Nashe Posted February 23 Posted February 23 Lol at someone basically saying ''a real stan buys everything!!!'' be for real yall, nobody cares if you've got everything, just enjoy the music and support in rational amounts. there's way more fun stuff for money to be spent on than physical products you'll only look at once or twice maybe and then keep it in a box for God knows how long
alexrex Posted February 23 Posted February 23 (edited) As if the music was that good But people do what they please with their money. That's why she's a billionaire Edited February 23 by alexrex
BrandNewBrandon Posted February 23 Posted February 23 32 minutes ago, Cameltoe Chariot said: I always know I hit a nerve with the swifties when my ATRL notifications dropdown menu starts looking like this: OMG. The way this looks almost like mine is just cringe 1 2
BrandNewBrandon Posted February 23 Posted February 23 21 minutes ago, Cameltoe Chariot said: Its literally this every single time with them: Replace Regina's name with 'Taylor Swift' and you quite literally have her fans right there ANYWAYS... 36 minutes ago, BrandNewBrandon said: Can a Taylor stan (or even anyone else) please explain to me why she needs to release different versions with a different bonus track for a limited time? Like, what's the purpose artistically? Does it tell a different story of the concept of the album? Does it change the message of the album? Why isn't she releasing all these bonus tracks on one version? Why the need to release all these variants? And I don't care who else is doing it other than her, I want to know what the intention of such action is? Since they were all up in my notifications these last few days why can't they simply explain to me and answer the question I asked without avoiding it like the plague? 1 1
CoolNebraskaGuy Posted February 23 Posted February 23 The stan impulse to purchase everything your favorite artist's merchandise is wild Why do people feel the need to fork over their hard-earned money for sh*t like this? To pump her stats? God I hope not lol
ATRL Moderator bluebirdsforever Posted February 23 ATRL Moderator Posted February 23 As someone who’s been here for a while, Swifties having a feigned moral superiority competition amongst themselves is not new. Add to that the fact that a lot of the Swifties who are most offended by this don’t support anyone but Taylor to this extent and therefore aren’t aware of what other artists do or don’t do with their rollouts, and this is the result. Variant and alternate version discourse in general has always gone right over my head, mostly because I find it very uninteresting. I have never in my life purchased a physical for an album that I hadn’t already heard and loved, and never feel the urge to buy more than one - unless there is something genuinely more worthwhile about the second copy I’m buying (for example, a rare signature). Maybe I’m just too unfazed after the years I spent having to download low quality files of Japan exclusive bonus tracks and Target vinyl hidden tracks onto my iTunes for a lot of the albums I loved to be that bothered by this 3 2
ATRL Moderator bluebirdsforever Posted February 24 ATRL Moderator Posted February 24 1 hour ago, BrandNewBrandon said: Can a Taylor stan (or even anyone else) please explain to me why she needs to release different versions with a different bonus track for a limited time? Like, what's the purpose artistically? Does it tell a different story of the concept of the album? Does it change the message of the album? Why isn't she releasing all these bonus tracks on one version? Why the need to release all these variants? And I don't care who else is doing it other than her, I want to know what the intention of such action is? The answer is very obvious to everyone, which is probably why this post isn’t getting the traction you want - having multiple variants is a universal practice to increase album sales, and giving each variant exclusive material of its own (in this case, a song) increases the perceived value of each variant. I’m not sure why “better album sales” is supposed to be a gotcha moment when, well… welcome to the music business. Artists aren’t all releasing upwards of six lazy colour or cover variants to prove an artistic point. Considering all of these bonus tracks seem to be following a unique theme exclusive to them and some thought seems to have gone into it, I am at least in this case interested to see how each final track changes how one receives the album (if at all). 2 2
Mons†erMuscle™ Posted February 24 Posted February 24 (edited) It's always so refreshing to see that not everyone's head is planted firmly inside her capitalist colon. Edited February 24 by Mons†erMuscle™ 3
Cameltoe Chariot Posted February 24 Posted February 24 14 minutes ago, bluebirdsforever said: The answer is very obvious to everyone, which is probably why this post isn’t getting the traction you want - having multiple variants is a universal practice to increase album sales, and giving each variant exclusive material of its own (in this case, a song) increases the perceived value of each variant. I’m not sure why “better album sales” is supposed to be a gotcha moment when, well… welcome to the music business. Artists aren’t all releasing upwards of six lazy colour or cover variants to prove an artistic point. Considering all of these bonus tracks seem to be following a unique theme exclusive to them and some thought seems to have gone into it, I am at least in this case interested to see how each final track changes how one receives the album (if at all). Points to you for actually answering their question instead of deflecting. I would like to add to your second statement that Taylor is not a normal participant in this business and cannot be held fairly to the same standards as any other artist with album variants. Taylor is a billionaire, in the top 1%, is a global force and has entire governments sharing their support for her in the press. Even the Superbowl this year was entirely