Taylor Swift Named Time Magazine's Person Of The Year

[Swammerdami]

I clicked "Show this image in another tab" and eventually discovered that

• there are other cover-of-Time pictures of Miss Swift. Is all but one fake? I was going to link to a montage of three such covers, but their URL's are "data:image/jpeg;base64...." ! Gak!
• the image in OP is hosted at The Xight-Xing Xocial-Xedia formerly known as Twitter.

One click led to another and I find that the 2021 "Person of the Year" has a warning for Miss Swift:

"Some risk of popularity decline after this award," Musk wrote. "I speak from experience lol."
...
But in the two years since, Musk has faced a series of controversies including claims of antisemitism after several advertisers pulled out of promoting their content on X (formerly Twitter), boosting conspiracy theories, allegations he's fired employees that disagree with him, and more recently, a rough parental rights dispute with his ex-girlfriend Grimes over the couple's three children.

Somehow, I think Miss Swift's problems, if any, will be quite different from Musk's.


A year ago I had barely heard of Taylor Swift! (I'd been living a hermitic life 90 minutes south of Nowhere City.)
But she is one of my daughter's favorites, and I came to admire her creative genius. I was becoming a big fan even before I learned she is trying to help young Americans come to their senses about politics.

Right winged extremist shrieks of rage in 3.. 2..

Shrieks of rage are normal for the Hate-drenched Ilk. At his point I sure hope she wears Kevlar, and that concert-goers must pass through metal detectors.

ETA: As I say, I've been a hermit. Just now I came across a story that may be familiar to others. One hate-filled liar, famous for her grotesquely-shaped body and that her daddy was OJ Simpson's bosom buddy, got so jealous of Swift's popularity that she acted like a Republican.

“I had all the hyenas climb on and take their shots,” Swift recalled, as people looked at everything from conspiracy theories to media exposure through a hypercritical lens. After she was labeled a "Snake" over the phone call debacle, she felt like it was the death of her career.

“You have a fully manufactured frame job, in an illegally recorded phone call, which Kim Kardashian edited and then put out to say to everyone that I was a liar,” she said. “That took me down psychologically to a place I’ve never been before."

She was so low she moved across the pond to a foreign country, where she rented a home she didn't leave for a year. "I was afraid to get on phone calls. I pushed away most people in my life because I didn’t trust anyone anymore. I went down really, really hard,” she admitted, expecting the turn of events to "define [her] negatively for the rest of [her] life.”

Fortunately, Miss Swift seems to have recovered from the calumny.

 

[Swammerdami]

The thing that astonishes me is that so many people seem to think "That person is a very popular singer; We should ask their opinion on politics, religion, war, virology and immunology, climate change, and the economy!"

Intelligence is not a single-parameter attribute, ... but it doesn't have THAT many parameters. If a creative genius's work resonates with a young person, and her persona seems righteous, empathetic and smart, then that genius is likely to be a GOOD person to look to for many kinds of advice. Certainly a better choice as role model than a run-of-the-mill pontificator.

And -- unfortunately for society -- probably a better role model than a large portion of present-day Anglophonic politicians.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Pop music was much less vapid, commercial when I was younger.

 

[rousseau]

Were this 1973, she'd be just okay. But it's 2023 so she is godlike.
I blame a lack of funding for the arts in public schools.
And social media.
Back in my day we got bored so we were creative.

I don't know. I could count a number of her songs that hold up to past greats, but they definitely don't have the rustic feel that the 70s did. Take something like Fleetwood Mac's Dreams, enormously popular song and album, but pretty much on par with some of Swift's writing.

But she is one of few in the current era who's been able to hit the intersection of radio-friendly and original. The only other act I can think of on her level is Adele. It doesn't happen too often anymore.

What Taylor Swift isn't is on par with someone like Joni Mitchell, but few are.

 

[ZiprHead]

I haven't heard much of her music but she is considered an excellent song writer and performer. She credits Kate Bush as one of her influences.

She has two albums on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time list. I liken her to the next Micheal Jackson. I didn't listen to a lot of MJ either but I respect the talents of both of them.