Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

The choice is between normal and crazy.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

“Loving your country does not mean lying about it’s history.”

Even though I know this is a bad idea, I’m off to do it anyway!

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

It could be worse. Vance could have said “post-menopausal sows.” Waiting for that audiotape to surface.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Good lord, these people are nuts.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Saturday Evening Open Thread: Taylor-ing the Experience

Saturday Evening Open Thread: Taylor-ing the Experience

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Taylor Swift, still propping up the national economy!

… “I think it’s amazing,” said Katie Mabry van Dieren, owner of Shop Local KC, which sells merchandise made by local artists, including the Karma sweatshirts. “I have never shipped so many items from our stores to different states.”

She said she thought the busiest weekend would be when Kansas City hosted the NFL draft in April. But she said Swift’s The Eras Tour concert stop at Arrowhead Stadium over the summer blew that away…

About 73% of adults say they plan to watch the game this year, about 10% higher than in recent previous years. And the romance that has been dominating headlines throughout the NFL season might be helping drive interest…

I’ve decided that Taylor Swift is my personal next-gen Mary Chapin Carpenter, and I really love Mary Chapin Carpenter. There’s a lot more tech work supporting Swift’s music, which is fine — music tech is so much better and cheaper than it was forty years ago, when I was going to MCC concerts in Michigan church basements!

Interesting Vulture article on last week’s Grammys — “How Taylor Swift Beat Sinatra”:

… With her win for Midnights, Swift broke a four-way tie with Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, and Paul Simon to become the artist with the most AOTY wins. This means 40 percent of her albums have been recognized by her peers as the year’s best: Fearless at the 2010 Grammys, 1989 in 2016, folklore in 2021, and now Midnights.

While it’s hard to call Swift’s first-place finish an outright shock — Midnights was a wildly successful album buoyed by a just-as-successful tour while Swift dominated over a year of conversation — it’s surprising to see her break a Grammys record so handily and to do it over competition like the night’s top nominee, SZA, who was up for her second album, SOS. Here’s how Swift pulled it off.

She wasn’t just successful — she gave the music industry hope.
Prior to October 2022, most industry observers thought a million-album week on “The Billboard 200” (a number combining album sales, song sales, and an equivalent amount of streams) was no longer attainable in today’s streaming economy. Adele couldn’t do it, Drake couldn’t do it, and successful newcomers like Morgan Wallen and Bad Bunny couldn’t do it. Then Midnights posted a stunning 1.5 million units, the first seven-figure American debut since Swift’s own reputation in 2017 (and since Billboard tightened up its bundling rules). As the music industry became even more resigned to streaming’s dominance, there was Swift, doing the impossible. For good measure, she did it again with 1989 (Taylor’s Version) last fall…

She held on to her new folklore fans.
In such a plural Academy, your own genre alone can’t carry you to AOTY. That’s how Jon Batiste surprised for We Are back in 2022, with nominations across R&B, American roots, and contemporary-classical categories (plus jazz for Soul). Swift last won AOTY for 2020’s folklore, an ostensibly pop album that drew on folk and country and was largely produced by the National’s Aaron Dessner, a rock musician. From the way her peers heaped praise on that album, it seemed as if she’d stacked votes from all those corners of the Academy to come out on top…

She had key technical voters’ support.
Swift may now have the most AOTY wins among artists, but someone else still beats her outright: Serban Ghenea, an audio engineer who has worked with Swift since Red. He may be one of the most respected collaborators in pop right now, and this was his own fifth AOTY win (he has also won for Adele’s 25 and Bruno Mars’s 24K Magic). The Academy is full of people like Ghenea — the engineers, writers, and producers often standing behind an artist when they win — and if you want to win big, you’ve got to earn their votes. Swift has. It’s not just the engineers, either, since Antonoff, her right hand, once again cleaned up in Producer of the Year…

She’s Taylor Swift.
Whenever Swift attends an awards show these days, her peers turn into fans. Everyone’s clamoring for a photo with her, and people shout her out when accepting trophies that have nothing to do with her. She’s like the music world’s Meryl Streep — even when Streep is also in the room….

And also, she’s driving the right people out of their tiny minds!



Mr. Charles P. Pierce, former sportswriter, at Esquire — “The Wingnuts Have Spoken About Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift”:

… I have to say that watching the MAGA crowd, and especially its He-Man Women Haters auxiliary, lose its shit over the romance of Taylor Swift and Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce has made me into a Chiefs fan, at least for the interminable two-week run-up to the game, which is an annual festival of heavily covered non-news and nonsense. There will be no end of stories about the happy couple which, if we’re all really lucky, will have heads exploding in all corners of the wingnut media universe.

