Break through the algorithm by using my link ground.news/alexanderavila to stay informed on breaking news, compare coverage and avoid misleading media narratives for as little as $1/month for their pro plan or for a limited time receive 30% off the Vantage plan to receive unlimited access to all the best features such as the Blindspot Feed.
Thank you for sharing our mission Alexander! If anyone's interested in getting the full picture of issues like the one in this video, check out the link in the description and let us know if you have any questions.
Love your videos, they're always so well made and thoughtful but you slipped on this one. You shouldn't have mentioned Ana Benevides' death in an advertisement whatsoever and not even discuss it anywhere else on this video. Especially when she has died by negligence in the name of obscene profit. I see the video isn't about this and it's ok, but you could have used literally any other news, like fact checking that Christ the Redeemer picture or whatever
My dad was a professional musician for about 60 years, and I remember hundreds of people commenting that he was such a great singer and multi-instrumentalist and they just couldn't understand why he wasn't rich and famous. They were genuinely puzzled why it would be hard to navigate the music business for a kid who was in and out of orphanages; who had eaten from trash cans when he didn't have luck begging for food door to door; who sincerely had almost no life experience outside of poverty and playing music for cash; who had no family connections; and who was brown. Just unlucky I guess.
Yeah I'm very sure that 1. Taylor's exposure to wealth prior to fame helped mer make good choices with her money, and 2. Her family's connections to financial advisors who are legit and won't screw Taylor over and give great advice catapulted her into a businesswoman and a brand before a songwriter and entertainer I mean if we are being real her, she's not an amazing singer. She's fine. Her music writing is fine, not exceptional. She can't dance by her own admittance. Her strengths are being marketable, having a phenomenal work ethic, and a great team behind her. Also, she never messes up, and keeps a lovable persona on display. She can do the bare minimum of advocating for a cause and people act like she's a revolutionary.
@@angelaa7388 I think the writing part is where you are wrong. Sure, you could say she is not exceptional (what is honestly) but the writing is what keeps her distinguished from other main pop stars. Her catalogue truly has good writing, whether you like her or not, and aim evolvement.
This is THE comprehensive Taylor Swift critique. It is thoughtful, it is expansive. It feels like you leave little signposts all over that could lead me to further study if I want, but you give me enough in the video itself to digest your ideas. In your slay era for real
Boringggggg. It was a snoozefest. He's just jealous that she's famous and worked her ass off. I bet this guy doesn't even know most of what came out of his mouth. I didn't. Just a bunch of liberal jargon
@@maddybarnham yup. I was one of the very early people who worked with her on songwriting via back and forth videos on friggin Myspace. She reached out to anybody who had a following. She dropped out at 12. She was basically pushed into music by her parents. They named her for marketability. They had her in a stylist's hands at 13. Abercrombie at 14-16. It actually made her well known enough to get a "prove it deal" from big machine. She's 100 percent a plant. They walked her into it. I'll give them that. They pushed her slow. Teardrop could've been a monster but they limited that. They let her believe she's the primary idea person. She's not.
For some reason I connected that to how people in my field have a tendency to label something they don't know as just a 'ritual' and that made me giggle
Quick note: @7:15 while Mozart did ultimately end up composing for the court often (even geniuses gotta eat), it is not where his heart was. I have read the complete correspondences between Mozart and his father, translated from the code they wrote to each other in, and Mozart actually strongly resented being beholden to the court. Mozarts father would beg his son to come and complete the engagements to the court he had promised and Mozart would flippantly say, nah I think I’ll stay in France for a while. This came to a head where Mozart completely blew off a coronation ceremony, that his father ended up having to last minute compose for, costing Mozart the favor of the Viennese aristocracy. Of course he was still well received wherever he went, but the Esterhazy house was done with him, which could have been a very very lucrative position for young Mozart. His father sacrificed much of his life to get Mozart that position. So I would not count mozarts selling out on the scale of other 18th century composers. Mozart much much preferred to write opera for the masses. Comic operas and opera buffas. He enjoyed entertaining commoners. Not the aristocracy
this is an amazing read! i’ll get into reading more of their lives and letters. i love hearing of “classic” media and their connection to regular people, such as how Francisco Goya really wanted to make certain paintings for himself and those who were afraid to point out political hypocrisy, and Shakespeare, who had experienced both majority aristocratic and majority peoples audiences.
if you like French rock music you should check out Mozart l'opéra rock it's about Mozart and it's very fun. 2009 emo hair Mozart and Salieri.... Amazing music too.
I love the idea of video essayists having a groupchat and whenever someone needs a voiceover, tgey just send the text and then everyone else abandons their own essays and rushes to help
I was just thinking about this Have they established rules for doing voiceovers, such as speed or sound quality? Do some people help eachother out more often, or does anyone who has time do voiceovers
one of my favorite things about the video essayist (dare i say) "community" is listening through video essays and getting to be like, "hey! i recognize them! i know that voice!" idk how it got to be like this, but i enjoy it all the same
My favorite voiceover choice is when a pair of people who have drama online are used to voice opposing sides of an argument, either two characters in a story or two philosophers/authors who oppose each other. Especially when my favorite leftist heels are used to voice the bad guys!
as a non-Taylor Swift fan and non-American, to me, this is a cultural documentary with historical value :'D thanks for the great effort and presentation!
I'm an American and the polar opposite of a fan, and looking at it that way was the only way I lasted more than 20 minutes. I really wanted to watch it because I appreciate what Alex does so much, but I'd personally rather watch paint dry than listen to Taylor's music or opinion in general. That first 20 minutes was more cumulative recognition and thought than I've given her in my entire life thus far.
@@Azarath_Metrion_Zinthos Did I give you some reason to think I'd ever give a shit one way or the other? I absolutely love how you clowns somehow think that's supposed to be a shot. If I made it this far barely knowing who she is, it's kinda hard for me to give a shit about her opinion on anything. If you ever make it beyond third grade, you might realize that.
"[Neoliberalism] wants us to cancel people, it wants us to focus on a world of individuals, and to forget the world of systems and structure" Finally feel like I have a complete understanding of "cancel culture" now. Love you Alex ❤✊
@@MilosRoom it’s probably satire. I don’t think most nine year olds even know what lobbying is, unless maybe a parent does it. But even then haha, I didn’t know what my parents did in detail. My dad was a software engineer and I just knew his job as “computer”
@@MilosRoom pro tip if you are autistic and have a hard time with humour, look for inclination in exaggerated tone difference in the way the speaker is saying the joke and if the two things they are comparing do not stereotypically go together, in this case 9 year olds knowing what a lobbyist is, it is more likely but not ALWAYS a joke lol. From neurodivergent to neurodivergent. I struggle when people do dead pan jokes tho because there’s no tone and it’s said straight aka seriously or seemingly anti joke it. Often confuses me and drives me nuts lol
Sorry but who's Todd (channel name as in)? I enjoy hbomb and this channel. I really like essays and docs in general. I'd love to see check out more creators which are similar!
im a huge swiftie and have been for a very long time, i absolutely adore this video, i clicked originally because i love listening to criticism about the things i enjoy, i like to see things from every angle, but this video is so much more than that. i am both educated and entertained which is not an easy feat to accomplish. so glad i watched this, thank u for putting in the time and effort it took to make such a thought provoking video
Hes not a hater hes talking about what her work says about society and there are like 10000 easter egg refernces already! He calls her taleneted like fifty times @@tayluvofficial
I love that long video essays are becoming more normalized, it’s a more accessible way for people to hear and engage in interesting conversations like these!!
And here I am, just wishing not every youtuber felt the need to make 2+ hour videos, because I cannot find the time to watch them after starting a full-time job...
@@currentyearok i have to agree it looks like this video can be shortened a lot also falls into a trap of non critical use of quotes from academics which is a whole thing UA-camrs do that would make them fail college
I saw this idea somewhere. It basically said:" Imagine life in a neoliberal society as a race. Put all people at the starting line. Now, all black people take two steps back. All people from poor families take two steps back. Everyone who's Native, Asian or Queer take two steps back. Can a great runner get to the finish line before those who started at the starting line? Yes, they can. But what happens to all those Black, Queer, Asian, Native, poor kids who were just as good as their non-opressed peers but weren't *great* ? Weren't *exceptional* ?"
You forgot the part where anyone who is above basic middle class takes several large leaps forward and anyone rich gets that AND a thirty second head start on everyone else.
Also forgot the parts where someone beats the odds and gets almost near the ones in front, then someone ahead throws a banana peel in the ground and makes them loose everything
Now throw in the numerous faltering steps our own brains can force onto us, things that may not even be apparent from the outside. I don't think I'll ever like formulating equations with unknown and perhaps unknowable variables.
While that’s a bit oversimplified the gist is right. I’ve also seen it as being given more chances. Many underprivileged people only get one chance (or honestly, no chances) to make it. People like Taylor swift are given dozens, if not hundreds of chances. She *literally* failed dozens of times before she finally made her big break. Obviously, there are just as many factors that played into this, but it really just kinda shows how she got many many chances to start her career
the funniest thing about rockists and white men gatekeeping rock music as the best music is them completely ignoring that it was pioneered by black folks, some major ones being women go listen to Sister Rosetta Tharpe and chuck berry as an intro y'all, bangers on bangers
Hell yes. I’m Asian but I love rock music. Whether it’s pop punk, post hardcore, emo, post punk, punk, skate punk, hardcore punk, indie/alt rock, surf rock, merseybeat, and rockabilly. And I enjoy the new artists mainly in the pop punk field and emo and pop punk don’t get much appreciation in the rock community. When I see videos of rock evolution don’t they put Green Day or mcr when they defined the 2000s.
A lot of people don't know how to talk about this woman; they either treat her as a goddess that can't do no wrong and deny her privilege, or they say misogynistic comments about her in the name of "awareness". When I saw you were going to make a video about her, I was very excited since I really respect your craft and I know you aren't the type to fall in either of these two narratives. Thank you very much for your work here, I really appreciate it as someone who is both very critical of Taylor... but also knows all the lyrics to Enchanted, lmao. Great job!
i love when women, trans or queer creators make critique on these popular topics because it often feels like any opinion will be lost in the sea of bigotry and "anti-woke". like with barbies, that discourse was so poisoned until some people actually came with insightful and respectful critiques of it
Why r u " Very" critical of Taylor? U urself said most people don't know how to talk about about her as people tend to be on the two sides of the extremity.. then u resort to say u belong to an extremity too... That line just put me off.
@@Azarath_Metrion_Zinthos i think you misunderstand ops point… being very critical of her, at least to me, means that you care and love her. it’s not hate or insults, it’s just being aware and knowledgeable of her flaws or things that don’t align with your own personal beliefs - critical. i find it a little concerning that you think being critical of someone equates to an “extreme”
Listening you talk about reparative critique felt like a full circle moment of what this channel originally started as. Like the readings of “Are They Gay” on implicit queer characters and relationships in popular media were reparative readings and now as “Alexander Avila” you’re still doing that work but on a larger scale with way more research and academic rigor under your belt. It’s been a pleasure to see this evolution since 2016.
@@ChillingTales12 this was a comment reflecting on the conclusion of this video discussing different critical lenses that can be used to analyze subjects like Taylor Swift and her career. If you want a better understanding of it, you should probably watch the video all the way through. I'm not trying to sound intellectual, I'm just giving my thoughts.
@@TheBibirulz I did watch the whole thing. But I'm left really confused. He uses a lot of jargon that I'm not familiar with. So sadly I'm not sure what the overall message was supposed to be.
You have somehow detangled all my plasmoid thoughts and feelings towards Taylor and also my existential dread and added citations and references. I am glad being a Swiftie led me to discover your channel
literally. i know there's problems, but which celebrity doesn't have them? that's not an excuse tho.... but also, should i really stop listening to music to feel morally above others? it's not that easy lol
1:03:00 “and while I may not be a music historian, I am autistic.” Get this man a musicology degree ASAP!! I teach music history in Florida, and I’m adding this video essay in my class playlist. The segment on rockism, popism, and the Beatles was AMAZING and incredibly well researched!!
yooooo now i wanna see this class playlist!!!! this sounds like a really cool thing and i love learning more about music history + pop music's evaluation
Your examination of Taylor Swift's career is excellent, but I want to take a moment to highlight the lines that made me laugh: "To get to the bottom of this queen of bottoms" "with its immediately-dated graphic design" (I've seen Swifties lament how there's no way the rerecording will have a similarly dated graphic design) "this French name I hope to pronounce one day" "she put crack in the bridge of All Too Well" "When I was 9, I wanted to be a political lobbyist for the oil industry." "I didn't know the French were bisexual about their vowels, too!"
“When I was 9, I wanted to be a political lobbyist for the oil industry” feels like a line would seriously say in Riverdale to justify how cartoonishly capitalistically evil one character is, based off of “I had to drop out of school at 10 (to become a drug courier) to support my family”.
Great video as ever! To add to your poptivism/rockism section: following the release of 1989, Ryan Adams recorded and released a track-by-track cover album of the whole record. He just re-recorded the whole thing les than a year after the original had been released. And I guess it was mildly more guitar-y and melancholic than the original but the whole project felt bound up in this idea that rock-adjacent music performed by men with guitars is intrinsically better and more sophisticated than pop music performed by women. Of course, like most melancholic acoustic covers of pop songs, it was actually just kinda artistically boring.
Holy shit, I just searched him on Google and the first thing I found was how he took advantage of young women by luring them in with the promise of advancement in their music career. Am I surprised? Unfortunately no.
this is one of the most uplifting and hopeful video essays i e watched in a long time. i am both a taylor swift fan and a leftist, so i can safely say that any video about her i am incredibly skeptical of because a) sometimes it’s god-like worship that is just creepy and weird and b) sometimes it is just such misogynistic crap, so i was so fucking impressed to see not only a nuanced video on her, but also a video that transcended her and did what video essays should do in my opinion, which is question society in a Productive Way that encourages us to move beyond critique and into reimagining. because without reimagining, then what the fuck are we going to do?
@anorakquest4004 You can dislike her and you can absolutely disagree with what she does, but music is subjective and always has been. I like her music but I disagree with a lot of stuff she does (her contributions to carbon emissions being one). It's depressing to see such a brain-dead comment under such a wonderful video essay, but I geuss idiots like you can be found everywhere. Good luck with life I geuss.
Some concepts I think are related to the popularity of Taylor Swift: the concept of "a girl's girl, " the hatred of "not like other girls," the way millennial women are aging into a lucrative purchasing demographic as they climb the corporate ladder, the delay of adulthood caused by economic stagnation. I feel like she is the nexus point where all these concepts converge; where feminism goes to to reconcile its economic ambition, where financially comfortable women feel that the mere act of purchasing products from another woman is an act of solidarity, where women police the actions of other women under the guise of feminism. What I've seen from observing the uncritical adoration of Swift is that these preoccupations plague the mind of the hyper-aware online neoliberal woman, the woman who wants to revel in her victimhood under the patriarchy while ignoring the hierarchy of class and race that allows her to exploit others. Swift offers this beacon of normalcy to a lot of women, mostly white, who feel distressed about the expectations of them in the 21st century: for example, how can one be an "ally" whilst also not wanting the fabric of society to fundamentally change? Look to Taylor: just vote! I don't think Swift represents a new mode of feminity, rather I believe she is an anachronism and symbol of tradition that provides the white neoliberal subject a form of safe stability. Well, if you read all that, thank you!
"The woman who wants to revel in her victimhood under the patriarchy while ignoring the hierarchy of class and race that allows her to exploit others." It's so true. Taylor is heralded as the ultimate feminist, while her exploitation is ignored. Any criticism against her/her fanbase is dismissed as internalized misogyny or misogyny.
The repair section is crazy, insane how you so thoroughly explain so many intersectional contemporary social phenomena through talking about Swift, but so relevant & I hope everyone in the world watches this
I don’t know if you will ever see this content, but congratu-fucking-lations on making probably one of the best, most well-rounded, hilarious, most deeply researched video essays I’ve ever seen. I’ve been a Swiftie since I was around 10 and she has been with me as I’ve realized I was queer, dealt with understanding my own identity, and better understand the world around me. I might not agree with her at all times, but she’s always going to carry a special part of my heart because of it. Thank you for making a video that allows the space to be critical of her while also holding space to appreciate how her music and songwriting has impacted our lives deeply. You did it. You said something about Taylor Swift that literally hasn’t been said. This is a video essay I will be ABSOLUTELY RECOMMENDING, Swiftie or not
This was a brilliant essay! I've never understood how i could know so much about Taylor without being a fan. How do I know many of her songs? Why do many of them bring me to tears and make me remember times of my life? Like you said, she, herself, her brand, is part of our culture, whether we want to acknowledge that or not. Personally, i've enjoyed how you not only created a well structured narrative, did an extensive research and crafted a detailed critique but also framed the video from a human point of view, with respect and understanding for the person behind the persona and the fans. Loved it. Thank you for this massive effort!
You know what? I was thinking exactly that. At some point I even imagined how she would react to it, lol. I don't think she would take too kindly to it, if it was about me I certainly would resist it, but it's definitely a must watch for her.
@@stillfangirlingtoday1468i dont think she would take It as an insult this video is mostly positive and Taylor is the Queen of self- hate there is nothing here worst that what she thinks and writes about herself
I think she would merely be surprised in a good way that she has this impact and is talented. She would certainly not acknowledge her particular privileges and how she has not been the best at using that privilege, however, beyond saying “she supports feminist causes”.
There's a chance she at least caught wind of it because Alex said she put crack in the bridge of "All Too Well" and then she released a (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) song stating, "Put narcotics into all of my songs / And that's why you're still singing along."
