You’ve got to love Taylor Swift.
Since she was 15 in 2005 she’s been producing incredibly popular, well-written songs and to date has sold 40 million albums worldwide. She maintains a relatively clean-cut image, eschewing sexy photo-shoots, communicating personally with her teenage fans (Swifties) and giving generously to charity. Compared to the Kardashians and Katy Perry, she almost seems like the girl next door.
Moving away
With each album, though, Swift has moved further away from the sweet country, guitar-based, songs of her early years. She has employed classic pop tropes, embraced nostalgic eighties sounds and now, in her most recent album, Reputation (2017), she plays with electro beats and rap. Through it all Swift remains more than anything else a songwriter and, in the best tradition of country music, a storyteller. Her memorable and vivid lyrics manage to convey many of the complexities of a young woman’s life, through teens and twenties.
Misogyny, rights & Rowling
It might have seemed as if the isolation of lockdown was making people mad last month when the stars of …