Taylor Swift covers the November issue of Vogue UK. It’s a decent-to-great cover, I think. But I usually think Vogue UK has better covers than American Vogue. It helps that Vogue UK’s editors were like “ENOUGH WITH THE BANGS” and just slicked back Swifty’s hair. That’s a major improvement in and of itself. As for the interview… Swifty talks about how she doesn’t need a boyfriend at this point in her life because of logistics and how she went through a lot of phases when she was younger. Some highlights:
She can’t have a boyfriend right now: “Dating or finding someone is the last thing on my mind, because I can’t picture how it could work with the way my life is. I don’t know how a guy is supposed to walk next to his girlfriend when there are 20 men with cameras, and he can’t protect his girlfriend because that’s the life she chose. I just don’t see how it could work, so I don’t think about it, and I kind of run from it when it presents itself.”
Men still pursue her: “They think that they would want to get to know me, and maybe date me, but I don’t think they want what comes with it.”
Her youthful phases: “The one thing I wish these girls that come to my shows knew is that they are exactly where I was when I was a teenager. I had no idea who I was! I was going through all these phases. I was trying on different outfits and all these different personalities, trying to figure out what category I fit into, and which clique I would be accepted in. But if you just keep doing ‘you’, and being who you are and doing what feels natural to you, maybe you won’t find a place where you fit in for a very long time, but you eventually will.”
Her new album: “This time around I’ve chosen the brave and bold way of going about things. Because with this album I’ve completely changed the sound of everything I’ve done until now. So it’s interesting to not be afraid of that. You know, I don’t want to hurt people’s feelings, I don’t want to betray Nashville, whatever, but essentially it comes down to challenging yourself as an artist.”
[From Vogue UK via E! News]
Ooooh, did she just shade country music/Nashville as a whole? I think she did. Taylor Swift to Nashville: We are never, ever getting back together. Swifty to country music: I wanted to challenge myself as an artist, that’s why we’re over, it’s not you, it’s me. Here’s the thing: as a layman, I don’t think one form of music is any more or less challenging. Like, why would pop music be more challenging than country? I genuinely don’t understand.
Photos courtesy of Mario Testino/Vogue UK.
She looks like a stork in that last picture.
She’s more beautiful than a stork! She smells like pine needles and has a face like sunshine!!
*walks out in a huff*
Bhahahahaha!!!!! She does, oh my…I dont know what it is but I really cannot stand this girl. But, whatever.
Flamingo.
Definitely a flamingo.
The stork and her face were trying to bud a bonfire, but you said ‘I hate your stork-face bonfire’ and blew of out. You beotch.
The poster is purposely being dense .. Obviously she doesn’t mean doing pop music instead of country …..
” Because with this album I’ve completely changed the sound of everything I’ve done until now. ….
Meaning the change is the challenge not the genre of music .. … But the author of this post again purposely makes everything Taylor Swift says and does viewed negatively .
Yes, this was my thought too. Snd zi love her new look as well.
She looks hot in those pictures. But i have to remind myself that they’re not real.
Yes, don’t like that pic at all. But I do like the pic of her on the cover- it really works artistically. Shapes and colors.
I’m going to give her new album a chance, but I like her earlier music/sound.
She is certainly releasing some inner b*^%$ lately. Hasn’t country music been ignoring her the last few years as well? She stopped winning awards, or even being nominated and when her new song came out they tweeted something about her new sound. I don’t think country music misses her either actually.
Even back in the day if you went on country blogs people realized that she was backdooring her way to pop because it was the easier way for her to get there. Personally I’m amused that anyone would seriously buy that there is any other motivator for t his other than career ambition. she wants to dominate the most visible and moneymaking form of music, it’s really that simple. She’s challenging her ego and her pocktbook. The fun part comes when everyone gets to see how she fares in the highly competitive world of pop.
But you have to admit, “country music” has a VERY broad definition now across the board, and has for many years now. Just look at Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney pumping their fists claiming to be “Rock Stars”. Country music has turned into that space that used to be occupied by easy listening/adult contemporary pop and Bon Jovi style rock. It bears very little resemblance to its origins of storytelling, and it isn’t just because of Taylor, or Shania Twain, or whatever other female artist they want to throw under the bus.
She isn’t country and hasn’t been for a long time. It would be a joke to keep nominating her for Country Music Awards and what not. It’s time to close the book on that chapter.
^ THIS.
To me, it sounds like she means that she’s challenging herself by doing something different than what she’s done in the past. It’s easy to keep doing the same thing over and over, but mixing it up can be challenging and scary. Lots of artists express similar sentiments.
