I cannot, for the life of me, understand how this song hasn't made more top (insert number here) lists for this year. Rihanna's pieces of R&B trash "Disturbia" and "Please Don't Stop the Music" are getting some love along with anything to which Barnacle Beyonce attaches herself. So what's the deal with the complete lack of love for Taylor Swift? Is it the fact that she falls into the oft-reviled Nu-Country (I just invented that term... if it catches on you can say you knew me when) movement of Brad Paisley and his ilk? I will say that it is rare to hear any artists making modern country getting positive ink. It could possibly be her relatively young age but even the Jonas Brothers are getting some respect in critical circles (ie Rolling Stone which is almost dead to me) so that can't be it. Regardless of the reason, it seems that Taylor Swift has not been allowed to even become a guilty pleasure during the year in music 2008. What a damn shame.
In this song, she writes (that's right, she wrote or co-wrote every song on her album... at 16) a pissed off reflection on that most common of country turf, the cheating/no good significant other. The difference between this and more traditional country territory though is that she actually sounds pissed off... and more significantly, ready to move on. I can hear a lot of the same anger in this track that I hear in one of the best songs of the decade (really) Kelly Clarkson's "Since U've Been Gone." The pinnacle of this song comes as Swift kicks into the hell hath no fury like a woman scorned second verse where you can almost feel her disappointment as she laments, "Even now just looking at you feels wrong, you say that you'd take it all back, given one chance it was a moment of weakness and you said yes you should've said no." I have no idea whether Taylor Swift is headed to Reba McEntire territory or if she's due for an even more giant mainstream/crossover career but if this album and more importantly this track is any indication we've got a lot to look forward to.
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3 comments:
I'd like to take issue with one bit of your post. While I agree that her association with Nu-Country (a term that I like a lot) might play into her lack of respect, I think you picked a bad artist to represent it. While Brad Paisley has had a pretty good amount of pop success, he's managed to do so while still maintaining quite a few elements of traditional country in his songs. Rascal Flatts, on the other hand, is a steaming pile of warmed-over, country-pop mush.
Probably not coincidentally, Rascal Flatts and Taylor Swift are two of only three country acts who I've heard played on pop music stations as well as country radio (the other being Carrie Underwood). God help me though I like all three of them.
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