http://www.startribune.co...326368721/


We measure the impact of America’s top pop phenom, who comes to the Twin Cities this weekend for a three-night stand.



Katy Perry has more Twitter followers. Kanye West gets more tabloid headlines. Beyoncé has more sex appeal.
But Taylor Swift is America’s biggest pop star.
Her “1989” is the top-selling album of the past year — 5 million and counting — in an era when hardly any album sells even 1 million.

And her concert tickets are selling even faster. Nearly every seat is gone for her three shows this weekend at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul — one of the few cities where she is playing more than two nights. Her tour has become the year’s most talked-about, partly because she brings on a famous guest each night.

Swift conquered last month’s MTV Video Music Awards, winning four including video of the year for “Bad Blood.” In May, she snared eight Billboard Awards, including top artist. And she’s a heavy favorite to have a big night at the Grammys next February.
Which raises the question: Is Swift’s “1989” having the biggest impact on the pop-culture landscape since Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”?
There are many similarities. Both superstars released these landmark albums at age 24. “Thriller,” delivered in November 1982, was Jackson’s sixth solo effort. “1989,” which dropped last October, is Swift’s fifth.
Imagination, smarts and hard work have made Swift successful, she told “Entertainment Tonight” in 2014 — qualities that also applied to Jackson.
Both were savvy enough to pull in unexpected collaborators — rock guitar god Eddie Van Halen on Jackson’s “Beat It” and hip rapper Kendrick Lamar on Swift’s “Bad Blood” — to help cross over to different audiences.



Savvy use of new media
But their personalities couldn’t be more different.
Before Jackson’s death in 2009, he became increasingly mysterious, reclusive and strange. Swift is open, accessible and about as normal as any major pop star has ever been. People are drawn to her friendliness, while mystique was a big part of Jackson’s attraction.


Still, both found ways of employing cutting-edge media to fit their disparate personalities.
While Jackson built “Thriller” via the impersonal clubhouse known as MTV, Swift has developed her following through social media — Instagramming photos of personal moments, tweeting directly to followers and literally inviting fans, via Twitter, to her house for a preview of “1989.” And those repros of Polaroids packaged with every “1989” CD, how cool was that?
With such videos as “Billie Jean,” “Beat It” and “Thriller,” Jackson not only tore down racial barriers at rock-oriented MTV but set new artistic standards, transforming videos from glorified commercials into big-budget, meticulously crafted pieces of art.
For her part, Swift has certainly made a dramatic impact with the videos from “1989.”

The dance-happy “Shake It Off,” with its retro ’80s new-wave vibe, felt like her “Billie Jean.” With its opulent, combustible pas de deux, “Blank Space” is her “Beat It.” And “Bad Blood” is her “Thriller,” with its noirish takeoff on “Robocop” movies.

Going for four in a row
The “Thriller” album yielded seven Top 10 singles, with “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” reaching No. 1. “1989” has already delivered three consecutive No. 1 songs, with “Wildest Dreams” threatening to make it four in a row.
Not bad considering “1989” is Swift’s first full-on foray into pop music.
The former teenage country star crossed over in the past with such hits as “Love Story,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” and “I Knew You Were Trouble.” For “1989,” she collaborated with several proven pop pros on the songwriting, including Ryan Tedder, Jack Antonoff, Shellback and Max Martin (who now ranks behind only Beatles maestro George Martin for producing the most No. 1 pop hits).

Still, as big as “1989” is, the album is not having the across-the-board cultural impact that “Thriller” had. It’s not just the fact that Jackson’s album dwarfs Swift’s in sales, with 29 million in the United States alone — the biggest album ever. This is an era of downloading singles and Swift totally rules there.

Tay Tay’s audience is big but not wide. She’s immensely popular with tweens, teens and twenty-somethings. As a country star, she spoke to being her age — whether 17 or 22 — more effectively than arguably any singer-songwriter in the history of pop. But she is not reaching an older demographic as deeply as Jacko did with “Thriller” — like all those middle-aged Jane Fonda workout-worshipers who loved his “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.”

It also boils down to indelible cultural touchstones. Even though Swift dominates award shows with those I-can’t-believe-I-won faces, she hasn’t done anything on television to match Jackson’s thrilling moonwalk on the 1983 Motown anniversary special.
Ultimately, two things separate Taylor from Michael.

