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Accidentally stumbled across this book that was released a couple of months ago which contains a very interesting essay titled Three Women In Pop: Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Lucinda Williams.
It is written David Hajdu (who also wrote the book Positively 4th Street about the Village folk scene) and is subtitled Essays on Music, Movies, Comics and Culture, but it is predominantly about music. Terrific essays on everyone from Woody Guthrie and Elvis Costello to Sammy Davis Jr and the White Stripes–and even one about Elmer Fudd. Most of the essays are very concise, but also very insightful. I haven’t read the whole thing yet, but what I have is excellent. It is one of those books that you don’t have to read from beginning to end. I think a lot friends will be getting this for Xmas this year.Thanks for pointing this out, Tom, and thanks also to padchio for pointing out where the essay can be found online (a direct link: http://www.tnr.com/article/pop-women). I plan to read the entire book, too; I enjoyed Positively 4th Street and like Hajdu’s writing very much.
Anyway, first impressions after a quick read: I cringed at hearing Taylor Swift mentioned in the same breath as Lu, so I was relieved that – though I didn’t really think it would be – Hajdu’s essay wasn’t an attempt at equating the two of them. Calling one of Swift’s biggest hits “a marvel of toothlessness” is probably the most dead-on criticism I’ve ever read of her. Her music is so unapologetically and banally adolescent that I can’t figure out how she has such a fan base that extends beyond teenage girls (and as her SNL performance recently demonstrated, it’s not like she’s blessed with a great voice that can make up for weak material).
But enough about her. What I found really compelling were some of the observations Hajdu made about Lucinda and her music, summed up in his statement that her music is “profoundly womanly.” I agree with this assessment (both in terms of gender and age), but I think the real genius of Lucinda’s songwriting is that I can’t think of a single song that is limited by this. Despite being a 25-year-old man, I can strongly identify with many of her songs and the emotions behind them. I think this universality is one of the hallmarks of really great music – that no matter who writes and sings it, a wide variety of listeners can “get” it.
It’s comparatively easy for a singer like Taylor Swift to create music that appeals to a narrow audience. That said, I might feel more complimentary towards her if I was a 15-year-old girl. Lord knows I listened to stuff in high school that meant a lot to me then but didn’t have much staying power when I became an adult.
@bob wrote:
I hope this comment doesn’t get me banned, but I like Taylor Swift!
Not at all, diversity of opinion is always welcome! 😀
And, while I have not familiarized myself with her music, I must say I really admire Ms. Swift. For a young person thrust into the spotlight of fame and fortune, she really seems to be handling it in a classy way. Kudos to her!
Tom
@tntracy wrote:
@bob wrote:
I hope this comment doesn’t get me banned, but I like Taylor Swift!
Not at all, diversity of opinion is always welcome! 😀
And, while I have not familiarized myself with her music, I must say I really admire Ms. Swift. For a young person thrust into the spotlight of fame and fortune, she really seems to be handling it in a classy way. Kudos to her!
Tom
I like Taylor Swift’s persona and her sense of humor. She loves to prank people, and this particular prank I’m going to post, is especially funny. To set this up, she was opening for Keith Urban and apparently was coming out and singing with him on “Kiss A Girl”. She and her band came out dressed as “Kiss” and the guy imitating Gene Simmons was dead on! Keith was clueless,fell to his knees laughing at one point.
BTW, I was clued in on this because I follow Taylor on twitter. 😆
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