As an avid lover of music, I was so interested to learn the poptimism vs rockism argument! I have never heard either of those terms before, and it reflects some of the views I have had of pop music for a long time. What is typically considered pop has never been my personal preference, but I’ve always seen the value in it and always admired the way pop writers were able to tap into a formula that made for the catchiest and most danceable songs
His explanation of Rockivist vs popivist is one-sided. Rockers hate pop music for the same reasons he criticised the music industry at the beginning of the video. The fact that is mostly artificial and geared toward selling an image/gimmick over authentic art. This is why rockers call it "selling out", comprising your initial artistic integrity to sell records and yourself as a product. You're seeing the same thing with hip hop , which is why many of them hate pop music as well. It was an art form built on telling real stories and exploring unorthodox world views through poetry. Now that hip hop is so mainstream ,being rapper means being an wannabe reality star to sell an image for the music industry. I'm not saying representation isn't an issue. I just find it disingenuous to dismiss those critiques just because they're being made by "sad white men". When he acknowledges and agrees with them at the beginning of the video.
It's also a reductionist view of rock music and why it may appeal to a specific type of person. Rock music is vast and touches on a vast array of themes and topics that isn't exclusively for "sad white men". Same with rap. It's just that when they're "popified" a lot of that gets diluted.
Do I want to watch a two and a half hour video about Taylor swift? No. Do I want to watch an autistic trans person talk for hours and hours about literally anything they'd like? HELL YEAH BROTHER LETS GET IT ON.
@@dyskos well given that it’s about taylor swift if you really would rather avoid her probably don’t watch it but if you don’t mind learning about her and want an interesting sociological lens on her impact then go right ahead
I do agree that The Beatles’ popularity over other musicians of color due to whiteness. I’m really glad you covered the historical significance of black artists who created rock n roll! I don’t know if I agree it’s because they incorporated the classical western music tradition, I think it just has more to do with cultural perception of white people. The Beatles incorporated lots of multicultural instruments/musical elements, probably more than classical.
i agree with his overall point about the beatles as well, but that also irked me the same way. he points out how they incorporated western orchestration on sgt. peppers and revolver, but leaves out the songs where they bring in eastern influence, like “love you to” and “within you without you”. that could also bring up a whole conversation about appropriation, though.
"due to whiteness"??? were there any black artists (or of any colour) that were doing anything close to rubber soul, revolver and sgt. peppers? They were innovators. You could easily apply that to Elvis, but not the Beatles.
@@marianat1393 not that i know of! honestly the more i think about his points the more i disagree. i think the beatles HELPED make rock and roll white, but it was already happening when they were still teens. elvis, buddy holly, jerry lee lewis… etc.
This was a beautiful video essay. Made me cry? I was a big swift fan in middle school and then fell off. As my politics grew I became frustrated with her. These days I get frustrated because I want people to support queer artists instead of twisting a straight artist's words to match them. This video helped me see that act through a different lense. It reminded me that as a young closeted queer person I used one of her songs to imagine a gay wedding I might have someday. As a sometimes cynical paranoid reader it would help me to balance out with some repairative reading like I used to. Thanks for the thoughts!
See , the thing about Taylor Swift is- she's walking the line. Excellently. She is privileged and it helped kick-start her career. But she also is incredibly driven and put in very real work behind the things she made. It's not glazed-eyed 'I'm successful now, so I can mentally check-out and still keep doing this.' music. She's legitimately creative and is working hard to channel that into making not only good products, but also products that are different and ambitious for her. She's always been very, very involved in all aspects of her career including the marketing and business sides of it, so nothing is ever by accident with what she puts out and how she appears to be. But she's also being herself. Zany millennial is a persona she cultivates as seen in Shake It Off, but having seen many interviews, she's also kind of a goof in real life. Playing it up for the cameras is one thing, but unless I want to be incredibly cynical, I have to say something is, in fact, intrinsically 'zany' about her. She latches onto pop culture moments excellently. But pop culture is also a nebulous thing surrounding all of us, including her. It happens to her, and she responds in a way that the final product is curated BUT also honest. This is why she can BE the mastermind, but then also write the lyrics you showed- she can confess that she is one. She can confess to being a 'covert narcissist', a 'pathological people-pleaser'. She can confess to being an anti-hero. (Also, I write, I get inspired by my own experiences, so I also at least a little bit understand how her songwriting works- she can talk about her experiences in her songs but also embellish and polish and mix actual incidents and inspirations to fit into the STORY she wants to tell. It's often not meant to be taken 100% literally.) I am from a small South Asian country. I've been living in the US for the last five years, but I've been a fan of Taylor's music since long before that. And it was really just the music and lyrics, because I had nothing else. I had limited access to internet both in terms of time and of data around 2008-2009, so I wasn't streaming videos, or even browsing social media. I was just getting into English-language music, and was downloading anything that I could find on pirated sites. I came across a lot of artists. Often I didn't even know what they looked like. But if I liked something by an artist, I tried to keep up with their music later. And now, in 2023, I can say Taylor is the only one who I still regularly listen to, because I like the music, and because I always relate to the lyrics. It never mattered if she represented the lovestruck teen or capitalist girlboss, if her image has always been 'intrinsically white vanilla'. I would be long gone if what I was hearing on the album wasn't good. I wouldn't still be here if I didn't see the Shake It Off video months after it came out (still not 'youtubing' much at that time), nodded absently, and thought how I was also that clumsy and love plain black clothing. And that's all I ask for from a musician- relatable music that I like. (I know my experiences alone don't inform the larger, very valid cultural discussion going on in this video. Still, I thought my POV could offer something a bit different.) This video says a lot of things I already think about Taylor, including stuff I mention above, and including how her life has become a narrative product to enjoy which boosts interest in the art she actively makes, and how the image-curating is sometimes obvious (the virtue-signaling in her documentary... I don't disbelieve she felt strongly about issues she talked about, but I also don't think these things are in the forefront of her mind or life as the documentary would have us believe). But one thing the video doesn't mention but that is crucial to the phenomenon of Taylor is her relationship with her fans. From Day 1 (you know, the myspace days), she has chosen to go the extra mile for the people who support her. Talking to them on myspace, interacting with them on tumblr, twitter, and tiktok, sending them gifts and donations, showing up at their weddings, inviting them to her houses, shows, and after-shows (essentially, free meet-and-greets). No other celebrity even half as big her does this. And she doesn't HAVE to either. But she does. It may be a strategy, it may be what she needs to do to feel loved and validated, it may be genuine gratitude. But the bottom line is- the reason her fanbase is so loyal, and feels so close to her is because she has always shown up for them, on the same level. Reputation wasn't a critical success, and after such negative publicity in 2015-16, fans could have just fallen off by 2018. The reason she was able to come back, and more importantly, to have a super-successful tour based on an album that even some fans felt conflicted about, was because her treatment of her fans had paid dividends, and they stayed for her. I sometimes write to think through stuff, so even though no one's going to read this longass comment, I don't regret writing it lol. You made a good video, thank you.
i read your long-ass comment! and loved it, and agree whole-heartedly! i really value hearing these kinds of perspectives from fellow swifties who are not the prototypical white american fan and view her art from a more critical, but still-appreciative lens, so thank you for sharing ❤️
Agreed ! One thing I also want to add as someone whose native language isn't english is that her lyrics really made me expand my vocabulary, the references she occasionally puts made me more curious about different types of literature, and the play of words she adores putting in many songs helped me learn how flexible english is!
I imagine it will be about Taylor Swift in the same way that the queer baiting video was about Harry Styles... which is to say, the celebrity is a good cultural touchstone through which we can lay out a current problem in society and go into philosophical concepts surrounding it.
I was a true swiftie until recently, and I've replayed this video no less than 14 times. I've been breaking it down line by line and it's just so well done. This is museum quality work and I am in love with you. Fabulously executed
@@xfreja I figure they were asking because the op didn't make it at all clear why they are no longer a swiftie, not necessarily because the reply was meant to imply there's something wrong with that.
Augh the nostalgia is hitting me like a truck. I stopped listening to Swift as I got older, but as a preteen I was obsessed with her music. I did not have a good or pleasant childhood, and I was always pulled between the parts of myself that were extremely jaded and mature due to trauma and childishly naive due to my autism. I didn't get to experience any of the fantasy Swift built around the teen experience, but the IDEA that it existed at all and could exist for me gave me comfort somehow.
Same. I'm 25 and have never had a romantic relationship with men. I just loved listening to what was basically a romance novel delivered in a catchy tune. She made me love the English language and poetry at eleven, although she's not the only factor, it definitely propelled me further into creative writing.
I think I definitely also went through the same thing you did, but there was also a good bit of like wishing that I had more feminine guidance in my last. Like she was the older sister who I never had. I feel like both of my parents were kinda emotionally distant because they were both basically stumbling around in the dark trying to figure out how to best “handle” my autism diagnosis. But then in 2006, poof! One 17 year old big sister
As someone who had to grow up very fast and didn't have a great childhood, the song "Fifteen" still resonates with me a lot. You can be going through harder things while still going through the regular tribulations of being a teenager and growing up.
The thing about the universal experience in Taylor Swift is that the way she writes not only speaks to those who have lived similar experiences, but it also makes you feel like you lived it. I am an autistic girl, my father had paranoic personality disorder and severe depression which got him admitted in to mental hospital. After that, he suffered a car accident which almost got him killed(he is alive). I grew up fast, I didnt got to really be a teenager. I was never stupid and in love. I was severly depressed, suffering bullying, and trying to be strong. But as an adult, I love to listen to her early albums, bc they make me feel like I never felt in my teenage years, they make me feel like Im young and naive, it feels like a stupid way to bring a feeling that was stolen
I completely understand you. I share this feeling too. I spent my teenage years depressed and suicidal because of my circumstances and undiagnosed ADHD. I have never been in love, but I fantasize about it. Taylors songs make me feel like Im not contained by my circumstances anymore.
@@moon8520 yes, you described it perfectly! Sometimes all we need is to feel like we are not limited by our circumstances, like if nothing wrong ever happened
This is what I wanted yo say!! Her songs are about “normal teenage struggles”, the ones we d have if we had a kind of healthy growing up, if we had the chance. Growing up and beinf a teenager is hard either way, but sometimes we dont even get to have its hard times of growing up cause we had to grow so fast, so she kind of represents a good sweet side of it, which as you said makes you feel like you experience it too!
This was brilliant! Really appreciate the fair and balanced critiques & analysis while not stooping to misogyny. I've never been able to get into her music, but we all live in this world and have thus been impacted by her, so I still found this fascinating. And this was refreshing after the whole JS crash this week - this reminds me of what a great (and non-misogynistic) video essay can do.
I really love the part where you touch on Paranoid Readings of media. That was a really popular phenomenon in the 2010s, and while it was helpful, it also was overwhelmingly depressing and exhausting. I think being critical of media is useful, but if it's the only way we interact with the world around us it leads to emotional burnout. But striking that balance between being critical and socially aware, while also realizing we live an imperfect world full of imperfect media, is difficult.
As a queer person who doesn’t like Taylor Swift but who did listen to her in junior high, the last section of the video was very impactful. I certainly didn’t expect to be hooked on a 3 hour video about tswift today. Thank you for your key cultural insights and an interesting lens through which to view an aspect of my formative years.
I’ve been a Taylor Swift fan since I was a kid. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how exactly she rose to such incomprehensible fame, and how she both influences and reflects society. But you put everything into words, integrated other perspectives I didn’t even think of, and you did so respectfully.
Just one moment buried deep in this essay, I wanted to call attention to your description of not really liking "Shake It Off" but kind of liking it because it's just been there, and it's a perfectly fine song. I've felt this kind of ambivalence toward so many songs in my life, but never met anybody else who seemed to experience songs that way so that description really resonated with me.
You should look up the exposure effect in music. What he's describing (and I think you might be as well) is a well-documented concept about how we grow to like songs simply through hearing them repeatedly. It's also a super interesting aspect of the modern music industry.
I'll admit- I was nervous to watch this video. I'm a pretty large TSwift fan, and while I disagree with the pedestal that so so many fans put her on, I often find myself protective of the idea of her. Of the idea of liking her, enjoying her music, connecting with her brand. Especially in leftist spaces when I feel that critique is boiled down to "And that's why you're an idiot if you like her." We live in an age as you said where critique rules the online leftist spaces, and rightfully so, but it has often come to the point where I find it difficult to proudly discuss the things that comfort me outside of the small group of friends I feel comfortable with. It's difficult, knowing that something that brings you joy has rightfully discussed flaws in an age where it feels as if anything and everything is one step from being torn down. This video was such a beautiful amalgamation of my feelings towards her, both my heavy critique of the industry and what her brand is and has (even if not her intention) resulted in, and the way her music defines me. Engaging in media is so difficult as so much is tainted with the idea that it must be perfect or it must be corrupt. This is such an excellent discussion of both the deep profound connection her brand and music creates while also breaking apart the systemic issues that surround it. Absolutely brilliant.
Same, I was scared watching the video but every point he makes is spot-on, and the conclusion especially touched me. How the way Swift has grown over the years, representing different periods of time and matching her persona to be as timely and as popular as possible - reflects on me individually and how I experienced the world in that time. Being born in 2003, and her starting her music career the same year... gives me some kind of connection to the music that feels special -- Even if it's the least special experience in the world to be a fan of her music.
@@imawakemymindisalive13 if you, as a leftist, don't particularly like this one specific woman, you must actually just hate all women? like whichever celebrities and listen to whatever music you want, but for the love of god, people are not defined by their media consumption. if leftists call you an idiot for liking taylor swift, that's dumb. If someone calls you a misogynist for not liking taylor swift, that's also dumb.
To be honest, I'm not at all a fan of Swift. But I do get where you're coming from. I was a massive fan of the game Psychonauts and the company that produced it and other games I enjoy. When they announced the sequel, I was really excited and posted about it on a Discord server full of my online leftist friends. The first thing anyone said was to basically roll their eyes and talk about the financial mishandlings the CEO had done. I wanted to talk about something I really liked and was passionate about, and the first reaction I got was basically telling me that I shouldn't enjoy things. I am not a fan of the company's mishandling of finances, but I just really wanted to be excited about something. I don't enjoy how some people (myself included) feel the need to critique things when sometimes people just want to be able to enjoy something. Which is not to say we shouldn't ever critique things nor think critically about the media we consume, but there's a time and place and often we're just looking for a way to feel superior or look down on others for their interests. Turns out Psychonauts 2 was my favourite game to come out that year. It meant a lot to someone who has suffered from mental illness as far back as they can remember. It meant a lot to see how the series matured with its handling of its subject matter. It meant a lot to me with how it portrayed things like grief, depression, anxiety, and PTSD. I just wanted to share something I liked and was important to me. I didn't want to be essentially shamed for liking something made by a studio that has some issues (especially when those issues are quite minor when compared to the rest of the industry).
you encapsulated this so well, i am a VERY casual t swift fan aka i basically know the popular ones and nothing else, defended her against my roommates who were saying they hated her and while i felt guilty for doing so to someone who clearly doesn’t need my help and is a billionaire it still felt weird as the only girl in the room idk
I'm Indian, 22. In a long distance relationship, have never kissed or had sex, or touched a boy apart from handshakes. But I've felt love, hurt, lust all of that. It doesn't comprise of whirl wind romances, or flying to New York, or having any of those experiences. None of my life experiences really relate to her life as such. But I love her music, just as an experience. It's like Barbie for adults. It's great marketing, it's like an adventure park. It's a person writing, feeling and sharing. It's like reality tv but not trashy.
I'm also Indian and I agree with you. I often hear people say that she only makes music for white girls/women who can relate with her and while this might be true but for me, I don't listen to any music(not just her but literally any music from any artist) for the factor of it being 'relatable'. I have cried to a lot of her songs but not because I found them relatable, I'm only an Indian student who happens to have very different issues than the issues that Taylor's music deals with. But her songs never fail to make me feel things even if those never happened with me. It's like she tells stories in such a way that I can imagine myself in her place and feel those exact particular emotions. As if she puts me into her shoes and then I am experiencing everything. I am really grateful for her songwriting and I also admire her as a businesswoman and a great marketer. I have been a fan since 2018 and love the kind of universe that she has cultivated even if I don't care much about her personal life. There are stuffs about her that I find a bit problematic but her music has been a huge part of my life
I'm more waiting for "This Video Isn't Just About Taylor Swift. It's About You. (Ten Hour Version) (Alexander's Version) (From the Vault) (Sad Boy Winter Version) (Recorded at Long Pond Studios)"
I've still got about 45 minutes to get through of this video, but it's so beautiful to see this topic delved into with such nuance and care. I'm an avid fan of Swift's music but have found myself quite disillusioned with the fanbase and the image she's constructed; this discussion is fantastic because it acknowledges her artistry along with the calculations she's taken to craft her image, without the lazy rhetoric often pushed onto the conversations about her. More importantly, it balances this in its crucial historical context. Thank you for this!
Wow, this documentary really hit home as a 97 baby. The way you talk about life and the world just really resonates with me. Personally I don't consider myself a Taylor Swift fan but also I tend to not understand people's obsessions with celebrities in general as a self diagnosed autistic. My best friend is a swiftie though and I support it because of the deep joy it brings her, your video essay pointing out the connections Taylor Swift has to society and american culture made me realize how much she is a part of everyone who grew up knowing her existence. I was raised on country music and remember being a tween who loved Taylor's early work, I even convinced my mom to buy me a copy of the Speak Now album on CD when I was in middle school. Then I rejected Taylor Swift when she released the Red album because it went outside of my country music bubble, it's wild looking back now and seeing how much has changed and the journey I've been on reflected in Taylor Swift. Now I listen to her casually but after watching your video, I'm inspired to sit down and listen to her with a different perspective and really focus on the emotions that come out. I'm a watercolor artist and I'm hoping to take parts of this and explore through my own medium the thoughts and feelings they evoke. My plan or goal is to make 2024 my year for more personal artworks with deep and raw expression, to actually use my voice. The voice that was taken from me at an early age, the voice I'm just starting to use as a 26 year old. Thank you for this, even if you never read it, thank you.
