Look what you made me do… again
One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.
Bob Marley
Tidal, the music streaming app, provides a monthly statistical service that lists the artists you listened to the most. Last month, while investigating what all the fuss was about, I sampled five of Taylor Swift’s songs most popular songs (according to Tidal) just before writing about my impressions. I was, therefore, a bit bemused that she showed up on my January report, ranking fifth.
So, if anyone looks up my listening habits, I must emphasize that Taylor Swift is not indicative of my musical taste by any stretch of the imagination. “She’s just won her 14th Grammy,” you might say, “so perhaps your taste in music is a bit suspect”. Of course, you’d be dead wrong because the fact that a great many people listen to a particular person’s music is no guarantee that it’s any good (forgive me for bastardizing W. Somerset Maugham’s famous quote).
Taylor Swift wouldn’t have made it onto my radar if she wasn’t entangled in the obscene culture wars ravaging American politics at the moment. Not that American politics needed culture wars to make it any more perverse than it already is, but this added element gives a whole new meaning to degrading – for an outsider like myself. Subsequently, I may have a newfound admiration for Swift, considering how much she’s managed to trigger the American Right and energize the befuddled Left into hypocritically protecting her dignity. Hilariously, she joins Bud Light, the NFL1, Disney, the green M&M rainbows, windmills, and electric stoves on the right-wing hate list (hat tip to Colin Jost, Saturday Night Live).
But that’s not all.
Swift is now attracting attention from environmentalists for her frequent use of private jets to travel to NFL games during concert tours. Not only is she allegedly tearing up holes in the ozone layer, but she’s doing it to watch her latest boyfriend play gridiron football, an American sport that, for its stated objectives, seems unnecessarily long and drawn out but is also a poor imitation of rugby. And with that, my newfound admiration for Swift just went out the window.
NFL – National Football League
lenny unencumbered 