TOW Post #17(Article): New York Times Review

    Taylor Swift's new album, 1989, has been creating serious talk in the music department. Earning a mere $20 million, Swift's album is referred to the sensation of 2014 music. Fans are loving it, and believe it or not, critics also have great things to say. In fact, in a New York Times review, author Jon Caramanica praises the album by describing its magnificence and contrasting it to other pop music available on the market. He says that Taylor Swift's "idea of pop music harks back to a period — the mid-1980s — when pop was less overtly hybrid. That choice allows her to stake out popular turf without having to keep up with the latest microtrends, and without being accused of cultural appropriation" (Caramanica 1). By calling Swift's version of pop "less overtly hybrid", Jon is able to refer to it as original and not a mix. This gives the album a great review as Taylor is seen as a genius for reflecting her music to the past rather than current styles, which aren't as greatly appreciated. In fact, today's music is seen as a bit too much. " Modern pop stars — white pop stars, that is — mainly get there by emulating black music. Think of Miley Cyrus, Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber. In the current ecosystem, Katy Perry is probably the pop star least reliant on hip-hop and R&B to make her sound, but her biggest recent hit featured the rapper Juicy J" (Caramanica 1). The relentless effort to be a this hot-shot, gangster music-pop star is starting to become a bore. Every music video nowadays has the same beats, inappropriate costumes/clothes, and meaningless lyrics. However, Swift's new album brought hope. "Swift, though, is having none of that; what she doesn’t do on this album is as important as what she does. There is no production by Diplo or Mike Will Made-It here, no guest verse by Drake or Pitbull" (Caramanica 1). Swift keeps things simple with an album that features none of the usual garbage crap included in every other artist's music. It is for this reason that her album was a grand success.