INTRO & 2024: Part 7 - Country Music, Taylor Swift, and More Cheating

 Country Music

Country music's popularity has been on an upward trajectory for a decade and spiked in 2024. This article discusses this https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/this-aint-texas-country-music-renaissance-in-uk-as-genre-surges-67-in-2024/

Despite paying almost no attention, I HAD also noticed an upward trend in folk, drinking songs, sea shanties and the like.

This is great for fans of country music, right?........... or wrong? I turn here to my friend Simon Ore because he is far more the expert in this genre than I am. Arguably the most notable event concerning this subject in 2024 was the release of Beyoncé’s album, which was specifically packaged, released and promoted as a ‘country album’ – and to cut a long story short (I’ve written about it in previous parts) Si would strongly beg to differ. While I don’t necessarily dispute him on that, I have some questions and musings. My first ponderings on the matter were when Kacey Musgrave's “Deeper Well” was released in March. At that point I was in the habit of NOT researching artists before listening to them so I could experience the music without the spoils of education. I enjoyed the album (I gave it a 6). I wasn’t preoccupied with ‘genre’ but had thoughts of ‘singer-song-writer’ (not a genre, I grant) ‘folk’, ‘acoustic rock’, ‘soft rock’.......  I then did the compulsory Wikipedia search and she was described as a ‘country singer’. ‘Country’ hadn’t come into my head. Interesting. . . Post Malone is referred to exclusively as a country artist, and having heard his album, that’s generally a fair-cop, but he has tracks that veer from that, yet appear in the country music chart. The article I drew attention to above refers to Shaboozy’s “Bar Song” as a country track. Is that strictly a country track? Also in that article I discovered that Zayn’s album is a country album. I quite enjoyed his album but 100% missed that. This isn't new. Taylor Swift's early stuff is sometimes referred to as ‘country’ which I’d question, and over 25 years on I’m still a little confused by Shania Twain if I’m being totally honest. One theory I have is that, quite simply, I’m wrong. It’s never been a genre I’ve spent a great deal of time studying. Another is based on my acceptance that I can hear country music ‘leanings’ or ‘influences’ in some of this.  That theory, then, would be that even a hint of country will do.........   you are now a country artist!

So, what is country music? When expressing his anger at the Beyoncé album, Simon’s main gripe – the thrust of his argument – what was making his blood truly boil – seemed to be this..... ITS NOT COUNTRY MUSIC? Does this mean his view of the album would be different had the album NOT been packaged and pushed as a country album?  Again, what even IS country music? I’m pretty sure, like most definitions of genres, when you analyse it, it’s vaguer than you 1^st think. And that’s not really my main question. Language and definitions evolve – as does music – as do genres of music. Even looking at deeper music history over centuries, the ‘periods’ of music I was taught at school, and in further education, have changed a little over the past 20 years. They are bound to because the context changes as time moves on. So. My main question is this. If this, or anything else, is what the kids are calling ‘country music’ now, is it not the case that old codgers like myself and Si will have to accept that this IS country music now?.............. I will tell you that, even if he thinks I make a good point, Simon will still say ‘no. No we don’t’. As for me........ I really don’t know.

TAYLOR SWIFT

The GWIM project was all about getting up to date with the pop music scene and there’s probably no-one bigger than Taylor Swift. I don’t think there’s a question I’ve been more regularly asked in my life (apart from pleasantries) than ‘what do you think of Taylor Swift?’ So, as part of this project I put together a Swift Playlist. I did recognise a number of the tracks......... I just didn’t know they were her – emphasising how out of touch I had become.

What DO I think of Taylor Swift? She’s good. She’s very good. But.    but..... but there are ‘buts’.  So the rest of this section comes with a warning. If you are a Swiftie you may want to skip it. If you love Taylor Swift – I absolutely love that you love Taylor Swift. For goodness sake don’t worry about anything I’ve got to say. Who am I anyway?

So – I say she’s good. But, I was disappointed. My disappointment didn’t really have that much to do with Swift herself – but her fans and fan-critics. She had been presented to me as some sort of seminal artist in music history with work tantamount to artistic genius along the lines of Beatles, Bowie etc. Yea.......... no. Just no. I think Neil Tennant summed it up perfectly earlier this year. He said lyrically she was superb because clearly swarms of people identify closely with her words. She brings people together through her lyrics. But the problem isn’t the lyrics, it’s the music. He chose Michael Jackson as his example and asked where the Swift equivalent of “Billie Jean” was. Now, the problem with Tennant is that even in his younger years, he had this habit of coming across as a bitter old man. I think that applied here to an extent because it wasn’t pure chance he was talking about Swift. She had recently announces a ‘surprise ‘ album. Before this project I already knew that the release of a Swift album was always major - so artists and record companies would schedule their releases around her. So, to be honest, I think its pretty unsporting of Swift and her team to do it at short notice. And, you might have guessed it, the Swift album deprived Pet Shop Boys of the #1 spot. So Tennant’s rant wasn’t random. But he does have a point that I very much agree with. I will analyse a step further than he did and repeat a bit of my mini-review of her album (that you can find back in part 4).

