Taylor Swift

[easysurfer]

FWIW The Beatles didn't write Twist and Shout...

I knew that.

 

[Music Lover]

You should change your user name to "Only-the-Music-that-I-grew-up-on Lover"

That only applies to about 90% of the population...

 

[Nash]

Serious question- does Taylor Swift sing? Or lip sync?

 

[Music Lover]

Serious question- does Taylor Swift sing? Or lip sync?

I don't know for sure but she's a good enough singer that she doesn't need to.

However, there are most likely pre-recorded vocal backing tracks used during shows.

 

[GrayHare]

AFAIK autotune can be used live.

 

[GenXguy]

Serious question- does Taylor Swift sing? Or lip sync?

Looks like there's some lipsync going on here:

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

As none other than Paul Simon said, "Every generation throws a hero up the pop charts." (At 2:46 in the video.)

 

[Midpack]

 

[Major Tom]

From an objective "musicality" viewpoint, I'm certain that credentialed, knowledgeable music educators would find the Beatles music to be much more sophisticated and adventurous (in chord structure, time signatures, melody, harmony, variety, instrumentation, recording techniques, etc).
-ERD50

Check out Rick Beato on YouTube. He's an accomplished musician and producer. Some of his videos are of him interviewing other musicians, but most are of him deconstructing and commenting on pop/rock songs, both contemporary and classic. He has often commented on the formulaic and simplistic nature of many modern pop songs. Unlike such comments from many people though, he has the musical training to make his critiques specific.

This is a recent video, in which he is playing and commenting on the Top 10 songs on Spotify. There is a Taylor Swift song in there. My favorite videos of his are when he takes classic songs, such as Pink Floyd's "Numb", or something by U2, and completely breaks them down, investigating what makes them so memorable. He appears to be fairly objective. He's quick to praise what he likes about modern songs, but isn't shy about criticizing them either.

 

[jollystomper]

Taylor Swift sounds fine, but it's much like the typical young female singing voice to me for anyone with any talent. I wouldn't recognize it was her singing vs. any other.

This is kind of where I am on this. I have probably heard Taylor Swift songs, but I would need someone to tell me that was Taylor Swift, vs. for example Katy Perry or Lorde.

But then again, to be fair, I do not listen to a lot of pop music, and my nieces and nephews do not seem to be much into that genre. Her main support group seems to be young, white, females, who tend to not listen to the same music that I do .

I can understand, for example, people not being able to distinguish Earth, Wind & Fire from, for example, The Brothers Johnson, or Kool & the Gang, or Heatwave. Even in the Beatles day, there were groups putting out songs that some might think were the Beatles (The Raspberries, Badfinger, ELO, The Hollies, etc.).
This discussion seems to have reached "tempest in a teapot" status.

 

[easysurfer]

This is kind of where I am on this. I have probably heard Taylor Swift songs, but I would need someone to tell me that was Taylor Swift, vs. for example Katy Perry or Lorde.

But then again, to be fair, I do not listen to a lot of pop music, and my nieces and nephews do not seem to be much into that genre. Her main support group seems to be young, white, females, who tend to not listen to the same music that I do .

I can understand, for example, people not being able to distinguish Earth, Wind & Fire from, for example, The Brothers Johnson, or Kool & the Gang, or Heatwave. Even in the Beatles day, there were groups putting out songs that some might think were the Beatles (The Raspberries, Badfinger, ELO, The Hollies, etc.).
This discussion seems to have reached "tempest in a teapot" status.

Took me a long time to distinguish between The Beatles and The Monkees. Granted, I was like in the 1st grade or so. At that age, just knew the group names weren't about people.

 

[Music Lover]

Even in the Beatles day, there were groups putting out songs that some might think were the Beatles (The Raspberries, Badfinger, ELO, The Hollies, etc.).

Paul McCartney wrote one of Badfinger's biggest songs:

 

[Gumby]

Check out Rick Beato on YouTube..... He appears to be fairly objective. ...

I like his videos and feel that I have started to get a better appreciation of what makes good music by watching them.

 

[ERD50]

Check out Rick Beato on YouTube. ...

I like his videos and feel that I have started to get a better appreciation of what makes good music by watching them.

Oh yea, I've been watching Rick Beato for a long while. David Bennett Piano is another great one, and he's very, very much into the Beatles (even though he was born about 20 years after their last album was released!).

https://www.youtube.com/@DavidBennettPiano/videos

Not that I'll be around to find out, but it makes one wonder, will kids born in 2043 who become serious musicians be fascinated by Taylor Swift's music in 2073? Will it stand the test of time? Perhaps, I don't know, but from the little I've heard, I kinda doubt it. But that's no knock on her, I'm have no problem, she puts out music and performances that a lot of people like. It's all good.

