Hot Take/ Musical Confession Thread!

CrazyDiamond84 said:
I dont think Swift and FJM are the best comparisons for anything. One is arguably the biggest mainstrean artist of this generation while the other is an indie rock dude that if I stopped the first 10 people on the street, maybe 1 of them have heard of him.
Click to expand...
This. If anything, compare her to another pop star like Harry Styles or Bruno Mars.

I will say that kind of puts into perspective the strength of her output for the last 15 years or whatever, so I'll give her that.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Yeah, you’re implying was that because the FJM persona is that of a pretentious male ass that most of his male fan’s find him relatable and thus could not have the breadth to appreciate Taylor Swift for her talents.

I respectfully disagree with this generalization.

It sounds like your issues are more with people don’t appreciate Taylor Swift than those who do appreciate FJM.
Click to expand...
folsom_lives said:
While I know none of these opinions can exist in a vacuum, the idea that liking FJM more than Taylor Swift is somehow a tacit agreement with "The Patriarchy" is kind of hard argument to defend against.

I don't like Taylor swift simply because none of her songs resonate with me. Maybe it's because I wasn't a twenty-something female and songs about being broken up with by a boy would never really land as hard as they were intended to. To subjectively say that a man doesn't like a female artist because of gender bias and not any other reason is reductive.

The thing about FJM's music for me was his self-deprecating humor, witty observations of the human condition, and ultimately his musical delivery of those messages. Not that his messages are any better or less important than Taylor's.

Really not trying to pile on Gap here. Valid points were made. I just didn't want to get lumped into the some men" category.
Click to expand...
The unfortunate truth of this thread is that hot takes don't typically lend themselves to nuance, and no matter how much you try to present a more balanced view, it's the more incendiary parts of your post that will be zeroed in on. It's mostly my fault due to poor wording, but I'll try once again to present what I was trying to say in my original post.

I'll be blunt and say I probably enjoy FJM and Taylor close to equal amounts; that is to say, in moderate amounts. It's fair to say both artists have personas to a certain degree. My post was taking issue with elitist snobs of any gender that invariably look down on what's popular. I support liking both artists and that was in fact my entire argument. My first post about FJM and Taylor was a pretty quick off-the-cuff post that I didn't really intend to carry that much weight. In hindsight, I should have known a post that can be read as accusing an artist's fanbase in it's entirety of a quality would rustle feathers. I don't mean to offend anyone, but I would like to live in a world where liking I Love You, Honeybear and 1989 were treated with the same level of respect, but even the grand power of "poptimism" is no much for good old-fashioned indie elitism. Once again, I feel the need to state that I realize not every FJM is a snob, and generalizing an entire artist's fanbase as such is not an attitude I agree with. However, I see now my posts in here can be read as exactly that and for that, I apologize. That said, I still think the fact that Taylor gets an absurd of amount of vitriol thrown her way for daring to be a successful female singer-songwriter is an argument that exists outside of FJM and bringing him into it just muddles that point.
 
gaporter said:
The unfortunate truth of this thread is that hot takes don't typically lend themselves to nuance, and no matter how much you try to present a more balanced view, it's the more incendiary parts of your post that will be zeroed in on. It's mostly my fault due to poor wording, but I'll try once again to present what I was trying to say in my original post.

I'll be blunt and say I probably enjoy FJM and Taylor close to equal amounts; that is to say, in moderate amounts. It's fair to say both artists have personas to a certain degree. My post was taking issue with elitist snobs of any gender that invariably look down on what's popular. I support liking both artists and that was in fact my entire argument. My first post about FJM and Taylor was a pretty quick off-the-cuff post that I didn't really intend to carry that much weight. In hindsight, I should have known a post that can be read as accusing an artist's fanbase in it's entirety of a quality would rustle feathers. I don't mean to offend anyone, but I would like to live in a world where liking I Love You, Honeybear and 1989 were treated with the same level of respect, but even the grand power of "poptimism" is no much for good old-fashioned indie elitism. Once again, I feel the need to state that I realize not every FJM is a snob, and generalizing an entire artist's fanbase as such is not an attitude I agree with. However, I see now my posts in here can be read as exactly that and for that, I apologize. That said, I still think the fact that Taylor gets an absurd of amount of vitriol thrown her way for daring to be a successful female singer-songwriter is an argument that exists outside of FJM and bringing him into it just muddles that point.
Click to expand...
No hard feelings Gap!
 
gaporter said:
The unfortunate truth of this thread is that hot takes don't typically lend themselves to nuance, and no matter how much you try to present a more balanced view, it's the more incendiary parts of your post that will be zeroed in on. It's mostly my fault due to poor wording, but I'll try once again to present what I was trying to say in my original post.

I'll be blunt and say I probably enjoy FJM and Taylor close to equal amounts; that is to say, in moderate amounts. It's fair to say both artists have personas to a certain degree. My post was taking issue with elitist snobs of any gender that invariably look down on what's popular. I support liking both artists and that was in fact my entire argument. My first post about FJM and Taylor was a pretty quick off-the-cuff post that I didn't really intend to carry that much weight. In hindsight, I should have known a post that can be read as accusing an artist's fanbase in it's entirety of a quality would rustle feathers. I don't mean to offend anyone, but I would like to live in a world where liking I Love You, Honeybear and 1989 were treated with the same level of respect, but even the grand power of "poptimism" is no much for good old-fashioned indie elitism. Once again, I feel the need to state that I realize not every FJM is a snob, and generalizing an entire artist's fanbase as such is not an attitude I agree with. However, I see now my posts in here can be read as exactly that and for that, I apologize. That said, I still think the fact that Taylor gets an absurd of amount of vitriol thrown her way for daring to be a successful female singer-songwriter is an argument that exists outside of FJM and bringing him into it just muddles that point.
Click to expand...
No stress. FJM is not a hill worthy of dying on.

