Her rebellion is against the isolated nature of our lives right now, the broken families, the inward, balkanizing focus of our culture, our social media, our remote work, which has fragmented us so much that her community building and kind-heartedness are a kind of counterculture unto itself. She recently asked her fans to show “that kindness and gentleness extend into our internet activities.”Īs a parent of a young girl, this is exactly what I find most captivating about Miss Americana.
Thank God Taylor Swift is a better person than we were. And the irony is, we baby boomers are probably responsible for that cultural erosion because of our own rebellion against social norms of the '70s. It’s just that our culture today is so dysfunctional, divisive, drug-addled and downright mean, that to rebel against it is to be, well, functional. But I would still argue that she is countercultural.
Her storytelling songs are more poppy bops, coffeehouse ballads and hip hop-infused Americana anthems. Swift is the 10th cousin, two times removed, of Janis Joplin, but her music exudes little of that wild child menace. We thought we were inventing a new culture all our own.
Rock music gave us a cultural script to use to rebel against and separate from the culture of our parents. Our music was raunchy and irreverent, and that was its appeal. I grew up during the height of the counterculture days of the '70s, when the pop music we embraced, from Mick Jagger to The Clash, had an anti-establishment vibe that irritated our parents to no end. After surviving 18 years in the spotlight, she can now legitimately claim to be the biggest female pop star in American history. Fourteen years after being "canceled" by Kanye West, four years after she herself thought her career was over because of extensive hate campaigns on social media, Swift has her revenge. A sold-out, 131-concerts-on-five-continents, 45-songs-a-night musical extravaganza spanning the length of the 33-year-old’s career is on the way to becoming the biggest music tour ever, and the first to earn over $1 billion. Unless you’re living in an Amish colony, you must know by now that the Taylor Swift Eras Tour is the pop culture happening of 2023. But I’ve been reading a lot about Taylor Swift, the person, in anticipation of her two sold-out shows in Denver this weekend, and she’s won me over, big-time.
0 kommentar(er)
