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Taylor Swift ~ Shake It Off This should be the theme song for this site. You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton | |
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Good. I hope she keeps doing this till everyone realizes she's not country and she never was! | |
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You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton | |
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You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton | |
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Janelle Monae is rapper? Like Luther Vandross? [Edited 8/19/14 11:33am] “It means finding the very human narrative of a man navigating between idealism and pragmatism, faith and politics, non- violence, the pitfalls of acclaim as the perils of rejection” - Lesley Hazleton on the first Muslim, the prophet. | |
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She has many rap sequences in her songs, Lauryn Hill type of rapping. | |
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This Taylor Swift attempt at culturally appropriating black america juxtapositioned against her forthcoming silence around the issues and racism facing black america is poignant whilst also emphasizing the insincerity and inauthenticity on display. The visual seemingly only goes to prove that she really does not make better videos than 'Beyonce'
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[Edited 8/20/14 3:38am] “It means finding the very human narrative of a man navigating between idealism and pragmatism, faith and politics, non- violence, the pitfalls of acclaim as the perils of rejection” - Lesley Hazleton on the first Muslim, the prophet. | |
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Seriously? we're still fighting over what people should do or not based on the color of their skin? Race in the space I mark human! | |
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Did not expect this from her at all, from what I heard previously she was the acoustic guitar girl but this is very pop and catchy, although it could easily get annoying and of course the cheerleading theme has been done by Gwen Stefani, Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue and Madonna at least in the past ten years... | |
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Not a Taylor Swiftly fan but I actually kinda like this... I fully expect the radio to play this to hell though. | |
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I actually like this, seems to fit her personality and it seems like she's having fun. Her "country" fan base seems to be upset but at the end of the day she has to grow as an artist. I was actually getting tired of her country songs -- probably because I don't like country music -- but I applaud her for not being scared to try something different. The single is already #1 on iTunes but it will be interesting to see how her album sells considering she just abandoned her original audience. | |
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Too shrill for my taste. ugh. The Most Important Thing In Life Is Sincerity....Once You Can Fake That, You Can Fake Anything. | |
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go2theMax said:
Seriously? we're still fighting over what people should do or not based on the color of their skin? Race in the space I mark human! Didn't say that. I said she is culturally appropriating while surely not going to repay the community she is jacking with any solidarity at this quite significant time within her society which just makes the whackness all the more pungent. Brother Ali she ain't. “It means finding the very human narrative of a man navigating between idealism and pragmatism, faith and politics, non- violence, the pitfalls of acclaim as the perils of rejection” - Lesley Hazleton on the first Muslim, the prophet. | |
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I guess that's why I don't like it. It's very repetitive of what other artists have done as far as the cheerleading and chant thing. It actually reminds me of some songs by Avril Lavigne also such as Boyfriend. I don't mind her doing pop but I think she could have found something that was more her and more original that hadn't been done so much. I feel it would seem more real and genuine if she keep some country and acoustic but mixed it in with a pop feel. The pop audience is very fickle and abandons people quickly whereas country fans are very loyal. | |
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Damn right, and damn straight. Radio and racism is to blame for this; I don't know why people go nuts for white girls like her being so obvious with their sexuality.
I wish that we could get radio to be like it used to be in North America, but that may not happen in our lifetimes (or unless technology changes and said new radio transmission system ends up in the hands of the people who invented it and not the businessmen.) [Edited 8/20/14 12:34pm] | |
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Taylor's success probably would've never been so big if she wasn't this blond, white american teenage kid who probably every white parent in America wants his little 13-year old teenage daughter to follow and listen to. | |
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So true! This broad has never been country and been perpetrating a fraud since day one. She might as well accept the fact that she is pop and just roll with it. | |
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I don't think it has anything to do with racism. It's just that this kind of more superficial sexualized lighthearted music is what pop radio likes. Look at the success of Rihanna. Isn't Rihanna obvious with her sexuality too and radio goes nuts for her regardless of her race. Radio has no problem playing her songs because she fits into the format. Radio doesn't play someone like Janelle Monae not because of her race but because she is a more serious artist talking about serious issues, and that is just not what pop music and radio is about or has ever been about. It's entertainment and meant to be a form of fun and escape. | |
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Don't forget Duffy and Joss Stone, both just as sexy (and blonde, in Duffy's case) as Swift Boobs, but more talented and (IMHO) better singers.
