base talk i-D: Taylor Swift last remaining real popstar?

[Redstreak]

 

 

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Straddling both camps, however, and almost existing as pop’s sole example of what no one is calling pop 1.5, is Taylor Swift. (An argument can be made for Beyoncé and Rihanna, although the latter has mainly ignored music for half a decade, and the former can’t match Swift’s sales). A powerful, record-breaking streaming goliath that also still focuses on hiding Easter egg-style clues in increasingly passé things like music videos — Beyoncé and Drake rarely bother with them anymore — and who shifts a shopping mall-sized worth of actual physical product, Taylor has managed to be both at the peak of pop’s current curve while also behaving like a throwback to less fractured times.

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The last few weeks have felt particularly Swiftian. In October, all 20 of the songs on her tenth album, Midnights, charted in America, with half of them clogging up the entirety of Billboard Hot 100's top 10, while the album itself sold 2.5m in her home country in its first month. The news agenda has also been bending to her will, with her US Eras tour hitting the headlines after unprecedented demand overwhelmed Ticketmaster’s rickety website -- leading the US Department of Justice to open an investigation into the company’s monopoly on ticket selling. In a relatively angry (for Taylor) statement posted on her Instagram stories, she said she was pissed off, stating that she had previously been assured Ticketmaster could “handle this kind of demand”. (In the end, over 2m tickets were still sold).

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Having established herself as a songwriter from the very start, over time, Taylor's also become the poster girl for pop's shift into credibility, with fans, critics and just about everyone on Twitter turning on Damon Albarn after he questioned her songwriting abilities earlier this year.

 

Mixing both old-school pop moves (expensive marketing blitz, select TV promo, only cropping up at boring award events to steal the show) with hyper-modern manoeuvres, Taylor has comfortably settled into her own lane. Growing with her audience, she always feels tapped into what they're also going through, be it from a superstar's distance. But there are still surprises. While other popstars front-load their album campaigns with pre-release singles to appease streaming platforms, Taylor chose not to release any music ahead of Midnights, cementing its release as a proper newsworthy event. Once again, it harnessed this sense of pop communion from its very own high priestess.

 

Is Taylor Swift our last remaining real popstar? (vice.com)

 

It seems I can't help but agree that the answer is a resounding yes! 

[Henry Torres]

I mean other main pop girls don't really care about music anymore tbh 

 

Madonna, Rihanna, Britney, Beyonce, Katy, Ariana... They release songs but I feel they don't give us ERAS anymore, just release and bye  

Edited November 28, 2022 by Henry Torres

[Jai]

One thing about Taylor; She truly LOVES making music and moments for her fans. It’s one thing about her that I feel has always paid off in the long run for her.

[ugo]

26 minutes ago, Henry Torres said:

I mean other main pop girls don't really care about music anymore tbh 

 

Madonna, Rihanna, Britney, Beyonce, Katy, Ariana... They release songs but I feel they don't give us ERAS anymore, just release and bye  

It’s mostly because most of them were big single sellers (selling 10 millions 0.99 cents copies don’t make that much money specially when album campaigns cost millions) 

 

Most of them are unable to headline +400 million tours, it’s where most of the revenue is for an artist (Most of the people that care about albums are big tour headliners). These pop girls are at a level that where they can comfortably say no. 
 

The only reason Taylor is still in it is because her albums are very well received now, they sell super well, her tours are gigantic and still have bee active fan base.

Edited November 28, 2022 by ugo

[lonnie]

In a sense she is

I don't fault her or the others for the choices they make but Taylor is probably the only one left (out of that group that was huge in the early 2010s) that's concerned with commercial success and hungry for it. The others found other ventures/started families and branched out and don't care for music or numbers as she does and Taylor releases an average of like two projects a year now so in that regard, she is.

[byzantium]

I feel like streaming has really sucked the life out of the music industry.  We don’t get eras anymore. Artist don’t really release music very often and we don’t get cool music videos or award show performances anymore.  I do think one of the reasons for the growth of Kpop is just that they deliver what the western market no longer does.  

