Taylor Swift: Why aren't fans listening to her anymore?
Taylor Swift has made great strides since the release of her self-titled debut album in 2006. Hits like "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me" propelled her to superstar, and her critically acclaimed albums like 2012 Red and 2014 1989. produced even more beloved songs, sending Swift on a higher ascent. And let's not start with all the infectious hits you've written for others (ahem, "This Is What You Came For" by Calvin Harris). We could really continue here, but the point is, she seemed poised for eternal greatness.
However, with the success of the Grammy and Billboard award winning singer-songwriter, controversy arose. From splits with some of the industry's most popular acts to poorly received music, Swift had a slight fall from grace, and she just hasn't managed to attract the same levels of attention as before. But why? We'll discuss that here as we explore the real reason people don't listen to Taylor Swift anymore.
‘Famous’ made her infamous
The feud between Taylor Swift and Kanye West dates back to 2009, when the rapper interrupted her acceptance speech for Best Female Video at the MTV Video Music Awards to let the audience know that Beyoncé had been stripped of the honor. But the couple's bad blood hit the fan in 2016 when West released her song "Famous" from her seventh studio album. Pablo's life, which featured the bawdy line, “I feel like Taylor and I could still have sex / Why? / I made that bitch famous.
The rapper was quickly criticized for the lyrics, with many calling them misogynistic, but maintained that the Reputation singer had approved of the song long before its release. Swift, however, claimed otherwise, knocking West down the line in a fiery speech at the 2016 Grammy Awards.
That's when his wife, Kim Kardashian, swept in West's defense, releasing the alleged images of the singer talking to her husband about the song, in which Swift can be heard saying that the name drop was a "compliment." Needless to say, the incident subjected Swift to quite a backlash, with many social media users criticizing her with snake emojis and brutal comments, which brings us to the next point ...
Playing the victim was counterproductive
The leaked call left Swift publicly embarrassed and desperate to find ways to save face, so she tried to turn the snake into a means of empowerment and even used reptile imagery throughout her life. Reputation world tour.
Swift was candid about her snake hug with the audience on the opening night of her tour in May 2018, saying, “A lot of people called me a lot of names on social media. And I went through very low moments for a while that is why «(via People) He added that he wanted to use the snakes on his tour to« send them a message that if someone uses insults to intimidate them on social networks ... [it] does not have that overcoming you can strengthen you instead.
Some of her fans loved the moment, and things were finally looking up for the singer. But she just didn't let go of the backlash, and was infuriated at being "misunderstood" during an acceptance speech at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards.
This time, her fans weren't having it, and they quickly let her know on social media because evidently she had already had her moment.
Earth, Wind & Fire was a natural disaster
There are few cover songs that are infinitely better than the original covers, especially when it comes to R&B. Some might say that Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" and Aretha Franklin's "Respect" are honorable mentions, for example. But there are other songs, like Earth, the classic Wind & Fire hit "September" that can never be beat, no matter who tries.
Unfortunately, Swift found that the hard way after sharing her version of "September" in April 2018, which Billboard said appeared to be an effort to give a "1978 funk hit a warm country feel." Her fans were impressed with the performance, arguing that the "Look What You Made Me Do" singer had destroyed the song. Even Allee Willis, the song's co-writer, agreed, saying that Swift "was as lethargic as a drunken turtle dozing under a sunflower after ingesting a bottle of Valium," and had made one of the songs "spicier, happy and popular in history "absolutely" boring "
T. Swift vs. Nicki Minaj
Swift injected herself into the middle of the drama with fellow superstar Nicki Minaj in 2015. The "Super Bass" rapper had taken to Twitter to express her frustration with the MTV Video Music Awards nominations, specifically the snubs of her ridiculously fun and simple. Beyoncé single »Feeling Myself« and her bootylicious song »Anaconda« for Video of the Year.
In one particular tweet, Minaj expressed her discontent that videos celebrating women with "very skinny bodies" are often nominated over those without, which is why Swift was apparently outraged.
The singer - who was nominated for video of the year, along with Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran and Mark Ronson, lashed out at Minaj in an hour, saying, per Billboard, “I have done nothing but love and support you. It's different from you facing women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your place ... »
Minaj, of course, was taken aback by Swift's message, as her comment was likely directed to MTV rather than the nominees. But (thankfully) the two managed to fix things pretty quickly and even acted on the show together.
Then their rebuilt friendship apparently fell apart once more in early 2017, when Minaj appeared in Katy Perry's supposed "Swish Swish." The rapper had even sent a cryptic. Tweet Moments after Swift released the boastful song "Look What You Made Me Do" in August 2017, writing, "Sit down. Be humble ”, in case you thought the show was just a coincidence.
There's a new act in town
Cardi B took the world by storm when she released her single "Bodak Yellow," which conquered the earth and topped the chart in 2017, and there's a good chance she has attracted a lot of fans of other artists as well.
