Song:Shake It Off
Album:1989
So when Taylor Swift first emerged in 2006, the big debate was is she country or pop. With the 2014 album 1989 and the single Shake It Off, she announced before it was released that it was a pop album. Who has ever done that? Yet another music industry rule broken. Conventional wisdom says you don't announce that. But Taylor gets away with it because she writes her own songs and despite all the nonsense surrounding her, she seems to have her head on straight. I don't like her music but I'm not her audience. She was born Dec. 13, 1989 in Reading, PA. She got into musical theater as a child and then she was influenced by Shania Twain to get into country music. She took a demo of covers to Nashville and came to the conclusion that she needs to write her own songs. So at age 14 she got an artist development deal with RCA and she moved with her family to Nashville. While attending high school, she started working with veteran Nashville songwriters. She seemed to click with Liz Rose who had modest success previously. She started recording demos with session musician Nathan Chapman. Taylor left RCA because she wanted to record her own songs. At a showcase at the Bluebird Cafe, she was spotted by former DreamWorks Records exec Scott Borchetta who was starting Big Machine Records. She convinced Borchetta to let her record her 2006 debut album with Chapman. Because he had never produced an album, veteran producer Robert Ellis Orrall was hired to help him. Taylor wrote all the songs either by herself or with Liz Rose. The album was a huge success. It sold five million copies. Teen girls identified with her. Her 2008 album Fearless was even bigger and that and the 2011 album Speak Now were still country but leaning towards pop. It was with the 2012 album Red that Swedish producer Max Martin was brought in along with Swedish producer Shellback. Back in the 90s, Martin produced The Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears. Chapman was still executive producer so he encouraged Taylor to work with Martin. For the 2014 album 1989, Martin and Shellback produced seven of the thirteen songs including Shake It Off. She worked with other producers but Martin set the tone for a full blown pop album. I think it was a good idea for her to announce that in advance. Shake It Off was a worldwide chart topper. 1989 is her biggest selling album to date. So now Taylor Swift is the reigning queen of pop music. Of course her personal life is in the tabloids a lot. Would that be a distraction? Probably not because she can just write songs about that stuff. Hopefully she doesn't get too bitter or jaded about everything. At this point, she knows that stuff comes with the territory. Jack Antonoff wrote with Taylor on 1989 and he says she'll never stop writing songs because that's what got her to this level. She told Rolling Stone that she could start recording a new album at any time because she has stockpiled new songs. Big Machine has a really good formula with her. Why would they mess with it? Here's the video for Shake It Off by Taylor Swift.
No comments:
Post a Comment