base talk Is Taylor's vocal mediocrity intentional?

[kimberly]

yes, her lack of vocal prowess makes her more relatable. 

[MusicFan98]

It's part of her relatable persona, let her be.

[l3disko]

If this was any other artist mods would've closed this thread and you would've gotten warning points.

[The Music Industry]

7 minutes ago, l3disko said:

If this was any other artist mods would've closed this thread and you would've gotten warning points.

Mods let negative threads about Taylor/Swifties thrive on this website because otherwise this place would be dead 

[Rv1709]

You can make the same post about her choreography 

[skeeyee]

3 hours ago, Dante Silva said:

Her voice is definitely better than Madison Beer's.

BFFR. She's near Ariana level. 

[NEX]

5 hours ago, Popboi. said:

She only did bits and pieces, don't act like she lipped entire songs ala Britney. And about the second part, you are, thread made or not, glad you're at least becoming more self aware 

 

5 hours ago, The Music Industry said:

Pop artists use backtracks during their tours, this isn't a surprise or exclusive to her. Everyone does it. Would you seriously expect zero backtrack from a 3.5-hour show that goes back to back to back most weekends?  Most of the show is definitely live. I've been there 5 times, she sounded different in all 5 of my shows. Her vocals are better than they've ever been, and it's obvious she's been training for this tour. This really isn't the gotcha moment you seem to think it is.

I'm not talking about backing track here. Pre-recorded vocals on most songs. So while she wasn't pulling a Britney and lipping to studio versions of those songs, she definitely lipped to pre-recorded vocals. Which is ok I guess for a 3 hours show, but then nobody asked her to do a 3 hour show and pass it as live singing. 

 

4 hours ago, Badgalbriel said:

Do it

Currently no plans for it, but thanks for your support. 

 

2 hours ago, burninredhot said:

Imagine trying to threaten people on ATRL of all places  Do it and let's see if it effects anything besides your mental health 

The fact that you interpreted it as a threat

 

5 hours ago, RoseBud said:

  Youtubers have shown this to be true but let the Swifties continue to believe she is all live...

Bingo. She just pressed play on most of it and then did her signature poses and walks up and down the stage, and the fact that there were so many Swifties who went to multiple shows and watched multiple more shows online is beyond belief. I watched the Eras Tour at the cinema and it was a super bore. I think mainly because the vocals were so synthetic and weak. I don't get entertained by costume changes and strutting. Only vocals. Her studio vocals are really nice though and she improved a lot over the years too. 

[MissedTheTrain]

Another point I'd like to make about Taylor's vocals....what she lacks in technical prowess, she makes up for in delivery/emoting.  That's something she's gotten praise for throughout her career and a common theme throughout a lot of her album reviews.  1989 is a prime example...so much of that album thrives on the personality and charisma she injects into every song.  To quote the Pitchfork review of that album, "You can almost hear her winking on every track."  Imagine someone like...Leona Lewis covering Blank Space or Style.  She can do much more with her voice than Taylor, but she wouldn't give the same effective delivery.  As a Kelly Clarkson stan, there are even a few times Kelly has covered her songs (Lavender Haze to be specific) and I've preferred Taylor's versions despite Kelly's vastly superior vocal ability.

 

 

[Dante Silva]

2 hours ago, skeeyee said:

BFFR. She's near Ariana level. 

Receipts?

[Moonlight Nation]

7 hours ago, jadeabove said:

Well painters can use different brushes for their strokes. Same goes for singers. Taylor could choose to follow a classical training in singing, but will it serve her songwriting that she honed and developed for decades? That remains to be seen. All in all, if it doesn't fit on the canvas why learn it?

 

What sets Taylor apart from her peers is that she can probably write a song from A to Z by herself… which is more to say than 90% of her pop peers. Most of the industry receives a premade demo that they rework and that is not comparable to creating a song from scratch.

Can we stop with this ignorant, downright brain-dead narrative? Many Swifties and the bootlicking media are trying their hardest to rewrite history as if Taylor Swift was the first 21st century popstar to write her own music, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Even less so today.

