Post by erik on Nov 4, 2023 22:48:27 GMT -5
The very contentious but equally popular Taylor Swift is in this week's Pop Music Hits Spotlight with a semi-acoustic folk/country song that was a complete turnaround from her teen-centric output.
BEGIN AGAIN (Taylor Swift; Big Machine; 2012)—Apart from Beyonce, there is probably no more successful a female recording artist in any genre in the 21st century than one Taylor Allison Swift. Born in Pennsylvania just before the end of 1989, she made a huge splash in country music with her self-titled 2006 album, and racked up one hit after another. But in addition to being hugely popular among fans, most of who were roughly her age, and racking up awards, she nevertheless had two strikes against her in the eyes of more than a few critics. In one case, there were a lot of doubts that the production on a lot of her albums even smacked of what passed for country music, at least insofar as Nashville was concerned. And in the second case, there were a lot of accusations that she and her production handlers used such devices as ProTools or AutoTune in the studio to make corrections on a natural voice that, for a lot of listeners, wasn’t very good. This second accusation became a painfully out-in-the-open controversy following what sounded like an out-of-tune vocal duet with Stevie Nicks on the 2010 Grammy Awards. Still, Taylor persisted in pushing the envelope, a lot of times in terms of her music and on some occasions even the boundaries of taste. Every once in a while, however, a certain retro artistry streak would emerge in her. One such case was on her 2012 album Red[/I[, whose very cover art and title mimicked legendary Canadian folk singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell’s landmark 1971 album Blue. On that album was one of the first examples of Taylor moving out of her teen country/pop comfort zone into something closer to the Laurel Canyon Sound embodied not only by Joni but also another favorite of Taylor’s, Linda Ronstadt. That song, “Begin Again”, had a decidedly acoustic folk/country feel to it, with prominent acoustic guitars; and although her vocals were still being criticized (sometimes with far more malice and abandon than was really necessary), the song nevertheless became a big hit for her when released in October 2012, aided by her performance of it on that year’s Country Music Association awards show. Reaching a chart peak of #7 on the Hot 100 and #10 on the Hot Country Songs chart in January 2013, it continued Taylor’s hot streak, although she continued to have many detractors.
BEGIN AGAIN (Taylor Swift; Big Machine; 2012)—Apart from Beyonce, there is probably no more successful a female recording artist in any genre in the 21st century than one Taylor Allison Swift. Born in Pennsylvania just before the end of 1989, she made a huge splash in country music with her self-titled 2006 album, and racked up one hit after another. But in addition to being hugely popular among fans, most of who were roughly her age, and racking up awards, she nevertheless had two strikes against her in the eyes of more than a few critics. In one case, there were a lot of doubts that the production on a lot of her albums even smacked of what passed for country music, at least insofar as Nashville was concerned. And in the second case, there were a lot of accusations that she and her production handlers used such devices as ProTools or AutoTune in the studio to make corrections on a natural voice that, for a lot of listeners, wasn’t very good. This second accusation became a painfully out-in-the-open controversy following what sounded like an out-of-tune vocal duet with Stevie Nicks on the 2010 Grammy Awards. Still, Taylor persisted in pushing the envelope, a lot of times in terms of her music and on some occasions even the boundaries of taste. Every once in a while, however, a certain retro artistry streak would emerge in her. One such case was on her 2012 album Red[/I[, whose very cover art and title mimicked legendary Canadian folk singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell’s landmark 1971 album Blue. On that album was one of the first examples of Taylor moving out of her teen country/pop comfort zone into something closer to the Laurel Canyon Sound embodied not only by Joni but also another favorite of Taylor’s, Linda Ronstadt. That song, “Begin Again”, had a decidedly acoustic folk/country feel to it, with prominent acoustic guitars; and although her vocals were still being criticized (sometimes with far more malice and abandon than was really necessary), the song nevertheless became a big hit for her when released in October 2012, aided by her performance of it on that year’s Country Music Association awards show. Reaching a chart peak of #7 on the Hot 100 and #10 on the Hot Country Songs chart in January 2013, it continued Taylor’s hot streak, although she continued to have many detractors.