine going) was flawlessly executed.

The RED album is a great starting place. You have country, you have Pop, you have some aged as milk dubstep, you have lyricism... If you like the pop stuff then go for 1989, Lover and reputation. If You like country go back to her debut, Fearless and Speak Now. I think folklore and evermore are nice but they're also reliant on you enjoying her brand of lyricism without the catchy pop hooks.