Harvard offering course in Taylor Swift studies

[toobfreak]

Mr. Bitter. Party of one your table is ready.

Figures that a kid who couldn't coordinate a baseball bat would end up serving tables. Waiter, I need more ice.

Good music sells. The fact you descend to name calling filth is a you issue.

Poor baby, you just dissed the words and opinion of Frank Zappa, which I dare bet knows 10,000 times more about music than you. A million times more if you think Swift is music.

 

[Trickster]

Ypu don't have to like her. But, she's awesome.

 

[Unkotare]

Ypu don't have to like her. But, she's awesome.

Run along, little girl.

 

[Zincwarrior]

Actually she would be an awesome business case study of success. IIRC but she is the wealthiest female entertainer in US history yes?

 

[SweetSue92]

'Shake It Off' is actually good too. It is important to judge a song for what it is and the song is supposed to be a "just for fin " pop song and as such it is great - simple, fun and catchy.

Also, when considering the meaning behind it ("hush to the critics") the fun and carefree tone of it helps to add a idgaf type of feel to it.

Oh don't get me wrong: I LOVE a good pop bop. I love so many kinds of music! I'm just saying that yeah, she can write a banger and then write an anthem and sometimes her bangers ARE anthems too. She is the best songwriter of our generation and there's no contest.

 

[SweetSue92]

Figures that a kid who couldn't coordinate a baseball bat would end up serving tables. Waiter, I need more ice.


Poor baby, you just dissed the words and opinion of Frank Zappa, which I dare bet knows 10,000 times more about music than you. A million times more if you think Swift is music.

Who do you think IS music compared to Taylor Swift? Granted, she's not Mozart or Copland. But for what she does, she's tops for a reason.

 

[Trickster]

Who do you think IS music compared to Taylor Swift? Granted, she's not Mozart or Copland. But for what she does, she's tops for a reason.

These dudes are just hating for the sake of hating. They are not even familiar with her catalogue.

It all boils down to one or all of the following:
1. Envy: She is successful and keeps excelling, that tends to breed envy in some who express it in the form of hate.
2. Sexism: She is awoman and many insecure men don't like that.
3. Tribalism: Many Republicans dislike her because "she's is not on their team".

 

[SweetSue92]

These dudes are just hating for the sake of hating. They are not even familiar with her catalogue.

It all boils down to one or all of the following:
1. Envy: She is successfulvand keeps excelling, that tends to breed envy in some who express it in the form of hate.
2. Sexism" She is awoman and many iksecure men don't like that.
3. Tribalism: ManybRepublicans dislike her because "she's is not on their team".

I think there's something else at play here too. Her first albums, at least the first two, were youthful, and the songwriting was structurally so good but....youthful topics. But people do not realize she wrote these songs when she was FOURTEEN and FIFTEEN years old. What do we think teenage girls are going to write about? Too many people judge her by those songs ONLY. (And yet, even then, she had the knack of capturing so many things so well. See: Love Story, Mary's Song, etc)

 

[justoffal]

When I was a young man, Harvard used to be a serious institution of learning.

Today, they are reduced to teaching their pupils about Taylor Swift, the course being taught by a cross-dressing she-male, Steve Burt.

I know that President Trump is seeking to defund Harvard because of their rabid antisemitism.

But even if they weren't discriminatory, is this really "higher education"?

I have nothing against Taylor Swift. She really knows how to be a celebrity, and she is certainly presentable. Does sound like my favorite female voice- Yoko Ono- but to each their own.

The real question is whether this is a proper course of study that should be supported by the taxpayers.

Inside Harvard’s Taylor Swift Course | Harvard Magazine

An English course pairs the music with Willa Cather, William Wordsworth, and Dolly Parton.

www.harvardmagazine.com

Well if they could imitate her money making ability they wouldn't need much more of an education

 

[Trickster]

I think there's something else at play here too. Her first albums, at least the first two, were youthful, and the songwriting was structurally so good but....youthful topics. But people do not realize she wrote these songs when she was FOURTEEN and FIFTEEN years old. What do we think teenage girls are going to write about? Too many people judge her by those songs ONLY. (And yet, even then, she had the knack of capturing so many things so well. See: Love Story, Mary's Song, etc)

Yes and it is important to note that love and heartbreak are the most common song topics universally and even historically, but for some reason it is only a problem when she does it.

I love Debut and Fearless. Great albums where the youthfulness you describe in her lyrics, but also in her voice adds a lot of innocence to them.

You're Not Sorry and Stay Beautiful are underrated imo.

