ItllBeOnTV: Tay-Tay first woman with four albums in top 10 on Billboard 200

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Bob Jersey

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Jul 16, 2023, 7:56:18 PM7/16/23
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Herb Alpert and Prince also achieved the feat. She also passed Streisand with her twelfth career #1 longplayer...
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Tom Wolper

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Jul 16, 2023, 8:46:03 PM7/16/23
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The Taylor Swift phenomenon is something I have never seen. I wonder if it’s a template for the future, where pop stars can rev up armies of obsessive fans, or if she is a one-time celebrity and after she passes from the pop scene record companies and publicists will be pushing each new star as “The next Taylor Swift” but it will be clear that’s not the case.

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Kevin M.

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Jul 16, 2023, 10:32:25 PM7/16/23
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It’s a formula, but it takes skill to pull it off. Among the best to set the template for it is the Grateful Dead who made more money as de facto cult leaders than they did as musicians. Madonna, Prince, and Lady Gaga managed to be successful with both album sales and touring (Gaga was the one who finally tipped the Dead in concert sales) as well as establishing a rabid fandom. Several pop artists have worked it in the short term (Bieber, Spice Girls, and even early acts like Elvis and the Beatles). What Swift has done better than most is position herself to be a long term player. In fifty years, Swift will still sell out stadiums, not necessarily because she’s the best at what she does, but because she and her management know how to adapt to changing times and to simultaneously attract different aged audiences. 

Personally I find her music utterly forgettable… not bad, but not good either. Some bad music thrives as an earworm. Some bad music thrives because of the character of the performers. Swift music is just innocuous and barely worth criticizing… it is perfect for a dentist’s waiting room or a SuperBowl halftime show, inasmuch as it can exist regardless of whether anyone is paying it any attention. It is nebulous. It is pop personified. 

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David Bruggeman

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Jul 17, 2023, 3:19:43 AM7/17/23
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Swift's been putting out albums since 2006, but I can't think of any other pop star who came out around the same time that has stayed in the public consciousness without diversifying or shifting into other arenas of entertainment or genres of music.  (I don't think she's impressed anyone, one way or the other, with her few non-music video acting roles.)

Having a fan army on a scale comparable to BTS or other Asian pop acts does seem unique to Swift outside of those acts.  Sure, there are other groups of intense fans of a musical act, but both the groups and the acts tend to be smaller.  That could certainly be sustainable for a longer than average career, depending on the expectations of the artists involved.

Maybe Swift has inspired her fanbase in part because her media coverage usually tightly links her personal life to her music.  This goes beyond just analyzing which single is about which relationship to include tracking which current or potential romantic partner was seen with her or attended her latest show.  And it's been happening for at least a decade.  Even in this period of more intense media scrutiny, this seems the hardest part of her trajectory to replicate.

David

PGage

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Jul 17, 2023, 4:11:43 AM7/17/23
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I’m so far outside the demo for Swift that in one sense I have no meaningful take on her. I know millions of people love pumpkin lattes at Starbucks also, and while the thought sets my teeth on edge, the fact that I despise it is irrelevant to whether that is a good product.

OTOH, Swift is roughly the same age as Adele, another young white woman who sings hyper personal break up songs. But I have loved Adele since I first heard her on one of those free iTunes songs of the week, sans any ore hype, and she has always seemed more mature and adult and genuine to me than Swift, who comes across as a marketing confection to me. I guess I attribute the passion and size of her fan base to the effectiveness of the marketing.

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Tom Wolper

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Jul 17, 2023, 8:40:35 AM7/17/23
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I didn’t know how much people have been exposed to the Taylor Swift phenomenon and while I’m not disputing any of the earlier comments or trying to correct them, I need to describe it further.

First, it’s not about the music. There will always be pop music performed by young performers and people coming of age will bond with the music and decide this is the best band/performer ever and probably stick with that their whole lives. The rest of us just won’t get it.

The Taylor Swift Eras Tour came through Pittsburgh recently. Tickets to her show sold out so quickly they added a second show and that sold out immediately. But that’s not the phenomenon. What happened is anticipation for the shows took over the city. Restaurants (note the plural) offered Taylor Swift brunches and bars came up with Swift themed cocktails. Now I remember when arena acts became stadium acts and in all those years whatever phenomenon there was stayed limited to the stadium and parking lots. I don’t remember any act, no matter how popular, taking over the city this way.