This video is so well rounded- I’ve had issues with Taylor Swift for a while, but have been able to acknowledge her better attributes. This essay is critical yet gives credit where it is due. Brilliantly done!
this video was incredible, thank you. i was never a taylor switft fan, but the ending where you talked about 'reparative readings' really reminded me of the way that i think about harry potter as a queer, trans person these days. its so hard to acknowledge the fact that it was a huge part of my life for so many years, and that now it is a part of me, and i cant do anything about it. i still enjoy thinking about it and engaging with it, but cannot bring myself to put money or promotion towards it. i want to stop feeling this horrible guilt and sadness, and move towards something joyous, to reclaim it. i dont know. i dont have answers but i might go and read 'touching feeling' ! :)
This is exactly how I feel about it!! I think what a lot of people have done is just joining the marauders fandom and completely distancing themselves from the original canon
30 minutes in and loving it. It would be interesting to see the same analysis of Beyonce. I feel like a lot of the analysis you've applied to Swift could be applied to her. That's probably because you generally have to have certain advantages in order to be successful in the entertainment business and some of the crucial one, like your level of conventional attractiveness and how much money your parents have, are not anything you have influence over. So if you are selling your story, of course it's going to be all about how hard you work and how much you've overcome, etc...
This video helped me put my finger on some of the conflicted feelings ive had about Taylor over the years - specifically her turn to political activism. I do like her music and i have always admired her ability to play this industry/Business like her guitar. This video was phenomenal. I learned a lot and I'll definitely pass it on to some of my Swifty friends.
'she's not like other girls, but she's just like you' MAN does this get to the heart of her appeal, at least to me & the girls i knew at that age. but also to the heart of how constructed that image is. i loved her music back then, i remember watching the goddamn 'love story' music video on repeat, something about her aesthetics and her sensibilities and the relatability but also fairytale quality of it all... i stopped listening as we both aged (and as i discovered that. i'm not a girl lmao) but those days do hold a special kind of nostalgia for me (also in retrospect. hm. i think i found her very hot and didn't quite know how to deal with that as a 'straight girl' sdfgkjh)
As a queer leftist whose special interest is Taylor Swift, I have very complicated feelings towards Taylor Swift The Brand. This video was INCREDIBLE at voicing a lot of my internal thoughts. She seems to spend all of her time and energy towards amassing as much power and social capital as possible, and all she does with it is use it to amass even MORE power and social capital. And of course, this all benefits the white power structures that already exist. However, I don't think she does any of this with malicious intent. And I truly cannot stop myself from listening to her entire discography 24/7.
The early white feminists weren't malicious in focusing on them getting the vote over freeing the slaves either. They genuinely thought they helped Black folks more by focusing on their own needs just as they had no malic in trying to not allow Sojourner Truth to speak. Malice isn't needed to allow the status quo to continue to beat down the oppressed.
@@dermaspaceSC I totally agree. Even if there's no malice, Taylor allowed her fanbase to doxx, send death threats, and harass people - including racist remarks against a child actor of color. She never challenged them. She polluted more with private jets than any other celebrity and refused to take accountability. Self-preservation and selfishness can be as bad as malice.
Having been an edgy hipster in the late aughts, I subscribed for years to this idea that rock music was somehow superior to the pop and hip hop my peers listened to. "This pop artist doesn't even write their own songs!" "Hip hop lyrics are superficial!" etc etc. I eventually realized how rooted in racism that line of thinking was, but I'd never heard of the "rockism vs. poptimism" discourse, much less the history behind it. It was so illuminating to learn where this huge part of my teenage worldview came from and to watch you trace the ebb and flow of this discourse, especially throughout the aughts and 2010s (which mirrors the timeline during which I first internalized that idea and eventually began to challenge it). Thanks for reminding me I'm not as disconnected from the dominant culture as I sometimes like to believe 😅
i had an edgy hipster phase, but it’s just cuz i liked electric guitar 😭😭 to this day i believe that most of taylor’s songs that don’t already have it would sound better with it. look what you made me do? hits different? say don’t go? those would be BANGERS as rock versions!!!
I definitely feel that, while I leaned more to folk/classical and a bit of rock, I was an absolute asshole as a teen about both pop and hip hip. And to be honest, I still tend to struggle to connect with both genres musically, but I feel like this essay helped me see how much of those old resentments are wrapped up in little me, as a cranky, closeted ace hard rejecting anybody who got held up as a pinnacle of desirabliity. Even if I went out of my way to *not* know about pop stars, it was all based on how I'd absorbed that brand.
the part at the end, about repairative readings really reminds me of something i personally find important when talking about analysis. that you can be critical of something and still love it. you can be aware that it's imperfect, a product of our culture (for good or bad), and still take joy from it. i think it's important that people be more nuanced in how we relate to, consume or utilize "problematic" stuff/people/products.
As a Black teenage gay boy in Oklahoma City, I started dabbling in Taylor's music ever since I was in 9th grade and her first album had just been released. For real, I listened to Tear Drops On My Guitar as a 14 year old and cried real tears lol. My support for her as a pop star/symbol/cultural moment stopped definitively though when she released the Shake It Off video, which was around the same time I stopped listening to Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus for similar reasons. I didn't need to read sociologists to understand that people like me were being positioned as exotic or other in that video. Swift was natural and authentic and relatable in her own zany way, while we were cartoonish, sexualized exaggerations. White pop stars build their careers off simultaneously appropriating and mocking "urban" sounds, aesthetics, and styles, only to inevitably pivot back to whiter, less "pop" music later in a bid for credibility once they've raked in millions. No one's expecting Swift or Cyrus or Perry to apologize or anything, but those of us Black folks who are skeptical of these mainstream white artists tend to feel that way for a reason, although plenty among us are part of Swift's fandom too. And us Black folks have plenty of our own problematic, billionaire faves lol, so I think we can understand the Swift love haha. A lot of us black leftists and marxists have similar conversations about whether we should divest from Beyonce lol, but ultimately? Sometimes we need to just live in the moment and let ourselves enjoy the music. We're all living in the grey, and that's okay.
It's a tricky thing to explain in a youtube comment, but Dr. Janell Hobson cuts to the heart of things when she wrote: "When Taylor Swift deliberately positions her awkwardly dancing body in 'Shake It Off' as a way to defend her innocence against the constant slut-shaming she has experienced, she reifies her whiteness, her purity. Her rhythm-less dance moves distance her from the hyper-sexualized racial body in a way that positions her as somehow morally 'safe'. She also trafficks in white female stereotypes when she positions herself as a failed cheerleader and ballerina." I'll link an article below for more context, but in other words, she positions white women as relatable, quirky, and authentically human, all while reducing black and poc women to exotic, vulgar, and unintelligent beings, a binary that perpetuates white supremacist hierarchies of beauty, intelligence, purity, and value. Taylor literally crawls between a face-less black women's legs as she twerks and stares at her butt with a look of mockery and horror. This is the white gaze, and whether Taylor realizes it or not (she thinks she's celebrating unique forms of self-expression in a universal anthem of you-go-girl empowerment lol), it serves to build her own reputation as "not like the other girls" i.e. black hip hop stars and the white pop stars who copy them to endear herself to a racist white America. The irony here is that as mocks us, she also appropriates r&b and hip hop music in order to segue her career into mainstream pop stardom. Her success is built on simultaneously stealing from/copying and mocking/distancing herself from black people. More here: othersociologist.com/2014/08/22/taylor-swift-white-privilege-racism/
I couldn't agree with you more. When Taylor released you need to calm down it was very evident to me that she was pandering to the LGBT community to boost to record sales. I find it very suspect that Taylor all the sudden now wants to start checking for us and caring about us. Where was she at the beginning of her career when being LGBT of any part of the LGBT community wasn't cool. It's so easy for random celebrities to just swoop on in after the damage has been done because so much time has passed that being LGBT is so-called normal but where was Taylor in her fight for us back when it wasn't normal or even acceptable to stand up and support us?
this is one of the best video essays/documentaries ive ever seen and im not even joking. so thorough, so nuanced, so personal and im not even done yet. incredible job. keep up the wonderful work
It is extremely rare that I agree with nearly every single point made in a video, but I must say, that was most certainly the case with this one. You completely and utterly hit it out of the park and echoed my views on Taylor in almost every single aspect!! I am a fan of her music and love her songwriting and believe she absolutely deserves her success, however, I've never been a fan of how much she paints herself as an underdog when a lot of her success was possible due to her abundant amount of insane privilege (ie super emotionally and financially supportive parents, very little struggles/virtually no issues in her home life, being the embodiment of conventionally attractive/eurocentric beauty standard/whiteness etc). Thank you for this masterpiece of a video essay! And you achieved it all with such subtle yet savage humour all the way throghout! You've gained a subscriber in me 👏💕
I came from a background of abuse, have no familial support network, and survived some pretty bad financial situations. It does frustrate me how the wealthy present themselves as "self-made" when they aren't. It's a disservice to people like me. If you had advantages in life, you can't help that ... but at least be honest.
I don't think she has ever painted herself as an underdog....not in her lyrics or music videos and not in any of her interviews. So I'm not sure where you are getting this idea from?
i am a few years younger than her, and was in high school when her first album came out. i really liked her. i had just started learning guitar, i was very awkward/meek and that was part of her brand at the time. i learned like all of the songs off her first two albums on guitar, i still know all the words. i resented her music for quite some time between 2013 and 2022. i came around when i had a big epiphany that my resentment for upper classes doesnt have to manifest in me picking out individuals to villianize. just because i am hurt that other hard working musicians starve their whole lives and become 3x as good as she is (no hate to her, its her genre, not everyone has to be a genius) and still get no love doesn't make it HER specific fault. it actually marked a hUGE character growth when i was able to turn on taylor swift and be like ok yeah, i am enjoying this song. and that is ok. not everything has to fucking torture me lol
I had this exact same experience with her and her music at the exact time time frame-loving her to resenting her to realizing she’s just one person. being able to enjoy things without letting the black hole of the unfair world around it is such a hard but necessary step
thats comforting tbh... i guess that makes sense that it would be kind of normal for artists who take their work seriously to go through a period of resentment towards "idols" in their culture. i actually have zero desire to be in her position, it seems really hard. thats not the music career i want. when i truly accepted that i can have a fuffilling career in music where i become the best musician i can be and earn the respect of my peers without HAVING to become like swift - that was part of that epiphany, and its not only helped me have a healthy view of how i feel about her specifically, but how i feel about what makes an artist deserving of respect and the difference between that and fame. @@XxSukiDaisukiXx
@@seroquelchamberWe don't need to get into it here, but having resentment towards Swift for her multiple homes, jet usage during a global climate crisis, and holding billions of dollars is actually fine. Using a word like "villain" doesn't make these things more or less true.
hey alex could you maybe consider moving your notes/on-screen additions to a different part of the screen? when people use youtube subtitles they obscure your notes and I have to pause, rewind, turn the subtitles off, wait for the text to re-appear so I can read it, and then turn the titles back on quickly so I can make sure I don't miss anything. it would be awesome if your additional notes or text could be on top or on the sides? or just higher up?
At least on desktop, you can click and drag the subtitle bar to move it anywhere on the video, along with a lot of other settings in the subtitle options! I can't find anything like that for the mobile app though :(
as a lesbian swiftie, i have to say i teared up at the end hearing fellow queer people talk about their experiences with taylor’s music… just incredible, immediatly one of my favorite video essays of all time
Taylor fall deeply in love with the idea of a superstar from such an early age, it's so apparent in those teen clips, the idea of a superstar who everyone is crazy about. And she really achieved it for herself.
The ending oh I’m in shambles I’m lgbt and Taylor is one of my special interests and the way I literally became a swiftie was me coping with a really bad personal situation. She’s resonates with me a lot and as a trans guy she’s one of only avenues I still feel comfortable having a connection to femininity with❤in general taylor has helped me so much with dealing with negative emotions, situations, and later with empowerment. So many different musical moments I have associations to my own personal life with and she’s a huge part of my life. And of course like you said it’s important to criticize her, but I’m so happy you acknowledge how important she is for queer people
I like her music alot but she isn't the second coming of christ or anything. Her fanbase is so mean. When I saw the response from swifties on Meat canyons parody animation, oh lord. They were calling him such despicable things. I just felt so disgusted seeing the way they treat people.
@@grmgtSame. I got into her music at around Reputation. Recently, on the comments of the song “Tolerate It” I mentioned my interpretation of the song, and how it seemed like a song about not being accepted by your family. But somebody completely ripped on that, and said “no. It’s about being married to someone who doesn’t care.” Like, wow. People can’t even have their own interpretation of something? Those people are scary.
I do think in general, pop-fandoms can be really scary, especially as an outsider. What put me off with her fandoms was less general craziness (which can be basically expected, at least to a certain degree), it was more the extreme racism that I wasn't prepared for at all. The amount of fans of hers that are very comfortable with being openly racist, really surprised me when I first encountered her fans online. This doesn't have to mean it has anything to do with her as a person, but I really can't help but remember them when listening to a TS song now.
@@Reed5016 Your interpretation is valid no matter what anyone says. (But if you want a little more in your corner, if a Swiftie ever swings at you again for your interpretation of "tolerate it," tell them an evermore stan said you could have that interpretation. ;D )
Since Taylor (nor Alex until now) did not say her name: RIP Ana Benevides 💔 victim of climate injustice and the most absolute negligence in the name of profit.
@@anyperin4921 amigue, youtubers estão acostumades a incluir coisa de última hora. Nem precisava ser assim. Ele citou a morte na publi que fez, mas não no vídeo, que já é longo. Cinco minutos a mais ou a menos não fariam diferença pra ele, mas fazem para uma família enlutada e para o público :(
Here I am doing some Paranoid Readings™. The thing that epitomizes the narrative surrounding Taylor to me is the whole billionaire thing. Everyone is trash-talking billionaires (rightfully), assuming billionaires are immediately trash simply because they are billionaires, but the second Taylor fucking Swift becomes one, it’s “congratulations”, and “she deserves it”, and “she’s the moment.” I’ve been a Taylor Swift fan since 2012. I love this woman’s music to death, I’ve done the sleuthing for clues, I’ve grown up with her. But she’s not a god. She’s not exempt from criticism. She’s the culture as much as she has been counterculture, and you can like someone’s work without both infantalizing their knowledge of their wrongdoings and idolizating them by thinking every great thing they’ve ever been involved with must be the result of their Superior Brain™. I’m not discrediting her, but the way we currently talk about her reminds me of the cult surrounding the movie director, forgetting that movies (like music) are often collaborative processes. Yes, Taylor’s music does seem to be incredibly personal, she does most of the work in everything she puts out (including her own media persona and the meticulous planning that comes with it), and she is absolutely incredibly hardworking and talented. I know this. I’ve been here for a lot of it. But she’s not god, and I’ve seen this before - I’ve seen the ebb and flow of celebrity and the way our culture loves and hates them in equal measures. She will falter, and she will fall again. It’s inevitable in this circle. I don't doubt she’ll be back up, however, but the difference between Taylor Swift and other artists dealing with the same cycle is that she can get back up. Many can’t. I’m just tired of the cult surrounding certain celebrities, I guess.
It’s frustrating because you can’t say that she's a terrible person in the vein that most rich and famous people are, that she actively puts down people or engages in forms of active oppression or says hateful shit, but as someone else said, she's just committed herself to amassing social and cultural power that she simply uses to amass more. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to not interpret that critically, I just have a hard time trusting anyone who positions themselves to control or dictate society/culture, especially through a lens of their own (*very* privileged) lived experience.
I think some people hesitate when it comes to rich artists because most artists actually do, like, work? They contribute something; an actual something you can see or hear. When you make money by moving other money around it's easy to say, "this is bullshit because you're taking a pretend thing and making more pretend things." And usually in that movement of money you're actively hurting people in order to do it, which is bad. If you're making art, the most hurt you're doing is critiquing the powerful and if their feelings get hurt fuck them anyway, or the worse hurt your doing to someone personally is them saying your art sucks and is bad and you should feel bad because I don't like it for aesthetic purposes. You're right though in that no rich person is above criticism no matter how much pretend money they make. I can understand WHY people falter here, but having that understanding can help us help them understand why maybe people like Taylor Swift don't need kagillions of dollars no matter how much they work for it.
Unpopular opinion in this thread: I don't think it's rightful to hate billionaires for the "billionaire" -- it depends on how they became a billionaire. I'm a big fan of Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Taylor Swift. What I rightfully hate is executives who try to take as much money for themselves as possible (and I hate many of the billionaires for this reason, but not for them just being a billionaire), while they try to set non-executive salaries and wages as low as possible. And I rightfully hate specific politicians voting (1) to set the tax code to allow enormous accumulation of wealth, and (2) to underfund the IRS auditors of people with high gross incomes. I find rich people donating to their favorite charities and nonprofits largely distasteful -- I'd much rather have the high income earners pay more in taxes and use the taxes to increase the social safety net, implement Medicare-for-all, etc. I think the way to fix what I hate would be politicians passing a more progressive tax code. And that would probably require anti-gerrymandering laws, ranked choice voting, equal time for political pundits on different sides of an issue, truth in pundits, public funding of elections, ....