 

[justoffal]

Yes and it is important to note that love and heartbreak are the most common song topics universally and even historically, but for some reason it is only a problem when she does it.

I love Debut and Fearless. Great albums where the youthfulness you describe in her lyrics, but also in her voice adds a lot of innocence to them.

You're Not Sorry and Stay Beautiful are underrated imo.

She's a mediocre talent, very plain looks.... Not much of a voice. But man she's a marketing genius! Her stuff is just so/so .... And she shouldn't even try to dance!! She looks like Daddy Long legs with cerebral palsy.

 

[Trickster]

She's a mediocre talent, very plain looks.... Not much of a voice. But man she's a marketing genius! Her stuff is just so/so .... And she shouldn't even try to dance!! She looks like Daddy Long legs with cerebral palsy.

It is very immature to bring up her physical looks, but she is obviously a very good looking woman.

Her talent is not 'mediocre" - her songwriting skills are far above average and she is also a multi-instrumentalist. It is ridiculous to call her musicality mediocre.

People often think being a good singer means being able to hit the highest notes which is not true. Taylor has a nice voice and knows exactly how to use it.

She is not a dancer and has never claimed to be. She is not afraid to move to the music and has great stage presence.

Musical taste is a matter of preference and to me her songs are way above so-so.

 

[Unkotare]

It is very immature to bring up her physical looks, but she is obviously a very good looking woman.

Her talent is not 'mediocre" - her songwriting skills are far above average and she is also a multi-instrumentalist. It is ridiculous to call her musicality mediocre.

People often think being a good singer means being able to hit the highest notes which is not true. Taylor has a nice voice and knows exactly how to use it.

She is not a dancer and has never claimed to be. She is not afraid to move to the music and has great stage presence.

Musical taste is a matter of preference and to me her songs are way above so-so.

Yeeeesh...your posts evoke an image of you snapping your gum with your mouth smacking open and twirling your pink hair with one finger. Grow up time.

 

[Trickster]

Yeeeesh...your posts evoke an image of you snapping your gum with your mouth smacking open and twirling your pink hair with one finger. Grow up time.

OMG, like, gag me with a spoon.

 

[justoffal]

These dudes are just hating for the sake of hating. They are not even familiar with her catalogue.

It all boils down to one or all of the following:
1. Envy: She is successful and keeps excelling, that tends to breed envy in some who express it in the form of hate.
2. Sexism: She is awoman and many insecure men don't like that.
3. Tribalism: Many Republicans dislike her because "she's is not on their team".

I dunno ....

You can argue with her looks, you can argue with her talent, her clothes .... Whatever...
But YOU CANNOT ARGUE WITH HER BANK ACCOUNT....

In the end she can laugh at her critics ( including me) and use a thousand dollar bill to roll a joint while she smiles back from her chez lounge.

 

[toobfreak]

Who do you think IS music compared to Taylor Swift? Granted, she's not Mozart or Copland. But for what she does, she's tops for a reason.

It is how the industry is set up. It is how real musicians see big name pop artists. True music is an artful, creative process but the industry pounds it into consumable, marketable, bite-size Oreo Cookies.

 

[SweetSue92]

It is how the industry is set up. It is how real musicians see big name pop artists. True music is an artful, creative process but the industry pounds it into consumable, marketable, bite-size Oreo Cookies.

....those are songs by definition. Short, relatively simple. Those are songs. Mozart did not write many songs, and maybe none.

I'm a lifelong musician and a 32 year music teacher and I'm like those chefs who appreciate top-tier gourmet meals and also a quick grilled cheese sandwich, I guess.

 

[Zebra]

It is how the industry is set up. It is how real musicians see big name pop artists. True music is an artful, creative process but the industry pounds it into consumable, marketable, bite-size Oreo Cookies.

good comparison!

 

[Zebra]

and taylor writing songs about guys she dumped is world class writing?

She is no hemingway or twain, easy there sport at putting her in an ivory tower

You must be a 14 year old girl who's music she directs at who had a boy not be nice to her

 

[Woodznutz]

It doesn’t really matter if the subject is Taylor Swift, Shakespeare, or baseball statistics—the value of a class like this is in the skills it builds. Students are practicing how to form a thesis, support it with evidence, structure an argument clearly, and persuade a reader. The subject matter is simply the lens—it’s the critical thinking, writing, and communication skills that are the real takeaway. You are welcome.

The value of a class is how it addresses the problems of today, not subjects that are the result of navel gazing administrators. We need problem solvers, not opportunists.