about her. At a certain point it becomes extremely cringe to see her and her team/label still RUNNING to break records and sell as many units as possible with these variant strategies and the constant "reveals" of the next product at her Tour stops. Taylor is also at a unique point in her stardom that I don't think a lot of her diehards are aware of - she has had the largest buy-in of her career with the Eras Tour. Millions of people are new converts, and do not have the same loyalty to Taylor. Eventually this whole thing is going to look like a weird travelling infomercial in the form of a concert and people are going to get sick of emptying their bank account to keep up with the fandom. She is more rich, more awarded and more successful than 99% of the music industry at this point. Every day there's a new record she's snatched, some new sales achievement or score... and theres zero humility about it from her. You can't blame people for getting sick of her the same way they got sick of Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos. Billionaires are not relatable, and even less so when they're constantly asking for more money. 1
Mons†erMuscle™ Posted February 24 Posted February 24 Other artists feel the need to release multiple versions to ensure they chart well. Ms. Swift knows damn well she'll chart more than fine with just one or two versions. She releases multiple versions because she's a megalomaniac. 1
ronelmaano13 Posted February 24 Posted February 24 All of this "backlash", and she'll still sell albums and have the highest grossing tour and concert film of all time. Guts had more than 10 vinyl variants alone, and Eternal Sunshine had more than 5, but there are no criticisms from ATRL users. It's all transparent.
ThousandMiles Posted February 24 Posted February 24 who cares? no one is forcing you to buy every album, and if you do you’re weird. Yes she’s doing it for money but what’s the harm in releasing secret extra songs for fans who are willing to buy? 1
Mons†erMuscle™ Posted February 24 Posted February 24 "Megalomania is an obsession with power and wealth, and a passion for grand schemes."
qurl Posted February 24 Posted February 24 it is completely asinine TO ME and the epitome of $$$ over art to make multiple editions of albums and put one bonus track on this version, one bonus track on another version and have your fans that you know will buy whatever edition you put out to get all the songs have to shell out $50-100 (depending) to get the entire batch of songs you created for one album make one standard deluxe, and it’s not uncouth to have like ONE extra special edition reserved for a specific retailer or a vinyl exclusive as a bonus/hidden track but what she’s doing is basically just grifting off the pockets of her fans parents lmao 2
ATRL Moderator bluebirdsforever Posted February 24 ATRL Moderator Posted February 24 2 hours ago, Cameltoe Chariot said: Billionaires are not relatable, and even less so when they're constantly asking for more money. This is a fair viewpoint, and I completely understand why some people would be put off by it. You’ve made a lot of thoughtful points. I think it just doesn’t personally bother me because I don’t ever buy into an artist as much as I buy into their music. Taylor’s business-minded approach was a selling point when she was an upstart, but now can make her seem impersonal - I think she’s been fighting and clawing for so long to get bigger and bigger that now she just does not know how to stop. There doesn’t have seemed to be any proverbial “I’ve made it and can rest now” moment for her, which she has discussed in her music. You can choose to view this with something resembling empathy or with scorn, and I think a lot of that has to do with how you’re predisposed to view Taylor in the first place. I will gently push back on the idea that the variants suggest some deeper gaping unforgivable personality flaw in Taylor, though. I don’t think this points to a lack of humility (she’s generally very gracious and appreciative) as much as it a sign that she still seeks validation in her success. There is something in the fact that it seems to be the artists at the top of the mountain who seem to be pushing for more the most blatantly - I’ve found the Eternal Sunshine rollout very interesting, for example, because Ariana has never stuck me as an artist who put much thought into this kind of thing before. Lady Gaga’s increasingly random commercial tie-ins in recent years have struck me similarly. I think the Taylor’s Versions play a big part here - she’s followed a very normal release schedule outside of them and I’m not convinced pushing them commercially to the extent that she did didn’t do more harm than good in this respect. 2
BrandNewBrandon Posted February 24 Posted February 24 (edited) 1 hour ago, bluebirdsforever said: The answer is very obvious to everyone, which is probably why this post isn’t getting the traction you want - having multiple variants is a universal practice to increase album sales, and giving each variant exclusive material of its own (in this case, a song) increases the perceived value of each variant. I’m not sure why “better album sales” is supposed to be a gotcha moment when, well… welcome to the music business. Artists aren’t all releasing upwards of six lazy colour or cover variants to prove an artistic point. Considering all of these bonus tracks seem to be following a unique theme exclusive to them and some thought seems to have gone into it, I am at least in this case interested to see how each final track changes how one receives the album (if at all). Thank you for being the counterpart to what a die-hard Taylor supporter usually is seen as. So it's a cash-grab and makes these Taylor stans complaining about it kind of right. So this deflection from her other stans in this thread is what should be studied. Most artists are doing the variants in terms of colors but these bonus tracks is something that only few do and if it's only to inflate album sales then no wonder some of us take some of her achievements as desperate because they are. More on that below. 