I think this is genuinely one of the best essays ive ever experienced like I was crying tears of joy at the end of this. I started watching this video since the like presence of Taylor Swift is quite interesting. I had no idea that like the resolution to this video would such a beautiful look on how people exist and experience life with Taylor DSwift happening to be a part of that. The idea that Taylor Swift has now essentially become a whole concept in society now is so intersting as well. This has also made me actually want to listen to Taylor Swift too I hope I enjoy her stuff and like I'm not usually one for too much pop but like idk this video was nice. Also, I want to mention how the set up for the end in the intro was amazing too. The fact that it does set up a repsonse to the paranoia criticism with the search to touch grass. I think this is certainly something that will change my worldview at leat a little bit. I love how reparative reading is about loving something and enjoying what is there and like I just love people and how cultures thrive and are full of joy, emotion, experience, history and just humanity. It is amazing too how queer people continue to exist and have joys and pleasures and ups and downs and defiance and love and sadness and healing. I love how Taylor Swift as this cultural phenomenon can link so many people and be enjoyed by so many and just how much emotion there is in that. I'm 17, I'm trying to find my own sense of community and other trans women like me and there is just something so nice about hearing about mundanities and love and the sort and how queer people can interact with this and theres just like a hope in me for how much good there is in the world. I have been slowly finding people like me but like and I'm getting there at figuring out how to actually be friends even but like I'm figuring it out where I place in all of this and this video makes me just wanna try out so many new things and just be joyful. I'm gonna have a great fucking life and hell maybe Taylor Swift could be a part of that in some form too. Man, I love queer people.
First I agree that it’s so great to just appreciate something and see others appreciate something and love something. I think k it’s important to think critically about things but I also wish people would be more accepting of others experiences and connections to certain pieces of art. If you want to get into her music I’d try listening to a little bit from each album since she really does have some variation in style. My personal favorite albums are folklore and evermore since they feel the most intimate and artistic to me. Here are some songs I like personally that have some variation. Tied together with a smile, don’t blame me, death by a thousand cuts, seven, champagne problems, all too well 10 minute version, you’re on your own kid, dear John, and clean.
Taylor Swift has had a huge influence on my life. She inspired me to pursue a career in music (just not one in popular music), and she is the reason I fell in love with music as a child. Thank you, Alexander, for making this video that discusses Taylor Swift in a way that doesn’t deride her or her fans, but also doesn’t blindly praise her. This video was so respectful and interesting, and I’m happy I get to hear about my favorite artist, who has undoubtedly changed my life, while not sugarcoating or condemning her.
In my early teenage years, there was a girl who identified strongly with Taylor swift to the point that she would dress like her and get everyone to make the comparison. She was dating the most popular guy and could afford highlights. When I moved, there was another one. Like a weird carbon copy. I really feel like they stood for the kind of straight girl my family wished I would be. They were both very catty to me as well. I know it’s not Taylor’s fault, but I really do resent her for what she symbolizes to me. The rich, tall, straight girl who made fun of me for my short hair and glasses.
Dude I so get it. I always never understood the mania around loving or hating her, she herself never inspired any strong feelings in me, just felt like I couldn’t relate to her at all and her stuff was mostly boring. What did happen though was a negative association with the majority of girls that loved her that were usually pretty bitchy or fake at worst, and obnoxiously “quirky Disney princess” at best (the ones I knew). I also had short hair and wasn’t really accepted in any cliques other than some band nerds. Oh the irony that I’m a musician from Nashville and couldn’t relate lol the whole reason I’m an hour and a half through this video is I find our cultures response to her so much more interesting (I don’t hate her y’all fyi, apathy doesn’t mean I’m dissing her hard work) but yeah… weird associations were made 😂
its the white feminism for me. your view and experience is so valid, but its also just the fact that she dated a racist, perpetuates white feminism, and is an unethical rich person
Ironically, isn't taylor swift kind of like the antithesis to that? Like she framed herself as that awkward cat lady girl-next-door with millenial humor and being 'relatable'. If u watch her behind the scenes of look what you made me do music video, she always been a goofy person
That’s a shame you find that symbolism in her. She wasn’t popular at school nor dated the popular guy. People made fun of her and she had few friends. Perhaps you could see yourself in her and disliked that aspect that mirrored yours? It’s more common to dislike the things you see in others that you dislike about yourself, rather than for something you’re not, it’s very much a projection. Everyone has this instinct. When we grow emotionally and mentally and embrace these perceived “flaws”, we can begin to heal and we no longer project them onto others, resulting in healthier relationships. Please don’t be offended, I’m not trying to invalidate your experience, just looking at it from a different perspective. Whichever way you look at it, I’m sorry for what you went through.
Put this video in the Library of Congress istg I am not a Taylor Swift fan and find myself doing a lot of "critique" and trying to resist the seemingly inescapable gravitational pull she has on society at large right now. This video helped me UNDERSTAND. The last few sections... bravo to you. I will be buying a copy of Touching Feeling and getting down to the bottom of it all! Thank you for such a thoughtful, insightful, and timely piece of work.
"Beyond the music, you are also listening to a part of her life, a part of a grander personal lore that she's been building for years." - This is such an incredibly strong thesis for this video. 10/10 would watch for 2 hours worth of this again.
Something about Avila’s videos are so completely enrapturing to me. He has a very standard and static setup with the spotlight and plain wall but he still somehow makes me so completely engaged the entire video, he has a power to keep me watching that I haven’t found anywhere else.
i think part of the reason why taylor made it to #5 on my spotify wrapped this year is because she finally was writing about shit i related to. i have no interest listening to any music pre folklore. i'm almost a decade younger than her but her writing on folklore and evermore speak to a particular ache i felt as a black girl living in the us and going to a private, pwi my entire life. she's finally catching up to my development which i would say is the case with most millennial/gen z white women.
This is exactly my experience, folklore and Evermore had made me listen to her for first time, before that I had only heard black space maybe once or twice, American music wasn't popular where I live but her lyricsim in folklore Evermore converted me to Swiftie, then with her rerecording I m literally first time ever listening to her old albums ! N totally amazed by all this eras and asthetics, makes me wonder about folklore of her life, it's fucking brilliant
Girl thats a you problem. Taylor has always had deep cuts far better than what was on folkmore even in her previous albums. However shed market her albums w the big flashy poppy ones which makes sense cus she’d have never been this big today if not for them
I’m only 50 minutes in right now but as a former swiftie, especially one who’s listening habits are about 50/50 rock/pop, this is one of the best video essays I’ve ever seen so far
I don't listen to Taylor's music and yet I stayed the whole video. Is amazing the way you connect deep topics of social sciences and things like the development of a music star. Your work is amazing.
this is one of the longest video essays I've ever had the fortune to watch - and I will be reading that Beatles fanfic, thank you for feeding me such a tasty feast of content xx
The research and time that went into this video is incredible! UA-camrs really don’t get credit for the effort they put into scripting, directing and editing like film makers do and as a viewer I want to thank you for that quality. I didn’t know what to expect watching this but it totally blew me away. I didn’t know much about Taylor but seeing a breakdown of her career, artistry and persona from a political perspective made me understand her so much better. I’m so invested in pop culture and my gosh this video was not only appreciated but very informative. I’ve always wanted a career in the arts but I know I have to be mindful of how I come off as an “other” too because my art isn’t stand alone since it’s attached to me, a girl (soon to be woman) of colour. I’m not going to give up anytime soon but man, I wish this world wasn’t so hierarchical? Especially since my art comes from a very passionate and escapist place. I want to capture what I see in this life but how can I do that freely and ethically? Food for thought I guess.
I must say i fucking love the visible help you are giving each other (visible as in reading each others quotes in your videos). This will make community creation visible. I just love it.
actually crazy how you mentioned the zany in relation to Taylor swift’s appearance of authenticity in this video as i had just written about this in an essay!! It’s a really interesting subject and i feel like you could easily make a deep dive into this connection from the perspective of the desperation present in the zany and how Taylor highlights this not only in the shake it off music video, but in the “authenticity” she presents as a people pleaser. She openly states that she can be seen as an amalgamation of criticism and how it’s shaped her as a person and artist. This desperation to fill all the roles demanded of her reflects the consequences of contemporary neoliberal values but also something many women have experienced as they grow up and learn how to act and “present” themselves. this openness and acceptance of being seen as “boring”, or “out of place”, even as she’s grown up scrambling to fit everyones expectations, i feel definitely speaks to many women’s exhaustion in response to constantly being told ‘How to Woman’ as they’re being raised in a patriarchal society. As a consequence this zany disposition may be comforting to embrace and easier to digest for people instead of deeply considering all the racial and hierarchical biases fed to us from an early age. It’s ‘relatable’, ‘authentic’ and perhaps one of the reasons she’s hailed as a ‘feminist icon’ for many white people.
I, a 43 year old man, love Taylor swift. I found her when I was getting ready to leave my marriage. She has a reputation as the breakup queen, so I wanted to find my inner Taylor swift to find the courage to initiate the divorce. It totally worked, I gtfo. However, her reputation as breakup queen I think is a bit inaccurate. She’s a romantic, and sings way more love songs than breakup songs (I guess I should say _the persona she portrays to the public_ is that of a romantic) She helped me understand women better, understand my anxiously attached side better, and helped me believe that, in spite of everything, real love may be possible.
You are kidding me right 😂😂 ..... you did your ex a favor imo if taylor was your inspiration to leave your marriage. I suspect she inspires many to do the same. Love is not a feeling ....
@@Katrielible yes I did do my ex a favor. My love bucket was empty. She was married to someone who had no love left to give to her. She used it all up. She didn’t reciprocate, she was controlling and didn’t like me having any friends or even leaving the house. My job was to tend to her needs and hers alone, tending to my own was selfish. She needed something I couldn’t give her, so I left. You didn’t think I listened to Taylor swift and spontaneously decided to leave my marriage did you? lol
Good job on doing what had to be done, getting out of a relationship is an emotional and difficult thing that takes strength :)! I’m glad you seem to be doing better.
I feel proud to say that I learned more about Taylor Swift in this one video than in the rest of my 31 years on Earth combined. Ever since reading Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord, celebrity culture has not just bothered me, but actively REPULSED me
I'm older than you, and this is the most thought I've ever given Swift in my entire life. Also the most I've ever heard of her or even been exposed to her. I gave up on mainstream culture by 14 years old, and pop music even younger than that. If it were any other content creator, I would've scrolled on by and maybe even blocked the channel to make sure nothing similar ever showed up in my recommended again. But it's Alex, so I gave it a shot. I'm still not sure I'll be able to finish it, but it's really well done regardless.
Your final question...I think I need to think about it a bit more. My first reaction was "keep loving the art / artist" I somehow feel more validated in loving Taylor's music & Taylor as an artist without explicitly loving her as a person per se (which cannot be known from the outside).
I felt like you were reading my mind as it went on this emotional rollercoaster. I don't really listen to Taylor Swift but as someone who grew up woman-adjacent, white, and Mormon in a creative sphere, and taught that the best thing to be was "good" in the eyes of god and everyone, I connected deeply with Taylor's need to be seen as "good", and it frustrates me to no end that I feel that way. Deconstructing the religious culture of my childhood, the social structure of my country and whiteness and what it even means for me to be a "woman" in social roles while not feeling like I really am one... It's exhausting. I sometimes wonder if I'll keep deconstructing my insides until there's nothing left because it's all ancient patriarchal rot? But, at the heart of that is paranoia, isn't it? A paranoid need to be seen as good, dig everything out hoping there's some stable foundation in there someone. I've never heard of Reparative Reading but I want to learn more about it. If it's possible for me to see those systems that were never designed to sustain and actively hurt me and others, mormonism, whiteness, etc, and reparatively "affirm, create, and care", what might happen next? How do I do that with the pieces of the cultures that are a part of me, though I don't really want them anymore? Affirming, creating, and caring sound very healing. It's probably one of the reasons I've found a home in online queer spaces after leaving mornonism. There's so much care and creativity there. Thank you Alexander for this video, it's given me a lot to think about. Going to check out "Touching, Feeling" when I can!
Break through the algorithm by using my link ground.news/alexanderavila to stay informed on breaking news, compare coverage and avoid misleading media narratives for as little as $1/month for their pro plan or for a limited time receive 30% off the Vantage plan to receive unlimited access to all the best features such as the Blindspot Feed.
Thank you for sharing our mission Alexander!
If anyone's interested in getting the full picture of issues like the one in this video, check out the link in the description and let us know if you have any questions.
Ok i did
Love your videos, they're always so well made and thoughtful but you slipped on this one. You shouldn't have mentioned Ana Benevides' death in an advertisement whatsoever and not even discuss it anywhere else on this video. Especially when she has died by negligence in the name of obscene profit. I see the video isn't about this and it's ok, but you could have used literally any other news, like fact checking that Christ the Redeemer picture or whatever
This seems like a really interesting tool, I love the idea of it. Will def be checking it out
1:56:53
you were so brave for confessing to writing beatles fanfic unprompted
its not even the first time, his video on self diagnosis had a mention too…… hes braver than the marines, i tell you
he's plugged it a suspicious amount of times now lmao, i'm sure there's a link out there. i better go read it i'm sure it's lowkey incredible
the way ive known abt this since before he said it out loud because of that one destiel april fools video
beatles fanfic is like a staple of literature at this point
I didn't get up to that part in the video and assumed this was a joke comment. Didn't just confess. They highlighted the word count... Sensational.
My dad was a professional musician for about 60 years, and I remember hundreds of people commenting that he was such a great singer and multi-instrumentalist and they just couldn't understand why he wasn't rich and famous. They were genuinely puzzled why it would be hard to navigate the music business for a kid who was in and out of orphanages; who had eaten from trash cans when he didn't have luck begging for food door to door; who sincerely had almost no life experience outside of poverty and playing music for cash; who had no family connections; and who was brown.
Just unlucky I guess.
Yep, people ignore that swifts parents were already pretty wealthy when she was getting her start in music.
Yeah I'm very sure that 1. Taylor's exposure to wealth prior to fame helped mer make good choices with her money, and 2. Her family's connections to financial advisors who are legit and won't screw Taylor over and give great advice catapulted her into a businesswoman and a brand before a songwriter and entertainer
I mean if we are being real her, she's not an amazing singer. She's fine. Her music writing is fine, not exceptional. She can't dance by her own admittance. Her strengths are being marketable, having a phenomenal work ethic, and a great team behind her. Also, she never messes up, and keeps a lovable persona on display. She can do the bare minimum of advocating for a cause and people act like she's a revolutionary.
Does your dad have any music on spotify i'd like to give it a listen
@@angelaa7388 I think the writing part is where you are wrong. Sure, you could say she is not exceptional (what is honestly) but the writing is what keeps her distinguished from other main pop stars. Her catalogue truly has good writing, whether you like her or not, and aim evolvement.
if you're confortable sharing, could you say what his name was? i'm curious
“While I may not be a music historian, I *am* autistic.” has immediately entered my lexicon.
Unfortunately (for my friends), it's about to enter mine 😂
__φ(．．) mine too. it’s exactly what i needed
my life in a nutshell
'I might not be an actual (x), but I *am* autistic' good lord what a level-up phrase i am going to be using daily
Having autism is just as credible as having a phd
"Progressive activism doesn't sell. The aesthetic of it does." Important point!!
This whole thing will not last through the election. Just watch 🍿
And even the fact that the aesthetic of it sells is scuffed as hell.
I think it would be a good time for him to revisit the whole "queerbating" topic
How
Found Taylor's alt account guys
This is THE comprehensive Taylor Swift critique. It is thoughtful, it is expansive. It feels like you leave little signposts all over that could lead me to further study if I want, but you give me enough in the video itself to digest your ideas. In your slay era for real
Boringggggg. It was a snoozefest. He's just jealous that she's famous and worked her ass off. I bet this guy doesn't even know most of what came out of his mouth. I didn't. Just a bunch of liberal jargon
Ikr 💅
"She was born to be a brand." Now if that ain't the saddest most cyberpunk thing I've ever heard.
@@iantaakalla8180what is bro yapping about
literally in one of her country documentaries. The parents said they named her Taylor cause they thought it would look good on a business card.
It's like "corporations are people" but in reverse
@@maddybarnham yup. I was one of the very early people who worked with her on songwriting via back and forth videos on friggin Myspace. She reached out to anybody who had a following.
She dropped out at 12. She was basically pushed into music by her parents. They named her for marketability. They had her in a stylist's hands at 13. Abercrombie at 14-16. It actually made her well known enough to get a "prove it deal" from big machine.
She's 100 percent a plant. They walked her into it. I'll give them that. They pushed her slow. Teardrop could've been a monster but they limited that. They let her believe she's the primary idea person. She's not.
@@thequixoticangler3364wdym she dropped? School?
"Alright alright, let's do as good sociologists do... How is it racist?" - I literally choked laughing, thank you
For some reason I connected that to how people in my field have a tendency to label something they don't know as just a 'ritual' and that made me giggle
@@smoot9069could that field be archaeology/arts history 👀👀
@melowlw8638 yup, more specifically Egyptology^^
@@smoot9069If an archeologist didn’t know what 69-ing 9/10 is they’d call it ritual.
@@NA-AN nah cause it's such a good cop-out cause it's technically not wrong; anything could be a ritual if it's habitual lol
taylor swift was also the first american to work on the sonic franchise
She also worked hand in hand with Shigeru Miyamoto on Metroid Prime
Her mom is very proud
Her mother is very proud
I wonder how many guinness world records she has
@@maybeinanotherworld doesn't she mentions it on her iconic interview for mtv cribs?