He was a dazzling dancer and a terrific singer. She’s an unformed (but improving) dancer and a serviceable singer. Her music may be consistently emotional and sometimes exciting, but she’s still no thriller.

The author of this article needs to read that new Grace Jones excerpt

no

Maybe the biggest since... 50 Cent, Get Rich Or Die Tryin'.

While I'm glad Taylor's having a good year, I couldn't name a single song off of the album... and I ain't entirely out of touch.

[Edited 9/10/15 18:24pm]

Lammastide said:

While I'm glad Taylor's having a good year, I couldn't name a single song off of the album... and I ain't entirely out of touch.

[Edited 9/10/15 18:24pm]

I do correct myself. I assume "Bad Blood" is from the album. Right?

um, NO. to answer the original post.

hood cats ain't checkin' for her so...

Since THRILLER? LOL. Yeah sure, let's just forget all the huge albums that came after 1982 like Purple Rain, Born in the USA, Nevermind, Ray of Light, Jagged Little Pill, The Joshua Tree, etc.. Even more 'recent' albums like Get Rich or Die Tryin' (as posted above), The Marshall Mathers LP, 21, etc...

"1989" is more likely having the biggest impact on the pop-culture landscape in the past 4 years.

[Edited 9/10/15 19:10pm]

[Edited 9/10/15 19:11pm]

Her album is hugely successful but nobody in today's pop music scene will ever top Thriller (success-wise).

Thriller is an album that everybody was listening to,back in the day.It appealed to R&B audiences,rock audiences,people of all ages and races/nationalities.It was the type of album that even grandmothers were listening to and remember,Thriller was released in December 1982 and it was still going strong in early 1984 (when the "Thriller" video was getting alot of attention).This album stayed "hot" for an unusally long time.

Taylor is doing great,but I can only name one song from the album,"Shake It Off".

.

[Edited 9/10/15 21:41pm]

datdude said:

um, NO. to answer the original post.

hood cats ain't checkin' for her so...

Amen.

I'm no MJ fan but the answer is a resounding NO! "Thriller" was an international phemonenon. Whether you wanted it to be or not, ti was there in front of your face and shoved down your throat no matter who you were or where you were. I can't name a single Taylor Swift song. And when I read the title of the thread, I thought you were referring to the year 1989.

I guess I agree with the part about how they were both released when the artist was 24 and how each is either their fifth or sixth album.

But I think the success of Korn, to name one, changed the "pop culture landscape" a lot more than Taylor Swift having some pop hits.

NO! and I don't dislike her at all by any means, she is like Pop Chewing Gum, but as someone said that they could not name a song of the record, I have to say that sums up TODAYS big hit albums, they are HITS for today's standards. Granted TAYLOR is everywhere, but with Social media being so cheap and easy ways to Promo, Michael did that shit by word of mouth. MJ's Moon Walk is one of the great TV moments in history, what does today offer? Kayne grabbing taylors award or disrespecting Beck. Today's artists don't steal the show like Queen on LIVE AID or Prince on the AMA music awards doing Purple rain etc.. they use shock and stunts. Dont get me wrong Taylor is popular but lets be real, every age group new songs on THRILLER back then, my parents my brothers my grandparents my friends of all ages, now My mom knows who Taylor Swift is but does she know songs off 1989? nope not one, so Taylor is NOWHERE NEAR MJ!

Exactly.Thriller was more just a hugely successful album....it was a true phenomenon! Quincy Jones has said that "After awhile,it became ridiculous....at one point,Thriller was selling in excess of one million copies a week!" it felt like the whole world was groovin' to that album,lol

lastdecember said:

lets be real, every age group knew songs on THRILLER back then, my parents my brothers my grandparents my friends of all ages

SoulAlive said:

Exactly.Thriller was more just a hugely successful album....it was a true phenomenon! Quincy Jones has said that "After awhile,it became ridiculous....at one point,Thriller was selling in excess of one million copies a week!" it felt like the whole world was groovin' to that album,lol

lastdecember said:

lets be real, every age group knew songs on THRILLER back then, my parents my brothers my grandparents my friends of all ages

MotownSubdivision said:

SoulAlive said:

Exactly.Thriller was more just a hugely successful album....it was a true phenomenon! Quincy Jones has said that "After awhile,it became ridiculous....at one point,Thriller was selling in excess of one million copies a week!" it felt like the whole world was groovin' to that album,lol

lastdecember said:

lets be real, every age group knew songs on THRILLER back then, my parents my brothers my grandparents my friends of all ages

I'm not sure I've heard any of the songs on Swift's album , but MJ and songs off Thriller were absolutely unavoidable during that time frame!