In terms of melody, many Swift tracks are a quite limited. They tend to stick to notes 1 2 & 3 of the root chord, with the odd extra one thrown in here or there. A good melody writing hack is to use only 1 2 3 5 6 of the root chord but each time the chord changes, switch to 1 2 3 5 6 of each new chord. It can make it sound like you’ve written at least a half decent melody without even trying. Swift tracks, however, are often limited to the root. This is actually something that often afflicts songwriters who master the lyrics first before turning to the music. Therefore, I would theorise that is the approach taken with Swift. In her defence, this is actually something I’ve noticed that is quite common in modern pop music and not a defining trait of Taylor Swift.

Criticisms aside, even before embarking on this project (and, embarrassingly, before I even recently discovered that it was actually a Swift track), I regarded “Love Story” as something of a recent(ish) classic. I love “Look What You Made Me Do” – it’s a perfect blend of great fun and genuine psycho. And, I struggle to relate to someone who doesn’t enjoy “Shake It Off” on any level at all. Also, it’s not like there’s no thought goes into melody at all. There’s a lot of great word-painting. Take “Anti-Hero” and it’s now iconic lyric ‘it’s me. Hi. I’m the problem it’s me’. It uses the 3-2-1 simple melodic progression, but it’s delivery is a perfect reflection of the lyric. The announcement ‘Its me...... Hi.......’ is quiet but dramatic with its detached pauses using the top note of the melody. Then the line ‘I’m the problem, its me’ is delivered rapidly descending the scale as if sighing; deflated. Its subtly and superbly constructed.

In Tennant’s rant, he does speak of his admiration in how Swift’s music really brings people together. Yes. T this is something I have always found amazing about music and Swift seems to be right at the top of the list in that sense. Unless someone has dreadful politics or something I’m always gonna love that. Incidentally, Swift doesn’t make a habit of political commentary, but the odd time she has expressed a political opinion or briefly offered some thoughts on social issues, she tends to align quite closely with my own stances.  So she gets a few extra Brownie points with me.

So, what am I saying overall? Well, I start one end, go all the way to the other, and then come most, but not all, of the way back. She’s responsible for the best music of all time?........... no! That’s an absurd notion............ she is really good though.

Although – obviously I’d rather pop a bit of Dua Lipa on.

MORE CHEATING

In part 6 I talked about how an artist can decide to release a track as a single based on the fact that it is already a success in the singles chart. This is something Billie Eilish did recently with ‘Wildflower’, an album track that was climbing up the singles chart. With streaming, ANY track counts, single or otherwise. So, it’s not strictly a ‘singles’ chary anymore. It’s both a stupid and brilliant system – but I think its ‘cheating’. I’m not too worried about that, actually. However, the next bit of cheating IS more concerning to me.

About midway through the year, I came across and article that essentially accused recording companies / streaming services etc., of cutting deals and completely fixingthe chart. They cited Sabrina Carpenter as the example, claiming she was being pushed in ‘recommendations’ and ‘suggestions’, regardless of the user’s listening history. This doesn't just heavily promote the artists, but results in ‘forced streaming’ (my term........ I think). ‘Forced streaming’ occurs because apps will begin auto-streaming music once it has come to the end of the user's own selections. Now, I believe I DID experience what the power’s that be are being accused of – with Chappell Roan. It  had never occurred to me at this point that when auto-play kicks in or when I am listening to playlists Spotify has auto-created for me, I AM streaming a track – whether I chose to or not. Generally speaking, auto-play will go to tracks or artists I have listened to before. But on this occasion a track called “Good Luck, Babe” by someone called Chappell Roan was piping into my ears. And it didn’t just happen once – it kept happening – the same track – day after day. Now, it seems unlikely that was unique to me, right? After some weeks...... I noticed this track had entered the top ten. It would ultimately peak at #2. By that point, the same thing was happening with other Chappell Roan tracks – there was a whole album’s worth and I was hearing more and more without ever selecting them myself. As more weeks past, eventually, this album made it to the top spot.

It’s a great pop album. But....... hmmmm. Let’s just stop and think for a minute. I had been streaming Chappell Roan tracks left right and centre........ but never by choice........ Spotify algorithms were doing it for me. But, as far as I’m aware, it all counts!! So, I had contributed without ever actively making that choice. Now, it’s important to say at this conjecture, that pushing particular artists, spending stupid amounts of money on some but not others, telling you what you should be listening to, and shaping the charts through marketing has always happened. But, you still had to be convinced enough to part with your money for it all to count. I think we can all agree that what I’m describing here is another level, and far more concerning. I’d just like to point out that there is denial from streaming services that this is the case, and their algorithms simply analyse your listening data and you can always turn the auto-play off. But, if this is true (and my Chappell Roan experience makes me suspicious) it’s a slippery slope that is likely to end with us NEVER choosing what to listen to and bots (manipulated by a small group of people with money in their sights) will design and dictate the whole affair. Pop music may have always been run by Simon Cowell’s who’s artists are actually trained ‘employees’ who are ‘products’. The final step is that the customer consumes the product by force. In the past, it would have been like record companies mailing you copies of all their new releases every week...... along with the bill! It would not have been on! That didn’t happen because we’d have noticed and not allowed. Because we now pay our reasonably priced monthly streaming subscriptions and think no more of it..... they CAN do this equivalent........ and we do not notice. I think its genuinely terrifying!!!!!!