Now if any of you decide to come after Robin Pecknold...

anchorman-trident.gif
 
Hollywood said:
Same applies to the TS stans who all of a sudden appreciates indie rock and the likes of Big Red Machine and its affiliated bands because she is featured on two songs. 🤷‍♂️
Click to expand...

Kinda not shooting at that. Discovering new artists through the ones we already know is pretty standard and no bad thing.

What I’m talking about is indie music fans who deemed themselves too cool for Taylor’s pop music now fawning over her because of that collaboration. It’s prevelant and it’s nauseating. It’s a form of the phenomenon known as rockism. I’ve not encountered a similar superior attitude from fans of pop music. And that’s speaking as someone whose tastes fall squarely in the indie sphere.

One thing that I will say about Taylor that hasn’t been said here is that her real talent, for me, is in the ability to tell convincing and rounded stories in her lyrics. The ability to do that in a 3 minute song is both very impressive and very rare.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
Or a 10+ minute one…
Click to expand...

Yeah I don’t go out of my way to complain about Taylor Swift, and I almost enjoy some of her songs, but I don’t really care enough about her or any artist to like study her life history to try to understand why she’s still upset about relationships from so many years ago, and it seems like that might be a key factor in enjoying her music. I could be wrong, but the impression I get is that many of her songs seem self-congratulatory and/or have heaps of bitterness towards specific people in a way that just feels petty and uninteresting. Like I get Kesha writing a song about Dr. Luke because that situation was on another level of serious trauma, but even that song has lyrics like “I hope you find your peace” that are striking and sobering. I think Taylor has a good sense of humor when I see her in interviews or on snl, but so many of her songs just seem really specific to her and her life experiences and relationships and not really as broadly universal as the songs that Adele or Katy Perry or many other artists sing.

I think for me that’s the main problem, the songs feel musically generic but then the sentiments expressed aren’t easy to latch onto either. There’s just a lot of negativity about other people’s behavior without an equal dose of self-awareness.
 
Ericj32 said:
Yeah I don’t go out of my way to complain about Taylor Swift, and I almost enjoy some of her songs, but I don’t really care enough about her or any artist to like study her life history to try to understand why she’s still upset about relationships from so many years ago, and it seems like that might be a key factor in enjoying her music. I could be wrong, but the impression I get is that many of her songs seem self-congratulatory and/or have heaps of bitterness towards specific people in a way that just feels petty and uninteresting. Like I get Kesha writing a song about Dr. Luke because that situation was on another level of serious trauma, but even that song has lyrics like “I hope you find your peace” that are striking and sobering. I think Taylor has a good sense of humor when I see her in interviews or on snl, but so many of her songs just seem really specific to her and her life experiences and relationships and not really as broadly universal as the songs that Adele or Katy Perry or many other artists sing.

I think for me that’s the main problem, the songs feel musically generic but then the sentiments expressed aren’t easy to latch onto either. There’s just a lot of negativity about other people’s behavior without an equal dose of self-awareness.
Click to expand...

Yeah no, just no. Don’t do tabloid culture, never did, never will. Every heartbreak song ever written is about the person that broke that persons heart. The press treating a young woman in her late teens and early 20s toxicly has no relationship to weather or not I enjoy her music.
 
Last edited:
Joe Mac said:
Yeah no, just no. Don’t do tabloid culture, never did, never will. Every heartbreak song ever written is about the person that broke that persons heart. The press treating a young woman in her late teens and early 20s toxicly has no relationship to weather or not I enjoy her music.
Click to expand...
I guess I’m unfamiliar with how the press treated her 10 years ago, but she’s 32 now.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
I really really hate that take too. Taylor had credibility long before her affiliation with The National or Big Red Machine. Her credibility has NOTHING to do with them.

It came from Ryan Adams.

*ducks*
Click to expand...
If you're attempting to rile up Joe Mac you might as well lean into it and say you prefer Adam's cover of "Wonderwall" to the orginal...

To which Joe will probably reply something along the lines of, "That twat Ryan Adams can have it. "Wonderwall" is a trash song to begin with that no real Oasis fan would enjoy".

I spend too much time on here.
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
If you're attempting to rile up Joe Mac you might as well lean into it and say you prefer Adam's cover of "Wonderwall" to the orginal...

To which Joe will probably reply something along the lines of, "That twat Ryan Adams can have it. "Wonderwall" is a trash song to begin with that no real Oasis fan would enjoy".

I spend too much time on here.
Click to expand...

I prefer his cover of Wonderwall. So does Noel, he exclusively does that version live now and not his own original…
 
TenderLovingKiller® said:
If you're attempting to rile up Joe Mac you might as well lean into it and say you prefer Adam's cover of "Wonderwall" to the orginal...

To which Joe will probably reply something along the lines of, "That twat Ryan Adams can have it. "Wonderwall" is a trash song to begin with that no real Oasis fan would enjoy".

I spend too much time on here.
Click to expand...
The only one that can save me is Dewsbury Hall.
David A. said:
I don’t give a fuck, The Joshua Tree still rules.
Click to expand...
I went to the Joshua Tree tour in 2018-ish and it was FABULOUS. That album is stellar.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top