- Mark Hemingway wrote that Swift’s music promotes a culture of self-obsession
- He claims her popularity stems from a need to share common interests with Swift, 33, rather than actual talent.
Conservative writer Mark Hemingway wrote an essay criticizing superstar Taylor Swift’s music as a sign of societal decline.
Swift, 33, led the NFL on Sunday when she attended her new flame Travis Kelce’s football game in Kansas City. 24.3 million viewers tuned in to watch her.
In an essay for The Federalist, Hemingway, the publication’s book editor, wrote that Swift’s lyrics are “Me Music” and promote a culture of self-obsession.
“Given her popularity in the face of this lyrical obsession, it’s a question of whether the cultural avatar of millennial women is famous for almost constantly experiencing romantic grievances,” he wrote.
“Although TikTok is full of videos of women who insist: “No, really, it’s great to be 29 years old, single and childless, I don’t want that at all, I sleep in on the weekends and learn to cook shakshuka, this is the most fulfilling life I can have.” imagine, I AM HAPPY, WHY DOES NO ONE BELIEVE ME?!”
Hemingway claimed that Ms. America’s popularity represented a cultural shift in music from songs about community issues to songs based on individualism.
“Her music sucks: it is completely defined by self-absorption rather than introspection. While other artists make the occasional Christmas album, it seems like every Taylor Swift album is a Festivus record dedicated to airing grievances and feats of creative power.”
In 2007, Swift released a Christmas album called The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection, which included two original songs: Christmases When You Were Mine and Christmas Must Be Something More. In 2021, she released an original song, Christmas Tree Farm.
Hemingway emphasizes that her songs are about breakups and old relationships, and says some of her lyrics are too obvious.
“Her latest record features another song criticizing one of her famous exes, John Mayer, following her infamous 2010 breakup song Dear John. Look, everyone knows Mayer was a terrible womanizer – but that was known before he even dated her – and that was 14 YEARS AGO,” he wrote.
“As the kids say, it’s pretty frustrating to continue to exploit this past relationship, which, given that Swift has had a charmed life since she was a teenager, seems like a pretty hollow example of real heartbreak.”
He’s referring to a song from Midnight’s record-breaking album called “Wid’ve, Could’ve, Must’ve.” John Mayer reportedly dated Swift from December 2009 to February 2010, when he was 31 and she was 19.
Swift’s six-year relationship with Joe Alwyn ended at the start of her Eras Tour in April this year.
Hemingway argues that audiences have lowered their expectations of what is considered good music, and this has contributed to the Bad Blood hitmaker’s widespread popularity.
“At some point we will have to admit that even if we accept the limitations of pop music, the distance between average entertainment and the lowest common denominator is enormous,” Hemingway wrote.
“We cannot allow our need for a shared creative connection to overwhelm our responsibility to collectively seek out music that takes us to different places and challenges us with insights into the human condition, revelations about ourselves we didn’t know (or perhaps didn’t want to know). know), and in other ways gives insight into the problems of others.”
Swift’s The Eras Tour is breaking records and is projected to generate $2.2 billion in total ticket sales in North America. Her tour film is expected to generate $100 million in ticket sales.
He acknowledged that Swift’s songs could appeal to audiences.
“It’s true that young men often treat young women horribly, and there’s nothing wrong with that being fodder for pop songs, but there are limits.”
Although he argued that in today’s polarized world with little shared culture, people will cling to whatever makes its way, but this should not be viewed through a political lens.
“Music has the power to bring people together through shared experiences, and people desperately want that connection in this polarizing age,” he wrote. “In Swift’s case, however, the connection must be interpreted, like everything else these days, through a political lens.”
He wrote about the New York Times’ coverage of Swift and mentioned a remarkable essay published in the New Yorker about Swift’s prison audition and criticized some of the reporting.
“To be clear, I am not so hostile or out of touch with reality that I don’t understand important aspects of her appeal. I think it’s worth paying attention to because something about Swift resonates on the frequency of America. But I’m honestly not sure that her popularity is a testament to her talent.”
Hemingway admits that Swift is hard to resist, and his problem is more with the quality of her music, which he considers generic.
“I admit that she is so good at what she does that it is difficult for her to resist in certain situations. If random three-minute bursts of Swift make you feel good, I won’t deny it to you.”
Swift revealed on Tuesday that the concert film Eras Tour will premiere in the UK and Europe next month following its success in America.
She was remaking her early albums after a dispute with her old label, Big Machine Records, over ownership of the masters. Her 1989 album is set to be the next reissue.