Vivek Ramaswamy, rumored to once be a presidential candidate, was the first one into the pool. He xweeted,

I wonder who’s going to win the Super Bowl next month. And I wonder if there’s a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple this fall. Just some wild speculation over here, let’s see how it ages over the next 8 months.

Then there’s this Scott Greer mook.

To those who might say, “The Right need its own Taylor Swift for young women to look up to!” I answer we already have that. Her name is Lauren Boebert.

Dope on a grope.

And Sunday’s result already has launched another wingnut fever dream—the NFL has rigged the playoff so that the Swift-Kelce Chiefs win it all, which will convince everyone to get vaccinated and vote for Joe Biden. Rolling Stone collected some of the most febrile examples.

Failed GOP candidate Jack Lombardi II wrote on X that he has “never been more convinced that the Super Bowl is rigged. With all the unneeded and unwanted Taylor coverage at the games. KC’s journey to the Superbowl – totally scripted … KC wins. And then later [they announce] their support for Biden. Coincidental? No. Bought and paid for couple. SMH.” “Taylor Swift is nothing more than a controlled influencer who has been put to work by those who seek to destroy America,” Lombardi added in a separate post. “She is a very talented operative working for the same group responsible for the timely and coincidental covid-19.”…

Republican Georgia politician Kandiss Taylor wrote that she “tried to warn yall back in October that the influence of [Taylor Swift] on our youth with witchcraft was demonic, evil, and Luciferian.” “Of course, Satan wants to use her now to elect Joe back into the White House to destroy what’s left of America,” Taylor added…

Reader Interactions

103Comments

  1. 1.

    matt

    with that ‘kitty’ I wanted to say – congratulations on finding me a new kind of person not to like.

  2. 2.

    Tom Levenson

    I, for one, welcome my new incredibly talented pop overlord. Overlady?*

    *The wingnuts will never get over the idea that a female person might a) be more accomplished than they and b) whether or not they are internationally recognized superstars, still have no need for or interest in assholes who think they are entitled to sex and deference.

  5. 5.

    Almost Retired

    Republicans.  It’s not enough to alienate adult women.  Let’s work on pissing off 2028 first time voters.   This is quite possibly the stupidest most destructive dick-stomping that these people have ever done.  Hope they go after Dolly Parton next.

  6. 6.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    First, Larry Sabato can’t get ravaged by rusty farm implements soon enough. He’s a horrible political hack and always has been.

    That too, he’s an opinion has-been.

    I just heard Taylor being mentioned on the radio nooz and they had a short clip of a young girl talking about how she’s now interested in the NFL because of her idol. I think I heard incel weeping in the distance…

    ETA: “To those who might say, “The Right need its own Taylor Swift for young women to look up to!” I answer we already have that. Her name is Lauren Boebert.”

    Taylor and Lauren are opposite ends of the spectrum. Look up to Lauren for lessons on theater groping? Saying stupid shit? Poisoning customers with bad food?

    The right is a sad fucking joke.

  9. 9.

    dexwood

    Texting with my son just now. Told him all I care about for tomorrows game are snacks, beer, and Taylor Swift.

  10. 10.

    eclare

    @Almost Retired:

    So true.  Besides women, teens and tweens adore her.  So yeah, insult Taylor.

    My 93 yo aunt adores her.  She doesn’t know her music, but respects her as a businessperson, entertainer, massive economic influence.

  12. 12.

    japa21

    I know it doesn’t take much to rile up the-folks on the right, but the intensity of their reaction to all this is mind blowing. I think it is even worse than the Bud-Lite reaction. Don’t they realize that if Swift wasn’t going to endorse Biden, this is probably guaranteeing she will. And when Travis joins her in the endorsement, there will be enormous aftershocks due to all the heads exploding.

  13. 13.

    Jeffro

    Even the Post’s “here’s the top 4 things to watch on each team” has a bonus pick at the end of the article: “Taylor Swift, the X-Factor, who made the Super Bowl in her rookie year.”

    I’m a HUGE Chiefs fan and even I let out a little sigh…

    …but eff it, who cares, it’s all just in fun!

    Chiefs 31, Niners 17 ;)

  15. 15.

    scav

    Don’t forget the cunning plan B: luring all the righteous into rooting for San Francisco and by celebrating that win turning themselves gay!  — with hummus in their dip bowls instead of onion dip!!

  25. 25.

    Ken

    @eclare: Y’all can have Catturd, whatever that is.

    I think that’s one of Elon Musk’s blue-check fanboys, who was let back on Twitter after Musk turned it into a Nazi bar.

  33. 33.

    RepubAnon

    Actually, it’s all a double-reverse plot by Nancy Pelosi to trick the MAGA crowd into supporting the San Francisco 49ers…

  34. 34.

    Hob

    I hesitate to ask: what is the “bringing a zionist on stage with her” post talking about? I’m very out of touch, but the only time I’ve recently heard Swift mentioned in any Israel-related context was right-wingers calling her antisemitic for appearing at a fundraiser for humanitarian aid to Palestine.

