‘Sure she’s a multi-millionaire who doesn’t mind exploiting her young fan base for huge amounts of money, but if she saw someone dying in the front row she’d probably point it out’ is some top celebrity bootlicking. Kudos.
Music Taylor Swift
- Thread starter ha_rooney
- Start date
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
Worse than the Ronaldo fanatics these Taylor Swift fans.
Apologies for the rudeness at the start, I thought I could stealth edit it...
As for the last paragraph; yes I am! That's the point I'm making though. Despite selling far less tickets (50% less) compared to Elton's tour, her gross revenue is still higher.
I'm just pointing out how the hype around it being the "biggest tour in history" is purely due to the money it's made. She probably could end up with the biggest tour title in its own right, but when I hear it constantly said right now, the only thing I can reasonably respond with is "yeah, because she charges so much for her tickets". I don't like the idea of celebrating success based on how much you've successfully managed to gouge your fans.
The new albums fecked things up so I have to redo the order a fair bit. I'll resume once it gets gloomier outside.
I'd happily volunteer if I got some freaking tickets.
Was just agreeing with Pidgy, in reaction to the specific point he was making about her. I don't care about her as a person, she is very clearly driven by money, but there's some caricature going on too.
She is also only top because she is in the social media influencing era as well.
Imagine if we had the internet and social media of today when Michael Jackson was at the height of his fame.
Fair enough - I don't think the point makes that much sense if you're comparing very different things but whatever. Although let's not make out as if Elton's tour was a charity event, it was ridiculously expensive too! You could also make the point that her challenging guys like Elton John, Springsteen, etc in terms of the scale of tours, guys that have several decades careers behind them, and especially in the case of EJ when everyone knew it'd be his farewell tour, that's impressive.
And I only ever really hear it's the highest grossing tour - which it is, and which Americans seem obsessed with, cos they're obsessed with money. And yeah it's because tickets are ridiculously expensive. As were the tickets of every other top grossing tour in those rankings.
Just do a top 25 list. I listened to the new songs and I am certain, they wouldn‘t make that list.
Fair point as well. Just so we're not confused, I'm not trying to single out Taylor as I think they're all wankers
I can't get on board the "Taylor is a great singer, songwriter or performer" train, but she's definitely brilliant at marketing. And that's music, folks! It always has been!
Yeah I'm fine with that conclusionFair point as well. Just so we're not confused, I'm not trying to single out Taylor as I think they're all wankers
Not sure social media and Internet access would have helped Michael so much..
Do you want her to not point it out to be more evil?
Because it wouldn't damage her reputation and fan base even if she pointed and laughed
Tweet
— Twitter API (@user) date
I got to see her twice in three days, Thursday and yesterday.
I'm utterly blown away by it all.
My brain's still processing it. I cried, I sang, I screamed, I shouted, I danced, I looked on in sheer astonishment.
The whole production is insane and her voice is out of this world. It's an experience i wish everyone understood and could enjoy, I want everyone to get that feeling I got doing something they enjoy no matter what it is becuase it's electric and so wholesome.
I'm utterly blown away by it all.
My brain's still processing it. I cried, I sang, I screamed, I shouted, I danced, I looked on in sheer astonishment.
The whole production is insane and her voice is out of this world. It's an experience i wish everyone understood and could enjoy, I want everyone to get that feeling I got doing something they enjoy no matter what it is becuase it's electric and so wholesome.
she was topping the charts before twitter existed.
Her new album is fecking shite.
While this probably will be true technically (I think at least Coldplay's tour will sell more in total), it's the hype and interest around as well as the gross that makes it the biggest tour. The only reason it won't be the most attended tour as well is that she's not doing enough shows.
Last edited:
In that scenario there is a non-zero chance he would have been in jail before becoming a global superstar.
That's a bit too far, but I would describe it as unambitious, boring, repetitive. She needs a new producer.
Definitely. Antonoff is a disaster and makes every artist he works with worse.
I imagine there were dark corners of the internet that Michael liked very much indeed.
Isn't that what she has based her whole career on? I've not heard much but everything I have heard has been generic pop and boring as batshit.
This doesn't really make sense as all artists have social media today. If she's better at marketing herself in this era she'd likely be better at it before as well.
I think the point is that marketing is more important than ever when it comes to being a success. Before social media the quality of the music was by far the most important factor. Nowadays it seems to almost be an irrelevance (Exhibit A: Taylor Swift).
