All Hail Taylor Swift, Person of the Year!

Not a lot. It's just Time magazine's recognition of the person they deem most influential in that year. They don't have to be a good person, just influential. In 1938, the Person of the Year was Adolf Hitler.

So it's more or less completely irrelevant. Time is a large and influential periodical - or at least it has been for most of its history - so in terms of celebrity status it's pretty influential. But it doesn't really mean anything other than that.

The best pick was the year they chose the Inanimate Carbon Rod.
 
Has she managed to knock Nana Mouskouri off the top of the hit parade? Nana is the most!
 
She's helped me out in several quizzes, her and her mate Ed. Any musical questions about a female my suggestion is always Swift, any about a male and my answer is Ed. For some reason my team mates don't turn to me for answers to music questions.

For us its always Beyonce or Drake if we have no frickin clue on the music questions.
 
So I listened to lobosrul5's link, and I listened to Blank Space, and it's clear to me she's got that spark. But I'm wondering -- and this is admittedly OT -- but it sounds to me like pop music hasn't evolved much in the last 10 or 20 years. I'm not saying it's bad, I just feel that if either of those songs came out in 2013 or whatever, they'd fit in more or less with what was on the radio then.

But I've never listened that much to pop, so maybe it's a false impression.
 
So I listened to lobosrul5's link, and I listened to Blank Space, and it's clear to me she's got that spark. But I'm wondering -- and this is admittedly OT -- but it sounds to me like pop music hasn't evolved much in the last 10 or 20 years. I'm not saying it's bad, I just feel that if either of those songs came out in 2013 or whatever, they'd fit in more or less with what was on the radio then.

But I've never listened that much to pop, so maybe it's a false impression.

Blank Space, and Shake it Off came out in 2014. (btw my sister in law is mid 30's and a huge fan, that is my main source of hearing T-Swift, I don't think most of her fans are tweens these days).
 
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I'm an old. Is Taylor Swift the Madonna of these days?

No. Madge was never an anything and was clearly the second-best-looking sheila in Desperately Seeking Susan. Madge made her name by being sluttish, while Taylor made her image the exact opposite.

Magde's political and social cred is zero, Taylor's is better than almost anyone else you could name.

Who?

Seriously, I somehow managed to escape the pull of this Black Hole - I'm sure I heard plenty of her songs without knowing who the singer is - and when someone tells me, I forget almost instantly.

Her music isn't the point. If musical ability mattered Kate Bush would have won it every year since 1977. Note: I have exactly zero of her songs on my playlist. It's mostly a bit mild for my taste, but songs like You Need To Calm Down are lyrically brilliant.

The point is that she's used her popularity for good and has done lots of philapthropic work she takes no credit for, so you know she's not doing it because it's good for her image.

What the **** are you talking about? She has a massive, massive following on every social media platform she decides to be on. She started dating an NFL player and THEIR ******* SALES WENT UP. She's stood up to recording studios, including re-recording her entire catalog to get out from under their thumb, and she's philanthropic as well.

All around she's an amazing person and everyone that hops in and is like, "Who? Don't know, don't care about some pop person" is doing the same thing you're doing. Dismissing her because of one facet of her life, which admittedly made her wealthy. The fact you saying "lets hold off on the celebration" is WAY too late. The choice has been made and no one involved in it gave a flying ******* what Samson has to say about Taylor's views. Nothing to debate.

Bravo!

You will soon start to hear the sound of MAGA morons' heads exploding!

That's my favourite thing about her... she triggers really the MAGA chuds!

They set fire to her CDs!

They loved her virginal country girl image, then she showed them up for the sick bigots they are. To me, what she did in becoming a political force is almost akin to Muhammad Ali's becoming a muslim - they both alienated vast swathes of America and didn't give a flying ****.
 
No. Madge was never an anything and was clearly the second-best-looking sheila in Desperately Seeking Susan. Madge made her name by being sluttish, while Taylor made her image the exact opposite.

Magde's political and social cred is zero, Taylor's is better than almost anyone else you could name.

Weirdly enough, when speaking of musicians I meant their music.
 
So I listened to lobosrul5's link, and I listened to Blank Space, and it's clear to me she's got that spark. But I'm wondering -- and this is admittedly OT -- but it sounds to me like pop music hasn't evolved much in the last 10 or 20 years. I'm not saying it's bad, I just feel that if either of those songs came out in 2013 or whatever, they'd fit in more or less with what was on the radio then.

But I've never listened that much to pop, so maybe it's a false impression.

Sorry, I didn't see the doco myself, so can't reference it, but have recently been told that the problem of 'sameness' in modern pop music, is that there are a very limited set of writers, writing the songs.

Back in my day, there was a limited sound because of the small number of producers creating the 'sound' of various artists.
 
Yes you have.

I certainly haven't.

I listen to CDs and a mass of YT playlists. None of them have her music. No random TV or radio stuff, not even adverts as I only watch BBC iPlayer and (*very* rarely) Amazon stuff.
 
I've seen more than one news item in the last few months about Taylor Swift concerts giving a boost to local economies.

That makes her more influential than many of the politicians.
 
I certainly haven't.

I listen to CDs and a mass of YT playlists. None of them have her music. No random TV or radio stuff, not even adverts as I only watch BBC iPlayer and (*very* rarely) Amazon stuff.
You must be very careful. I can't navigate my way around in public without encountering random environmental music. Never been into a shopping centre? Did you buy your CDs from a completely silent music store? Never passed by someone on the street with a boom box?

You most certainly have. You may have tuned it out, but you have.
 
"Swift became the first living artist to have five albums in the US Top 10 simultaneously, with 1989, Midnights, Folklore, Lover and Speak Now."

"She broke the record for the most number one albums by a woman in US chart history - 13 in total - overtaking Barbara Streisand."

"Swift became the first songwriter to score seven Grammy nominations for song of the year, overtaking Sir Paul McCartney and Lionel Richie."


Beating literally everyone in music for popularity! I'd be embarrassed not to know who she is.
 
It's hit 6 pm in N.Z. and I just heard the T.V. news start with a sting saying "she's the first entertaining to be given that honour".

Missing what person of the year is all about, as usual.
 

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