Exactly one year ago, Taylor Swift’s fifth album, 1989, was reviewed for this very newspaper. In this block’s first Monday, Chuck Klosterman discussed his recent interview with Swift for GQ Magazine. He discussed the experience of sitting with one of the world’s biggest musical acts in a café. He credited her as being a smart, creative songwriter who shares commonalities with the bands he listened to when he was in college.
It seems that in the year that has passed since The Catalyst first reviewed 1989, Taylor Swift, the pop star, has become Taylor Swift, the global cultural zeitgeist. Klosterman pointed out in his lecture that he was interested in what’s in store for her next. At 25, she is young, but more accomplished than most people ever dream of. It seems that the entirety of pop culture is in her wake. What has Swift done to music over the past year?
Everything.
She controlled the streaming game. Immediately prior to the release of 1989, she pulled her discography from Spotify. Digitally, you could buy her music on iTunes, watch videos on YouTube, or resort to stealing. When Apple revealed their streaming platform Apple Music, Swift threatened to boycott them as well unless artists were paid fairly during trial periods. She was sticking up for the little guy, but of course who’s getting those fractions of a cent per stream hundreds of millions of times? Taylor Swift, of course.
Swift is undeniably the biggest selling artist of the past year. Four of the 1989’s singles have gone platinum; “Shake It Off,” is actually eight times platinum, while “Blank Space” is seven. The fifth, Lana Del Rey-esque “Wildest Dreams,” is bound to follow suit. The album itself has gone platinum multiple times and was one of the fastest to do so in recent memory. In all likeliness, there’s another single or two in store. “All You Had to Do was Stay” and “Clean” could easily become an extra hit or two.
While on the arena-crushing 1989 Tour, Swift has sold out stadium after stadium worldwide. The price point on these tickets start in the triple digits. Not only are these shows theatrical, but a celebrity surprise is likely in store. Mick Jagger, The Weeknd, Ed Sheeran, Fetty Wap, Lorde, Nelly, Wiz Khalifa, Ellie Goulding, Charli XCX, Selena Gomez, Justin Timberlake, Beck, and St. Vincent have all made surprise appearances on the tour—and that’s just the musicians. Cara Delevigne, Serena Williams, Russell Wilson, the entire U.S. women’s soccer team, Kobe Bryant, Julia Roberts, Chris Rock, and Joey from “Friends” all showed up for brief appearances. (It’s noteworthy that Bryant awarded Swift with a banner for the most sold-out shows at the Staples Center.)
These have only been the monetary influences in the past year from Swift, who has been seen as somewhat of a musical curator this year. She performed with each artist she brought on tour, giving them a sort of boost. (Fetty Wap probably needed a big boost in the teenage girl demographic.) It’s not only the tour.
The power of 1989 dragged in two surprising partnerships. Kendrick Lamar has released one of this year’s best albums, To Pimp A Butterfly, about the pains of fame and race, but his most notable musical presence was on the remix to “Bad Blood,” where in the video he appeared next to Lena Dunham and Ellie Goulding.
The other surprise was Ryan Adams. The 40-year-old’s 15th studio album was a cover album of Swift’s smash (6.6/10). Not only are full cover albums rare, but Adams’ move was somehow completely derivative and original at the same time. Adams was inspired by Swift’s songwriting, but he used his own skill to use tone and melodies to make the songs his own without changing a word. Additionally, Adams’ version may be more emotional following his public divorce with Mandy Moore, whereas Swift remains vague about past relationships.
It’s undeniable how influential Taylor Swift has been over the past year. Sure, Adele, Lil Wayne, and Eminem have had major selling albums in similar magnitude in our lifetimes, but has it ever been unending? Did a political rapper ever jump on a pop song? Well yeah, Kanye got on Katy Perry’s “E.T.” Did an album ever inspire another major-selling album that was the same exact thing? Did one artist suck up everything in popular culture in their wake?
At this point, the most talked about artists are the one who are second to Swift. Drake, Kendrick, Fetty, The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, and Selena Gomez are all at mile 10, where Swift has already run the 26-mile marathon twice.