The Kanye incident, the Country Music Awards Entertainer of the Year, remarkable album sales, constant radio play, celebrity boyfriends and cute, too - this is the life of the one and only Taylor Swift. We'll be honest - for the past 18 months, as we've witnessed Swift's meteoric rise to superstardom, tableau has remained largely silent to the media frenzy surrounding this former small-town gal. But something has changed. This past Sunday, Swift received the Album of the Year award at the 2010 Grammys, and now it feels childish to ignore her impact on pop culture.
It all started in November 2008 when Fearless was released amidst glowing reviews and massive sales. Nothing extraordinary there, but even as the critical response faded from memory, sales stayed high, buoyed by hit singles like, "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me." These songs stayed near the top of the charts, and nearly all of them hit No. 1 on iTunes. Swift has successfully crossed the boundary between pop and country music.
What makes these songs so successful? There's a multitude of answers, but one thing is clear: Swift's songwriting pen must be tipped with gold. Her melodies are some of the strongest in recent radio history, and though some may criticize her for being formulaic, that seems unfair.
Perhaps the key to Taylor's success is in her lyrics - brutally honest, funny and not embarrassed to be romantic - they're just so easily identifiable. There's a reason we all hated Kanye when he interrupted her - he was the mean girl to Taylor's homecoming queen, and no one wants to see her moment in the spotlight ruined. Swift is the girl-next-door who happens to look like an angel, but also has the wit to know how to put the whole package together and not seem overly perfect. We here at tableau will remain silent no longer, if there's any more room on the Taylor bandwagon, consider us on it.
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