  36. 36.

    Suzanne

    @Baud: I believe we are seeing this huge upswell in misogyny because women are increasingly more successful than men, and mediocre men don’t like it.

    Taylor Swift is kind of the Platonic ideal of that successful woman. So they hate on her as a way of hating on all the beautiful, smart women who are out-achieving them, out-earning them, and not partnering with them.

  37. 37.

    bbleh

    [Back-lit conference room, attendees in silhouette]

    “Gentlemen, the deployment of the Secret Weapon to Inspire Fear in Troglodytes (SWIFT) is going better than hoped.  Segment-minutes on major right-wing media have been climbing almost exponentially, and some conspiracy theories are approaching the four-sigma level.  We anticipate implosion of dozens to scores of long-term troll threads, and a detectable uptick in nervous-breakdown admissions in red-state hospitals.  We’ll brief again after the game.”

    [Picture of stern Kamala Harris in Klingon-like uniform flashes briefly on screen. Meeting ends.]

  40. 40.

    Anne Laurie

    @TBone: Did someone say ignitable…cakes?

    There’s a (brief) description in the article.  As I was saying:  Tech has gotten better & cheaper, so even a small-town cake baker can run a sheet of edible paper through her color printer for a party cake.  (Self-smothering party candles have also gotten much better & cheaper.)

  42. 42.

    hells littlest angel

    I’m excited about the Super Bowl, and I’ve never watch more than two minutes of a football game in my life. I’m rooting for either one of the two teams to win.

  43. 43.

    Anonymous At Work

    Calling it now: Kansas City 46 – San Fran 45 (46 beats 45).  Wingnut heads literally start exploding.

  45. 45.

    Suzanne

    @Hob: So when she won one of her Grammys, Swift brought Lana del Rey on stage with her and very publicly praised her. Lana del Rey apparently signed an open letter supporting return of the hostages, and is playing a show in Israel, so some randos decided she was a Zionist. Which, I don’t think Taylor Swift cared about. She’s tried very hard to support the careers of lots of women in music.

    I will note that Lana del Rey has a weird subset of her fanbase that is right-wing/Libertarian, because they think she’s appropriately feminine.

    This whole timeline sucks.

  46. 46.

    hells littlest angel

    To those who might say, “The Right need its own Taylor Swift for young women to look up to!” I answer we already have that. Her name is Lauren Boebert.

     

    I mean, what teenage girl doesn’t want to be a 36-year old high school dropout grandmother?

  49. 49.

    Anne Laurie

    @Hob: I hesitate to ask: what is the “bringing a zionist on stage with her” post talking about?

    Best I can understand, it’s because Swift brought her friend Lana del Rey on stage with her.  And LdR is ‘zionist’-coded, because among people with very simple on/off minds, everything must be coded as ‘Us’ or ‘Enemy’.   Which keeps them very busy, since every action by a public person must be scrutinized for Us/Enemy purposes…

  51. 51.

    zhena gogolia

    Who was the Zionist? Dolly Parton?

    ETA: I see Suzanne answered it. I didn’t know why Lana del Rey was a Zionist.

  55. 55.

    FelonyGovt

    LAUREN BOEBERT is who right wing girls should look up to? A trashy gun-toting loudmouth who vapes and feels up her boyfriend in a theatre (while still married to someone else)???

    ETA “Trailer Swift”, very good!

  60. 60.

    TBone

    I have a meme of Taylor driving a speed boat.  “Karma waited 20 years and now, hoo boy, are Republicans gonna find out what it means to be Swiftboated!”

  61. 61.

    Jackie

    @RepubAnon:

    Actually, it’s all a double-reverse plot by Nancy Pelosi to trick the MAGA crowd into supporting the San Francisco 49ers…

    😂🤣😂🤣😂 Maybe we’ll be lucky enough to see Nancy Smash in full Niners garb cheering from the owner’s suite! Along with MVP Harris, Gov Newsom, Schiff and any other CA Dem the MAGA hate!😂🤣😂🤣😂

  62. 62.

    Hoodie

    @Suzanne: That’s my impression. They’re likely men who are afraid of women and thus have difficulty forming healthy relationships with them.  The funny thing is I bet a lot of these misogynist types previously whined about not being able to find a girl who likes the things they like.  Now, Taylor Swift helps ignite interest in football among young women and these guys get all pissy about it. Both of my sons’ girlfriends have recently become fans, to my sons’ delight.

  64. 64.

    bbleh

    @Jackie: @RepubAnon:  so on the one hand, the MAGAts are LOOOZERRZZZ if Tay-Tay and Kelce win, and on the other hand they’re LOOOZERRZZZ if Pelosi’s and Kamala’s Gay-by-the-Bay team win?