[lonnie]

1 minute ago, ugo said:

It’s mostly because most of them are big single sellers (selling 10 millions 0.99 cents copies don’t make that much money specially when album campaigns cost millions) 

Taylor herself is a big singles seller too. And has sold far more singles than she has albums. As it should be expected as Adele is like the only one whose albums/singles sales ratio reflects the ratios of the pre-digital era.

[Klein]

She truly is. She is still absolutely passionnate about her work as a musication and cares about the reception of it. She cares to make her album's releases feel like events. She cares about giving a visual identity to her music. She cares about entertaining fans. She simply cares in every aspects, and therefore, is giving us what a popstar should be giving, even 16 years deep into her career.

[VVVVVV]

I think is because music is the Taylor Swift main revenue.  She dont have other ventures at all. So she focus most of her time doing music.

[Rev8]

No?

Lady Gaga,Katy Perry,Ariana,Dua,Doja are All real great popstars

they all came after her, so I dont understand what they mean?

 

if she is the last one who actually tries and makes moments?

also no

 

 

 

These articles are really starting to suck the sh*t out of her ass.

[ugo]

Just now, lonnie said:

Taylor herself is a big singles seller too. And has sold far more singles than she has albums. As it should be expected as Adele is like the only one whose albums/singles sales ratio reflects the ratios of the pre-digital era.

She did sell more singles but she sold more/is currently selling more albums than any other pop girls. So in the end she probably made more from album sales than singles. Folkmore, Red tv and Midnights had no pre single release putting the main focus on the album instead.

[ugo]

12 minutes ago, VVVVVV said:

I think is because music is the Taylor Swift main revenue.  She dont have other ventures at all. So she focus most of her time doing music.

That’s because the revenue her music generates is very high so that’s why she doesn’t have to venture. Other pop girls declined each year in terms of sales. 
 

11 minutes ago, Rev8 said:

No?

Lady Gaga,Katy Perry,Ariana,Dua,Doja are All real great popstars

they all came after her, so I dont understand what they mean?

 

if she is the last one who actually tries and makes moments?

also no

 

 

 

These articles are really starting to suck the sh*t out of her ass.

Apart from dua and doja these other girls don’t care. 

Edited November 28, 2022 by ugo

[Material Girl]

is this article saying if someone’s not pushing 1m+ first week they’re not a real popstar?  

 

that’s so lame. stats make people such ass-kissers 

[PoisonedIvy]

I think Taylor is way more than a pop star at this point. She’s become so much bigger than that. 
 

I mean, she is The Music Industry after all. 

[lonnie]

Just now, ugo said:

She did sell more singles but she sold more/is currently selling more albums than any other pop girls. So in the end she probably made more from album sales than singles. Folkmore, Red tv and Midnights had no pre single release putting the main focus on the album instead.

I highly doubt she's currently making more off her pure album sales than she does off of streaming and singles (this is not being shady at all pure sales are just in the ditch). She has a very big and loyal fanbase that's going to buy/stream her music regardless (and which she's spent years cultivating and catering to) and that she gets high numbers without a singles release proves that. That's the one thing that separates her from the rest of the popstars, as their fanbases dwindled with time hers only grew stronger. And she's smart enough to recognize that capitalizing on that will ensure continued success.

[vale9001]

No Beyoncè, Billie, Gaga, Bruno Mars, The weeknd and many others are influental popstars. I hate this kind of absolutism. I love Taylor, she has her strongest assets, she has an incredible career (basically all blockbusters since her debut) but she's very good in her specific things, and that can't represent everything we need in music and pop culture. This is the same for every artist around. 

I always hated all thess "the king of pop" "the queen of pop" "the king of rock" "the princess of pop". Boring. 

 

Also i remember these kind of magazine like I-D, Vice, The atlantic making fierce mean articles about her in the past when it was cool, now they are on a new train. How convenient. 

Edited November 28, 2022 by vale9001

[Brando]

what a "real" popstar?