One of my favs by Rick Beato was his breakdown (from 5 years ago) of YES's "Roundabout" (from 1971). I've always loved that song, and I know that part of my fascination was how they played with the timing, they slow things way down in the end of the line @ "in and out the valley", but Rick really makes you aware of it, and appreciate what they are doing:

Call it morning driving thru the sound and in and out the valley

In and around the lake

And then, at "In and a" at the 'round, they just slam down on the earlier tempo. It's fun to watch how excited Rick gets at that. Today, most music is performed to a click track, mechanical, sucks the life out of the music. check at 10:30 ~ 13:00

The best part of Rick B is he has access to the original multi-track tapes, so he can play a part in isolation so we can really hear what the artist was doing.

-ERD50

 

[jollystomper]

Check out Rick Beato on YouTube. He's an accomplished musician and producer. Some of his videos are of him interviewing other musicians, but most are of him deconstructing and commenting on pop/rock songs, both contemporary and classic. He has often commented on the formulaic and simplistic nature of many modern pop songs. Unlike such comments from many people though, he has the musical training to make his critiques specific.

+1

I am not a musician (unless you count turntables ). DW is, but is trained on and loves classical music, and doesn't really know a lot about, or like, much rock or modern music. But we watched his video on what makes "More Than a Feeling" great, and she was blown away at all the techniques they used he described, some of which she could relate to from her classical training. It has given her a greater appreciation for some (not all) of the groups I play while we are driving around .

 

[Midpack]

+1, on Rick Beato. I've watched dozens of his videos, most the what makes this song great editions, but some interviews as well. His recent take on Rolling Stones' Idiotic Top 250 Rock Guitar Players was pretty amusing...

 

[aaronc879]

I don't understand the over-the-top responses to this request.

I'd also be *interested* in hearing a few of her songs that people might consider some of her best (musically, not necessarily most popular) works.

Maybe there aren't enough fans here to offer that up, I might look online.

It's just out of curiosity, would I consider her best works something interesting/compelling?

Not that it matters, like I said earlier, if her fans like it, they like it. It's all good.

I do recall a discussion about her years ago on this forum, and I watched a few of her videos at the time. IMO, pretty ho-hum, but not bad, and I can see that some people would like them. But particularly, her guitar playing in those videos was really ho-hum, simple strumming, very little picking, or lead-in notes to chord changes. It 'works' for her, so I'm not criticizing, just analyzing.

Maybe she's progressed from there, or maybe those weren't the best examples. Or maybe that's all she wants/needs.

-ERD50

What her best songs are is very subjective. My personal favorite is "You Belong With Me". It is geared more towards teens than Boomers so it may not be liked by the majority on here. A few of the many other good songs include "Our Song", "Fearless", "Shake It Off".

 

[Qs Laptop]

[several years from now...]

"Yup, I remember the Swift Wars of '23. Twas right around Christmas here on ER.ORG when the battle lines were drawn..."

 

[Music Lover]

+1, on Rick Beato. I've watched dozens of his videos, most the what makes this song great editions, but some interviews as well. His recent take on Rolling Stones' Idiotic Top 250 Rock Guitar Players was pretty amusing...

I also watch Rick Beato. I'm fairly competent but not what I consider a "real" musician...I once learned and memorized 20 classic rock songs in about 4 hours on bass to sub for a gig, but it might take me 2 or 3 hours to learn one Rush or Yes song.

One of Rolling Stone's top 100 guitar player lists many years ago had Johnny Ramone at #17 and David Glimour at #85.

 

[Aerides]

[several years from now...]

"Yup, I remember the Swift Wars of '23. Twas right around Christmas here on ER.ORG when the battle lines were drawn..."

We might have to put her on the list of topics to avoid in the Community Rules

(jk)

 

[jollystomper]

[several years from now...]

"Yup, I remember the Swift Wars of '23. Twas right around Christmas here on ER.ORG when the battle lines were drawn..."

Twas weeks before Christmas, and battle lines were drawn,
As some wanted Taylor Swift off of their lawn.
The incident was spurred because Time did dare
Crown her the 2023 Person of the Year.
"Outrageous!", some cried, "she's not on my radar",
"And if she was, in music, I don't think she's a star" .
"Are you daft?", some replied, "Her music's huge! don't you see?",
"She's also rich, generous, and loved by the Swifties!"

The er.org moderators worked their best magic,
To keep the discussion from turning too tragic.
After all, there was concern, from the sides being taken,
That the thread might be doomed to serve Porky and bacon.
A Rick Beato diversion was started at will,
In the hopes that everyone would cool down and just chill.
Will things simmer down? Is all lost and forlorn?
I don't know, but jollystomper is enjoying popcorn...

 

[iloveyoga]

What her best songs are is very subjective. My personal favorite is "You Belong With Me". It is geared more towards teens than Boomers so it may not be liked by the majority on here. A few of the many other good songs include "Our Song", "Fearless", "Shake It Off".

She is a favorite of my granddaughter and I like a lot of her songs too. My favorites are Lover, Cardigan, Love Story, and You Belong to Me. Anti-Hero is cute. I like to watch her videos too.

I like to ask my grandkids what their favorite song is. That can be very interesting.

 

[MichaelB]

Outstanding, jollystomper !

 

[Calico]

Outstanding, jollystomper !

+1

Very well done, jollystomper!

 

[skyking1]

indeed that was an epic rap lay down by the stompmaster.