Facts Critique Swift's Music

Let’s get something straight: I do not hate Taylor swift, and this is not a post about Taylor Swift the person. This is simply a short critique of her work, which I find boring, both music and lyric-wise, but that does not mean I hate her. Honestly, she’s alright, but I’ve never heard a song of hers I liked. I don’t like country music to begin with, but we shall ignore that for a moment.

Taylor’s voice is alright but often almost monotone and overly "country," and the music itself all sounds the same, tuneless, beat-less, and slow even when it’s fast. The lyrics sound like an eight-year-old wrote them at the peak of her prose creativity. “You be the prince and I’ll be the princess.” “I really, really hate that stupid old pickup truck.” “You’re on the phone with your girlfriend, she’s upset.” They’re not beautiful, unusual, creative, witty, or anything. (And how many times have we heard the Prince/Princess bit? A lot.) I’m all for lyrics being understandable, but they could be stated more beautifully than everyday speech.

But the CONTENT of her songs is all typical country (and even non-country) material: I’m in love, I have a boyfriend, my boyfriend broke up with me, my boyfriend cheated on me. The last two themes bring tears to my eyes, but only as they play. After they’re done, I don’t know them from static. They don’t say anything meaningful or change my already dismal outlook on romance and other relationships. Taylor sings a song or two about high school, family, and dancing in the rain. Nothing original, meaningful, or deep. It all gloms together in one lumpy gray mass of songs that mean nothing to me, and I just don’t care about them.

I first heard Taylor Swift without knowing she was famous, and I thought she was just another obscure nobody who would never get noticed, because she writes the same stuff as everyone else. I was wrong, but I don’t understand why. I guess some people appreciate that her work is clean, and I appreciate that too, but having heard songs that are both clean and profound, I find Taylor’s songs totally inconsequential.