 

could have said last superstar or even the last real rockstar 

[KatyPrismSpirit]

do delusional swifties strategically become journalism interns to write these ridiculous think pieces or

 

 

[ugo]

3 minutes ago, lonnie said:

I highly doubt she's currently making more off her pure album sales than she does off of streaming and singles (this is not being shady at all pure sales are just in the ditch). She has a very big and loyal fanbase that's going to buy/stream her music regardless (and which she's spent years cultivating and catering to) and that she gets high numbers without a singles release proves that. That's the one thing that separates her from the rest of the popstars, as their fanbases dwindled with time hers only grew stronger. And she's smart enough to recognize that capitalizing on that will ensure continued success.

Just do the maths album sales generate more revenue than single sales 

 

Plus touring makes more money than both and most of the older pop girls won’t bother touring for less than 200-300 millions because they are comfortable enough.

[brenda-walsh]

22 minutes ago, lonnie said:

In a sense she is

I don't fault her or the others for the choices they make but Taylor is probably the only one left (out of that group that was huge in the early 2010s) that's concerned with commercial success and hungry for it. The others found other ventures/started families and branched out and don't care for music or numbers as she does and Taylor releases an average of like two projects a year now so in that regard, she is.

pretty much this +

 

the article also ignores new girls like dua, doja, billie, and olivia who have all had massive, traditional pop eras in the past couple of years. Future Nostalgia is the literal definition of a perfect pop era. this article focuses more on the sales aspects and comparing her to 80s/90s popstars who used to move these huge numbers with insanely dedicated fanbases 

[Taylena]

5 minutes ago, KatyPrismSpirit said:

do delusional swifties strategically become journalism interns to write these ridiculous think pieces or

 

 

No, it's just what the whole world is thinking except for delusional OTHs from ATRL who still deny the facts in front of them.  

[lonnie]

8 minutes ago, ugo said:

Just do the maths album sales generate more revenue than single sales 

 

Plus touring makes more money than both and most of the older pop girls won’t bother touring for less than 200-300 millions because they are comfortable enough.

I don't know doesn't Midnight have billions of streams on Spotify alone by now? I don't know the breakdown but I would be very surprised if she still earns more from pure album sales than she does streaming/singles sales.

 

But I agree with you, touring at this point is the thing that brings everyone, "big" and "small" artists, included most money. And these women Taylor, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Katy, Adele, and Gaga are all worth the hundreds of millions of dollars at this point which is probably why all of them sans Taylor slowed down and aren't as hungry for music success as they used to be. Taylor is an anomaly in that way, generally human beings kind of settle and pursue other things after a certain level of success but she seems to be hungrier now for it than she was in her 20s.

[Cleanromantic]

She's the only one (besides Beyonce) who actually likes being a musician/ artist. Other girls found easier and more lucrative ways to make money and so they stopped caring, probably because they weren't in it for the music to begin with .

[Klein]

4 minutes ago, Aaron said:

Yeah sure. She’s the only one of the old guard who still cares so that’s kind of expected. It still sucks that the “world’s biggest popstar” doesn’t do anything interesting or iconic. I guess churning out bland middle-of-the-road albums every 6 months is a guaranteed way to play it safe as well as keep your name in people’s mouths, though. 

"bland middle-of the road" albums, when this decade, she released 1 album that won AOTY, 1 album that was nominated for AOTY, 1 that is a re-recording a an AOTY winner, 1 that is a re-recording of an AOTY nominee...

 

And now you have Midnights, that received a 85 on Metacritic, while the 4 others received an 88, 85, 82 and 91 respectively. And on top of that, the GP is clearly liking them. 

 

I mean, it's perfectly ok to not like them, to each their own taste, but they are clearly not "bland middle-of the road". They are critically acclaimed albums that are enjoyed by a vast number of people. 

[popjunkie]

Beyoncé was winning GRAMMYs and scoring #1 singles while Taylor was in elementary school yet somehow they’re peers?