Swiftly

I doubt it's a one hundred percent of the world wide sort of situation but I'd imagine it's pretty darn close to that.... the musical artist (singer) Taylor Swift is seemingly EVERYWHERE right now and it's an interesting phenomenon to be witnessing.

I'm fairly neutral about the whole thing.  I'm sure I have heard her songs over the years and I've certainly heard of her for years.  I watched a documentary about her that gave me pretty specific feelings about how I see her (and I keep those to myself) and while I'm not particularly a fan, I'm also not a... what would they say, a hater?

I guess I'm neutral about her music and I'm bemused by the range of folks who like her stuff (it's really quite a range... from current teen girls to honest to God middle aged men and all sorts in between, it's neat!) and I'm happy enough for something positive to be a focus for so many.  (And I think the whole thing with her current boyfriend and the whole Super Bowl football things and Dads and daughters bonding over that is lovely.)

One of my darling nieces is a huge "Swifty" and has managed to score tickets for a couple of concerts, although not the one most local.  She has also chosen to go to an overseas show and I am SO incredibly excited and happy for her to have that experience!  I'm totally supportive of enjoying and loving an artist and the experience of a grand concert.  

The whole thing confuses my parents, which is also sweet.  My Mom, when she found out my niece is going to see Ms. Swift for what will be the third (I think?) time said "but she's seen her already!?"

I didn't bother to point out that that's what we do.  I mean I've seen Xavier Rudd I don't even know how many times?  7?  10?  Same for the Tragically Hip.  And there are bands I *wish* I'd seen and would have seen more than once had I had the chance (Pink Floyd original, and Led Zeppelin.). I've seen multiple artists more than once, and so it's cute to me that my Mom hasn't had that experience and so wouldn't understand it.  (I'm not sure they've actually gone to a traditional concert to be fair, although they have gone to "shows"... like I think they saw so and so at Vegas or something like that?)

But I digress.

I was musing to myself about this current T. Swift phenomenon and I wondered if it was something like the Beatles or Elvis was in their day.  Which made me realize that not everyone would have liked the Beatles.  People probably thought similarly about them as many do about Taylor Swift.  People probably didn't all like their music, thought they were... detrimental to society (especially with all that drug reference type stuff and the hippie movement etc.). Maybe many actually found the whole thing annoying, I don't know, it was before my time and I happen to think they're great!  (This has reminded me that my Mom told me when she was a nursing student she got in trouble for having a Beatles poster up in her room/dorm as they were thought to be "too radical" with their "long hair"!  Oh and there was the whole "Elvis the Pelvis" thing, and we've not even gotten to the rest of the well known acts of those days or even later years!)

When then also got me to thinking about what those "big" artists "back in the day" would have been like had social media been around and man that was a nasty thought.

Now I'm not saying T.S. is the only large/massive artist right now, it just seems that she's a LOT right now and it's an interesting thing to be observing and it makes me wonder how "big social phenomenon" in the past felt compared to this, what with media being entirely different and mainly digital.  It'd be neat to talk to someone who was around in the heyday of Beatlemania and see if they feel any similarities.  You know what I mean jellybean?