In a manner of confession, I’ll admit that I’m not a full-on Swiftie.
Don’t get me wrong.
I truly admire her artistry and her amazing musical talent and her skills in business are the stuff that they could design Ph.D programmes round.
But am I the sort that dissects every Instagram post and every track’s lyrics to try to divine what she was writing the song about?
No.
Certainly the stories she weaves in her songs are interesting and some of the backstory that’s been revealed that inspired them even more so but what always attracted me to enjoy Taylor’s music is that breathtaking quality of her voice and the presence to own whatever stage she’s on with such elegance and grace even when it’s being invaded by an unwelcome interloper.
The first time I saw her was in “Hannah Montana: The Movie” when she did a cameo singing “Crazier” which was one of the two songs she wrote for the soundtrack. Even though her appearance was relatively brief, her performance was magical and came rather close to upstaging Miley Cyrus herself. At that point, she’d released “Fearless” (her second album) and was certainly on the radar of the country scene by the time the movie was filmed but you could already see that poised and powerful performer she was well on her way to becoming.
It was already clear she was one of those rare performers that had the ability and the talent to be one of those musicians that could excel in pretty much any genre that she wanted and it was hardly surprising when she’d seemingly casually make a turn toward the pop genre and end up owning it like few artists prior to her had.
With parents who were in high finance, it was no surprise she’d have the means to successfully pursue a career in music but it’s clear she not only learned the tricks of the money trade, she’d developed a very keen sense for business in general and massive success in the notoriously fickle music industry.
She had a brand, she had a vision, and most of all has had the tireless work ethic required to make it a reality through the years.
And the most remarkable thing is that despite all of the success and all of the drama and shade that tends to come toward those who are amazingly successful, she’s never seemed to lose sight of who she really is at the core of her being.
She seems to be a genuinely caring and nice person pretty much all round and we’ll probably never know just how generous she is with her time and devotion to her fans as well as many the charitable causes she’s quietly sponsored through the years.
When we were dropping Alex off for a week away on his own at the Victory Junction camp in Randleman, we spotted this truck she’d received on her 18th birthday that she then donated to help the camp with fundraising operations.
In fairness, you couldn’t exactly miss that pink colour really standing out in the car park but even then it’s just so Taylor!
The truck with a slightly updated livery still makes the rounds and was in our neighbourhood last year at the Wake County Speedway and I can’t stress enough just how amazing Victory Junction was and how thankful we were for Alex to be able to attend twice (and Nick and Katie got to attend a week of their own meant for siblings of kids with chronic illnesses who often have to take a back seat to their brother or sister’s needs to show them they’re not alone in having that challenge).
Obviously, they’re an awesome charity to support if you feel so motivated… 🙂
Anywho, when the worst things I can find said about her is that she throws the occasional bit of shade and her diss tracks/albums about her endlessly speculated upon romantic life are the stuff of legend and are vastly outweighed by the stories where she’s surprised her fans by showing up at their events (often with gifts in hand) and her many charitable endeavours, I’m thinking on balance she’s a pretty awesome human being and if there was a role model to be found in that industry, she’s certainly a worthy candidate to be one.
She’s effected so many positive changes for musicians with her agency and business skills.
Remember when you’d preview tracks on iTunes or some other service before deciding if you wanted to buy and download them? Prior to Taylor’s intervention, those online stores would not pay royalties even though those previews were often a significant amount of the actual track.
Taylor said “we’ll just see about that” and when iTunes and the record labels refused to pay all musicians royalties on previews…she yanked her catalogue off their services.
Apple and the others took the hint fairly quickly and started paying royalties for previews.
She’s also shown artists the way to more control over their creations by refusing to give in to one deal that was offered to her for her original masters…that she could “earn” one of her first six albums back for each album she did for Big Machine Records.
Instead of freedom, that would have handcuffed her to Big Machine.
So she ended up waiting out her gardening leave period and then started recording Taylor’s version of those albums because as the songwriter for every song on her albums, she still held that copyright and there was nothing they could do about her re-recording the albums and reduce the value of the masters to those people who were trying to own her.
That also turned out to be brilliant marketing on her part…not only did four released Taylor’s version albums sell fantastically well even amongst Swifties who already had the original versions but she also included the vault tracks that weren’t on the originals. When the streaming services cut over to streaming Taylor’s version, demand for the Big Machine recordings dropped off dramatically.
In the end and thanks to the massive bank she earned on the Eras Tour, she was in a position to buy her original masters out of bondage and all she needed was the opportunity that seemed like it was always tantalisingly close but never over the line.
Until Friday, that is.
Through hard work, dedication, and absolutely refusing to give up…she finally had brought the masters to her first six albums home where they belong and when you read her letter, you can sense the palpable joy and relief that those albums can never be used to benefit those who wanted to control her ever again.
It honestly could not have happened to a better human being.
Good on ya, Taylor.
Good on ya! 🙂