Quick note: @7:15 while Mozart did ultimately end up composing for the court often (even geniuses gotta eat), it is not where his heart was. I have read the complete correspondences between Mozart and his father, translated from the code they wrote to each other in, and Mozart actually strongly resented being beholden to the court. Mozarts father would beg his son to come and complete the engagements to the court he had promised and Mozart would flippantly say, nah I think I’ll stay in France for a while. This came to a head where Mozart completely blew off a coronation ceremony, that his father ended up having to last minute compose for, costing Mozart the favor of the Viennese aristocracy.
Of course he was still well received wherever he went, but the Esterhazy house was done with him, which could have been a very very lucrative position for young Mozart. His father sacrificed much of his life to get Mozart that position.
So I would not count mozarts selling out on the scale of other 18th century composers. Mozart much much preferred to write opera for the masses. Comic operas and opera buffas. He enjoyed entertaining commoners. Not the aristocracy
This makes me sad for him and esp his father. I understand both sides and that's a lot of pain between the two. Ugh 😞
Omg, secret comrade Mozart?
"quick note" (no shade tho, super interesting!)
this is an amazing read! i’ll get into reading more of their lives and letters. i love hearing of “classic” media and their connection to regular people, such as how Francisco Goya really wanted to make certain paintings for himself and those who were afraid to point out political hypocrisy, and Shakespeare, who had experienced both majority aristocratic and majority peoples audiences.
if you like French rock music you should check out Mozart l'opéra rock
it's about Mozart and it's very fun. 2009 emo hair Mozart and Salieri.... Amazing music too.
I love the idea of video essayists having a groupchat and whenever someone needs a voiceover, tgey just send the text and then everyone else abandons their own essays and rushes to help
V funny image, tho it's more likely that they're twitter mutuals and so they just send a DM asking if the person can do a voice-over for them
Kind of like the dress historians do?
I was just thinking about this
Have they established rules for doing voiceovers, such as speed or sound quality?
Do some people help eachother out more often, or does anyone who has time do voiceovers
one of my favorite things about the video essayist (dare i say) "community" is listening through video essays and getting to be like, "hey! i recognize them! i know that voice!" idk how it got to be like this, but i enjoy it all the same
My favorite voiceover choice is when a pair of people who have drama online are used to voice opposing sides of an argument, either two characters in a story or two philosophers/authors who oppose each other. Especially when my favorite leftist heels are used to voice the bad guys!
as a non-Taylor Swift fan and non-American, to me, this is a cultural documentary with historical value :'D thanks for the great effort and presentation!
I'm an American and the polar opposite of a fan, and looking at it that way was the only way I lasted more than 20 minutes. I really wanted to watch it because I appreciate what Alex does so much, but I'd personally rather watch paint dry than listen to Taylor's music or opinion in general. That first 20 minutes was more cumulative recognition and thought than I've given her in my entire life thus far.
@@RevShiftyoh I bet Taylor is devastated by the fact you don't listen to her music 💀💀
@@Azarath_Metrion_Zinthos Did I give you some reason to think I'd ever give a shit one way or the other? I absolutely love how you clowns somehow think that's supposed to be a shot.
If I made it this far barely knowing who she is, it's kinda hard for me to give a shit about her opinion on anything. If you ever make it beyond third grade, you might realize that.
@@RevShifty Good for you. Nobody forced you to watch this video.
@@ChillingTales12 And no one forced you to keep shitting up my inbox. I wonder who keeps doing the wrong thing more frequently?
"[Neoliberalism] wants us to cancel people, it wants us to focus on a world of individuals, and to forget the world of systems and structure"
Finally feel like I have a complete understanding of "cancel culture" now. Love you Alex ❤✊
"when i was nine i wanted to be a political lobbyist for the oil industry" KILLED ME
I’m bad with jokes. Was this satire?
@@MilosRoomYes.
@@MilosRoom it’s probably satire. I don’t think most nine year olds even know what lobbying is, unless maybe a parent does it. But even then haha, I didn’t know what my parents did in detail. My dad was a software engineer and I just knew his job as “computer”
@@MilosRoom sarcasm more than satire
@@MilosRoom pro tip if you are autistic and have a hard time with humour, look for inclination in exaggerated tone difference in the way the speaker is saying the joke and if the two things they are comparing do not stereotypically go together, in this case 9 year olds knowing what a lobbyist is, it is more likely but not ALWAYS a joke lol. From neurodivergent to neurodivergent. I struggle when people do dead pan jokes tho because there’s no tone and it’s said straight aka seriously or seemingly anti joke it. Often confuses me and drives me nuts lol
4 Hours of Hbomb, 1.5 Hours of Todd, and now 2.5 hours of Alexander Avila!!! Best week ever.
AND AN HOUR OF ABIGAIL - 🎉🎉🎉
@@arich20I was legit about to comment* that Philosophy Tube just dropped a banger! We are being blessed this week!
Sorry but who's Todd (channel name as in)? I enjoy hbomb and this channel. I really like essays and docs in general. I'd love to see check out more creators which are similar!
@@imbiorktodd in the shadows! He made a 1.5 hour video on James somerton
For real its the best
im a huge swiftie and have been for a very long time, i absolutely adore this video, i clicked originally because i love listening to criticism about the things i enjoy, i like to see things from every angle, but this video is so much more than that. i am both educated and entertained which is not an easy feat to accomplish. so glad i watched this, thank u for putting in the time and effort it took to make such a thought provoking video
Same
He's a hater? I will not watch if he talks sh** about her
Hes not a hater hes talking about what her work says about society and there are like 10000 easter egg refernces already! He calls her taleneted like fifty times @@tayluvofficial
Sameeee! I love all the references and Easter eggs he slips in
@@tayluvofficialread the definition of hate
I love that long video essays are becoming more normalized, it’s a more accessible way for people to hear and engage in interesting conversations like these!!
Totally agree!
its a figure of speech brother@hopeeternal7470
And here I am, just wishing not every youtuber felt the need to make 2+ hour videos, because I cannot find the time to watch them after starting a full-time job...
70% of the content in this video is filler. Does not need to be 2 hours long.
@@currentyearok i have to agree it looks like this video can be shortened a lot also falls into a trap of non critical use of quotes from academics which is a whole thing UA-camrs do that would make them fail college
I saw this idea somewhere. It basically said:" Imagine life in a neoliberal society as a race. Put all people at the starting line. Now, all black people take two steps back. All people from poor families take two steps back. Everyone who's Native, Asian or Queer take two steps back. Can a great runner get to the finish line before those who started at the starting line? Yes, they can. But what happens to all those Black, Queer, Asian, Native, poor kids who were just as good as their non-opressed peers but weren't *great* ? Weren't *exceptional* ?"
You forgot the part where anyone who is above basic middle class takes several large leaps forward and anyone rich gets that AND a thirty second head start on everyone else.
Also forgot the parts where someone beats the odds and gets almost near the ones in front, then someone ahead throws a banana peel in the ground and makes them loose everything
Now throw in the numerous faltering steps our own brains can force onto us, things that may not even be apparent from the outside. I don't think I'll ever like formulating equations with unknown and perhaps unknowable variables.
While that’s a bit oversimplified the gist is right. I’ve also seen it as being given more chances. Many underprivileged people only get one chance (or honestly, no chances) to make it. People like Taylor swift are given dozens, if not hundreds of chances. She *literally* failed dozens of times before she finally made her big break. Obviously, there are just as many factors that played into this, but it really just kinda shows how she got many many chances to start her career
There’s a video that does the experiment, probably Jubilee.
the funniest thing about rockists and white men gatekeeping rock music as the best music is them completely ignoring that it was pioneered by black folks, some major ones being women
go listen to Sister Rosetta Tharpe and chuck berry as an intro y'all, bangers on bangers
broppi loves sister rosetta thorpe
Hell yes. I’m Asian but I love rock music. Whether it’s pop punk, post hardcore, emo, post punk, punk, skate punk, hardcore punk, indie/alt rock, surf rock, merseybeat, and rockabilly. And I enjoy the new artists mainly in the pop punk field and emo and pop punk don’t get much appreciation in the rock community. When I see videos of rock evolution don’t they put Green Day or mcr when they defined the 2000s.
A lot of people don't know how to talk about this woman; they either treat her as a goddess that can't do no wrong and deny her privilege, or they say misogynistic comments about her in the name of "awareness". When I saw you were going to make a video about her, I was very excited since I really respect your craft and I know you aren't the type to fall in either of these two narratives. Thank you very much for your work here, I really appreciate it as someone who is both very critical of Taylor... but also knows all the lyrics to Enchanted, lmao. Great job!
THIS
well said
i love when women, trans or queer creators make critique on these popular topics because it often feels like any opinion will be lost in the sea of bigotry and "anti-woke". like with barbies, that discourse was so poisoned until some people actually came with insightful and respectful critiques of it
Why r u " Very" critical of Taylor? U urself said most people don't know how to talk about about her as people tend to be on the two sides of the extremity.. then u resort to say u belong to an extremity too... That line just put me off.
@@Azarath_Metrion_Zinthos i think you misunderstand ops point… being very critical of her, at least to me, means that you care and love her. it’s not hate or insults, it’s just being aware and knowledgeable of her flaws or things that don’t align with your own personal beliefs - critical. i find it a little concerning that you think being critical of someone equates to an “extreme”
Listening you talk about reparative critique felt like a full circle moment of what this channel originally started as. Like the readings of “Are They Gay” on implicit queer characters and relationships in popular media were reparative readings and now as “Alexander Avila” you’re still doing that work but on a larger scale with way more research and academic rigor under your belt. It’s been a pleasure to see this evolution since 2016.
Please tell me you didn't look up most of those words. I almost want to believe that most people aren't faking sounding intellectual.
@@ChillingTales12 you ok? What big words did I say that got you so confused?
@@TheBibirulz I think it was just one repearative. See can't even speel it.
@@ChillingTales12 this was a comment reflecting on the conclusion of this video discussing different critical lenses that can be used to analyze subjects like Taylor Swift and her career. If you want a better understanding of it, you should probably watch the video all the way through. I'm not trying to sound intellectual, I'm just giving my thoughts.
@@TheBibirulz I did watch the whole thing. But I'm left really confused. He uses a lot of jargon that I'm not familiar with. So sadly I'm not sure what the overall message was supposed to be.
You have somehow detangled all my plasmoid thoughts and feelings towards Taylor and also my existential dread and added citations and references. I am glad being a Swiftie led me to discover your channel
literally. i know there's problems, but which celebrity doesn't have them? that's not an excuse tho.... but also, should i really stop listening to music to feel morally above others? it's not that easy lol
1:03:00 “and while I may not be a music historian, I am autistic.” Get this man a musicology degree ASAP!!
I teach music history in Florida, and I’m adding this video essay in my class playlist. The segment on rockism, popism, and the Beatles was AMAZING and incredibly well researched!!
yooooo now i wanna see this class playlist!!!! this sounds like a really cool thing and i love learning more about music history + pop music's evaluation
please drop the class playlist this sounds so interesting but as a comp sci major i dont have any time to take a music history class
That’s how us autistic people r 😂
Your examination of Taylor Swift's career is excellent, but I want to take a moment to highlight the lines that made me laugh:
"To get to the bottom of this queen of bottoms"
"with its immediately-dated graphic design" (I've seen Swifties lament how there's no way the rerecording will have a similarly dated graphic design)
"this French name I hope to pronounce one day"
"she put crack in the bridge of All Too Well"
"When I was 9, I wanted to be a political lobbyist for the oil industry."
"I didn't know the French were bisexual about their vowels, too!"
Agreed this video is so funny I laughed so hard at times
Commenting this after I paused after "she put crack in the bridge of All Too Well" to go listen to All Too Well
Edit: yeah this bridge is FIRE
Another one is calling that famous Beatles song "I Want To Hold Your Ass".
“When I was 9, I wanted to be a political lobbyist for the oil industry” feels like a line would seriously say in Riverdale to justify how cartoonishly capitalistically evil one character is, based off of “I had to drop out of school at 10 (to become a drug courier) to support my family”.
Update: She must have watched this video essay because she wrote, "Put narcotics into all of my songs / And that's why you're still singing along."
Great video as ever! To add to your poptivism/rockism section: following the release of 1989, Ryan Adams recorded and released a track-by-track cover album of the whole record. He just re-recorded the whole thing les than a year after the original had been released. And I guess it was mildly more guitar-y and melancholic than the original but the whole project felt bound up in this idea that rock-adjacent music performed by men with guitars is intrinsically better and more sophisticated than pop music performed by women. Of course, like most melancholic acoustic covers of pop songs, it was actually just kinda artistically boring.
Just wanna say that I love your channel!! It's always great to find out one's favourite creators watch each others' videos.
Thanks you for remembering,
it always baffles me when I think about its.
Just gave his version of bad blood a listen and… wow… it sucks lol
Holy shit, I just searched him on Google and the first thing I found was how he took advantage of young women by luring them in with the promise of advancement in their music career. Am I surprised? Unfortunately no.
this is one of the most uplifting and hopeful video essays i e watched in a long time. i am both a taylor swift fan and a leftist, so i can safely say that any video about her i am incredibly skeptical of because a) sometimes it’s god-like worship that is just creepy and weird and b) sometimes it is just such misogynistic crap, so i was so fucking impressed to see not only a nuanced video on her, but also a video that transcended her and did what video essays should do in my opinion, which is question society in a Productive Way that encourages us to move beyond critique and into reimagining. because without reimagining, then what the fuck are we going to do?
revolution
taylor bad
Act. It's what follows re-imagination. But first, even dating to think it's possible is a good first step.
@anorakquest4004 You can dislike her and you can absolutely disagree with what she does, but music is subjective and always has been. I like her music but I disagree with a lot of stuff she does (her contributions to carbon emissions being one).
It's depressing to see such a brain-dead comment under such a wonderful video essay, but I geuss idiots like you can be found everywhere. Good luck with life I geuss.
yup, the pedestal celebrities are put on has been the problem all along, toxic for society all around
Some concepts I think are related to the popularity of Taylor Swift: the concept of "a girl's girl, " the hatred of "not like other girls," the way millennial women are aging into a lucrative purchasing demographic as they climb the corporate ladder, the delay of adulthood caused by economic stagnation. I feel like she is the nexus point where all these concepts converge; where feminism goes to to reconcile its economic ambition, where financially comfortable women feel that the mere act of purchasing products from another woman is an act of solidarity, where women police the actions of other women under the guise of feminism. What I've seen from observing the uncritical adoration of Swift is that these preoccupations plague the mind of the hyper-aware online neoliberal woman, the woman who wants to revel in her victimhood under the patriarchy while ignoring the hierarchy of class and race that allows her to exploit others. Swift offers this beacon of normalcy to a lot of women, mostly white, who feel distressed about the expectations of them in the 21st century: for example, how can one be an "ally" whilst also not wanting the fabric of society to fundamentally change? Look to Taylor: just vote! I don't think Swift represents a new mode of feminity, rather I believe she is an anachronism and symbol of tradition that provides the white neoliberal subject a form of safe stability.
Well, if you read all that, thank you!
"The woman who wants to revel in her victimhood under the patriarchy while ignoring the hierarchy of class and race that allows her to exploit others." It's so true. Taylor is heralded as the ultimate feminist, while her exploitation is ignored. Any criticism against her/her fanbase is dismissed as internalized misogyny or misogyny.
Well said
honestly people who obsess over taylor swift ARE the other girls
u ate
Wow, that's beautifully said
The repair section is crazy, insane how you so thoroughly explain so many intersectional contemporary social phenomena through talking about Swift, but so relevant & I hope everyone in the world watches this
I don’t know if you will ever see this content, but congratu-fucking-lations on making probably one of the best, most well-rounded, hilarious, most deeply researched video essays I’ve ever seen. I’ve been a Swiftie since I was around 10 and she has been with me as I’ve realized I was queer, dealt with understanding my own identity, and better understand the world around me. I might not agree with her at all times, but she’s always going to carry a special part of my heart because of it. Thank you for making a video that allows the space to be critical of her while also holding space to appreciate how her music and songwriting has impacted our lives deeply.
You did it. You said something about Taylor Swift that literally hasn’t been said. This is a video essay I will be ABSOLUTELY RECOMMENDING, Swiftie or not
I had no idea the journey I was in for when I started this video. A contemplative informative masterpiece. Well done and thank you. -S.
Thanks for being a part of it!
This was a brilliant essay! I've never understood how i could know so much about Taylor without being a fan. How do I know many of her songs? Why do many of them bring me to tears and make me remember times of my life? Like you said, she, herself, her brand, is part of our culture, whether we want to acknowledge that or not. Personally, i've enjoyed how you not only created a well structured narrative, did an extensive research and crafted a detailed critique but also framed the video from a human point of view, with respect and understanding for the person behind the persona and the fans. Loved it. Thank you for this massive effort!
This is the only youtube video essay about Taylor Swift that I actually think Taylor Swift should watch
You know what? I was thinking exactly that. At some point I even imagined how she would react to it, lol.
I don't think she would take too kindly to it, if it was about me I certainly would resist it, but it's definitely a must watch for her.
@@stillfangirlingtoday1468i dont think she would take It as an insult this video is mostly positive and Taylor is the Queen of self- hate there is nothing here worst that what she thinks and writes about herself
She’s an egotistical billionaire who doesn’t take well to any slight criticism. Don’t think she’ll like it.
I think she would merely be surprised in a good way that she has this impact and is talented. She would certainly not acknowledge her particular privileges and how she has not been the best at using that privilege, however, beyond saying “she supports feminist causes”.
