Category: Editorial

The reputation prologue: Enjoy the Silence. An Editorial.

On By The EditorIn Editorial, Exclusive, Reputation, Taylor Swift2 Comments

I’ve never heard silence quite this loud, Taylor Nation 🙂

The Story Of Us
(Source: Big Machine Records)

Yeah, you knew I was going to use that quote. I’m glad to be back firmly on Taylor Swift subjects. The last two posts were either very personal or rather uncomfortable to write. Now we’re putting the Sparkly Dressed back in the spotlight with a subject that might seem related to the last post, but actually it’s broader than that.

Simply put, Taylor Swift is keeping to herself lately. She’s been economizing her appearances to a few. Yes, she did the Christmas concerts on December last year, but she’s done zero interviews. Before we start with the opinions, let’s have the Blonde With The Sparkly Snake Microphone gives us some insight via the most telling of sources: the introduction/prologue printed in the album sleeve of reputation. At least this gives you a place to look it up online if you ever need to 😉

Here’s something I’ve learned about people.

We think we know someone, but the truth is that we only know the version of them they have chosen to show us. We know our friend in a certain light, but we don’t know them the way their lover does. Just the way their lover will never know them the same way that you do as their friend. Their mother knows them differently than their roommate, who knows them differently than their colleague. Their secret admirer looks at them and sees an elaborate sunset of brilliant color and dimension and spirit and pricelessness. And yet, a stranger will pass that person and see a faceless member of the crowd, nothing more. We may hear rumors about a person and believe those things to be true. We may one day meet that person and feel foolish for believing baseless gossip.

This is the first generation that will be able to look back on their entire life story documented in pictures on the internet, and together we will all discover the after-effects of that. Ultimately, we post photos online to curate what strangers think of us. But then we wake up, look in the mirror at our faces and see the cracks and scars and blemishes, and cringe. We hope someday we’ll meet someone who will see that same morning face and instead see their future, their partner, their forever. Someone who will still choose us even when they see all of the sides of the story, all the angles of the kaleidoscope that is you.

The point being, despite our need to simplify and generalize absolutely everyone and everything in this life, humans are intrinsically impossible to simplify. We are never just good or just bad. We are mosaics of our worst selves and our best selves, our deepest secrets and our favorite stories to tell at a dinner party, existing somewhere between our well-lit profile photo and our drivers license shot. We are all a mixture of our selfishness and generosity, loyalty and self-preservation, pragmatism and impulsiveness. I’ve been in the public eye since I was 15 years old.On the beautiful, lovely side of that, I’ve been so lucky to make music for living and look out into crowds of loving, vibrant people. On the other side of the coin, my mistakes have been used against me, my heartbreaks have been used as entertainment, and my songwriting has been trivialized as ‘oversharing’.

When this album comes out, gossip blogs will scour the lyrics for the men they can attribute to each song, as if the inspiration for music is as simple and basic as a paternity test. There will be slideshows of photos backing up each incorrect theory, because it’s 2017 and if you didn’t see a picture of it, it couldn’t have happened right?

Let me say it again, louder for those in the back…

We think we know someone, but the truth is that we only know the version of them that they have chosen to show us.

There will be no further explanation.
There will be just reputation.

Taylor Swift, reputation

Yeah, the Enchantress sounds kinda fed up with the misinformation around her name. So much so she’s put the world on a diet of her words, her responses and her reactions.This also means no Taylor dancing in the front row of the award show, unfortunately! 😦

She does however appear here and there because she’s usually booked four years in advance, a factoid I learned some years back (if you must know, I legitimately tried to get an interview with the Sparkly Dressed and obviously failed).

Hence, Taylor has some commitments she has to honor such as her British Vogue cover photoshoot and her appearances in AT&T’s Taylor Swift NOW. Other than that she’s done only performances. She really won’t mind meeting fans, but the closest thing that she has had to a late night appearance was on the Tonight Show. I think that was a personal favour for Jimmy Fallon who was coming back after a leave of absence due to his mother’s death. Even then, Taylor only did a low key performance of “New Year’s Day”.

