11mo ago

Can someone explain to me what makes Taylor Swift so popular?

I don't get it. Her music is sometimes catchy but otherwise unremarkable, from the songs I've heard. How does she break all these records and accumulate so much fame and wealth?

She's pretty, but a lot of singer songwriters are, especially those with makeup and costume people, a support staff.

Is there something else to her that people like?

I'm confused about what makes her so apparently unique or phenomenal.

Update: there are so many things that make swift unique or phenomenal.

I've received tons of great answers from people that have helped me understand, like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle, many factors that makes swift different and consequently more successful than her peers.

Clever lyrics, top-tier production, sharing autobiographical and emotional points in her life very directly, apparent honesty with few or no public blemishes, creating a community of fans through Easter eggs and house parties and unconventional, but always personal methods, an early start supported by wealthy parents, she keeps winning against abusers, and her music itself is popular and fun.

Those are just a few of the puzzle pieces contributed here, and a dive into this post is a pretty good explanation of many of the factors that must be contributing to her phenomenal success and recognition, that set her apart from other pop stars, even pop stars who were phenoms in their own right.

This is a very educational post, thank you to everyone who has contributed.

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302 comments

Taylor for me is extremely emotional and autobiographical. I connect emotionally with her songs in a way that allows me to feel what she's feeling. Music is emotional and usually has a message, but for me her music does make me feel more.
Which makes sense, I always loved pink Floyd for their art and what they were trying to say, I usually am an emotional person, and I think for a lot of people that's why she's popular.
You have an emotion you're working through? She's got a song for it.
- Sure didn't expect her to be compared with Floyd.
  
  This hurts.
  
  Probably because it's a very weird comparison to make. If I had to pick a polar opposite of pop music in most every way, I would probably pick one of the weirder pink Floyd albums.
  
  Not weird at all. Roger Waters was extremely autobiographical with his music, he sang extensively about the war, family, and what he was going through. The Wall sure but The Final Cut was intense, dude has some emotions to process.
  Taylor and him do the same thing, just different life experiences. He is more political but far, but she's gone political, look at The Man, You Need to Calm Down, and one of her most scathing ones, Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince.
  For shows as well I've never seen more well put on shows, Roger Waters with The Wall and Taylor with Eras, both extremely precise shows, they are both absolute showmen.
  
  Alright I'll give those songs a listen. I appreciate the response
- Thank you for your answer, I'm glad to hear from a fan of hers.
  So her songs are making you feel something in a way other female artists who sing about breakups do not?
  Does she mostly sing about relationships? I haven't listened to much of her stuff, just whatever is the popular stuff that I wouldn't be able to avoid while I'm walking around.
  And then the first few songs that pop up when I type in Swift on YouTube because I'm trying to figure out the answer to this question after she breaks like the 12th record of her career
  
  Relationships were a key one in her earlier albums, but there's a lot more. I think her singing about her experiences is part of the reasons millennials really tend to her especially, we kind of grew up with her
  The awkward teenage years, the first loves, the deep friend connections, losing those friends, romantic betrayal, work betrayal, and more.
  She also is extremely versatile. She's played and experimented with different types of music. People like to shoehorn her into pop, but she's done obviously country, pop, folk, a bit of rock, lover in my mind was a decent synth album, she's played around with a lot
  That's why we all talk about her Eras, each era in her life she made an album, and that album usually has a different style. Personally my favorite is reputation, which was heavier and more electronic. Synth? Like I said try Lover or Midnights. Folk like Mumford and sons or Lumineers? Try Folklore and Evermore.
  One thing for sure is that you don't have to like everything or anything of hers, but she has such range that it is rare that someone hates every song of hers.
  Also I should say I'm a mod of !taylorswift@poptalk.scrubbles.tech and the dozens of us lemmy swifties are always happy to have more members :)
  
  I really like synth and I think they are her least referenced work in this post so far, but I'm very interested in listening to her synth albums.
  Thanks
- I don't think a more wildly different artist to TS could be found than Pink Floyd. Things they have in common: are human. Trolling or what?
  
  Lol nope, I'm a fan of both. People don't need to be put in buckets where they only like something's and not others.
  I've seen Roger Waters twice, watched him build the wall on stage and send out the inflatables, and it kicked ass.
  Also saw Eras last year in person, and it was the most precise well thought out concert I've seen.
  No rules in life saying you can't like both
  
  I mean that's cool, I don't like boxes either. Just a very unexpected comparison

302 comments