I'm not sure about Taylor Swift as a role model. (Destiny)

by CruelLEGACEY , Toronto, Saturday, February 06, 2016, 19:50 (3211 days ago) @ Funkmon

Well, she's 26. But still. She was savvy in that she became famous through country music, which discourages that sexual stuff. The women are beautiful but cover up, and they don't do the Madonna crap. In fact, one of my favourite singers, Cassadee Pope, covers up her arms for promotional materials because they're full of tattoos, acceptable in pop/punk whence she came, but not acceptable in country music. So, once already famous, Swift sold out and started doing electronic pop junk. Her image as a country artist carried through and she can continue to act like a normal person.

Taylor's switch into the pop world is a lot more impressive than it seems on the surface. Not many music acts can pull off a switch like that. Because of her start in country music, she comes off as genuine in terms of her musical abilities (she plays her own instruments & writes her own songs). But in the buildup to her switch into pop music, she and her label were very smart in how they cultivated her fan base. All her marketing and social media was about making personal connections with her fans. By the time her 1989 album came out, it could have been a collection of old-time banjo mountain music and her fans would've loved it, because they are invested in her as much as her music. In a way, she's kind of future-proofed her career. She can bounce to whatever genre she wants (or whatever genre is selling well) and as long as the tunes are catchy, and she retains her connection with her fan base, they'll eat it up. And since she began by establishing herself as a country singer/songwriter, she can always come back with stuff like this and her fans accept it:

Side note, I think Mylie Cyrus is heading along a similar path, although I suspect her "antics" over the past few years have more to do with wrestling personal demons, rather than Taylor Swift's more calculated path. But as someone who established herself doing stuff like this...

...I think we'll see her come through the garbage-pop phase intact.

I think pop princesses like Katy Perry (who I think is a fantastic singer) are going to have a much harder time continuing on in the music industry if/when people tire of her bubblegum music. She's marketed her looks and party dresses as such a huge part of "who she is" that I think people will have a tougher time accepting anything different from her.

Wow, who knew female pop singers were such a hot topic for me ;p I just really find this stuff fascinating.

However, if we're talking about female singers, there are some more consistent ones who are also famous despite no sex stuff, like Hayley Williams if you like rock music, or a lot of pop country singers. Swift may be the best of a bad bunch. What about Adele? I don't know what kind of junk she sings about, but she seems like a nice girl.

I don't know Hayley Williams... I'll have to check out her music. And good point about Adele. I'm not really familiar with her music either, but I've seen a few interviews and she comes across as unusually genuine, which is great to see.