In fact, by the time Cardi's debut album Invasion of Privacy in April 2018, it was an international phenomenon that managed to surpass the records that only Swift had on her LP. According to People, the album garnered 100 million streams on Apple Music in just over a week and is the platform's fifth-most-streamed album of all time. The streams are reportedly more than double the amount Swift has for her album Reputation. Of course, the project was not available on the platform for three weeks after its launch, but you have to admit that Cardi's accomplishments are pretty great feats for a newcomer.
However, there are no hard feelings between the two, as Swift sent Cardi flowers in 2017 to congratulate the rapper on her success. Also, Cardi later became enthusiastic about her love for the singer in an interview with People. Who knows: Swift could win back some of those fans with a future collaboration.
Welcome to the life of the app.
Who needs to listen to Taylor Swift's music repeatedly to feel closer to her when her fans can interact with her in real life? Maybe that's the idea the "Blank Space" singer had in mind when she joined Glu Mobile, the same company that created the blockbuster games. Kim Kardashian: Hollywood and Nicki Minaj: Empire - to design their app The Swift Life, which launched in December 2017.
The app gives its fans exclusive access to their own social network, with designs similar to Instagram and Tumblr, where they get photos, videos, and news updates directly from the singer herself. App users can also chat with other Swifties around the world about their shared love for the artist, communicate with the singer using "SwiftSends" in posts to get their attention, and win "Taymojis" which are truly adorable to leave. . dotted with other people's posts, TBH.
Missing in action
Swift mysteriously disappeared from the public eye in mid-2017, purging traces of herself from several of her social media accounts and her website, which left her fans desperately searching for her and sparked a host of theories online about her whereabouts.
Even so, by the time the fall came, Swift was still MIA and had only released one single, "Look What You Made Me Do," from her next album. Reputation. Swifties was having a total meltdown over the singer's low profile, so Elvis Duran, host of Z100 Elvis Duran and the morning show, tried to give fans some clarity on Swift's retirement, explaining that she was simply overwhelmed at the time. give away so many "pieces of his life" (via New York Post)
"[In the past,] she has been giving away pieces of her life, and people have taken advantage of it and maybe taken advantage of it," he said. " I think it could have burned her to some degree.
Thankfully, Swift later came into the limelight again, but considering that she had reportedly not done any promotions for her project around its release, it's safe to say that many people just didn't know that music had come out.
Following up with Katy Perry
Taylor Swift and Katy Perry's relationship soured in 2013 amid reports that three of Swift's dancers had left her during her red tour to work on Perry’s Prismatic tour instead. Swift subtly recognized beef with an unidentified former friend in a 2014 interview with Rolling Stone. "For years, I was never sure if we were friends or not," she explained. "She would come up to me at the awards and say something and walk away, and I was like, 'Are we friends or did she just give me the harshest insult of my life?'"
Then she almost called Perry and said, 'Basically she tried to sabotage an entire tour of the arena. She tried to recruit a group of people under me… So now I have to avoid her.
Perry sent a cryptic tweet just one day after the article was released, urging his fans to "keep an eye on Regina George in sheep's clothing," and what followed afterwards were countless hits from the singers in interviews and supposedly on songs like "Bad Blood "by Swift and" Swish "by Perry. Whistle." Unfortunately, the meat forced some of its most dedicated fans to choose sides, until the two finally reconciled in 2018, when Perry sent Swift a literal olive branch as a truce.
That being said, Swifties are probably busy building on all of Perry's hits that were missed over the years due to her loyalty. Us included
She also fights against companies
Swift's drama extends beyond Nicki Minaj or Katy Perry. Actually, it also struggled with the streaming giants, including Apple Music and Spotify. After taking her music off the platforms, she discussed her problems with them in a 2014 opinion piece with the Wall Street Journal. «Music is art, and art is important and rare. The important and rare things are valuable. Valuable things must be paid for, ”he wrote. “It's my opinion that music shouldn't be free, and my prediction is that individual artists and their labels will one day decide what the price of an album is. I hope their art is not underestimated or underestimated.
The following year she also ran into issues with Apple Music, expressing dissatisfaction that the platform was not paying artists for the music clients they listened to during its free trials. However, she apparently fixed the fences with both streaming services shortly after, as her music is available on them at the time of writing. Still, her return might have been a bit late.
Defense efforts
As of this writing, Taylor Swift has apparently made a name for herself more doing advocacy work than doing music. In March 2018, she was busy speaking out in support of gun reform after the tragic Parkland shooting, which resulted in the deaths of 17 students and staff members, and donating to March For Our Lives, a campaign organized by student survivors of the tragedy.
In April 2018, she pledged her support to survivors of sexual assault and donated to the Rape Incest and Abuse National Network (RAINN) following the emotional trial of radio host David Mueller, whom she accused of touching her at a rape meeting. 2013. And when he's not doing serious work, he spends time getting to know his fans on a more personal level, like the time he threw a pizza party in his apartment for some Swifties in 2014.
Her efforts are laudable, to say the least, and have captivated many of us beyond measure, possibly more than her music.
