It'll be interesting to see what kind of legacy the re-recordings will have. Will they just for an interesting alternate listen or will they be seen as an important part of her catalog? I think I'm most curious with what she will do with 1989. Will the new version be a similarly big pop production or will she strip it down? I have a feeling she'll stick to similar arrangements but at least there is this performance...
1989 will be interesting, as that records sounds VERY 2014 to me. The production on it already sounds a bit dated, and I’m wondering if she’d update that or change the arrangements altogether
Getting around to watching the Disney Plus special now. Outstanding. I'm often underwhelmed by these things. But this is fantastic.
If she's lucky, they will become the default for sync rights and radio play, and thus generate royalties for her instead of the old label. I imagine that's the intention.
I hope she re-records the Speak Now album to remove the horrible production choices found on the original. I can't listen to more than couple songs on that one because it seems most songs follow the pattern of a gentle opening devolving into a loud and overly busy chorus, then keeps that manipulative and cloying sound until the next tune starts.
Of course, that was beyond inevitable.... The second companies like NBC and Disney realized Netflix was using their content to make billions, they started putting their own streamers into place to monetize their own catalogs directly. It's exactly what analysts predicted when people started griping about their cable bills and wishing they could just "pay for the channels they want." These corporations aren't charities. They're not gonna let you cancel your $200 cable and get all that content for $9.99 a month.... ....unless you're the music industry, which basically did exactly that and seems to treat all its content (and artists) as loss leaders. In retrospect, it's frankly amazing that every single major and minor label agree to license their complete catalogs to any streaming music service that wanted them, for basically pennies. (I know Swift and others used to have exclusive deals with Tidal or whoever for new albums, but even that feels like a relic now.)
Yeah, I do like the album and I'd never listened to Taylor Swift properly before it, but anymore stripped back than the album is would bore me rigid! It's just me though, the vast majority of one person and an acoustic music gets dull to me very quickly even if the songs are fine.
The performances in the Disney+ special aren't that stripped down. They usually feature Aaron on either piano, guitar or bass, Jack on guitar or drums plus sometimes Taylor on guitar. A few of them also bring in sampled sounds (I don't know if I'm saying that right). For instance, the throbbing pulse in 'Peace' is played from the studio console and the strings on 'Epiphany' are also present. Overall, it is basically the album as performed by small band ensemble.
The last thing in the world I'm waiting for is a synth pop Jack Antonoff-produced version or "Picture to Burn" or, you know, "Love Story remix feat. Cardi B."
Thanks to six months free Disney + on my Verizon phone plan I was able to watch the Long Pond Studio Sessions. I had listened on Spotify but it was much more entertaining to watch. The songs remain the same but the instrumentation is slightly different.
They're very nice performances and great vocal performances, but they are very stripped down arrangements. Like I do feel like had they spent more time just jamming in the barn and letting go a little bit, they would have come to something a little more musically happening and interactive between the players, like a band and trio arrangements. It, like pretty much everything Taylor Swift does, feels very deliberative. I would love to see her loosen up a little bit and almost really approach it like a band and let the musicians go a little bit. But, she is who she is. It's nice just having the three of them who are at the core of the album on hand in the room, though it does to sound like Joe Alwyn was more of a player in the composition, but I get why she wouldn't want him there. I will say, I really don't like Jack Antonoff at all. He seems like a total suck up, like an ingratiating weasel. And she, of course, is very welcoming of the flattery. Just listening to the music they've done together over the years, often I feel like he amplified her worst, most superficial and most market-driven urges. I like him even less after watching this show. But at least he has enthusiasm.
I haven't got Folklore yet, because I want the vinyl and it isn't easily available yet. That's the first Taylor Swift album I listened to and I've been very impressed. I've picked up Red on CD cheap since and that's excellent too. I've always known she's very talented, but I did get her wrong. She's a great lyricist.
I'm very glad to hear you've been enjoying some of her work. I do think folklore and Red rise to the top of her discography as complete album statements, but there is wonderful material on every one of her albums. She's always been gifted, especially with words. I'm interested to see where she goes from here. Will she continue down a more 'singer-songwriter' path, or return to more radio-friendly material? She's aging out of the pop music market, but she's got a diehard fanbase that should follow her no matter what direction she goes in. One part in the documentary I found very interesting was when she discussed how folklore was the first album on which she felt like she could let go of always writing autobiographically. She mentioned that what started out as honest confessional style songwriting eventually ended up being artistically constricting and confining. Being able to write about many different characters who are not her did indeed give her songwriting an incredible shot in the arm and allow her to get out of some of the creative cul de sacs she found herself in on Reputation and Lover. There are still a few very personal songs on folklore (Invisible String and Peace especially) but both feel universal and easy for anyone to relate to, unlike the reactionary and tabloid-y material that I think is the worst stuff in her catalog (This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Look What You Made Me Do). I hope that this newfound freedom to write about anything she wants now (autobiographical or not) will continue to allow her music to expand.
I thought she was a great pop star. 1989 is a great album too. I got her wrong because a few years ago she seemed to be always be involved in some internet spat, usually with Katy Perry! It made me think she was as much about social media hype as talent, which isn't true. I didn't like Look What You Made Me Do as a comeback after 1989. Generally, Taylor Swift has been someone who I knew was good and I enjoyed some of her stuff as I heard it. Listening to a couple of her albums throughout has made me really appreciate that she's an artist. There's also the excellent video she made for Cardigan. Very impressive. She'll be around, relevant and surprising for a long time to come. I think she'd suit an 80s inspired guitar pop album. Something in the style of Belinda Carlisle's Heaven On Earth. I was very surprised by the U2 influence on Red. I didn't expect that.
I think she shows some real lyrical maturity here. Not that she wasn't trending in this direction previously, but there is not much reliance on millennial cliches here -- take six thousand seats or whatever. While I have always enjoyed some of her songs, she was too poppy for me and I bought 1989 mainly for the novelty of owning Taylor Swift on vinyl. I bought the last two albums unironically.
Can you tell me what she said about Mirrorball? It’s a favorite of mine. I get a major Dennis Wilson vibe from it for some reason.
I’d love to hear reworkings of the songs she did with Max Martin and Shellback. Those haven’t aged too well for me. They sound really tethered to exactly when they came out