    That’s … quite a box they seem to have put themselves in.

  67. 67.

    Jackie

    @bbleh: Don’t you love it?! I sure do!!!😂

    Exploding MAGA heads!

    I, as the Niners are the hated rivals of Seattle, have my “GO TAYLOR’S BOYFRIEND” teeshirt ready to wear!😁

  68. 68.

    bbleh

    @Jackie: alas, having lived in SF for over 20 years, I’m with the team with the Purdy QB.  But I gotta admit, I have admired Mahomes for a long time, and at this point, I’m all for a red team winning.

  71. 71.

    Jeffro

    @HumboldtBlue: it was amazing last year to see my #1 and #2 teams play each other in the Super Bowl!

    Andy Reid is a small part of that, but he’s a part of that.

    #GoChiefs !

  77. 77.

    Tom Levenson

    I’m torn this year. I am a born and raised Bay Area kid, so, of course, Go Niners!

    And I want wingnut heads to explode in a hail of skull shrapnel. So Go Chiefs*

    *Can’t lie. I feel queasy typing that. But the Chiefs do have a lot to like about them.

  78. 78.

    Scout211

    @Jackie: Hey, I just wanted you to know that my 10 year old grandson (a Seahawks fan from Washington) has decided to root for the 49ers tomorrow.  A shock, I know.  He’s  probably breaking all kinds of laws in the state of Washington to root for the 49ers. But he decided he just could not root for the same team as his 13 year sister who, as a Swiftie, has decided she actually cares about the Super Bowl now and is rooting for “Taylor’s team.”  🤣

    ETA: fixed a stupid auto-incorrect

  79. 79.

    karen marie

    The thing I like best about Taylor Swift is how she makes RW heads explode.

    This is insane:

    To those who might say, “The Right need its own Taylor Swift for young women to look up to!” I answer we already have that. Her name is Lauren Boebert.

    I would love to believe that it’s a joke but from what I can see, it’s not.

    Is this the effect of LSD I took in the ’70s coming back 50 years later?

  80. 80.

    Jackie

    @Tom Levenson: Tom, you can root for the Niners – as noted above – once the idiotic MAGA realize they’re cheering for a city who epitomizes EVERYTHING they HATE and DESPISE they’re going to combust.

    This Super Bowl is a win-win for us and a loser either way for MAGA! They’ll all claim publicly on Monday they boycotted the game😂

  84. 84.

    waspuppet

    At first I was undecided, but when I saw the effect she was having on their minds, I decided I’m rooting for KC.

    Now, though, they’ve gotten to the point that I’m hoping KC wins on a really suspicious call in the last seconds, TK proposes to TS on the field after, then Biden comes out and they endorse him, followed by a mass vaccination ceremony while TS sings her new song “Ha Ha Nobody Likes You.”

    Give em something to cry about. Maybe some of them will rage-stroke out.

  85. 85.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Anne Laurie:

    There’s a lot more tech work supporting Swift’s music, which is fine — music tech is so much better and cheaper than it was forty years ago, when I was going to MCC concerts in Michigan church basements!

    If you want to hear Taylor Swift unplugged, there is her NPR Tiny Music Desk Concert from 4 years ago.

  87. 87.

    Splitting Image

    none of this is true about Taylor Swift; this is just a vaguely left version of sneering at people for liking popular things that are good https://t.co/T8O7jSO19G

    This would be a perfectly accurate, if uncharitable, way to describe Paul McCartney. Which when you think about it makes it as perfect an explanation for Swift’s popularity as any.

  88. 88.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    @Sally: I still snicker over the image of Hershel learning to open the backdoor, and his attempts to help with the gardening.

  91. 91.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Anne Laurie: Cool!

    I just found it myself, & it’s a revelation! I’ve always enjoyed Taylor Swift’s pop songs, but more in the way of a nice chain restaurant than true gourmet, that I don’t have to think too hard about.

  92. 92.

    Brachiator

    She’s Taylor Swift.
    Whenever Swift attends an awards show these days, her peers turn into fans. Everyone’s clamoring for a photo with her, and people shout her out when accepting trophies that have nothing to do with her. She’s like the music world’s Meryl Streep — even when Streep is also in the room….

    I have been busy, but am enjoying catching up on various threads. I don’t follow pop music much anymore, but I damn, Taylor Swift is obviously impressive by any measure. I didn’t realize how dominant a force she had become.

    Wow.

  103. 103.

    Paul in KY

    @HumboldtBlue: He kept passing the ball too much in Philly & has fathered 2 punk criminals. One of whom killed somebody by drunk driving. He allowed them to work as ‘coaches’, thereby giving them more money than they should ever have & contributing to their toxic personalities.  He’s a fraud, IMO, who has been gifted one of the great QBs in NFL history.

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