Here’s something I didn’t really expect this week: Billy Corgan giving a full-throated defense of Taylor Swift. Corgan is 57 years old and father to two young children (who probably love Swift’s music). He’s also a somewhat legendary alt-rock icon and I’m surprised to see him come down on the side of Taylor, who is so “pop” and so commercial. But Corgan considers Taylor to be “one of the most gifted pop artists” and he’s glad that she’s releasing so much music these days. Also remember: Corgan is a HUGE cat-lover. I imagine he loves the fact that Taylor loves her kitties.
Taylor Swift has one more person in her corner — Billy Corgan. In an interview with The Irish Times published on Monday, June 3, the Smashing Pumpkins singer, 57, defended the length of Swift’s 31-song double album, The Tortured Poets Department, and commended her artistic ambition.
“Taylor Swift is one of the most gifted pop artists of all time. How is it a bad thing that she’s releasing more music? I can’t follow that … You can go on Spotify and just skip it,” the rocker told the outlet. Corgan pointed to his band’s own three-part album, Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Acts, while celebrating Swift’s latest project.
“People complained about the length of my last album, Atum. I thought, Well, just go make your own playlist,” he said.
“Just listen to the record one time – rag over the six or 10 songs you like and make your own record. Why is this such a strange concept? Have some sense of proportionality,” continued Corgan. “This hyperbolic thing – ‘They ruined Star Wars. My God, this is all too much for me to process’ – it’s all a bit childish.”
Corgan is right of course – no one is being forced to listen to Taylor and if you don’t like her music, don’t listen to it and don’t buy it and don’t stream it. It’s that simple. That being said, Taylor’s ubiquity in the music industry and in pop culture generally does mean that other artists feel drowned out. I mean, Taylor is going to do what she wants and clearly she’s super-focused on sales and charts. As long as her legion of fans support her religiously, it’s going to work.
Billie Joe Armstrong also had lovely words for Taylor this week:
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red, Backgrid.
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- Billy Corgan attends the Annual “Q Awards” at Grosvenor House in London.,Image: 554847476, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Photoshot – sales@photoshot.com London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Florida: +1 239 689 1883 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Euan Cherry / Avalon
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- Sydney, AUSTRALIA – Taylor Swift takes The Eras Tour 2024 overseas as she performs at Sydney Accor Stadium in Sydney,Australia. Pictured: Taylor Swift BACKGRID USA 23 FEBRUARY 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Stockholm, SWEDEN – Taylor Swift plays Friends Arena on Friday night. This is the first of three concerts during the “The Eras Tour” in Stockholm. Pictured: Taylor Swift BACKGRID USA 17 MAY 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Stockholm, SWEDEN – Taylor Swift plays Friends Arena on Friday night. This is the first of three concerts during the “The Eras Tour” in Stockholm. Pictured: Taylor Swift BACKGRID USA 17 MAY 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Stockholm, SWEDEN – Taylor Swift plays Friends Arena on Friday night. This is the first of three concerts during the “The Eras Tour” in Stockholm. Pictured: Taylor Swift BACKGRID USA 17 MAY 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Stockholm, SWEDEN – Taylor Swift plays Friends Arena on Friday night. This is the first of three concerts during the “The Eras Tour” in Stockholm. Pictured: Taylor Swift BACKGRID USA 17 MAY 2024 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- May 1, 2016: Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins performs at The Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Mandatory Credit: INFphoto.com Ref: infusmi-15 Featuring: Billy Corgan Where: Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States When: 01 May 2016 Credit: INFphoto.com
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- The Smashing Pumpkins performs during the “Spirits on Fire” tour at Hard Rock Live held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on October 8, 2022 in Hollywood, Florida Featuring: Billy Corgan Where: Hollywood, Florida, United States When: 08 Oct 2022 Credit: Robert Bell/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images
I love Smashing Pumpkins. I don’t think TS is super talented, but she is a hardworking woman, so more power to her. I love how these iconic 90s artists have no egos, like it is all good, we heart everyone.
Preach Billy. Love how generous she is to others.
I’m meh on the Smashing Pumpkins but I did live in Chicago when they exploded from club band to megastars so I have some nostalgic fondness for them. I’m way more meh on Taylor’s music but I feel like she’s the phenom we need right now in our increasingly right wing misogynist culture.
Using the language “one of” definitely stops me from giving the full side eye, but I will still kiss my teeth over the comment 😄
It doesn’t matter who you are – if you’re on top, some people are gonna hate you. I personally feel she seems to be one of the most inoffensive celebrities that exist, and if her peers praise her, they probably know what they’re talking about.
I appreciate Taylor Swift as a woman who is slaying the music industry but I’m not sure that I think she’s particularly “gifted.” To me, she’s outclassed in many areas by her peers: she doesn’t have the entertainment skills of a Beyonce, she can’t sing like Ariana, etc. Where she excels, IMO, is in her songwriting, particularly her ability to write words that resonate with a largely white, heterosexual audience.
Some people say that she is not that talented because she talks her songs not sing her songs. Even if the statement above is true, she is still worth more to the music heritage and culture because she creates lyrics and music that millions of people like. So she doesn’t have a voice like Cristina Aguilera but she compensates with her creative talent. I am trying to make some sense here.
I tend to agree that her talent is in songwriting – she’s clearly a very creative person and someone who knows who to channel that creativity.
Folklore proved that she’s more than catchy pop diss songs and I wished she’d lean more into that.
Also she has a great team both creative and business around her – she knows her audience and plays to them.
I love that Billy Corgan loves her. Taylor’s a great songwriter. His point about the double album is super on target, IMO. As someone who loves Taylor but takes a long time to process new music, I’ve only listened to the original half of the album. I’m excited to listen to the surprise 2nd half in a few months.