PGage

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Jul 17, 2023, 9:56:42 AM7/17/23
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Are you saying this is a function of the number of fans she has, or the unique passion of those fans? 

I don’t know if she has ever had a concert in the Bay Area; if she has, I have never noticed this kind of phenomenon.

Bob Jersey

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Jul 17, 2023, 10:28:47 AM7/17/23
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Exactly. When I was in high school, enough kids around me in class thought the Stones were the sh-t.

Tom Wolper, to PGage, in part, July 17th:

Bob Jersey

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Jul 17, 2023, 10:32:36 AM7/17/23
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2015... https://abc7news.com/stage-set-at-levis-stadium-pop-star-taylor-swift-sold-out-shows-santa-clara/930714/ (link)
You're welcome.
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PGage, to Tom Wolper, in part, July 17th:

Brad Beam

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Jul 17, 2023, 10:34:10 AM7/17/23
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Wiki says she’s at Levi’s Stadium at the end of the month.

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 17, 2023, at 09:56, PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote:



Tom Wolper

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Jul 17, 2023, 12:03:01 PM7/17/23
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I don’t have an answer for that as it’s completely new to me. I been around when fan intensive acts like The Dead and Jimmy Buffett came to town and the atmosphere was nothing like this. The only thing that pops into my head as explanation is from Chris Anderson’s book The Long Tail from around 2000. He said as media went from physical to digital there would be the equivalent of infinite shelf space. So sales strategies for musicians and authors would go from trying to sell to the largest general audience to cultivating a dedicated fan base and sell ever more product to them. Taylor Swift seems to have hit a sweet spot of a huge number of absolutely obsessed fans.

David Bruggeman

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Jul 17, 2023, 12:20:19 PM7/17/23
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While a Taylor Swift show has been a hot ticket for a while, this tour seems, at least to me, a bit more intense in terms of everything going on with it.

As someone who goes to more than a few live shows every year - just not at stadiums - I know there's been a pent up demand related to the pandemic.  I've been going to more shows than I used to, and I think the system in place to handle all of this has been trying to take advantage of this increased demand.

Some of the Swift-themed activities (which I don't think happened that much during her last tour, but I don't know) may be a result of this, but I think there's more going on than that.  I'm at a loss to explain why.  I certainly know many of my friends (not all of whom have kids in the right demo) and my sister-in-law (a Katy Perry fan of long standing) were interested in this Swift tour that weren't before.  But her music, as best as I can tell, hasn't changed dramatically since she shifted out of country-pop into just pop.

David

PGage

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Jul 17, 2023, 8:48:41 PM7/17/23
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Is this the phenomenon you are talking about?




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David Bruggeman

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Jul 18, 2023, 3:54:49 PM7/18/23
to 'Bob Jersey' via TVorNotTV
Santa Clara (home of Levi Stadium and neighbor to San Jose)  is officially going nuts over the two shows Swift is playing at the end of the month.  It is joining a few other cities that have designated Swift as an honorary mayor during her concert stop(s).  The city will also be renamed Swiftie Clara during the visit.


David

On Tuesday, July 18, 2023 at 07:13:08 AM PDT, 'Bob Jersey' via TVorNotTV <tvor...@googlegroups.com> wrote:


Oy vey.
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PGage, to Tom Wolper, July 17th:

PGage

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Jul 30, 2023, 9:22:15 AM7/30/23
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Okay, so since this thread I have seen coverage of her two concerts in SC, including several front page stories in the Chronicle.also, I have a second hand report from the college age daughter of my best friend, who went last night. The Chron said only the Super Bowl has had as much economic impact on the area.

Still, I have been pretty much protected from any Swift impact, and have experienced more pop culture Barbie related waves in my personal real and social media environment than Swift related.

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Doug Eastick

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Aug 3, 2023, 3:42:44 PM8/3/23
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6 nights in Toronto was just announced.    The country is now on pause, while people register at ticketmaster.ca for the lottery to buy tickets.
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