There's a chance she at least caught wind of it because Alex said she put crack in the bridge of "All Too Well" and then she released a (somewhat tongue-in-cheek) song stating, "Put narcotics into all of my songs / And that's why you're still singing along."
As a swiftie, a leftist, and an Alexander Avila fan I am very excited to be stressed for 2 hours
I'm a die hard swiftie and first time listener and I am also stressed 😅😂 "this is why we can't have nice things" 🎶🎵
My exact feeling hitting play lol
Same here!
Me: Line up all the billionaires and (redacted) them. Also me: Congrats on becoming a billionaire Tay! If anyone deserves it, it's you.
same
As an avid lover of music, I was so interested to learn the poptimism vs rockism argument! I have never heard either of those terms before, and it reflects some of the views I have had of pop music for a long time. What is typically considered pop has never been my personal preference, but I’ve always seen the value in it and always admired the way pop writers were able to tap into a formula that made for the catchiest and most danceable songs
His explanation of Rockivist vs popivist is one-sided. Rockers hate pop music for the same reasons he criticised the music industry at the beginning of the video. The fact that is mostly artificial and geared toward selling an image/gimmick over authentic art. This is why rockers call it "selling out", comprising your initial artistic integrity to sell records and yourself as a product.
You're seeing the same thing with hip hop , which is why many of them hate pop music as well. It was an art form built on telling real stories and exploring unorthodox world views through poetry. Now that hip hop is so mainstream ,being rapper means being an wannabe reality star to sell an image for the music industry.
I'm not saying representation isn't an issue. I just find it disingenuous to dismiss those critiques just because they're being made by "sad white men". When he acknowledges and agrees with them at the beginning of the video.
It's also a reductionist view of rock music and why it may appeal to a specific type of person. Rock music is vast and touches on a vast array of themes and topics that isn't exclusively for "sad white men". Same with rap. It's just that when they're "popified" a lot of that gets diluted.
Do I want to watch a two and a half hour video about Taylor swift? No. Do I want to watch an autistic trans person talk for hours and hours about literally anything they'd like? HELL YEAH BROTHER LETS GET IT ON.
My exact thought process. If Alex wasn't the one writing and making this I would've neverr watched it
LITERALLY me too & that plus his writing and presentation is great
Agreed.
@@dyskos well given that it’s about taylor swift if you really would rather avoid her probably don’t watch it but if you don’t mind learning about her and want an interesting sociological lens on her impact then go right ahead
both sound like a slay to me 😂
I do agree that The Beatles’ popularity over other musicians of color due to whiteness. I’m really glad you covered the historical significance of black artists who created rock n roll! I don’t know if I agree it’s because they incorporated the classical western music tradition, I think it just has more to do with cultural perception of white people. The Beatles incorporated lots of multicultural instruments/musical elements, probably more than classical.
yep, it's a white far-right disgusting privilege
i agree with his overall point about the beatles as well, but that also irked me the same way. he points out how they incorporated western orchestration on sgt. peppers and revolver, but leaves out the songs where they bring in eastern influence, like “love you to” and “within you without you”. that could also bring up a whole conversation about appropriation, though.
@@bellakatearts good of you to mention it here though!
"due to whiteness"??? were there any black artists (or of any colour) that were doing anything close to rubber soul, revolver and sgt. peppers? They were innovators. You could easily apply that to Elvis, but not the Beatles.
@@marianat1393 not that i know of! honestly the more i think about his points the more i disagree. i think the beatles HELPED make rock and roll white, but it was already happening when they were still teens. elvis, buddy holly, jerry lee lewis… etc.
This was a beautiful video essay. Made me cry? I was a big swift fan in middle school and then fell off. As my politics grew I became frustrated with her. These days I get frustrated because I want people to support queer artists instead of twisting a straight artist's words to match them. This video helped me see that act through a different lense. It reminded me that as a young closeted queer person I used one of her songs to imagine a gay wedding I might have someday. As a sometimes cynical paranoid reader it would help me to balance out with some repairative reading like I used to. Thanks for the thoughts!
See , the thing about Taylor Swift is- she's walking the line. Excellently.
She is privileged and it helped kick-start her career. But she also is incredibly driven and put in very real work behind the things she made. It's not glazed-eyed 'I'm successful now, so I can mentally check-out and still keep doing this.' music. She's legitimately creative and is working hard to channel that into making not only good products, but also products that are different and ambitious for her.
She's always been very, very involved in all aspects of her career including the marketing and business sides of it, so nothing is ever by accident with what she puts out and how she appears to be. But she's also being herself. Zany millennial is a persona she cultivates as seen in Shake It Off, but having seen many interviews, she's also kind of a goof in real life. Playing it up for the cameras is one thing, but unless I want to be incredibly cynical, I have to say something is, in fact, intrinsically 'zany' about her.
She latches onto pop culture moments excellently. But pop culture is also a nebulous thing surrounding all of us, including her. It happens to her, and she responds in a way that the final product is curated BUT also honest. This is why she can BE the mastermind, but then also write the lyrics you showed- she can confess that she is one. She can confess to being a 'covert narcissist', a 'pathological people-pleaser'. She can confess to being an anti-hero. (Also, I write, I get inspired by my own experiences, so I also at least a little bit understand how her songwriting works- she can talk about her experiences in her songs but also embellish and polish and mix actual incidents and inspirations to fit into the STORY she wants to tell. It's often not meant to be taken 100% literally.)
I am from a small South Asian country. I've been living in the US for the last five years, but I've been a fan of Taylor's music since long before that. And it was really just the music and lyrics, because I had nothing else. I had limited access to internet both in terms of time and of data around 2008-2009, so I wasn't streaming videos, or even browsing social media. I was just getting into English-language music, and was downloading anything that I could find on pirated sites. I came across a lot of artists. Often I didn't even know what they looked like. But if I liked something by an artist, I tried to keep up with their music later. And now, in 2023, I can say Taylor is the only one who I still regularly listen to, because I like the music, and because I always relate to the lyrics. It never mattered if she represented the lovestruck teen or capitalist girlboss, if her image has always been 'intrinsically white vanilla'. I would be long gone if what I was hearing on the album wasn't good. I wouldn't still be here if I didn't see the Shake It Off video months after it came out (still not 'youtubing' much at that time), nodded absently, and thought how I was also that clumsy and love plain black clothing. And that's all I ask for from a musician- relatable music that I like. (I know my experiences alone don't inform the larger, very valid cultural discussion going on in this video. Still, I thought my POV could offer something a bit different.)
This video says a lot of things I already think about Taylor, including stuff I mention above, and including how her life has become a narrative product to enjoy which boosts interest in the art she actively makes, and how the image-curating is sometimes obvious (the virtue-signaling in her documentary... I don't disbelieve she felt strongly about issues she talked about, but I also don't think these things are in the forefront of her mind or life as the documentary would have us believe).
But one thing the video doesn't mention but that is crucial to the phenomenon of Taylor is her relationship with her fans. From Day 1 (you know, the myspace days), she has chosen to go the extra mile for the people who support her. Talking to them on myspace, interacting with them on tumblr, twitter, and tiktok, sending them gifts and donations, showing up at their weddings, inviting them to her houses, shows, and after-shows (essentially, free meet-and-greets). No other celebrity even half as big her does this. And she doesn't HAVE to either. But she does. It may be a strategy, it may be what she needs to do to feel loved and validated, it may be genuine gratitude. But the bottom line is- the reason her fanbase is so loyal, and feels so close to her is because she has always shown up for them, on the same level. Reputation wasn't a critical success, and after such negative publicity in 2015-16, fans could have just fallen off by 2018. The reason she was able to come back, and more importantly, to have a super-successful tour based on an album that even some fans felt conflicted about, was because her treatment of her fans had paid dividends, and they stayed for her.
I sometimes write to think through stuff, so even though no one's going to read this longass comment, I don't regret writing it lol. You made a good video, thank you.
i read your long-ass comment! and loved it, and agree whole-heartedly! i really value hearing these kinds of perspectives from fellow swifties who are not the prototypical white american fan and view her art from a more critical, but still-appreciative lens, so thank you for sharing ❤️
Agreed ! One thing I also want to add as someone whose native language isn't english is that her lyrics really made me expand my vocabulary, the references she occasionally puts made me more curious about different types of literature, and the play of words she adores putting in many songs helped me learn how flexible english is!
@@careless_daughter Thank you (love the username!) ❤️
i read it and loved it!
taylor is savage strong person
Only Alex can make a 2 and a half hour essay talking about Taylor Swift.
I imagine it will be about Taylor Swift in the same way that the queer baiting video was about Harry Styles... which is to say, the celebrity is a good cultural touchstone through which we can lay out a current problem in society and go into philosophical concepts surrounding it.
hmm 2 and a half hours it's kinda the standart time i think and talk about taylor daily
There are college courses about her 😂
2 and a half hour length of a video essay is just crazyy. Only alex can do that
Ok maybe CJ the X could BUT!!!
I was a true swiftie until recently, and I've replayed this video no less than 14 times. I've been breaking it down line by line and it's just so well done. This is museum quality work and I am in love with you. Fabulously executed
Until recently..?
@@Mar1293why aren’t people allowed to not be fans anymore 💀💀
Glad that you're out of the cult 😂
@@xfreja I figure they were asking because the op didn't make it at all clear why they are no longer a swiftie, not necessarily because the reply was meant to imply there's something wrong with that.
@@xfrejaThat isn’t what they said
Augh the nostalgia is hitting me like a truck. I stopped listening to Swift as I got older, but as a preteen I was obsessed with her music. I did not have a good or pleasant childhood, and I was always pulled between the parts of myself that were extremely jaded and mature due to trauma and childishly naive due to my autism. I didn't get to experience any of the fantasy Swift built around the teen experience, but the IDEA that it existed at all and could exist for me gave me comfort somehow.
Your comment just vocalized my feelings and experiences w life and my memories of Taylor swift exactly
Oh wow you put my relationship to Taylor Swift’s music into words
Same. I'm 25 and have never had a romantic relationship with men. I just loved listening to what was basically a romance novel delivered in a catchy tune. She made me love the English language and poetry at eleven, although she's not the only factor, it definitely propelled me further into creative writing.
I think I definitely also went through the same thing you did, but there was also a good bit of like wishing that I had more feminine guidance in my last. Like she was the older sister who I never had. I feel like both of my parents were kinda emotionally distant because they were both basically stumbling around in the dark trying to figure out how to best “handle” my autism diagnosis. But then in 2006, poof! One 17 year old big sister
As someone who had to grow up very fast and didn't have a great childhood, the song "Fifteen" still resonates with me a lot. You can be going through harder things while still going through the regular tribulations of being a teenager and growing up.
The thing about the universal experience in Taylor Swift is that the way she writes not only speaks to those who have lived similar experiences, but it also makes you feel like you lived it. I am an autistic girl, my father had paranoic personality disorder and severe depression which got him admitted in to mental hospital. After that, he suffered a car accident which almost got him killed(he is alive). I grew up fast, I didnt got to really be a teenager. I was never stupid and in love. I was severly depressed, suffering bullying, and trying to be strong. But as an adult, I love to listen to her early albums, bc they make me feel like I never felt in my teenage years, they make me feel like Im young and naive, it feels like a stupid way to bring a feeling that was stolen
I completely understand you. I share this feeling too. I spent my teenage years depressed and suicidal because of my circumstances and undiagnosed ADHD. I have never been in love, but I fantasize about it. Taylors songs make me feel like Im not contained by my circumstances anymore.
@@moon8520 yes, you described it perfectly! Sometimes all we need is to feel like we are not limited by our circumstances, like if nothing wrong ever happened
This is what I wanted yo say!! Her songs are about “normal teenage struggles”, the ones we d have if we had a kind of healthy growing up, if we had the chance. Growing up and beinf a teenager is hard either way, but sometimes we dont even get to have its hard times of growing up cause we had to grow so fast, so she kind of represents a good sweet side of it, which as you said makes you feel like you experience it too!
Cognitive empathy and sharp lyricism, coupled with skilled pandering.
The shifting grift of the pop demoness at work.
50k word explicit beatles fan fiction reveal immediately followed by announcing you’re in a beach boys cover band was crazy
This was brilliant! Really appreciate the fair and balanced critiques & analysis while not stooping to misogyny. I've never been able to get into her music, but we all live in this world and have thus been impacted by her, so I still found this fascinating.
And this was refreshing after the whole JS crash this week - this reminds me of what a great (and non-misogynistic) video essay can do.
Right? And even if I never like her music, I feel a lot more connected with why people do
What is a js crash?
@@kkrb1212 JS = James Somerton in this case. Worth looking up if you haven't heard.
@@Grounded_Gravity thank you. I googled JS and too many options.
I never thought I would find myself not only watching but thoroughly enjoying a 2 1/2 hour video essay about Taylor Swift
I really love the part where you touch on Paranoid Readings of media. That was a really popular phenomenon in the 2010s, and while it was helpful, it also was overwhelmingly depressing and exhausting.
I think being critical of media is useful, but if it's the only way we interact with the world around us it leads to emotional burnout. But striking that balance between being critical and socially aware, while also realizing we live an imperfect world full of imperfect media, is difficult.
As a queer person who doesn’t like Taylor Swift but who did listen to her in junior high, the last section of the video was very impactful. I certainly didn’t expect to be hooked on a 3 hour video about tswift today. Thank you for your key cultural insights and an interesting lens through which to view an aspect of my formative years.
I’ve been a Taylor Swift fan since I was a kid. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how exactly she rose to such incomprehensible fame, and how she both influences and reflects society. But you put everything into words, integrated other perspectives I didn’t even think of, and you did so respectfully.
Just one moment buried deep in this essay, I wanted to call attention to your description of not really liking "Shake It Off" but kind of liking it because it's just been there, and it's a perfectly fine song. I've felt this kind of ambivalence toward so many songs in my life, but never met anybody else who seemed to experience songs that way so that description really resonated with me.
You should look up the exposure effect in music. What he's describing (and I think you might be as well) is a well-documented concept about how we grow to like songs simply through hearing them repeatedly. It's also a super interesting aspect of the modern music industry.
@@signeermegasejxD woah didn't know a concept like that existed, thanks.
I'll admit- I was nervous to watch this video. I'm a pretty large TSwift fan, and while I disagree with the pedestal that so so many fans put her on, I often find myself protective of the idea of her. Of the idea of liking her, enjoying her music, connecting with her brand. Especially in leftist spaces when I feel that critique is boiled down to "And that's why you're an idiot if you like her." We live in an age as you said where critique rules the online leftist spaces, and rightfully so, but it has often come to the point where I find it difficult to proudly discuss the things that comfort me outside of the small group of friends I feel comfortable with. It's difficult, knowing that something that brings you joy has rightfully discussed flaws in an age where it feels as if anything and everything is one step from being torn down. This video was such a beautiful amalgamation of my feelings towards her, both my heavy critique of the industry and what her brand is and has (even if not her intention) resulted in, and the way her music defines me. Engaging in media is so difficult as so much is tainted with the idea that it must be perfect or it must be corrupt. This is such an excellent discussion of both the deep profound connection her brand and music creates while also breaking apart the systemic issues that surround it. Absolutely brilliant.
Same, I was scared watching the video but every point he makes is spot-on, and the conclusion especially touched me. How the way Swift has grown over the years, representing different periods of time and matching her persona to be as timely and as popular as possible - reflects on me individually and how I experienced the world in that time. Being born in 2003, and her starting her music career the same year... gives me some kind of connection to the music that feels special -- Even if it's the least special experience in the world to be a fan of her music.
as a leftist, i was not aware leftists didn’t like her 😭 maybe just the misogynist ones
@@imawakemymindisalive13 if you, as a leftist, don't particularly like this one specific woman, you must actually just hate all women?
like whichever celebrities and listen to whatever music you want, but for the love of god, people are not defined by their media consumption.
if leftists call you an idiot for liking taylor swift, that's dumb. If someone calls you a misogynist for not liking taylor swift, that's also dumb.
To be honest, I'm not at all a fan of Swift. But I do get where you're coming from.
I was a massive fan of the game Psychonauts and the company that produced it and other games I enjoy. When they announced the sequel, I was really excited and posted about it on a Discord server full of my online leftist friends. The first thing anyone said was to basically roll their eyes and talk about the financial mishandlings the CEO had done.
I wanted to talk about something I really liked and was passionate about, and the first reaction I got was basically telling me that I shouldn't enjoy things. I am not a fan of the company's mishandling of finances, but I just really wanted to be excited about something. I don't enjoy how some people (myself included) feel the need to critique things when sometimes people just want to be able to enjoy something.
Which is not to say we shouldn't ever critique things nor think critically about the media we consume, but there's a time and place and often we're just looking for a way to feel superior or look down on others for their interests.
Turns out Psychonauts 2 was my favourite game to come out that year. It meant a lot to someone who has suffered from mental illness as far back as they can remember. It meant a lot to see how the series matured with its handling of its subject matter. It meant a lot to me with how it portrayed things like grief, depression, anxiety, and PTSD.
I just wanted to share something I liked and was important to me.
I didn't want to be essentially shamed for liking something made by a studio that has some issues (especially when those issues are quite minor when compared to the rest of the industry).
you encapsulated this so well, i am a VERY casual t swift fan aka i basically know the popular ones and nothing else, defended her against my roommates who were saying they hated her and while i felt guilty for doing so to someone who clearly doesn’t need my help and is a billionaire it still felt weird as the only girl in the room idk
I'm Indian, 22. In a long distance relationship, have never kissed or had sex, or touched a boy apart from handshakes. But I've felt love, hurt, lust all of that. It doesn't comprise of whirl wind romances, or flying to New York, or having any of those experiences. None of my life experiences really relate to her life as such.