39 minutes ago, Cameltoe Chariot said: Points to you for actually answering their question instead of deflecting. I would like to add to your second statement that Taylor is not a normal participant in this business and cannot be held fairly to the same standards as any other artist with album variants. Taylor is a billionaire, in the top 1%, is a global force and has entire governments sharing their support for her in the press. Even the Superbowl this year was entirely about her. At a certain point it becomes extremely cringe to see her and her team/label still RUNNING to break records and sell as many units as possible with these variant strategies and the constant "reveals" of the next product at her Tour stops. Taylor is also at a unique point in her stardom that I don't think a lot of her diehards are aware of - she has had the largest buy-in of her career with the Eras Tour. Millions of people are new converts, and do not have the same loyalty to Taylor. Eventually this whole thing is going to look like a weird travelling infomercial in the form of a concert and people are going to get sick of emptying their bank account to keep up with the fandom. She is more rich, more awarded and more successful than 99% of the music industry at this point. Every day there's a new record she's snatched, some new sales achievement or score... and theres zero humility about it from her. You can't blame people for getting sick of her the same way they got sick of Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos. Billionaires are not relatable, and even less so when they're constantly asking for more money. Taylor's main problem - which also alienates people who aren't her fans - is that even from that leaked email a couple of years back it was revealed she had been jealous of another newcomer (who ultimately didn't blow up) back when she herself was just starting out. The girl has always been driven by competition and was vindictive. Those two factors have been showing more and more and especially following the completely legal purchase of her catalogue by Scooter Braun. Her own father knew about it and people are buying that he didn't tell her. Of course he did. And she potentially knew and planned all of this out because her nature is vindictive. She's driven by revenge, whether it be to her exes in her songs or peers like Katy Perry. Regardless if her "enemies" were right or wrong, she's driven by it. Why would she want to accomplish more you asked. Well, she's got several records that she does not have that she does WANT. As far as I know, she doesn't even have the 2+ million opening week, why not try to break that one? Essentially, once someone is all about something - and Taylor's recent marketing is all about the records she's breaking - it's because it's what she intentionally is working towards. She's also lucky songwriting comes easy to her (even though more and more people are starting to mock her for it with all that "when you've heard one Taylor song, you've heard 99%" type of viral videos on social media), because then she can put her concentration on things that also matter to her and that's to be the biggest thing in music. She's PUSHING for it and it does come off as her FORCING these records upon her brand. And that's off-putting. I am of the opinion that many acts appear to achieve what they desperately want: Lady Gaga wants the Oscar and her film career is flourishing, Beyoncé wants to be this super respected music legend and it's working out so well for her as well. And Taylor? She wants those records more than anything else. But forcing herself onto others like she's currently doing with her downright running to the camera to showcase her love for Travis (who is either in on it or is a pond) and trying to befriend every artist whose fans are in the same demographic will ultimately be what potentially causes her downfall. And the backlash appearing now is different than the one that appeared in 2016. That one was about her being labeled a snake, this one is about people being just tired of her. And someone who's had enough is not someone who will be willingly paying your bills when the time comes. And that's the difference. Edited February 24 by BrandNewBrandon 1
mael Posted February 24 Posted February 24 My god, not a 10 page thread. As long as these aren't limited, I'm fine with them...
HealerKirby Posted February 24 Posted February 24 Someone will put all the extra tracks on Youtube right after release anyway, so just use Youtube Music & make a complete playlist if you can't wait for them to be available on Spotify
Mons†erMuscle™ Posted February 24 Posted February 24 And to all asking why do we or her fans care... why does Taylor care? If it's all about the art, then why does she care about charts or breaking records?
Mr_campbell Posted February 24 Posted February 24 People forget that Taylor Swift isn’t real - it’s an act. She’s a business yall!
chiliam Posted February 24 Posted February 24 Lol they are not fans. I am a die hard fan and i know i dont have the budget to purchase all those variant so 1 cd and 1 vinyl at most for me. She can released anything she wants, they will be available on streaming or google drive soon haha.
chiliam Posted February 24 Posted February 24 7 minutes ago, Mons†erMuscle™ said: And to all asking why do we or her fans care... why does Taylor care? If it's all about the art, then why does she care about charts or breaking records? I stan her because she cares. She cares about her art, she cares about success, she cares about her career, she cares about making us fans happy with surprises. I dont get why people have mindset dont care means cool. No you dont care about drama, other people's negative opinion... But when its about something you love, you should care. Go stan the unbothered girlies, that was way cooler, i guess. Leave us alone.
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