That’s what it sounds like to me too. I don’t find what she said offending. And I really like the way they styled her for the shoot. Not just the usual doll-like red lipstick and black eyeliner that she loves so much. I don’t know if I want to call it “cool”, because she’s still who she is, but much less boring than usual.
^^Exactly^^ That’s how I read it as well. She could have continued to do the same kind of thing or she could try to do something different. Safe bet is staying the same. Changing it up is a risk and a challenge to see if she can be successful in another genre. And let’s be honest…..had she released another “boy done me wrong” country album, we would all be shading her for not growing up either literally or as an artist.
+1.
I agree. It doesn’t sound like any kind of shade to me. Nice photo shoot, too.
Yep. That’s how I read it, too.
I so agree. Why do folks feel the need to parse every word to make it sound like an insult? She’s talking about challenging herself by getting out of a safe zone for her. It is not an insult to country music.
She had some good looks on feminism in a recent interview, but I see that does not get any press.
Swifty saving feminism from the arms of catfighting women was yesterday.
Exactly. I’m not a Swift fan but there was nothing insulting about what she said. I just think she worded it wrong. Saying “I don’t want to hurt people’s feelings, I don’t want to betray Nashville, whatever, but ..” makes it sound like she apologizing ahead of time for something insulting she’s about to say.
If anything the country music genre/scene (Nashville) is the one that is angry and throwing shade because Swift brought a lot young fans to country that wouldn’t have bothered with the genre otherwise. My next door neighbors kid is a rabid Swift fan and she started listening to country music because she said when Swift first came out, iTunes classified her as country and while browsing she would listen to the “similar artists” listed and that’s how she got hooked.
Th GCM people and a lot country music people are aware of that, especially because a lot of their young talent are turning to pop. Just look what happened to Miley. I mean even Shania Twain in the height of career started making more pop-ish music. That’s why they insulted her on twitter (Swift, not Twain).
I agree. It is a stretch to suggest that she was saying country music as an entire genre isn’t challenging.
Oh I’ve been wondering about her official transfer from country to PPP and I assumed it was all in the big plan. She’s only a year younger than me and when her ‘Tim McGraw’ song came out I was obsessed with her. I too was sooo in love with a lying redneck so her first album was replayed over and over. Clearly as time as progressed we’ve found her dad was able to set everything up for her, and I think they started in country planning to end up in pop.
Has anyone noticed his insanely different her voice sounds in her first album to ‘shake it iff’? If I didn’t know, I wouldn’t have guessed it was the same person.
I think she’s just talking about challenging herself by doing new and different things, that’s all.
Yeah, that’s how I read it, too. She’s done country music for years, so trying something new is going to be a challenge.
And she’s still trying to figure out who she is..
this!! as a woman in my 30’s, i’m annoyed that she, a woman under 25, thinks she has it all figured out and wants to “enlighten” her younger fans. (ha, ok, she didn’t use that word per se, but she was basically alluding to it!) yes, taylor, we get it, you’re not a little girl anymore, but to act like you have yourself figured out is just ridiculous.
(note: i’m not bashing all women under 25. some of them are truly mature and have things figured out because they had to grow up fast. i just havent seen any maturity yet from taylor, especially when it comes to relationships, so i think she has no room to talk. okay, taylor rant over!)
Don’t know if it’s a make-up fail or a photoshop fail but there’s something odd going on with her chin, especially in the last photo.
As in like she wants to evolve and grow and not stick with the same style forever as she got what she could out of it and is ready to move on. It seems clear to me!
I think she’s just saying she’s changing it up vocally and musically because she’s used to country and it’s challenging to do something she isn’t used to. Sort of like if you only do the treadmill at the gym a good spin class might kick your butt and work different muscles.
What’s hilarious is that what I’ve heard so far sounds the same as her last album tonally she’s been straight up pop for a while now.
I agree – I don’t understand how this new album is so different than her last album?
This. She has been slowly edging her way from twangy pop to full on pop for years. Her last album was already mostly pop and this was the master plan for where it was all leading to.
What’s different about this album is the marketing, not music. The “challenge” is more about becoming the biggest pop star than it is about making pop music, because she’s been making pop music for several albums now.
People in the country music industry have felt all along Taylor would eventually go full pop because her music was always a tough sell to country fans, especially at radio. But before Taylor did go full pop, she was very smart about buttering up country radio people at her shows and making sure they were in her corner.
I still feel like Taylor’s trying to figure out who she is. She’s putting on this “feminist” “happy to be single & hang with my girlfriends” character on for size now but it doesn’t feel genuine. But I definitely think she’s made to make pop music, and she and country music were never going to be a long term match.