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Like they used to say on American Bandstand, "I like it because it has a good beat and I can dance to it". U2 is popular and make songs about social issues, yet Bono is put down for preaching. Out of the thousands of hits and popular songs since Top 40 radio began and Billboard/Cashbox started tracking it, message songs are a small percentage. You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton | |
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Are Taylor Swift and Country Splitting Up for Good?By Jem Aswad | August 22, 2014 10:51 AM EDT http://www.billboard.com/articles/6228999/taylor-swift-country-music-split
Will Taylor and country radio ever get back together, or have programmers moved on?It was like a carefully planned breakup. First came the unabashed pop bangers on Taylor Swift's last album, 2012's Red, "Trouble" and "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" among them. Then, in June, Big Machine chief Scott Borchetta spoke diplomatically to Rolling Stone of her next LP (titled 1989 and due out Oct. 27). "Taylor fans are going to love it. Will country stations play a complete pop song just because it's her? No. But when she comes to town, her friends at country radio will come and see her." Then, word began to spread about Swift's new single, "Shake It Off," another pop collaboration with hitmakers Max Martin and Shellback. Later, sources hinted that there isn't a single acoustic guitar on the entire album. And finally, Swift, 24, dropped the bomb before premiering the song during an Aug. 18 worldwide webcast: "I woke up every day not wanting but needing to make a new style of music." Newsflash: Swift and country need some space. But in a twist worthy of a Swiftian lyric, there may have been no need for kid gloves. According to several major programmers, country radio had already moved on.
"I kind of reject the idea that she's a country artist -- she hasn't been in quite awhile," says one country radio programmer who believes Swift's last true Nashville track was 2010's "Mean." George King of Townsquare Media (who's headed to Westwood One in September) was surprised to hear "Shake It Off" even mentioned in a country context. "We're absolutely going to play it on our [adult top 40] station," he says, "but I'm not even looking at it as a country song. As a country programmer, if she's going to put out something that fits our audience, we'll absolutely look at it, and if she doesn't that's her prerogative -- we've got enough in our recurrent and gold categories to keep her on our stations." Quipped Fletcher Hayes of WWQM in Madison, Wis.: "Did Linda Ronstadt fans want to hear her Nelson Riddle Orchestra album on Top 40?" Still, to apparently cast aside her core base and the very supporters who helped make her one of today's most successful female artists (22.8 million albums sold in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan, with endorsements by Target and CoverGirl to boot), seems somewhat harsh for America's sweetheart -- and, apart from pop flings or flails by Faith Hill and LeAnn Rimes (and arguably Olivia Newton John in the late '70s), largely unprecedented. Even Shania Twain, in her bid for global success, kept a foot in Nashville by issuing pop, country and international (semi-Bollywood-flavored) versions of her 2002 multiplatinum smash Up! So far, reaction to "Shake It Off " has been mixed, with some press outlets,Billboard among them, hailing the song's hooks and others groaning at its nod to "sick beats" and Swift's own rapping. In a telling move, Swift's label Big Machine confirms to Billboard that unlike "Together," no "country radio mix" of "Shake It Off" will be serviced. Mention of the "Together" mix got a hearty guffaw from one country programmer. "Sure, they put [more prominent] acoustic guitars on it, but the tone, the topic — nothing about it was a country record; nothing was aimed at 35-year-old women."
One senses that some country radio programmers might feel betrayed by Swift's transition (several did not respond to Billboard's requests for comment), but, says one top Nashville label exec, "It's more like disappointment: 'We were there at the beginning and there's nothing really here for us to play.' But her last several singles have not performed well on country radio." Looking at the Country Airplay singles from 2012's Red, "Together" peaked at No. 13 and was Swift's first officially promoted country single to miss the top 10, although "Begin Again" reached No. 3 and the album's title track No. 7. ButTaylor Swift and Fearless each yielded five Country Airplay top 10s, while Speak Now produced four; those three sets generated five No. 1s overall. (Of course, "Together" topped the Hot 100 and "Love Story" hit No. 2.) So how many more corners of the globe are left for Taylor Swift to conquer, and why would she stray from a genre that's currently exploding? The answer, presumably, is an artistic one. (Swift and Big Machine declined to comment for this article.) "As an artist, it's your call to stand still or to grow, and if you decide your job is to get to as many people as possible, then this is certainly a clear-cut way to go there," the label exec says. "She's a brilliant caretaker of her own career -- she always has been -- and I'm guessing she'll pull the audience along with her. It's not the first time this genre has had this issue." Indeed: Even in its country version, Twain's Up! caused a dilemma in the country world. "I know [country] radio was having a hard time, because those records were not researching well," another top Nashville label exec says, "and it became, 'Do I have enough balls to let go of Shania Twain?' The answer was, 'No -- I'm gonna call her a country artist for as long as I can.' [With Taylor], I guarantee the answer will be the same." Perhaps the most likely scenario sees Swift sowing her oats and then returning home. "Taylor very much owes her career to these country guys," that exec says. "I don't think she's going to forget that."
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Has she ever held a note for longer than 2 seconds?? "Keep in mind that I'm an artist...and I'm sensitive about my shit."--E. Badu | |
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