Take this with a grain of salt, but I do expect Taylor to ease up on the hush-hush policy as her tour starts. If you want to talk character, Taylor might be the only artist capable of pulling a move so financially risky as limiting her exposure during an album release and a tour ticket sale and still have the fans remember her name.

(Now resisting to quote “Long Live” here…)

I do still expect certain mainstays in the reputation Tour. She should still have her meets and greets as well as some new incarnation of the T-Party / Club Red / Loft ’89 from tours past. The Rep Crib. Rep Station. Rep City. Who knows…

The point I am trying to make, and I do have one, is that although Taylor doesn’t seem to be talking to radio stations, late night shows, daytime shows, magazines or any media hubs, she will not stop talking to her fans. And hopefully she gets to meet a whole new batch this tour.

Coming up on the Calendar!

  • May 8: Taylor Swift’s reputation Stadium Tour begins in Glendale, AZ.

(Sources: Taylor Swift via her reputation album)

A healthy mind. An Editorial.

On By The EditorIn Editorial1 Comment

TS1989_STYLE10This one is going to be a little personal, Taylor Nation.

Note: I meant to post this on January, when Bell did their mental health awareness campaign, but I wasn’t sure it was ready. At this point, I don’t think it will ever be ready. I’m just going to post it as it is and hope for the best.

First of all, let me do a disclaimer. I’m not a healthcare professional in any capacity. I’m a blogger in the internet with his own mental health baggage. I am not claiming to know everyone’s case and scenario. I just want to talk about it because I believe that it affects a lot of people. It will be different for you, so I can only speak from my point of view. I can tell you the one thing that everyone has in common: it’s not going to go away just by ignoring it.

There are many people that suffer from mental illness. They’re not cured by just chilling out, they are not cured by snapping out of it, they are not cured by just willingness to stop being worried or sad. They need treatment and support. They also need elements in their life that bring them joy.

You can easily make the mistake of just living for your favourite thing in life and neglect the rest. It’s not always obvious. I’m still a person that would attend class, do assignments, go to family meetings, see friends, go to social events. But I learned how to squeeze through. I learned what was the minimum effort require to get the borderline acceptable results while applying the less amount of attention. It’s amazing how a lot of people think of you as an excellent student because you once were and don’t notice that you’re doing marginally good enough to still be considered good with a slight dip. It’s a downwards slope that you won’t even notice you’re on.

Anxiety is a constant struggle. You worry about things you shouldn’t. That usually means you have things that really need your attention while stress consumes you about some inane choice you may have taken a decade ago. I often revisit my life, find a point in time in which I went zig instead of zag and endlessly debate of how I could be so stupid. Ever imagine the worst case scenario? I do that, then I imagine the fallout and then I can’t stop stressing about a fictional scenario for two days. A completely imagined issue and I’m worrying about consequences that I’ll never face.

Depression is related but different… For me it kinda simmers in the background, a layer underneath all layers. It’s like your life and your hopes and your dreams walk on this layer of ice that could make you slip at any moment. It’s like a background noise. You learn to control the volume to the point where you can barely hear it and then drive your attention to something else. I know it’s still there, but I focus elsewhere.

You’ve heard that saying that goes “you can fool some people some of the time, but not everyone all of the time”. Without knowing, you are an expert in fooling yourself most of the time so make sure you’re ever vigilant. Listen to other people, and have people that will listen to you. Make good friends that are part of your life, and I mean the part of your life that happens offline. Your support group should not be comprised of people that you only see through a screen, it should be people you see in real life.

And if ever it gets too much for you or you don’t know how to start, please make sure you get help.

Related links:

 

Look what you made me write. An editorial.

On By The EditorIn Commentary, Editorial, Reputation, Taylor Swift

I’ve got a list of names too, Taylor Nation. Tomatoes, peppers… Wait, this is my grocery list. Never mind.

Here at the Swift Agency, just a guy who’s committed to write about things a little bit deeper, we’re doing one of those critiques that not everyone enjoys. First of all, I don’t think that you do any favors as a fan when you accept everything blindly. I prefer to think that a smart fan is the one loyal because they like their artists (I don’t like to use the word “idols”, sorry it makes me cringe) with flaws and all.

