“Boohoohoo, Taylor Swift only writes song about her own experiences!”
Oh my sweet stars.
Look, I am ambiguous on Swift the woman, not overly fond of Swift the product, love some of her music, am “eh” on the rest of it, but: SHUT THE HELL UP. Artists do not exist to serve YOU. We make art about whatever the hell we want and have no other obligations; any other expectations you have are ON. YOU. Deal with them yourself.
If you don’t like Swift’s confessional music, here’s a thought: DON’T. LISTEN. TO IT. Don’t give her your money if you don’t like it! She isn’t beholden to you or me or anyone else other than herself.
“The poet’s vow is to–” NO. STOP. Any poet’s vow is THEIR OWN.
If you want a song written about a certain topic? WRITE IT YOURSELF.
You people have made me defend Taylor Swift. Stars above.
3 Comments
All of this. I don’t know why people are shocked Taylor Swift didn’t magically turn into Warsan Shire overnight and make an album about collective grief and world affairs. TS has always written confessional poetry and set it to music, and if her music doesn’t speak to any given person, that’s fine! But like you said, it’s not up to them to dictate what she does or doesn’t make art about.
EXACTLY! It also feeds into this revolting little narrative that “art about topic X is more valuable than topic Y” (which also leads into the whole “art about topic Y is therefore immune from or deserves less criticism/means the artist gets brownie points solely for making it”, which is a related can of tacos, but not one I’m gonna open here) which…really ticks me off, to be honest. I’d rather a heartfelt, well-written poem about a happy, boring-ass relationship than an ill-crafted jumble of random words with no form to be seen for miles about how hard it is to date three people at once when one of you has a broken ankle and a therapist’s appointment.
It’s such an exhausting narrative. Especially since a lot of “issue” art is either made by clueless people who are trying to be deep and socially relevant and failing, or by marginalized people who are get strong-armed into creating it because apparently our pain has merit, but not our joy. Like you said, give me a poem that comes from an authentic place any day, even if it’s about just having a picnic with a loved one.