This chick from from “Autostraddle” does a number on Taylor Swift and I’m still not sure why. Somehow I read through the whole damn piece, in which she rails on Taylor for being a good hearted, big dreaming, boy crazy, innocent living young girl. The author hopes her kids are more like innovative rockstar Lady Gaga than curly-haired crooner Taylor. She doesn’t think Taylor should have won so many awards because she copied ideas from songs past — and god forbid a copycat be filed in award history with the likes of U2. Oh also, two hits against Taylor for having a good childhood (and being — freak of all freaks — homeschooled) which apparently means she doesn’t deserve to win things.
In a world where our superstars aren’t always awesome role models, isn’t it nice to have a little diversity extend to the goody two shoes side of life? Yes, Beyonce’s strong female presence is awesome and Gaga’s bombastic personality rocks but why knock poor Taylor who just wants to write her songs and sing them? No, she doesn’t have a lot of life experience but so what? Most of my tough stuff came after college and I’m still learning. Some people are late bloomers, and they are still allowed to write songs about love — and be good role models.
The writer has a serious obsession with Lady Gaga, who I would venture to guess she knows little about besides her theatrical (and amazingly sweet) music videos and performances. I found one spot of agreement here, when the author discusses Taylor’s lyrics:
“Abigail gave everything she had to a boy, who changed his mind, and we both cried.”
I’ll spare you the time of listening to the song and give it to you straight: Abigail had sex with a boy, and later they broke up. That’s right. No marriage. She gave him all she had.
That’s right. All Abigail had was her hymen.
Take it or leave it as you will. I disagree with the way this kind of rhetoric is pushed around the abstinence-only crowd and Taylor does seem to fall into that. But this is really a topic of discussion for an entirely different post!
Having said all that — and loving the “Fearless” cd — I was pretty pissed when Taylor Swift kept beating Beyonce and Gaga and probably several others. That “Fifteen” video is terrible and I don’t think she deserved to win. Okay? But I think she’s a delightful contribution to our wide ranging menu of female rockstars. I’m glad we’ve got one that celebrates a little innocence and tips the scale back to simple.