That being said, the following critique is not on Taylor Swift as a person. I don’t know her as a person, I’ve only known her as an artist. I might take a stab at thinking I can guess her frame of mind when she wrote a particular song, but that’s as close as I think anybody can get. The only think I can criticize is her work, her craft. It will still be my opinion, and therefore it might miss the target for a mile. That being said, this is on her musical persona, not her personal identity (I might have to explain that one a bit further).

“Look What You Made Me Do” is the first single from her album Reputation. Unfortunately, its biggest flaw is repetition – a rather constant cliche in pop music to repeat the same lyric over a familiar beat so it can be easily learned. The beat in the chorus is a re-sampling from Right Said Fred’s “I’m too sexy”. Honestly, that doesn’t concern me that much as the monotone repetition. That’s not an accident, it will probably end up as club music with a quick remix. Taylor may not frequent clubs as much, but Kanye, Kim and Katy might have a cheeky DJ play this song in their faces the next time they step into one.

The choice of the phrase for the chorus and the track’s title have been pointed out in this Bustle article as being part of domestic abuse speech. Yes, but you are taking the phrase out of context here. We allow other songs to exist which glorify violence in context so I find selective criticism a bit askew. Lots of songs use suggestively charged titles that out of context mean trouble just to get our attention. This one is not even one of those situations. That being said, if you want to use this as a mechanism to bring awareness about domestic abuse, it’s a worthy cause and I’m not going to stop you.

I actually have more problems with the other repetitive phrase in the bridge which is in context: I don’t trust nobody and nobody trusts me. There’s anxiety and depression in that phrase. Be careful repeating it – don’t let that seep in. I know what I’m talking about here. For the same reason, I don’t like Taylor laughing at her own death.

That’s Taylor Swift the musical persona, the one in the video as a corpse, as a jewel-bathing millionaire, as bike gang leader and as Snake Queen. I think Taylor is taking some actual distance between herself and her image. That allows her to be extravagant with the way she presents herself artistically but she’s keeping her private persona in private from now on.

By the way, there is a list of names. Every single artist that tours several times ends up with a list. It’s got the names of every stalker fan (no, not you – real stalkers) that has been judged as a risk (a bit too cuckoo for coco puffs if you get my drift) to attend or be too close to Taylor. It’s the kind of people that security keeps an eye on when they show up. For the record, I don’t think I’m in there, but I know I’ve been recognized.

Finally, here’s the other thing about both video and lyrics that I’m not quite a fan of – it makes the song a little too meme-friendly. Now, memes are everyone’s favorite thing. Viral phrases and selected situations re-played and parodied over for everyone’s amusement. This might be Old-Man-Swift talking (and to be real, that’s true for the whole article), but it does seem to unintentionally endorse gossip and scandal reporting. In other words, I fear this will reward gossip lovers everywhere. It will also encourage fans to follow gossip from now on.

I believe that Taylor might have given in too much here. Even the video is a little too TMZ-friendly for my taste. The song itself has too many hints towards you-know-whom. I really would’ve preferred she’d taken the high road instead. I think that’s the reason this song sounds like it does. It’s a club song with a message to someone. It’s as close as a diss track as she’s ever made (and I hope she doesn’t have more). I’ve got high hopes for the rest of the tracks because overall this one is not in my favorite list.

In the end, I just hope there’s something in Reputation that is not meta. I prefer non-club music, not explicit made for Pop Radio and more lyrically complex that a simple phrase played over and over. To put in other album’s terms, I think LWYMMD is the “Bad Blood”, the “Better Than Revenge” song of the album. Now I want to hear the “All Too Well”, the “Clean” equivalents. Unfortunately, if history repeats itself, they won’t get to be singles. We’ll have to discover them when the full album drops.

Coming up in the Calendar:

November

  • November 10: Reputation, the new album by Taylor Swift is released!

Nevertheless, she persisted. An Editorial.

