About a year ago I listened to TSwift's entire discography in chronological order. I suggest trying that. You will probably never like TTPD, but I think you will find the musical evolution interesting - especially in light of how outrageously successful she has become, and how successful TTPD has become. (I don't know if you've done a deep dive into the statistics, but she's not just successful; she's up in the stratosphere compared to her nearest contemporary competitors, which is why she is being compared to the Beatles, Elvis, MJ, etc. Personally, as a philosopher, I find this to be a fascinating sociological phenomenon, which is why I dove into her whole discography.) I find her to be a perfect storm of talent, charisma, luck, and incredible marketing. But to understand her success, you also need to sample some of her live performance videos, music videos, and movies. At the very least, you should watch the Eras Tour movie and a few of her fan fave music videos. Even if you never end up liking the alt/folk/pop sounds of TTPD, you'll at least get more insight into her role in modern culture. BTW: TTPD was made primarily for herself and her fans. It represent TS essentially (for the moment, at least) not caring so much about radio hits or commercial success. But it nevertheless became an amazing commercial success, despite being exactly the sort of music that tends not to be commercially successful. Go figure.
Taylor moved to Tenn. as a young teen, being in school around all those Southern accents, you pick it up. I came from Wisconsin and we moved to Texas, so I know.
Taylor's fans are of all races and ages. Didn't you know "old Taylor can't to the phone right now, why? Oh because she's dead". If you don't know that is a line from Look What You Made Me Do. Kanye and Kim killed you naive Taylor by setting her up with an edited recording making it sound like she knew about those lyrics in his song Famous "I made that b!tch famous. Kim posted the edited recording on social media calling her a snake and a liar. Later the actual tape was leaked showing who the real liars were. The hate became so bad that Taylor disappeared for a year, when she came back we got Reputation. No one made Taylor change out the acoustic guitar for the electric. Taylor had a lot of say in what she wanted her albums to sound like Taylor is a genre-bender, she writes her own music and sometimes with co-writers. She wrote her Speak Now album by herself just to prove to people she writes her own music. Reputation is my favorite. In case you did know Taylor is re-recording her first 6 albums to reclaim ownership of them after they were sold out from under her, 4 down 2 to go, the re-records are called Taylor's Versions. 65 y/o here and some people in their 70s and 80 y/o are fans. Taylor once said she would never make her next album sound like her last. Taylor has matured and makes relevant music, which is why she is at the top. Taylor plays acoustic (6 string and 12 string)and electric guitars, piano, banjo, and ukulele. Back to the southern accent (from my other post) Taylor grew up and moved to NYC. Some people do tend to pick up the accents New Yorkers tend to have a heavier accent. I love her new album although it took a couple of listens. We are used to Taylor coming out with something new, we never know what she will do, You should watch the Era's Tour Film on Disney, it will give you a sampling of the other albums.