I’m not a swiftie. I enjoyed TS through the 1989 era. Now, not so much. Here’s my thing. I’m not opposed to people calling her one of the greats, but can someone point me to the evidence her fans are using? Is it just album sales and touring and making money?
I ask because when I think of the greats, I think of Michael Jackson and Madonna and artists of that ilk (Beatles, etc). To me being the greatest isn’t only popularity. It’s also making art so profound that it shifts the way other artists and the industry create. What’s TSwift’s monumental effect? Genuine question, no snark.
I think she has changed our culture in ways we don’t think about. Phrases like “shake it off” to “down bad crying at the gym” and so many I can’t even think of that are Taylor lyrics have permeated the words we say in everyday conversation. The fact that we are all saying “I’m in my ______ era” because of the Eras Tour. The way friendship bracelet making supplies were sold out at craft stores ahead of her tour. The huge economic impact her concerts have in the cities she visits.
But really to me it’s the way her songs and albums have seeped into our lives. I say that as a swift fan, but her song lyrics have galvanized feelings and experiences I’ve had with words I didn’t know I needed, over and over again.
I do think we will look back on her influence and compare her to Elvis, the Beatles, Michael Jackson and Madonna. I don’t know what more metrics need to be measured.
Ok. None of that is greatness to me, personally. So I will just continue to think my thoughts and let her fans have fun.
Phrases like shake it off have been in the culture my entire life. This is something my mom said to me in the 70s. I just can’t give Tay credit for that one. Also the word era. These were used way before her. It’s where she got them from: the culture.
@Abby, lol, Taylor puts everyday words into her songs and her fans act like she invented the saying. It is really so weird. There are a lot of posts from Swifties saying that they only listen to Taylor’s music. I would laugh at them in the past, thinking they are just trolling people, but now more and more it is obvious that a lot of young people have very surface knowledge about music, so everything she does seems original to them. In my humble opinion, Taylor will be known as her marketing genius, business moves more than her music in the future as well as this weird parasocial relationship she nurtured with her fans throughout her career.
@Sevenblue I didn’t say she invented these words. I’m saying particular everyday phrases became much more common after being used in various songs / albums / tours. I guess I am not articulating well the point I am trying to make–she has had a significant impact on actually shaping culture and the music industry.
Also, I’m 40 and listen to a variety of music, not just Taylor Swift.
@Abby, what you are describing is marketing. She is the best at it, that is my point. I didn’t mean to say you are one of those fans, but this is a very weird phenomena where I see some swifties commenting they never heard of some very well-known saying or a quote from another artist’s music that Taylor used in her songs and they make a point very boldly that Taylor invented it. Even when they accept it existed before her, they give all the credit to Taylor because she made it popular. Elvis’s whole career was this culture vulture sh*t. He stole from Black people and sold it to white audience in a white man package (not that Taylor stole from any culture, a big audience means a big influence, not originality).
The matter of the fact is, Taylor didn’t do anything new strictly for music, she is building on what is there before her. It is a little insulting to Madonna to put her name next to her. Madonna has been excommunicated by the Catholic Church due to her art performances. That is what a legacy is.
@Abby I’m over here cackling. Those phrases were popularized by the very people they came from: Black people. Taylor did the same thing several white content creators on TikTok with large platforms are notorious for: saw/heard something done/said by Black people and regurgitated it. Their audience comes away thinking they’re the best thing since sliced bread and the actual innovators get paid dust. It’s an endless cycle too, just rinse and repeat.
I think the most interesting part of his comment is calling out the immaturity in our society around pop culture right now. I agree with him in general, like the length of TS’s latest album is not the pressing moment of our time worth generating millions of breathless comments on Twitter and TikTok, or a ton of think pieces on traditional media.
This!
Is Billy still a right winger?
Ok, here is my problem with people using the term “of all time” with ANYONE.
You need time to pass. That’s the only way to know if the artist will stand the test of time.
Problem with time passing is young up-and-comers can see who has been previously proclaimed great. Then they can try to emulate or incorporate mannerisms, style or work ethic of the prior greats…
Tell you who I do like: Billy Joe Armstrong. I still like Green Day, even though I haven’t heard new music in a long time. I’m glad he got sober. He’s still cute, isn’t he? I’m afraid that I’m a little over Taylor, but I like these two men praising her and wearing friendship bracelets. That’s pretty cute, and there are much worse influences on young people than Taylor. I liked her older songwriting: she lost me when it became so cutesy and to me – gimmicky. So, I confess, I don’t listen to her anymore, so I can’t say if she’s better or same. But she’s still creating music, and it seems an emotional port in a storm for many young men and women, so that is a good thing.
He really is great! I think he’s such a good example of non-toxic masculinity. I’m glad he’s thriving.
Lenny Kravitz was at her Paris gigs
I can’t stand Taylor Swift’s music. If I never hear another Taylor Swift song ever again, it will be too soon.
Furthermore, I believe her sky-high album sales are mostly a result of Taylor exploiting her fan’s obsession to sell them dozens of versions of the same album, along with some major juking of the stats. I feel the same way about Drake’s success, at least as far as juking his stats.
On a side note, I believe that a celebrity’s most hardcore fans are a reflection of that celebrity. Therefore, Taylor’s crazy, unhinged, vengeful fans, are a reflection of Taylor, who I believe THOROUGHLY enjoys it, when her fans pounce and pile on someone, regardless of that person’s “crime” or LACK of a “crime”.
He meant smart.
I go against the Swifty grain. Tay, Tay is one of the most boring singers of the last 50 years. Her voice is like listening to S. Boyle sing Climb Every Mountain over and over again.