On By The EditorIn Commentary, Editorial, Taylor Swift

Just breathe, Taylor Nation.

cropped-taylor-swift-vogue-cover-may-2016-05.jpg

The jury is in. Taylor Swift was awarded her counter-claim for assault and battery. She will receive her symbolic $1 dollar. Mueller’s claim against Andrea Swift and Frank Bell was denied. The jury deliberated for 4 hours to reach that verdict. A victory, bittersweet as sexual assault victories are, means a lot more than just that dollar.

Taylor’s very aware of the ramifications, as she says in her statement:

I want to thank Judge William J. Martinez and the jury for their careful consideration, my attorneys Doug Baldridge, Danielle Foley, Jay Schaudies and Katie Wright for fighting for me and anyone who feels silenced by a sexual assault, and especially anyone who offered their support throughout this four-year ordeal and two-year long trial process.

I acknowledge the privilege that I benefit from in life, in society and in my ability to shoulder the enormous cost of defending myself in a trial like this. My hope is to help those whose voices should also be heard. Therefore, I will be making donations in the near future to multiple organizations that help sexual assault victims defend themselves.

Taylor Swift

As it has been pointed out by several people in comment sections around this topic, you don’t have to like Taylor Swift or her music. Nobody deserves to be sexually assaulted. Yes, there are other people that symbolize the struggle that victims of sexual assault encounter when trying to bring their perpetrators to justice.

I’m not trying to rally the troops here. There was no conviction in this case. Mueller has to pay a dollar. He has, however, been judged by a jury as guilty of assault and battery – that will follow him for life. And yet, to get to this point where a privileged, protected and powerful young woman was almost forced to pay $3M to her own attacker – I don’t have to say alleged anymore – she had to go to civil court and withstand cross examination with the world watching.

Small victory, that seems it should’ve been over sooner. Now imagine someone without the means, without the media attention, and with less resources fighting an even more upscale battle. The odds don’t seem fair, do they?

Sexual assault, battery, rape and any forms of violence are wrong. It’s not about boys being boys, it’s not women asking for it, it’s not because of a short skirt, you never, never assume. You have zero rights to touch a woman without consent. Doesn’t matter who you are, doesn’t matter who she is. She does not deserve it and no man is entitled to sexual favors ever regardless of whatever you’ve seen in a TV ad or in a music video. No means no. But if this is too hard of a concept to grasp, I give you a different one: Unless she says yes, the answer is always no.

Respect.

Where do we go from here. An Editorial on Manchester.

On By The EditorIn Commentary, Editorial

On Monday, May 22nd at 10:33pm local UK time, police and emergency services responded to calls reporting victims of an explosion in the town of Manchester, England. This happened right after a concert of pop artist Ariana Grande. According to the Manchester Evening News, 22 people were killed and 120 injured after a bomb exploded in the foyer of the venue, between the arena and Victoria Station.

Ariana Grande performs pop music. You don’t have to be fan of hers or of pop music in general to see what this means. A concert of hers, attended by young fans expecting an evening of fun should be one of the furthest things from any political stance, from any religious extremisms, from any demonstration of hate. And yet, they were targeted because they were vulnerable. After the rage and the sadness and the grief, there’s a dangerous question we’re asking ourselves now. What do we do now? What can we do?

I know politics have to necessarily be involved in the solution in the long run. There’s a balance of both security and diplomacy here. I lean on the side of a cautious balance where racism and religious intolerance are NOT fought with racism and religious intolerance. I’m not for carefree open borders either. Law and order are necessary in the world we live today. In the short run, vigilance is essential. In the long run, I just hope diplomacy wins. It’s a complicated world to navigate.

ArianaGrande_2017-May-30
(Source: Ariana Grande via Instagram)

Ariana Grande has the right idea. She’s gone ahead and visit the surviving victims of the Manchester attacks and she’s one of the artists participating in a charity concert today (June 4, 2017). Joining her on stage will be Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Coldplay, Usher, Pharrell, Little Mix, Robbie Williams, Black Eyed Peas, Niall Horan and Take That. The benefits of the concert will go to the victims.

Additional security will be in place. The price of freedom might just be eternal vigilance, at least for now.

Stay safe.