 

Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, SZA, Noah Kahan, Hozier, Ed Sheeran, Sabrina Carpenter (post-2022), Charli XCX, Chappell Roan, Bruno Mars, The Weeknd, Post Malone, Lady Gaga, Lana Del Rey, and Gracie Abrams all play an active role in the songwriting process of their music, with many of them being perfectly capable of writing songs by themselves - even if some tend to prefer creative partnerships. All among the biggest popstars in recent times, none of them have ever used a premade demo either.

 

This is such an outdated view of the mainstream scene. Even around Taylor's debut we had P!nk, Shakira, Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse, Gwen Stefani, Avril Lavigne, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Ne-Yo, and Alicia Keys killing it on the charts as prominent writers of their songs. Katy Perry began as a singer-songwriter too, with three tracks off her debut being self-written. 

 

Taylor's team just pushed the songwriter angle more strongly, and we know a modest white artist playing an instrument will always be viewed as more 'credible' and 'respectable' compared to other types of popstars. That's also why Madonna and Mariah Carey are only getting properly recognized for their songwriting craft in recent years.

 

This obviously doesn't mean that she didn't bring something special to the landscape, especially as a teenage girl in country who wrote earnestly about her teenage experiences. Olivia Rodrigo and Gracie Abrams were definitely inspired by her (and Lorde!) to write their own music. Not to mention there are countless female country artists who credit Taylor as an important influence. But there's no need to create untrue generalizations about the rest of the music industry in order to make her 'superior' to the rest.

Edited December 28, 2024 by Moonlight Nation

[Kyoto]

Did @Calvinpost something about TTPD's first week units in this thread?

[Capris Groove]

Not every singer has to do vocal acrobatics and have a 5-octave range. How boring would that be?

 

Taylor has a warm, earthy voice that is perfect for the style of songs she makes. She also knows how to convey emotion with it. I think this is excellent:

 

[JonginBey]

[Bxtch]

35 minutes ago, Dante Silva said:

Receipts?

 

 

[Slap]

She's not for me but I'm so over people dragging professional female singers who have found mammoth success. I doubt any of ya'll can sing like Taylor, Britney or JLo. Mocking people for not being in the top percentile of technical vocal talent is sad. Not everyone wants belting and screeching - hell I don't like Katy but she is still a good singer. 

[jadeabove]

43 minutes ago, Moonlight Nation said:

Can we stop with this ignorant, downright brain-dead narrative? Many Swifties and the bootlicking media are trying their hardest to rewrite history as if Taylor Swift was the first 21st century popstar to write her own music, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Even less so today.

 

Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, SZA, Noah Kahan, Hozier, Ed Sheeran, Sabrina Carpenter (post-2022), Charli XCX, Chappell Roan, Bruno Mars, The Weeknd, Post Malone, Lady Gaga, Lana Del Rey, and Gracie Abrams all play an active role in the songwriting process of their music, with many of them being perfectly capable of writing songs by themselves - even if some tend to prefer creative partnerships. All among the biggest popstars in recent times, none of them have ever used a premade demo either.

 

This is such an outdated view of the mainstream scene. Even around Taylor's debut we had P!nk, Shakira, Lily Allen, Amy Winehouse, Gwen Stefani, Avril Lavigne, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Ne-Yo, and Alicia Keys killing it on the charts as prominent writers of their songs. Katy Perry began as a singer-songwriter too, with three tracks off her debut being self-written. 

 

Taylor's team just pushed the songwriter angle more strongly, and we know a modest white artist playing an instrument will always be viewed as more 'credible' and 'respectable' compared to other types of popstars. That's also why Madonna and Mariah Carey are only getting properly recognized for their songwriting craft in recent years.

 

This obviously doesn't mean that she didn't bring something special to the landscape, especially as a teenage girl in country who wrote earnestly about her teenage experiences. Olivia Rodrigo and Gracie Abrams were definitely inspired by her (and Lorde!) to write their own music. Not to mention there are countless female country artists who credit Taylor as an important influence. But there's no need to create untrue generalizations about the rest of the music industry in order to make her 'superior' to the rest.

Well my point is that she is part of la crème de la crème when it comes to songwriting… but whatever you want.

[hallucinate]

i mean she did improve over the years but there is a limit

[Joaco95]

8 hours ago, Popboi. said:

She did 3+ hour shows for 2 years straight without damaging her vocal chords cause of a bad technique, vocal coaches help you with that, they don't transform you into Aretha

The backing tracks carried the show 

[Reflektor_Creep]

6 hours ago, Kingdom said:

I mean going from -0 to 0.1 isn't much sis.

