Taylor Swift

[Richard]

Hello Elliot and Sharon!

Could I respectfully remind you that this forum is primarily for and about Hayley Westenra. Unless any more members show an interest in Taylor Swift during the next day or two, it might be preferable to wind up this discussion.

Many thanks,

Richard

[larryhauck]

Aug 7, 2010 13:53:57 GMT Richard said:

Hello Elliot and Sharon!

Could I respectfully remind you that this forum is primarily for and about Hayley Westenra. Unless any more members show an interest in Taylor Swift during the next day or two, it might be preferable to wind up this discussion.

Many thanks,

Richard

Amen to that Richard. I think the forum was being permeated with Taylor Swift. Thank you.thank you, thank you.

Be Well
Larry

[Natasha]

I have an interest in Taylor Hope her new album is good

[anshita]

Hello Larry,
It makes me wonder why you dislike Taylor so much.

Though, I have an interest in Taylor as well, and very much look forward to her album.

Cheers,
Anshita

[anshita]

Has anyone bought Speak Now? - Taylor's latest album?

It's certainly going better than Fearless!

[Elliot Kane]

Broke the million mark for first week domestic sales. Not too shabby, really!

She just won the 'Best Pop Songwriter' award at the BMIs for the third year running and the 'Best Country Songwriter' award, too. Makes her the youngest ever winner of the second and the only person to win the first three times in a row. Nice to see her songwriting skills recognised by the industry

Looks like being a good year for Miss Swift

[mihizawi]

Lately have been introduced to Taylor Swift's music, through occassionally seeing a couple of her videoclips on TV, but mainly through my 11th years old cousin, who gave me a 153 songs wishlist. For what I could hear, her songs are nice, catchy and I like them pretty much, could easily add them to my playlist. But I don't think they are that special, not enough for getting all those prices I read about. Of course, considering her age, her songwriting skills are rather great, but I am sure there are much better songwriters out there.

MIchal

[Elliot Kane]

If you can name another current 20-year old songwriter as good as Taylor, I'll be pretty surprised, Michal, I must admit.

Yeah, there are better songwriters than her, but most are at least double her age.

Which is why she keeps winning songwriter awards, I suspect.

[mihizawi]

Hayley? xD! Ok, her lyrics may not be the most intelectual ones, but they are just fine. But if as some of us guess, Hayley has some kind of creative input on the music of the songs that are credited to her, then yes, in this aspect I find her better than what I have heard of Taylor Swift (and I say, I liked it pretty much, it's just I don't see it as great enough for all that recognition). Afterall, songwriting includes both writing and composing the song, isn't it?

Michal

P. S. I am sure I could find more examples of young songwriters who are more clearly better than Taylor Swift, but I guess not as famous as her (many songwriters are not singers-swongwriters, so that's pretty unfair). Anyway, I am not saying Taylor Swift don't deserve prices and recognition, what I don't see that clear is the kind and the amount of prices she is getting: it could lead to think that she is really the best at the moment, without considering her age. It would be like giving to Jackie the Classical Brit for the Best Famale Artist of the Year only because she is incredibly outstanding for her age..

[Elliot Kane]

I could name a few good young songwriters other than Taylor myself, but none who have the same degree of lyrical dexterity or the same ear for a simple-yet-catchy tune. Marina Diamandis (Of Marina & The Diamonds) and Sarah Solovay come most quickly to mind. Both are outstanding, but neither is quite in Taylor's class.

As far as I know, Hayley has solo-written nothing, so it's not really possible to know how good she is.

Songwriting does indeed include writing words & music oneself and I'd not compare lyricists with composers, nor either to songwriters, as such comparison is not really fair. Or possible, in the case of lyricist vrs composer!

[canuck]

I saw Taylor Swift perform for the first time at the age of 15 or 16. She sang the national anthem at I think a football game, walked out to centre field with her guitar and sang. I thought to myself at the time she would be big in country music. She had the sound, the look, and played a pretty good guitar. Her voice wasn't half bad either, not great, but good. Good enough to sell a bunch of CD's and concert tickets. Fast forward to today and she's all you hear about.but popularity doesn't always equate to big talent. Not that I don't like her music, I do, but there are a million artists out there with way more talent and they barely get noticed. They just don't have the 'complete package' to appeal to the masses ( read that . 'to satisfy the marketing execs at the big labels'). Look no further than the Disney music stable, or American Idol if you don't believe me.

Oh, and I doubt the majority of those 20,000 or more people packed in to see her perform live or the millions who buy her music care or even know she writes her own songs. She's just fun. She's the complete package.


Take care.

[Elliot Kane]

I think the best description I've seen of her is a 'perfect storm' artist. Made me laugh, but it's true

[stevemacdonald]

The only issue I have with Taylor Swift as songwriter is that so many of her songs sound alike... "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me" for example.... they're practically the same song! She's got her formula down and it obviously works.

Of course the same could be said of 90% of all pop singers, especially in the Country category. I'd like to hear something completely new sounding from her. So far, I haven't.

[larryhauck]

Feb 10, 2011 18:06:50 GMT stevemacdonald said:

The only issue I have with Taylor Swift as songwriter is that so many of her songs sound alike... "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me" for example.... they're practically the same song! She's got her formula down and it obviously works.

Of course the same could be said of 90% of all pop singers, especially in the Country category. I'd like to hear something completely new sounding from her. So far, I haven't.

Hi Steve
I think that the new country music fans will accept any sweet looking girl like Taylor. I think she's a very pretty young girl with very little talent. Furthermore I think her popularity with the media is based
solely on her looks.
Reba McIntyre, Crystal Gayle, Barbara Mandrell, Patsy Cline, and others were famous because of their talent.
The fact that Taylor's songs all sound the same is because she just doesn't have any creative ability.
However if people like her and buy her records I'm happy for her because I too think she's a doll.
Nevertheless I still think we should confine our comments to Hayley since this is her Forum.

Larry

[stevemacdonald]

Feb 11, 2011 0:17:13 GMT @larryhauck said:

Nevertheless I still think we should confine our comments to Hayley since this is her Forum. ...

I hear you Larry. This forum is and always should be about Ms. Westenra. But we live in an imperfect world and other music than Hayley's exists. Perhaps Hayley can read a caution into my last post so as not to write songs by formula — not that she ever would, but someday the pressure may be on for her to crank out songs of her own in a more prolific way.

With respect i disagree with your assessment that Taylor lacks talent and that she's being merchandised largely on her looks. She has skills telling personal stories and setting them to catchy music. I happen to enjoy her singing voice because it's sweet and unaffected. I can't imagine her singing anyone's songs but her own, whereas I have a hard time wrapping my mind around Hayley ever producing her own material to such an extent. But if she does, at least she'll know what pitfalls to avoid.