this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2024

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309

Can someone explain to me what makes Taylor Swift so popular? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by [email protected] to c/asklemmy

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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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[–] ConstipatedWatson 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Besides listening to her when she is on the radio from time to time, Taylor Swift was forever carved in my mind when she agreed to have a (now classic) duet with a goat.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

She was one of the few singers who appealed to love-crazy teenager girls a couple of decades ago.

[–] Crack0n7uesday 7 points 10 months ago (3 children)

She's been an industry plant since the beginning of her life, her parents were both rich and her dad was already in the music industry.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This was mentioned and I do think it explains an important part of her initial success, but of course not all of it.

Miley Cyrus, Lana del ray, Zoe Kravitz all have wealthy parents whom were big in the music industry, but aren't as big Taylor Swift is.

It also seems important to note that her parents were not in the music industry, her dad was a stock broker and her mom was a marketing executive, according to what I'm reading here.

How was her dad in the music industry?

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[–] AnalogyAddict 6 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Because she's not only good at producing the right music, she's good at business and has the right connections to launch them.

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[–] paddirn 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I went to a Daddy-Daughter school dance with my kid a few weeks ago, she's in Kindergarten, so it was just a new experience for her going to a dance, we had a good time. However, it's been a while since I've been to any sort of dance function at all (in school or out), but I'm pretty sure that more than half the songs were all Taylor Swift songs. I don't know if that's indicative of white people dance music selections in general, or if this was specific to that function and who they thought the girls wanted to listen to, but her music apparently gets played alot.

I think her popularity might be tied to her relatively clean image. Apart from the serial dating, the racist boyfriend thing, and the wasteful jet planes, she's still fairly clean in the eyes of popular America, she apparently hasn't had a big sex scandal or nude photos leak. Hell, when fake photos of her started spreading everywhere recently, that's when politicians started talking about reigning in and regulating AI Art, and that's been around for years now (even photoshopping images has been a thing for ages).

Funny enough though, my daughter actually hates Taylor Swift.

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[–] HowManyNimons 6 points 10 months ago (5 children)

Why did so many 12- year- olds buy Batman T-shirts in 1989? Other T-shirts were surely available?

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[–] RIP_Cheems 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I honestly don't know. What I do know, though, is that her fanbase is weird and likes putting curses on people. No joke.