But I love her music, just as an experience. It's like Barbie for adults. It's great marketing, it's like an adventure park. It's a person writing, feeling and sharing. It's like reality tv but not trashy.
This is such an underrated comment; really makes me understand Swift's appeal (as someone who is not a fan of her music at all).
@@danackroydsbutt 😊😊
Taylor swift is vanilla-flavored vanilla.
@@grahamstrouse1165 and there's nothing wrong with that
I'm also Indian and I agree with you. I often hear people say that she only makes music for white girls/women who can relate with her and while this might be true but for me, I don't listen to any music(not just her but literally any music from any artist) for the factor of it being 'relatable'. I have cried to a lot of her songs but not because I found them relatable, I'm only an Indian student who happens to have very different issues than the issues that Taylor's music deals with. But her songs never fail to make me feel things even if those never happened with me. It's like she tells stories in such a way that I can imagine myself in her place and feel those exact particular emotions. As if she puts me into her shoes and then I am experiencing everything. I am really grateful for her songwriting and I also admire her as a businesswoman and a great marketer. I have been a fan since 2018 and love the kind of universe that she has cultivated even if I don't care much about her personal life. There are stuffs about her that I find a bit problematic but her music has been a huge part of my life
I can’t wait for “This Video Isn’t Just About Taylor Swift. It’s About You. (Alexander’s version)”!!!
I'm more waiting for "This Video Isn't Just About Taylor Swift. It's About You. (Ten Hour Version) (Alexander's Version) (From the Vault) (Sad Boy Winter Version) (Recorded at Long Pond Studios)"
I've still got about 45 minutes to get through of this video, but it's so beautiful to see this topic delved into with such nuance and care. I'm an avid fan of Swift's music but have found myself quite disillusioned with the fanbase and the image she's constructed; this discussion is fantastic because it acknowledges her artistry along with the calculations she's taken to craft her image, without the lazy rhetoric often pushed onto the conversations about her. More importantly, it balances this in its crucial historical context. Thank you for this!
Wow, this documentary really hit home as a 97 baby. The way you talk about life and the world just really resonates with me. Personally I don't consider myself a Taylor Swift fan but also I tend to not understand people's obsessions with celebrities in general as a self diagnosed autistic. My best friend is a swiftie though and I support it because of the deep joy it brings her, your video essay pointing out the connections Taylor Swift has to society and american culture made me realize how much she is a part of everyone who grew up knowing her existence. I was raised on country music and remember being a tween who loved Taylor's early work, I even convinced my mom to buy me a copy of the Speak Now album on CD when I was in middle school. Then I rejected Taylor Swift when she released the Red album because it went outside of my country music bubble, it's wild looking back now and seeing how much has changed and the journey I've been on reflected in Taylor Swift. Now I listen to her casually but after watching your video, I'm inspired to sit down and listen to her with a different perspective and really focus on the emotions that come out. I'm a watercolor artist and I'm hoping to take parts of this and explore through my own medium the thoughts and feelings they evoke. My plan or goal is to make 2024 my year for more personal artworks with deep and raw expression, to actually use my voice. The voice that was taken from me at an early age, the voice I'm just starting to use as a 26 year old. Thank you for this, even if you never read it, thank you.
"Red was a hit, but the Mayan calendar was a flop" legit made me laugh out loud.
Only about 36 minutes in, but just have to comment on how incredibly good the editing and organization of this video is.
This video is so well rounded- I’ve had issues with Taylor Swift for a while, but have been able to acknowledge her better attributes. This essay is critical yet gives credit where it is due. Brilliantly done!
Amazing video! Gave me lots to think about 😅
ARIANA WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?!!?
Omg roomie official
@@BOTUS_2024LMFAO ariana?? is that what ppl call him these days??
It's a meme phrase i believe @@micanikko
ohhh i havent encountered it yet@@healxo
Bringing back the 4:3 format I love it!
this video was incredible, thank you. i was never a taylor switft fan, but the ending where you talked about 'reparative readings' really reminded me of the way that i think about harry potter as a queer, trans person these days. its so hard to acknowledge the fact that it was a huge part of my life for so many years, and that now it is a part of me, and i cant do anything about it. i still enjoy thinking about it and engaging with it, but cannot bring myself to put money or promotion towards it. i want to stop feeling this horrible guilt and sadness, and move towards something joyous, to reclaim it. i dont know. i dont have answers but i might go and read 'touching feeling' ! :)
This is exactly how I feel about it!! I think what a lot of people have done is just joining the marauders fandom and completely distancing themselves from the original canon
Two words, My Immortal
30 minutes in and loving it. It would be interesting to see the same analysis of Beyonce. I feel like a lot of the analysis you've applied to Swift could be applied to her. That's probably because you generally have to have certain advantages in order to be successful in the entertainment business and some of the crucial one, like your level of conventional attractiveness and how much money your parents have, are not anything you have influence over. So if you are selling your story, of course it's going to be all about how hard you work and how much you've overcome, etc...
This video helped me put my finger on some of the conflicted feelings ive had about Taylor over the years - specifically her turn to political activism. I do like her music and i have always admired her ability to play this industry/Business like her guitar. This video was phenomenal. I learned a lot and I'll definitely pass it on to some of my Swifty friends.
'she's not like other girls, but she's just like you' MAN does this get to the heart of her appeal, at least to me & the girls i knew at that age. but also to the heart of how constructed that image is. i loved her music back then, i remember watching the goddamn 'love story' music video on repeat, something about her aesthetics and her sensibilities and the relatability but also fairytale quality of it all... i stopped listening as we both aged (and as i discovered that. i'm not a girl lmao) but those days do hold a special kind of nostalgia for me (also in retrospect. hm. i think i found her very hot and didn't quite know how to deal with that as a 'straight girl' sdfgkjh)
As a queer leftist whose special interest is Taylor Swift, I have very complicated feelings towards Taylor Swift The Brand. This video was INCREDIBLE at voicing a lot of my internal thoughts. She seems to spend all of her time and energy towards amassing as much power and social capital as possible, and all she does with it is use it to amass even MORE power and social capital. And of course, this all benefits the white power structures that already exist. However, I don't think she does any of this with malicious intent. And I truly cannot stop myself from listening to her entire discography 24/7.
Me too she’s one of my special interests as well!
The early white feminists weren't malicious in focusing on them getting the vote over freeing the slaves either. They genuinely thought they helped Black folks more by focusing on their own needs just as they had no malic in trying to not allow Sojourner Truth to speak. Malice isn't needed to allow the status quo to continue to beat down the oppressed.
@@dermaspaceSC I totally agree. Even if there's no malice, Taylor allowed her fanbase to doxx, send death threats, and harass people - including racist remarks against a child actor of color. She never challenged them. She polluted more with private jets than any other celebrity and refused to take accountability. Self-preservation and selfishness can be as bad as malice.
@@lordfreerealestate8302 I had no idea her fan base had done all that!!
this this this!!
Having been an edgy hipster in the late aughts, I subscribed for years to this idea that rock music was somehow superior to the pop and hip hop my peers listened to. "This pop artist doesn't even write their own songs!" "Hip hop lyrics are superficial!" etc etc. I eventually realized how rooted in racism that line of thinking was, but I'd never heard of the "rockism vs. poptimism" discourse, much less the history behind it. It was so illuminating to learn where this huge part of my teenage worldview came from and to watch you trace the ebb and flow of this discourse, especially throughout the aughts and 2010s (which mirrors the timeline during which I first internalized that idea and eventually began to challenge it). Thanks for reminding me I'm not as disconnected from the dominant culture as I sometimes like to believe 😅
i had an edgy hipster phase, but it’s just cuz i liked electric guitar 😭😭 to this day i believe that most of taylor’s songs that don’t already have it would sound better with it. look what you made me do? hits different? say don’t go? those would be BANGERS as rock versions!!!
I definitely feel that, while I leaned more to folk/classical and a bit of rock, I was an absolute asshole as a teen about both pop and hip hip. And to be honest, I still tend to struggle to connect with both genres musically, but I feel like this essay helped me see how much of those old resentments are wrapped up in little me, as a cranky, closeted ace hard rejecting anybody who got held up as a pinnacle of desirabliity. Even if I went out of my way to *not* know about pop stars, it was all based on how I'd absorbed that brand.
the part at the end, about repairative readings really reminds me of something i personally find important when talking about analysis. that you can be critical of something and still love it. you can be aware that it's imperfect, a product of our culture (for good or bad), and still take joy from it. i think it's important that people be more nuanced in how we relate to, consume or utilize "problematic" stuff/people/products.
As a Black teenage gay boy in Oklahoma City, I started dabbling in Taylor's music ever since I was in 9th grade and her first album had just been released. For real, I listened to Tear Drops On My Guitar as a 14 year old and cried real tears lol. My support for her as a pop star/symbol/cultural moment stopped definitively though when she released the Shake It Off video, which was around the same time I stopped listening to Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus for similar reasons. I didn't need to read sociologists to understand that people like me were being positioned as exotic or other in that video. Swift was natural and authentic and relatable in her own zany way, while we were cartoonish, sexualized exaggerations. White pop stars build their careers off simultaneously appropriating and mocking "urban" sounds, aesthetics, and styles, only to inevitably pivot back to whiter, less "pop" music later in a bid for credibility once they've raked in millions. No one's expecting Swift or Cyrus or Perry to apologize or anything, but those of us Black folks who are skeptical of these mainstream white artists tend to feel that way for a reason, although plenty among us are part of Swift's fandom too. And us Black folks have plenty of our own problematic, billionaire faves lol, so I think we can understand the Swift love haha. A lot of us black leftists and marxists have similar conversations about whether we should divest from Beyonce lol, but ultimately? Sometimes we need to just live in the moment and let ourselves enjoy the music. We're all living in the grey, and that's okay.
Genuinely wondering, what about Shake It Off was racist? Was it the music video or the song? (I barely remember anything from that era)
It's a tricky thing to explain in a youtube comment, but Dr. Janell Hobson cuts to the heart of things when she wrote: "When Taylor Swift deliberately positions her awkwardly dancing body in 'Shake It Off' as a way to defend her innocence against the constant slut-shaming she has experienced, she reifies her whiteness, her purity. Her rhythm-less dance moves distance her from the hyper-sexualized racial body in a way that positions her as somehow morally 'safe'. She also trafficks in white female stereotypes when she positions herself as a failed cheerleader and ballerina." I'll link an article below for more context, but in other words, she positions white women as relatable, quirky, and authentically human, all while reducing black and poc women to exotic, vulgar, and unintelligent beings, a binary that perpetuates white supremacist hierarchies of beauty, intelligence, purity, and value. Taylor literally crawls between a face-less black women's legs as she twerks and stares at her butt with a look of mockery and horror. This is the white gaze, and whether Taylor realizes it or not (she thinks she's celebrating unique forms of self-expression in a universal anthem of you-go-girl empowerment lol), it serves to build her own reputation as "not like the other girls" i.e. black hip hop stars and the white pop stars who copy them to endear herself to a racist white America. The irony here is that as mocks us, she also appropriates r&b and hip hop music in order to segue her career into mainstream pop stardom. Her success is built on simultaneously stealing from/copying and mocking/distancing herself from black people. More here: othersociologist.com/2014/08/22/taylor-swift-white-privilege-racism/
@@insecticaa the part around 1:22:57 touches on that a bit
10/10 comment tysm for your input!!
I couldn't agree with you more. When Taylor released you need to calm down it was very evident to me that she was pandering to the LGBT community to boost to record sales. I find it very suspect that Taylor all the sudden now wants to start checking for us and caring about us. Where was she at the beginning of her career when being LGBT of any part of the LGBT community wasn't cool. It's so easy for random celebrities to just swoop on in after the damage has been done because so much time has passed that being LGBT is so-called normal but where was Taylor in her fight for us back when it wasn't normal or even acceptable to stand up and support us?
this is one of the best video essays/documentaries ive ever seen and im not even joking. so thorough, so nuanced, so personal and im not even done yet. incredible job. keep up the wonderful work
It is extremely rare that I agree with nearly every single point made in a video, but I must say, that was most certainly the case with this one. You completely and utterly hit it out of the park and echoed my views on Taylor in almost every single aspect!! I am a fan of her music and love her songwriting and believe she absolutely deserves her success, however, I've never been a fan of how much she paints herself as an underdog when a lot of her success was possible due to her abundant amount of insane privilege (ie super emotionally and financially supportive parents, very little struggles/virtually no issues in her home life, being the embodiment of conventionally attractive/eurocentric beauty standard/whiteness etc). Thank you for this masterpiece of a video essay! And you achieved it all with such subtle yet savage humour all the way throghout! You've gained a subscriber in me 👏💕
I came from a background of abuse, have no familial support network, and survived some pretty bad financial situations. It does frustrate me how the wealthy present themselves as "self-made" when they aren't. It's a disservice to people like me. If you had advantages in life, you can't help that ... but at least be honest.
@@lordfreerealestate8302 I 100% agree
I don't think she has ever painted herself as an underdog....not in her lyrics or music videos and not in any of her interviews. So I'm not sure where you are getting this idea from?
i am a few years younger than her, and was in high school when her first album came out. i really liked her. i had just started learning guitar, i was very awkward/meek and that was part of her brand at the time. i learned like all of the songs off her first two albums on guitar, i still know all the words.
i resented her music for quite some time between 2013 and 2022. i came around when i had a big epiphany that my resentment for upper classes doesnt have to manifest in me picking out individuals to villianize. just because i am hurt that other hard working musicians starve their whole lives and become 3x as good as she is (no hate to her, its her genre, not everyone has to be a genius) and still get no love doesn't make it HER specific fault.
it actually marked a hUGE character growth when i was able to turn on taylor swift and be like ok yeah, i am enjoying this song. and that is ok. not everything has to fucking torture me lol
there are actual villains to villainize
I had this exact same experience with her and her music at the exact time time frame-loving her to resenting her to realizing she’s just one person.
being able to enjoy things without letting the black hole of the unfair world around it is such a hard but necessary step
thats comforting tbh... i guess that makes sense that it would be kind of normal for artists who take their work seriously to go through a period of resentment towards "idols" in their culture. i actually have zero desire to be in her position, it seems really hard. thats not the music career i want. when i truly accepted that i can have a fuffilling career in music where i become the best musician i can be and earn the respect of my peers without HAVING to become like swift - that was part of that epiphany, and its not only helped me have a healthy view of how i feel about her specifically, but how i feel about what makes an artist deserving of respect and the difference between that and fame. @@XxSukiDaisukiXx
@@seroquelchamberWe don't need to get into it here, but having resentment towards Swift for her multiple homes, jet usage during a global climate crisis, and holding billions of dollars is actually fine. Using a word like "villain" doesn't make these things more or less true.
hey alex could you maybe consider moving your notes/on-screen additions to a different part of the screen? when people use youtube subtitles they obscure your notes and I have to pause, rewind, turn the subtitles off, wait for the text to re-appear so I can read it, and then turn the titles back on quickly so I can make sure I don't miss anything. it would be awesome if your additional notes or text could be on top or on the sides? or just higher up?
At least on desktop, you can click and drag the subtitle bar to move it anywhere on the video, along with a lot of other settings in the subtitle options! I can't find anything like that for the mobile app though :(
as a lesbian swiftie, i have to say i teared up at the end hearing fellow queer people talk about their experiences with taylor’s music… just incredible, immediatly one of my favorite video essays of all time
Taylor fall deeply in love with the idea of a superstar from such an early age, it's so apparent in those teen clips, the idea of a superstar who everyone is crazy about. And she really achieved it for herself.
The ending oh I’m in shambles I’m lgbt and Taylor is one of my special interests and the way I literally became a swiftie was me coping with a really bad personal situation. She’s resonates with me a lot and as a trans guy she’s one of only avenues I still feel comfortable having a connection to femininity with❤in general taylor has helped me so much with dealing with negative emotions, situations, and later with empowerment. So many different musical moments I have associations to my own personal life with and she’s a huge part of my life. And of course like you said it’s important to criticize her, but I’m so happy you acknowledge how important she is for queer people
the swiftie community terrifies me. i am a great enjoyer of her music, but the fandom is scary.
Bro, that's so true. Everytime i dipped my toes in fandoms i regretted it.
I like her music alot but she isn't the second coming of christ or anything. Her fanbase is so mean. When I saw the response from swifties on Meat canyons parody animation, oh lord. They were calling him such despicable things. I just felt so disgusted seeing the way they treat people.
@@grmgtSame. I got into her music at around Reputation. Recently, on the comments of the song “Tolerate It” I mentioned my interpretation of the song, and how it seemed like a song about not being accepted by your family. But somebody completely ripped on that, and said “no. It’s about being married to someone who doesn’t care.” Like, wow. People can’t even have their own interpretation of something? Those people are scary.
I do think in general, pop-fandoms can be really scary, especially as an outsider.
What put me off with her fandoms was less general craziness (which can be basically expected, at least to a certain degree), it was more the extreme racism that I wasn't prepared for at all.
The amount of fans of hers that are very comfortable with being openly racist, really surprised me when I first encountered her fans online.
This doesn't have to mean it has anything to do with her as a person, but I really can't help but remember them when listening to a TS song now.
@@Reed5016 Your interpretation is valid no matter what anyone says. (But if you want a little more in your corner, if a Swiftie ever swings at you again for your interpretation of "tolerate it," tell them an evermore stan said you could have that interpretation. ;D )
Since Taylor (nor Alex until now) did not say her name: RIP Ana Benevides 💔 victim of climate injustice and the most absolute negligence in the name of profit.