In 1987, Bad was released just before I was shipped out for a year at an US Air Force base in South Korea. I can still recall being glad to escape the inevitable, overwhelming hype surrounding that release (the follow-up to Thriller). That's how ubiquitous MJ was at the time.

Nowadays, I seem to find it easy to avoid artists I'm not interested in...I just don't click on their songs/videos on Youtube or whatever!

CandaceS said:

Man I wonder who's going to come off better in this discussion on the org's non-Prince section, Taylor Swift or Michael Jackson

But yeah, it's a dumb premise for an article.

RaspBerryGirlFriend said:

MotownSubdivision said:

RaspBerryGirlFriend said:

Man I wonder who's going to come off better in this discussion on the org's non-Prince section, Taylor Swift or Michael Jackson

But yeah, it's a dumb premise for an article.

Really, anywhere. Common sense ain't common anymore but that's all it is. Anybody with a working brain knows deep down that Taylor/1989 doesn't stack up to Michael/Thriller in terms of appeal/ popularity, cultural impact, commercial significance, creativity/ innovation, musicality, critical, and commercial success (the latter being the only thing 1989 has going for it. Unless someone is a Taylor stan (not fan), it's painfully clear that she just doesn't compare to MJ. If selling is all it takes to be compared to a legendary album like Thriller then there are countless other better examples to use than 1989. Some of which have come out in just the last few years.

Yeah you're 100% right, I was just making reference to the big MJ fandom on this section of the org

I like a lot of the Taylor Swift songs I've heard but really the idea that those two albums could ever be compared in terms of impact is ridiculous. This has been said a lot, but I think nowadays popular culture is just too diffused over all the different forms of media we consume, all the internet sites and the millions of tv channels available, for there ever to be something that could have the cultural impact Thriller did again. It's not just that 1989 isn't as good an album, anyone could tell you that, it's that it'd pretty much be impossible for similar levels of success and influence to occur again imo.

RaspBerryGirlFriend said:

i can't believe Taylor Swift is being compared to Michael Jackson. fuck sake

CharismaDove said:

Since THRILLER? LOL. Yeah sure, let's just forget all the huge albums that came after 1982 like Purple Rain, Born in the USA, Nevermind, Ray of Light, Jagged Little Pill, The Joshua Tree, etc.. Even more 'recent' albums like Get Rich or Die Tryin' (as posted above), The Marshall Mathers LP, 21, etc...

"1989" is more likely having the biggest impact on the pop-culture landscape in the past 4 years.

[Edited 9/10/15 19:10pm]

[Edited 9/10/15 19:11pm]

Taylor Swift"s 1989 is arguably a true phenomenon in today's music climate, but it's nowhere in the same stratosphere as Thriller was and still is. Not to mention Prince's Purple Rain, Bruce Springsteen's Born In The U.S.A, Madonna's Like A Virgin, Like A Prayer, or Ray of Light, U2's Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby, Nirvana's Nevermind, Dr. Dre's The Chronic, Backstreet Boys' Millennium, 'Nsync's No Strings Attached, Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP, or Mariah Carey's Emanicpation of Mimi. The more appropriate comparisons should be with Katy Perry's Teenage Dream and Adele's 21.

Having said that, the same statements were being made about Beyonce about seven years ago, so I'm not surprised someing is stooping to make those same comparisons, even if they are patently false or lacking, as it gets enough people to read their magazine and/or blog post to be shared virally on Facebook.

I'm one of the few posters here who does not hate Taylor Swift (I can appreciate a good song
or two despite who's deliverying it. This board can't see the forest for the trees when it comes
to this chick).

And I'm one of the few posters here who thinks MJ was a one trick pony (it was the greatest
trick of all time, but he was a limited performer). But in no way is 1989 comparable to Thriller
in any regard as far as influencing pop culture goes.