By the way, Nashville is about a lot more than country music, even though it’s where the country music business is centered. Lots of blues, gospel, rock, and even pop going on. Kesha’s from Nashville, and Meghan Trainor honed her songwriting chops in Nashville too.
@flutters
I agree with your analysis overall, but I’m not so sure that she’ll fare well longterm in pop. She really has no voice and sticks to boo hoo love themes. I think the country genre works well on both counts. Plus, the entire basis of her image is that shes a sweet little girl next door. Again, that works really well in country. She’s not going to be the darling of the pop world…there’s just too much competition. Let’s see how well her ego handles that.
Maybe she think she’s being “urban” with her new album, considering she raps on “Shake it Off” and talks about guys with “hella good hair” and other such nonsense.
Agree. She was never really country to begin with, and her last album was straight pop. Randomly singing one word out of every 100 with a country twang doesn’t make you a country singer.
Or maybe she just wanted to try something new, a slightly different sound, and that was the challenge? (shrugs) It sounds like she’s tying hard not to dis Nashville. I do know her songs never get out of your head–will now have shake shake shake rattling around for the next few hours.
Is that Vogue circa October 1984? I’m getting serious Love’s Baby Soft ad out of these photos.
That’s it! I was thinking 1980s flashback, and Love’s did have those colors.
maybe, but i love the cover.
I think bangs look really good on her (but not the ones shes been sporting lately, they’re too long). They make her eyes look less squinty and stalker-ish. I think her best look was when she had long hair with bangs.
Money. She can call it “challenging herself” all she wants, but it’s about money and not burning bridges with Nashville just in case a new target audience doesn’t work out.
I’d be more gracious, but she just rubs me the wrong way.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
I like the 80s colours they suit her,and without the bangs you can tell how pretty she is, she looks Scandinavian.
So we’re back to mullets?
I’ve been trying to figure out why I find her so annoying. Celeb interviews are usually not all that phenomenal and a lot of them say some crazy sh*t but she’s so grating to me. I finally figured it out though. She sounds defensive ALL the time, especially about boys. Like a huffy teenager.
Well considering she’s a young woman who gets called a whore all the time for deigning to date a few dudes, yeah, she sure as hell should be defensive.
Celebs are called names all day long, if you want to be in the public eye, that’s a given. It’s not right and personally, I think there is no reason to do it but it happens. Btw, I’ve seen her get called boy-crazy etc. but saying she’s called a whore all the time is pushing it a bit.
Aside from that, I was actually referring to her music this time but it applies to every topic with her. I don’t actively dislike her but I wish she would calm down a little.
She seems perfectly calm to me.
And maybe you don’t see her called a whore, but if you ever searched her name on twitter it’ll come up every few minutes.
She’s barely 25, so she is young & she sounds young, maybe even like a huffy teenager. A lot of maturity comes in your twenties & early thirties, so I don’t find her annoying at all. She’s also been in the spotlight for years now, so her emotional growth is going to be slower than yours or mine.
She’s harmless. I don’t understand the shade on her honestly.
She’s a young woman, she’s not 17 anymore and even if I accepted the explanations (excuses to me, honestly) about why she is the way she is, to me, it is still annoying. Harmless maybe, sure. But we all have our pet peeves, defensiveness is one of mine. I don’t understand the hate the Kardashians get for example. We allow them to exist the way they do.
You guys- an article on Jamie D in this issue?? The minute I saw that I couldn’t “shake it off”- ha ha!
Mullet!!
Who cares? Her country music sucks anyway.
Pop is more challenging because you can be much more versatile in pop music. In country music, they want you to stick to a very specific sound without wavering from that accepted formula. Just look at Faith Hill and Shania Twain in the late 90’s. Both women were excoriated by country music purists because they committed “Murder on Music Row” and dared to inject more pop influences in their music/had crossover success.
And now Nashville has done a 180 and fully embraces the pop. Too much money to refuse. Music Row has no integrity anymore. Funny, the 90s weren’t that long ago. Now Carrie Underwood is inducted into the Grand Ol Opry with an American idol win and 2 albums. What a joke.
Back on topic: I don’t think pop music is more challenging for swifty, I think it’s less. As much as country music sucks today there’s still the expectation in the fan base of living in Nashville/the country , dressing a certain way having certain values etc. Now swifty is free of all that and walks around New York in designer hipster fashions, carrying her cat and hopping in and out of limos. Country music fans don’t like that but it’s par of the course in pop.
I feel like country music’s current problem isn’t the influx of pop. I think it’s the over-saturation of “bro-country” which I wouldn’t consider pop the same way country in the late 90’s was pop. The late 90’s country music gave rise to the “Country Diva”, with Shania and Faith each achieving international fame beyond the country genre.
