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‘Speak Now': Defending Taylor Swift and Pop Music

A SYTYCB Entry

I have to ask: Can we all agree to stop making fun of Taylor Swift? Please, and thank you.

Last week Taylor Swift released the song “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together“, the first single from her upcoming album, “Red.” With the single comes new hashings of the same argument. And here it is again, in the comment section of this NPR article.

Critics of Swift’s music argue it’s moronic and the subject matter teaches young girls the most important thing in life is boys. It’s true, Swift certainly isn’t afraid to alienate the female characters in her songs for the chance to have a potentially meaningful relationship with a male character. In many of her songs, female characters are portrayed as vapid snobs who stole her boyfriend—and that’s if they’re present at all. Women are largely absent from Swift’s songs.

Swift says her songs are about her life—that listening to her music is like reading her diary. In this way Swift’s music conforms to the important rule that to be good, music has to be “authentic”—music must be written and performed by the artist. Playing your own instrument helps. Claiming you’re only in it for your deep love of music helps. Money, sex, fans, popularity, drugs—those are the things that come as a result of you loving your art as much as you do—it certainly isn’t why you make music and if you didn’t have the money, you’d still ...