A lot of people wonder what is with Taylor Swift. When you look at it from the outside you’ll wonder why she has that effect on people because she’s just an ordinary pop star girl, even if you listen to some of her pop hits you’ll think that you’ve heard a much better singer, if you watch any of her performances, you’ll see awkward dance routines and gestures, if you look up her red carpet looks, you’ll think that you’ve seen other pop girls dress better. You’ll conclude that she’s no one special, so why?
Some Swifties may tell you that its her lyricism, I will tell you that its her brand. She started out as a young, naïve little girl from Pennsylvania who moved to Nashville to pursue a career in music because all her life that’s all she wanted. She went from record label to record label, knocking on their doors submitting demo cds in hopes that one of those labels will hear something special in her, but as most people who were asking questions about what people see in her, they didn’t find anything special in her, except for one person. When I look at it now, that person was someone everyone looked up to when we we’re all young. That one person made all of us teenage young girls with massive dreams that out there, someone will believe in us, oh how innocent and stupid we’ve all been.Â
Taylor Swift debuted in 2008 with Tim Mcgraw, a country song about missing someone and getting reminded of them with songs you listen to together. Most of us were teenagers, some even younger, but that song didn’t reach any of us yet. Tim Mcgraw was just a song that is played in American Radio, it didn’t have the strength to propel Swift to the top. Her next release is what her market became interested in, Teardrops on my Guitar. Its a song that was about falling in love with your bestfriend with one of the strongest intro in the her entire discography.
“Drew looks, at me, I fake a smile so he won’t see,” [Teardrops on my Guitar, Taylor Swift, 2008]
That line reached not only the ears of teenage girls who have unrequited crushes on their bestfriends, but also their hearts. Suddenly there’s someone in the music industry that is singing songs straight out of their diaries. Personally, Swift reached me in 2009, with You Belong with Me. It has the same theme with Teardrops on my Guitar which worked in North America, and now worked on the world.
From there Swift was because of America’s sweetheart and adults would all gang up on her and try to destroy the glow she had. But Taylor Swift wasn’t just a naïve sweet little teenager, she also rages like one. Not only her love songs but also her break up songs instantly connected with teenagers. Her songs are either painfully close or angrily close, either way, it was like hearing about yourself and your life.Â
If you go around and ask people who are a fan of Taylor Swift, ask them for how long. Swifties grew up with Taylor Swift. We fell inlove with her, we broke our hearts with her. We found friends with her and also got betrayed with her. Her entire discography is a written story of not just her life but ours as well.
What better marketing than people’s lives and heart? She cemented herself as someone who relates to you, who knows what you’re going through and can put it into words. All throughout her entire career she has been branded and rebranded, made and destroyed by the same people, taken advantage of and got through it all. People in the industry never learned, Taylor Swift isn’t just powerful because she has a fanbase that are like her family or childhood friends. She’s powerful because no matter what she’s driven and has a clear vision of her goals.
Taylor Swift always knew what she wants and always knew that she needs to pay for it and payed greatly. Even now at 34 she’s still in her path, and the way is still clear.Â
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