base talk Harvard prof claims Taylor is successful partly because she's white, tall and blonde

[SoldierofLove]

Stephanie Burt, an English professor at Harvard University who taught an entire course on Taylor Swift and her world, would not call the singer's appeal universal – as she says practically nothing about the human experience is. But she posits many care for Swift due to her ability to connect with her audience through her music.

 

Songwriting skills:

 

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"She's extremely good at the technical aspects of song-writing. She just has the ability to create a lot of melodies, and a lot of song structures, and a lot of phrases that people really enjoy hearing over and over, and remembering and repeating and singing along with," Burt told CTV News Toronto.

 

Burt credits Swift's wide range of literary and musical references in her songs through the use of uncomplicated vocabulary, as another key to her success. The Harvard professor says she's able to pull inspiration from the likes of Joni Mitchell and Brandy to books like "Rebecca" and "The Great Gatsby."

 

"(Swift) has this tremendously wide range of reference that she can draw on, not just from album to album, but within her albums. She does it in ways that don't seem … overtly high-brow, so that's awesome, and that's something she's learned how to do by listening, and reading, and practicing," Burt said.

 

Ability to collaborate:

 

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While Swift is skillful with her pen – even literally, as she categorizes her songs by the pen she uses to write each song from either a fountain, quill or glitter gel pen – Burt pointed to her ability to collaborate with other musicians as another component to staying fresh and creating consistently catchy music.

 

"She's so good at collaborating. She can write a whole album of extremely catchy and well-construct songs by herself, and she did that once to make a point (with the album "Speak Now") but she prefers to switch it up, and change and grow," Burt said.

 

"She's very good at working with people and that's one reason why she's been able to stay fresh and do something different each album."

 

 

Being white, blonde, tall and attractive: 

 

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Though brimming with talent in more ways than one, Burt says part of Swift's success that's "hard to talk about" are the privileges she has as a white, blonde and conventionally attractive woman.

 

"She didn't choose to be blonde or white or 5"11 or have the build that she has, but it is important when you're thinking about the success of a pop star to think about how many pop stars at that level – most popstars, especially women, and this is very gendered, don't get listened to, they get looked at," Burt said.

 

 

Reputation and white privilege:

 

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The Harvard professor also pointed to Swift's sixth studio album "reputation", which hinged on her persona and how the public viewed her at the time (when she was embroiled in various celebrity feudsand public break-ups, and was reluctant to talk about politics then).

 

"It's an album about white privilege, which she wasn't ready to talk about in 2017, she wasn't ready to talk to the media at all after what she'd been through, but she was low-key writing about it," Burt said.

 

"White privilege and pretty privilege is part of her success, and she knows it, and seeing that doesn't, I hope, take away from the tremendous talent that she has shown and the way she's known how to use it, but it is a disservice to the study of culture and to her listeners and to the truth if you don't acknowledge that."

 

https://www.cp24.com/local/toronto/2024/11/12/toronto-is-enchanted-by-taylor-swift-heres-why-the-pop-star-is-so-beloved-according-to-a-harvard-prof-who-taught-a-class-about-her/

 

Interesting! 

[alexrex]

That's pretty much her legacy

[shookspeare]

and water is wet

[Dula Peep]

Would she be half as successful if she was black?….. 

[enchanted0]

[Contessa]

and my b**** is pink

[SlimyGhoul]

I mean, it's true. She can be talented and privileged. They aren't mutually exclusive.

[anastaciabby]

Groundbreaking information

also there's a bunch of white girls in pop,We know there's a gross bias in pop in general if we're being real

Edited November 12 by anastaciabby

[Jude]

Well, to be fair she said "partly" not solely, so she made some points.

[Pavement Princess]

Well… yes. 

[Riverbank]

10 minutes ago, SoldierofLove said:

"She's very good at working with people and that's one reason why she's been able to stay fresh and do something different each album."

 

The Tortured Billboard Department begs to differ

[Arrows]

There can be 100 reasons why Taylor Swift is popular, and 3 of the reasons are her being white, tall and blonde, and that could change everything

[SupremeGoddess]

Taylor isn't really that great of a songwriter when you compare her to actual songwriters like Joni Mitchell or Carole King or Patti Smith, even more pop oriented artists like Madonna have written much better material

Taylor could never write a The Magdalene Laundries or a Mer Girl to save her life

 

What she does do well enough is craft a narrative storytelling-like effect in her lyrics but it's usually all very basic and above the surface. She's just lucky most people (a majority of her stans included) aren't very cultured or clever so they all think her music is some sort of holy ground (reference intended) 

[Revolution]

We don't need Harvard professor to tell us that

[$ebert]

Where's the lie? 
 

¿y la mentira? 
 

[TayDuaStan]

[SoldierofLove]

1 minute ago, anastaciabby said:

also there's a bunch of white girls in pop, what makes her different?

 

[yonsé]

and she would be correct.

[MP3]

So tired of people categorizing everything

 

 

[Solaria]

This is obviously not true and even the most brilliant OTH minds like me would admit that. We know why she's popular. It's because she's smart. We're just waiting for her downfall!!!

[Cheers]

White privilege is real we didn't need a "professor" to tell us that. Harvard has nothing better to talk about??

[TayDuaStan]

1 minute ago, Solaria said:

This is obviously not true and even the most brilliant OTH minds like me would admit that. We know why she's popular. It's because she's smart. We're just waiting for her downfall!!!

Keep waiting 

 

[Solaria]

1 minute ago, TayDuaStan said:

Keep waiting 

 

It's been 84 years and you still haven't developed a sense of humor yes!

[Saintlor]

10 minutes ago, TayDuaStan said:

Ariana and Gaga are not white women.

[TayDuaStan]

Just now, Saintlor said:

Ariana and Gaga are not white women.

Sorry, I forgot they're Italian