As a Brazilian, I was expecting this video to talk about this tragedy, but I guess maybe Alex didn't have the time to include it.
@@anyperin4921 amigue, youtubers estão acostumades a incluir coisa de última hora. Nem precisava ser assim. Ele citou a morte na publi que fez, mas não no vídeo, que já é longo. Cinco minutos a mais ou a menos não fariam diferença pra ele, mas fazem para uma família enlutada e para o público :(
@@somethingunusual8456 Bah não tava sabendo q ele tinha feito publi disso, ele podia ter incluído mesmo :(
As someone who's been a swiftie for yearssssss this is such a good critique. It's so well done and it brings awareness without diminishing her art!
Here I am doing some Paranoid Readings™.
The thing that epitomizes the narrative surrounding Taylor to me is the whole billionaire thing. Everyone is trash-talking billionaires (rightfully), assuming billionaires are immediately trash simply because they are billionaires, but the second Taylor fucking Swift becomes one, it’s “congratulations”, and “she deserves it”, and “she’s the moment.” I’ve been a Taylor Swift fan since 2012. I love this woman’s music to death, I’ve done the sleuthing for clues, I’ve grown up with her. But she’s not a god. She’s not exempt from criticism. She’s the culture as much as she has been counterculture, and you can like someone’s work without both infantalizing their knowledge of their wrongdoings and idolizating them by thinking every great thing they’ve ever been involved with must be the result of their Superior Brain™. I’m not discrediting her, but the way we currently talk about her reminds me of the cult surrounding the movie director, forgetting that movies (like music) are often collaborative processes. Yes, Taylor’s music does seem to be incredibly personal, she does most of the work in everything she puts out (including her own media persona and the meticulous planning that comes with it), and she is absolutely incredibly hardworking and talented. I know this. I’ve been here for a lot of it. But she’s not god, and I’ve seen this before - I’ve seen the ebb and flow of celebrity and the way our culture loves and hates them in equal measures. She will falter, and she will fall again. It’s inevitable in this circle. I don't doubt she’ll be back up, however, but the difference between Taylor Swift and other artists dealing with the same cycle is that she can get back up. Many can’t.
I’m just tired of the cult surrounding certain celebrities, I guess.
It’s frustrating because you can’t say that she's a terrible person in the vein that most rich and famous people are, that she actively puts down people or engages in forms of active oppression or says hateful shit, but as someone else said, she's just committed herself to amassing social and cultural power that she simply uses to amass more. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to not interpret that critically, I just have a hard time trusting anyone who positions themselves to control or dictate society/culture, especially through a lens of their own (*very* privileged) lived experience.
@@nickoliekeyov746 yes!!!
I think some people hesitate when it comes to rich artists because most artists actually do, like, work? They contribute something; an actual something you can see or hear. When you make money by moving other money around it's easy to say, "this is bullshit because you're taking a pretend thing and making more pretend things." And usually in that movement of money you're actively hurting people in order to do it, which is bad. If you're making art, the most hurt you're doing is critiquing the powerful and if their feelings get hurt fuck them anyway, or the worse hurt your doing to someone personally is them saying your art sucks and is bad and you should feel bad because I don't like it for aesthetic purposes. You're right though in that no rich person is above criticism no matter how much pretend money they make. I can understand WHY people falter here, but having that understanding can help us help them understand why maybe people like Taylor Swift don't need kagillions of dollars no matter how much they work for it.
@@ChristopherSadlowski absolute! I agree with you
Unpopular opinion in this thread: I don't think it's rightful to hate billionaires for the "billionaire" -- it depends on how they became a billionaire.
I'm a big fan of Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Taylor Swift.
What I rightfully hate is executives who try to take as much money for themselves as possible (and I hate many of the billionaires for this reason, but not for them just being a billionaire), while they try to set non-executive salaries and wages as low as possible. And I rightfully hate specific politicians voting (1) to set the tax code to allow enormous accumulation of wealth, and (2) to underfund the IRS auditors of people with high gross incomes. I find rich people donating to their favorite charities and nonprofits largely distasteful -- I'd much rather have the high income earners pay more in taxes and use the taxes to increase the social safety net, implement Medicare-for-all, etc.
I think the way to fix what I hate would be politicians passing a more progressive tax code. And that would probably require anti-gerrymandering laws, ranked choice voting, equal time for political pundits on different sides of an issue, truth in pundits, public funding of elections, ....
I think this is genuinely one of the best essays ive ever experienced like I was crying tears of joy at the end of this. I started watching this video since the like presence of Taylor Swift is quite interesting. I had no idea that like the resolution to this video would such a beautiful look on how people exist and experience life with Taylor DSwift happening to be a part of that. The idea that Taylor Swift has now essentially become a whole concept in society now is so intersting as well. This has also made me actually want to listen to Taylor Swift too I hope I enjoy her stuff and like I'm not usually one for too much pop but like idk this video was nice.
Also, I want to mention how the set up for the end in the intro was amazing too. The fact that it does set up a repsonse to the paranoia criticism with the search to touch grass. I think this is certainly something that will change my worldview at leat a little bit. I love how reparative reading is about loving something and enjoying what is there and like I just love people and how cultures thrive and are full of joy, emotion, experience, history and just humanity. It is amazing too how queer people continue to exist and have joys and pleasures and ups and downs and defiance and love and sadness and healing. I love how Taylor Swift as this cultural phenomenon can link so many people and be enjoyed by so many and just how much emotion there is in that.
I'm 17, I'm trying to find my own sense of community and other trans women like me and there is just something so nice about hearing about mundanities and love and the sort and how queer people can interact with this and theres just like a hope in me for how much good there is in the world. I have been slowly finding people like me but like and I'm getting there at figuring out how to actually be friends even but like I'm figuring it out where I place in all of this and this video makes me just wanna try out so many new things and just be joyful. I'm gonna have a great fucking life and hell maybe Taylor Swift could be a part of that in some form too.
Man, I love queer people.
First I agree that it’s so great to just appreciate something and see others appreciate something and love something. I think k it’s important to think critically about things but I also wish people would be more accepting of others experiences and connections to certain pieces of art. If you want to get into her music I’d try listening to a little bit from each album since she really does have some variation in style. My personal favorite albums are folklore and evermore since they feel the most intimate and artistic to me. Here are some songs I like personally that have some variation. Tied together with a smile, don’t blame me, death by a thousand cuts, seven, champagne problems, all too well 10 minute version, you’re on your own kid, dear John, and clean.
You are easily the best person to come into the video essay scene. Perfectly crafted and executed. Thank you for all your hard work!
Taylor Swift has had a huge influence on my life. She inspired me to pursue a career in music (just not one in popular music), and she is the reason I fell in love with music as a child. Thank you, Alexander, for making this video that discusses Taylor Swift in a way that doesn’t deride her or her fans, but also doesn’t blindly praise her. This video was so respectful and interesting, and I’m happy I get to hear about my favorite artist, who has undoubtedly changed my life, while not sugarcoating or condemning her.
In my early teenage years, there was a girl who identified strongly with Taylor swift to the point that she would dress like her and get everyone to make the comparison. She was dating the most popular guy and could afford highlights. When I moved, there was another one. Like a weird carbon copy.
I really feel like they stood for the kind of straight girl my family wished I would be. They were both very catty to me as well.
I know it’s not Taylor’s fault, but I really do resent her for what she symbolizes to me. The rich, tall, straight girl who made fun of me for my short hair and glasses.
Her music is also not to my taste, but that’s neither here nor there.
Dude I so get it. I always never understood the mania around loving or hating her, she herself never inspired any strong feelings in me, just felt like I couldn’t relate to her at all and her stuff was mostly boring. What did happen though was a negative association with the majority of girls that loved her that were usually pretty bitchy or fake at worst, and obnoxiously “quirky Disney princess” at best (the ones I knew). I also had short hair and wasn’t really accepted in any cliques other than some band nerds. Oh the irony that I’m a musician from Nashville and couldn’t relate lol the whole reason I’m an hour and a half through this video is I find our cultures response to her so much more interesting (I don’t hate her y’all fyi, apathy doesn’t mean I’m dissing her hard work) but yeah… weird associations were made 😂
its the white feminism for me. your view and experience is so valid, but its also just the fact that she dated a racist, perpetuates white feminism, and is an unethical rich person
Ironically, isn't taylor swift kind of like the antithesis to that? Like she framed herself as that awkward cat lady girl-next-door with millenial humor and being 'relatable'. If u watch her behind the scenes of look what you made me do music video, she always been a goofy person
That’s a shame you find that symbolism in her. She wasn’t popular at school nor dated the popular guy. People made fun of her and she had few friends.
Perhaps you could see yourself in her and disliked that aspect that mirrored yours? It’s more common to dislike the things you see in others that you dislike about yourself, rather than for something you’re not, it’s very much a projection. Everyone has this instinct. When we grow emotionally and mentally and embrace these perceived “flaws”, we can begin to heal and we no longer project them onto others, resulting in healthier relationships.
Please don’t be offended, I’m not trying to invalidate your experience, just looking at it from a different perspective. Whichever way you look at it, I’m sorry for what you went through.
Put this video in the Library of Congress istg
I am not a Taylor Swift fan and find myself doing a lot of "critique" and trying to resist the seemingly inescapable gravitational pull she has on society at large right now. This video helped me UNDERSTAND. The last few sections... bravo to you. I will be buying a copy of Touching Feeling and getting down to the bottom of it all! Thank you for such a thoughtful, insightful, and timely piece of work.
"Beyond the music, you are also listening to a part of her life, a part of a grander personal lore that she's been building for years." - This is such an incredibly strong thesis for this video. 10/10 would watch for 2 hours worth of this again.
Something about Avila’s videos are so completely enrapturing to me. He has a very standard and static setup with the spotlight and plain wall but he still somehow makes me so completely engaged the entire video, he has a power to keep me watching that I haven’t found anywhere else.
i think part of the reason why taylor made it to #5 on my spotify wrapped this year is because she finally was writing about shit i related to. i have no interest listening to any music pre folklore. i'm almost a decade younger than her but her writing on folklore and evermore speak to a particular ache i felt as a black girl living in the us and going to a private, pwi my entire life. she's finally catching up to my development which i would say is the case with most millennial/gen z white women.
omg same as a brown girl i only like her songs from forklore era
This is exactly my experience, folklore and Evermore had made me listen to her for first time, before that I had only heard black space maybe once or twice, American music wasn't popular where I live but her lyricsim in folklore Evermore converted me to Swiftie, then with her rerecording I m literally first time ever listening to her old albums ! N totally amazed by all this eras and asthetics, makes me wonder about folklore of her life, it's fucking brilliant
Girl thats a you problem. Taylor has always had deep cuts far better than what was on folkmore even in her previous albums. However shed market her albums w the big flashy poppy ones which makes sense cus she’d have never been this big today if not for them
I’m only 50 minutes in right now but as a former swiftie, especially one who’s listening habits are about 50/50 rock/pop, this is one of the best video essays I’ve ever seen so far
It’s probably the best deconstruction I’ve seen that feels completely balanced in point of view
i love the idea of a former swiftie. lol
I don't listen to Taylor's music and yet I stayed the whole video. Is amazing the way you connect deep topics of social sciences and things like the development of a music star. Your work is amazing.
this is one of the longest video essays I've ever had the fortune to watch - and I will be reading that Beatles fanfic, thank you for feeding me such a tasty feast of content xx
The research and time that went into this video is incredible! UA-camrs really don’t get credit for the effort they put into scripting, directing and editing like film makers do and as a viewer I want to thank you for that quality.
I didn’t know what to expect watching this but it totally blew me away. I didn’t know much about Taylor but seeing a breakdown of her career, artistry and persona from a political perspective made me understand her so much better.
I’m so invested in pop culture and my gosh this video was not only appreciated but very informative. I’ve always wanted a career in the arts but I know I have to be mindful of how I come off as an “other” too because my art isn’t stand alone since it’s attached to me, a girl (soon to be woman) of colour. I’m not going to give up anytime soon but man, I wish this world wasn’t so hierarchical? Especially since my art comes from a very passionate and escapist place. I want to capture what I see in this life but how can I do that freely and ethically?
Food for thought I guess.
I must say i fucking love the visible help you are giving each other (visible as in reading each others quotes in your videos). This will make community creation visible. I just love it.
actually crazy how you mentioned the zany in relation to Taylor swift’s appearance of authenticity in this video as i had just written about this in an essay!!
It’s a really interesting subject and i feel like you could easily make a deep dive into this connection from the perspective of the desperation present in the zany and how Taylor highlights this not only in the shake it off music video, but in the “authenticity” she presents as a people pleaser. She openly states that she can be seen as an amalgamation of criticism and how it’s shaped her as a person and artist. This desperation to fill all the roles demanded of her reflects the consequences of contemporary neoliberal values but also something many women have experienced as they grow up and learn how to act and “present” themselves.
this openness and acceptance of being seen as “boring”, or “out of place”, even as she’s grown up scrambling to fit everyones expectations, i feel definitely speaks to many women’s exhaustion in response to constantly being told ‘How to Woman’ as they’re being raised in a patriarchal society. As a consequence this zany disposition may be comforting to embrace and easier to digest for people instead of deeply considering all the racial and hierarchical biases fed to us from an early age. It’s ‘relatable’, ‘authentic’ and perhaps one of the reasons she’s hailed as a ‘feminist icon’ for many white people.
I, a 43 year old man, love Taylor swift. I found her when I was getting ready to leave my marriage. She has a reputation as the breakup queen, so I wanted to find my inner Taylor swift to find the courage to initiate the divorce. It totally worked, I gtfo.
However, her reputation as breakup queen I think is a bit inaccurate. She’s a romantic, and sings way more love songs than breakup songs (I guess I should say _the persona she portrays to the public_ is that of a romantic)
She helped me understand women better, understand my anxiously attached side better, and helped me believe that, in spite of everything, real love may be possible.
You are kidding me right 😂😂 ..... you did your ex a favor imo if taylor was your inspiration to leave your marriage. I suspect she inspires many to do the same. Love is not a feeling ....
@@Katrielible yes I did do my ex a favor. My love bucket was empty. She was married to someone who had no love left to give to her. She used it all up. She didn’t reciprocate, she was controlling and didn’t like me having any friends or even leaving the house. My job was to tend to her needs and hers alone, tending to my own was selfish. She needed something I couldn’t give her, so I left.
You didn’t think I listened to Taylor swift and spontaneously decided to leave my marriage did you? lol
@@Cowface sorry about them, holy shit people are so stupid 💀💀💀
she's helped you understand *white women* better. not all women or AFABs
Good job on doing what had to be done, getting out of a relationship is an emotional and difficult thing that takes strength :)! I’m glad you seem to be doing better.
I feel proud to say that I learned more about Taylor Swift in this one video than in the rest of my 31 years on Earth combined. Ever since reading Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord, celebrity culture has not just bothered me, but actively REPULSED me
Same but 26 years 😂
Also, thanks for the book recommendation
I love your PFP and profile name.
Lmao some people take pride in the silliest things
I'm older than you, and this is the most thought I've ever given Swift in my entire life. Also the most I've ever heard of her or even been exposed to her. I gave up on mainstream culture by 14 years old, and pop music even younger than that.
If it were any other content creator, I would've scrolled on by and maybe even blocked the channel to make sure nothing similar ever showed up in my recommended again. But it's Alex, so I gave it a shot. I'm still not sure I'll be able to finish it, but it's really well done regardless.
Your final question...I think I need to think about it a bit more. My first reaction was "keep loving the art / artist" I somehow feel more validated in loving Taylor's music & Taylor as an artist without explicitly loving her as a person per se (which cannot be known from the outside).
I felt like you were reading my mind as it went on this emotional rollercoaster. I don't really listen to Taylor Swift but as someone who grew up woman-adjacent, white, and Mormon in a creative sphere, and taught that the best thing to be was "good" in the eyes of god and everyone, I connected deeply with Taylor's need to be seen as "good", and it frustrates me to no end that I feel that way. Deconstructing the religious culture of my childhood, the social structure of my country and whiteness and what it even means for me to be a "woman" in social roles while not feeling like I really am one... It's exhausting. I sometimes wonder if I'll keep deconstructing my insides until there's nothing left because it's all ancient patriarchal rot? But, at the heart of that is paranoia, isn't it? A paranoid need to be seen as good, dig everything out hoping there's some stable foundation in there someone.
I've never heard of Reparative Reading but I want to learn more about it. If it's possible for me to see those systems that were never designed to sustain and actively hurt me and others, mormonism, whiteness, etc, and reparatively "affirm, create, and care", what might happen next? How do I do that with the pieces of the cultures that are a part of me, though I don't really want them anymore? Affirming, creating, and caring sound very healing. It's probably one of the reasons I've found a home in online queer spaces after leaving mornonism. There's so much care and creativity there.
Thank you Alexander for this video, it's given me a lot to think about. Going to check out "Touching, Feeling" when I can!
2 minutes in and I already have experienced the most wild tweet imaginable. holy shit i hope that was satire or hyperbole.
I was like “yeah, okay, I guess, I understand passion” about the first one and went “HEART MEDICINE???” the second one 😭😭
no actually most of them are like that i think
i looked her up on twitter and she quote tweets any comments abt taylor perceived as negative calling ppl the r slur so i think not
unfortunately very real… for every good swiftie there’s an absolutely unhinged one that makes the rest of us look bad
As a swiftie, tragically it genuinely could be either
Incredible work, Alexander! I’ve been meaning to check this video out for a while and I’m so glad I did.
“And while I may not be a music historian, I am autistic.” ! ! !