[Soda Pop Queen]

14 hours ago, Dante Silva said:

I've never heard her strain her voice. Her voice is definitely better than Addison Rae's, Selena Gomez's, Sabrina Carpenter's, Jennifer Lopez's or Madison Beer's.

 

People once leveled the same accusation against Madonna, particularly in comparison to Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey but it didn't actually matter.

 

There y'all go. Always throwing Madonna somewhere in a comparison with Taylor, even when the respective climates/traits don't even match  look at who you named as Taylor's competitors that she is so-called a better singer than and then look at Madonna's. Madonna tried harder because the bar was way higher then. 

 

But let's play comparison if we must. Madonna's voice was and still is full of character, character that I think Taylor lacks. Madonna will be the first to tell you that she isn't the greatest singer of all time but whether she was flat or sharp on a note, people believed what she sang because she always sang with conviction. 

[MatiRod]

She is not a mediocre singer. As a singer myself, some of her songs are deceptively hard to sing because they are clearly written with a melody-first approach. That's what makes a lot of Max Martin songs deceptively hard to sing as well. A lot of rapid-fire words with the same note followed by a quick spiral up.

 

Besides, she is a singer-songwriter, if you write your own songs who cares if you can't belt an E5 or whatever, popular music embraces all kinds of voices, the important thing is connection with the audience and if you can bring the song to life and do it justice. She has billions upon billions of streams, clearly people connect with her voice as a storyteller, the emotion is palpable, listen to "Marjorie" or "Bigger Than the Whole Sky".

Edited December 29, 2024 by MatiRod

[MatiRod]

18 minutes ago, Soda Pop Queen said:

But let's play comparison if we must. Madonna's voice was and still is full of character, character that I think Taylor lacks. Madonna will be the first to tell you that she isn't the greatest singer of all time but whether she was flat or sharp on a note, people believed what she sang because she always sang with conviction. 

I don't think a lot of Madonna songs would work with a Mariah type voice. "Live to Tell" for example is actually made better by her somewhat (barely really, she still sounds great) technically flawed performance, it's full of emotion, it's a song about someone surviving something harrowing and if every note was pitch perfect it just wouldn't feel as real. She also has a very distinctive tone. If I ran away/I'd never have the strength/to go very far, the way her voice dips low is really interesting and unusual for a female singer.

[Cruel Summer]

22 minutes ago, Soda Pop Queen said:

There y'all go. Always throwing Madonna somewhere in a comparison with Taylor, even when the respective climates/traits don't even match  look at who you named as Taylor's competitors that she is so-called a better singer than and then look at Madonna's. Madonna tried harder because the bar was way higher then. 

 

But let's play comparison if we must. Madonna's voice was and still is full of character, character that I think Taylor lacks. Madonna will be the first to tell you that she isn't the greatest singer of all time but whether she was flat or sharp on a note, people believed what she sang because she always sang with conviction. 

So it seems really clear that their comparing Madonna to Whitney and Mariah was an example in response to this very thread comparing Taylor to vocal powerhouses contemporary to her, namely Beyoncé, Ariana, and Gaga. Literally the first line of the OP. It likely wasn't meant as bringing Madonna up for no reason and then inexplicably setting up an incredibly uneven comparison. Madonna actually makes a lot of sense as a comparison in having received similar vocal criticism throughout her career and pushing past it to use her voice in a way that suits her and, clearly, appeals to listeners en masse, helping her become the biggest artist of her time; whether you personally find Taylor's voice less impressive than Madonna's or not, she's done the same.

[Dante Silva]

7 hours ago, Soda Pop Queen said:

There y'all go. Always throwing Madonna somewhere in a comparison with Taylor, even when the respective climates/traits don't even match  look at who you named as Taylor's competitors that she is so-called a better singer than and then look at Madonna's. Madonna tried harder because the bar was way higher then. 

It's obvious why they get compared but go off whilst you intentionally misinterpret my post as a character assassination.

[4Real]

21 hours ago, Mariya Takeuchi said:

Taylor Swift's success isn't because she's a genius, a visionary, or the greatest singer-songwriter of our time. Nope. Taylor Swift is the musical equivalent of vanilla ice cream;

Vanilla ice cream is delicious and a classic for a reason