Pop music is the last thing I’d consider versatile. There’s a whole range of sound, sure, but the formula is pretty basic. It is a machine, and the machine produces hits. Taylor Swift is attractive, wealthy, and just relatable enough to be a cog in that machine. The appeal of the pop music industry is the esteem. Pop stars > country stars. It moves you into the forefront of the American cultural awareness, and it opens up a ton of financial and media opportunities. I don’t fault her for making the move, but the insistence on it being “challenging” is smoke and mirrors. This is a political and business move up and down.
“Country” music is sooooooo formulaic, though and country music has stables of writers that do the work for the artists. I don’t think one genre can claim any higher quality of product in the pop vs. country debate. They are incredibly similar.
Also, I think Taylor has already reached the top of the mountain for musicians and public esteem. She has sold tons and already gets played on both radio formats. On pop radio, she has been very successful for a very long time already.
I think it becomes challenging when you get out of your wheelhouse.
I work in academia and yesterday around campus I heard Shake Shake Shake it off as a ring tone no less than ten times on ten different areas of campus. Then, this morning, went to get a cup of coffee in the cafe and wouldn’t you know, the cell phone behind me starts ringing Shake Shake Shake it off, and its owner answers, Hold on Mom. Let me call you back. I am in line for coffee.
: )
thats my area of work as well. I can relate.
I thought she was Charlize Theron for a second. Taylor kind of looks like her on the cover.
I was thinking she looked like Scarlet Johannsen in the stork pic.
Can someone please tell me what is going on with her shoe?!
Is that a hook?
Or a heel? It should be a heel.
But it looks like a hook?
WTH
Girlfriend is running the risk of becoming overexposed. She’s getting close.
Whoa. MULLET.
Got to disagree with you here. Doesn’t sound like she shaded country music at all.
Red was pretty pop so it’s not shocking she left country. I don’t think Taylor was trashing country. By leaving they genre she can do whatever she wants without worrying if here music will get played.
I dont like her hair like that. Makes it look quite mullet-y.
I don’t see it as a shade. She wanted to challenge herself and branch out and try new things. Country isn’t very diverse. All country songs are basically about the same few things. Just because she started out country why is she expected to stay country? Art is about expression and growth.
LOL, because when I think challenge, I think pop music. No, not shade so much as the more politically correct way of saying, “I used country to get into pop like I intended all along.” Lainey’s article talks about how some players in Nashville were predicting this move all along (personally, I saw it coming two albums back, and I think Red should have been the dead giveaway for most people), and the part that really rang true for me was the statement about her never having been “real country.” I see that sentiment expressed by a lot of my friends that are major country fans. Using Nashville to maneuver her way into Hollywood was always the intent, and she’s trying to parse it in a way that isn’t completely alienating to the original fanbase. I think she is well aware that there is no going back, as it is. Extremely business savvy on her part, IMO. Whatever you think of this woman, vapid isn’t a fitting definition. Immature and uninformed, sure, but she’s no fool. She knew exactly what she was doing all along.
She doesn’t find country challenging because she has no clue what country is. Not many people on ‘country’ radio these days do. Ol Hank would be ashamed of what passes for the genre these days. Good riddance to her. I’ve been waiting for this day since she came out on the radio. Everyone in Nashville knows her daddy bought her career.
I don’t really see how she’s throwing any shade whatsoever here. She’s saying that by changing genres she’s challenging herself. So what?
She’s done several country albums. She’s probably developed a formula for success in that genre, and it comes easily to her now. She doesn’t know the pop genre, so she’s venturing out of her comfort zone and challenging herself. How is that in any way shade to country music?
Good cover shoot. The only editions of Vogue I buy now are British Vogue and Vogue España. God only knows what Anna Wintour would have done to her on an American Vogue shoot. That woman has single-handedly destroyed a great magazine.
she looks beautiful with the hair off her face. (or MORE beautiful i should say)
I thought the whole point of Taylor Swift was that she was this earnest singer-songwriter… her biggest strength was that she was writing her own material and making her own music. Her biggest strength is NOT her voice, and as she’s going pop she’s primarily performing other people’s material and it’s just showcasing how thin and reedy her voice is.
I love the 80’s hairstyle & clothes 🙂 So happy to see her hair in a different style!
There wouldn’t always be 20 men waiting outside her door if she didn’t embrace it with her full makeup & hair, high-heeled, cat carrying daily pap walks. There are many celebrities in her neighborhood who carry on their lives without any fuss. Orlando Bloom even lives in the same building, and you rarely see him. Matt Damon lives near by when he is in NY, Paul Bettany & Jennifer Connelly, and many others celebs live quietly, and pap free because they choose to keep a low profile.