She's established now. From this point on, musically, she'll be quantity over quality.
I am not too familiar with her whole catalogue since I don't like her early work.
In my opinion 1989 is a great pop album, I respect her for doing something different with Folklore/Evermore (both have quite a lot of songs on them that I like) and there are tracks on Midnights that I like.
Other albums might have tracks that I like on them, but I prefer to listen to an album as a whole entity. Therefore, it is only those 4 for me.
That started well before social media though. The boy bands and girl bands of the 90's and 00's based their success on the exact same dynamics - catchy pop tunes and good marketing. Take the Spice Girls as an example. They were carefully cultivated and constructed to target a specific audience. There was nothing organic or artistically honest about them. It's like they were created in a lab.
And that phenomenon goes all the way back to Motown. What’s different now is that it’s so much easier for a canny and well marketed artist to build and maintain an army of insanely passionate fans by reaching out to them through social media (and to weaponise those fans to accumulate and radicalise even more fans) That’s definitely a new phenomenon.
Before social media you needed to inspire devotion primarily by the catchiness and/or quality of the tunes you release (along with, to a much lesser extent, your image). And that was extremely difficult to maintain beyond one or two albums.
Nah - her whole career has been built around changes in style, around dipping her toes in new things, and being quite ambitious. It has gotten a little bit samey (wouldn't say it's shite though), but no that's not a good summary of her career.
I don't know. Once you start using words like "weaponise" and "radicalise" we are moving into tin foil hat territory, in my opinion. Of course I agree that social media adds a new dynamic and that some artists use that very cleverly to build their persona and their fan base. But I'd say the music is still at the core of this devotion, even for someone like Taylor Swift. Or at least that's were the fandom originated, and then she has added layers to it throughout the years. And the fandom keeps going because she releases new music and does huge tours.
Yeah I'm not quite sure why people are downplaying the reach or scale of her tour. Criticise the prices, no worries, but she's filling up the biggest venues in pretty much every city she's going to, often for several dates. It's a massive, massive tour, by any criteria.
Sorry. Can’t help myself. This fecking thread trolls me so badly it’s got to the point I can’t post in it without doing some trolling of my own!It's definitely a fun thread
What I genuinely don't get among the "haters" (for lack of a better word) in this thread is where the concern is. Popular thing is popular, but how does it hurt you? Are you concerned that all quality music will disappear in five years? Can you not avoid her, because she is constantly played on the radio? Are you annoyed that many people have poor taste? Or are you frustrated that her success is unwarranted?
It really wasn't, not in the way you think at least. Let's look at this soberly - Taylor Swift makes music that relates and appeal to more people than any artist today. She's also better at marketing herself and maintining her core fanbase. Nothing of this would have been impossible for her to do 30 years ago.
Anyone that has been to a show of hers knows it's the music that's the core of it as well. She was already massive before the emergeance of social media. There's also a clear artistic and stylistic progression throughout her career (regardless of what quality you think it encompasses) which enabled her to extend her fanbase as time has passed.
Last edited:
All of the above? Although you can probably replace concerned/frustrated/annoyed with bemused. I’m not remotely invested, personally, in the future of pop music. Far too old to care.It's definitely a fun thread
What I genuinely don't get among the "haters" (for lack of a better word) in this thread is where the concern is. Popular thing is popular, but how does it hurt you? Are you concerned that all quality music will disappear in five years? Can you not avoid her, because she is constantly played on the radio? Are you annoyed that many people have poor taste? Or are you frustrated that her success is unwarranted?
Thinking about it, it is probably her music that does actually wind me up slightly. It’s just so aggressively bland. There are so many other pop acts out there producing music that seems infinitely more interesting (even though most of it isn’t to my taste) yet somehow this WASPy billionaire’s repetitive whining about ex boyfriends is the sound of a generation. And it’s hard not to keep accidentally hearing it. That does maybe tip me beyond bemusement into something a bit more red blooded.
Last edited:
Yes, getting separated from your parents among big crowds is terrifying. It happened to me at Leopardstown Race Course when I was 7, and I still remember it.
Managed to bag myself some tickets for tomorrow. Was having a conversation on the weekend about how seeing a legendary artist (which she will obviously end up being) in their prime is not really something you get the chance to do all that often.