Nice post, though still so subjective in the end. Judging artistry more for what's behind than for the actual product made, and that's the usual talk when people go against pop artists. Writing about relationships and that stuff is perfectly valid as a topic, and ts has explored that in a lot of songs ( though still have touched other topics too, see Ronan for example).
It is, but not when that's been the topic you've explored for 4 previous albums, just this time in pop. Swift's entire image is predicated on her relationships, so she doesn't do much to stray away from it. In addition, her music doesn't feel boundary pushing the same way iconic albums like "Thriller" or "Jagged Little Pill" or "Like A Prayer" did. Swift knows her wheelhouse and her fans' wants, and she gives them what they want; artists don't do that, choosing to challenge themselves instead of following up on the same set of ideas and themes over and over.
Another thing, I never said TPAB wasn't deserving of the award, specially because it's solid and as you said, carries a lot of meaning. What i dislike is people downplaying 1989 when it is an iconic pop album totally deserving of a win too.
And we can't really negate that ts is surrounded by a lot of misoginy, specially on her romantic life shenanigans. It's not difficult to see that that toxic shit spreads out to people's perception of her music.
I'd agree, "1989" was deserving of some award, but I don't think it deserved the highest-profile Album of The Year award that ostensibly reflects the entire music industry.
"To Pimp a Butterfly" was a cultural touchstone, it was an album that not only spoke about the modern black experience but it touched on fame's corrupting touch and faith and skin color and more. It was an album that strived to encapsulate what it was like to be a famous black celebrity. It tried to do something more grand and complex than just being a set of catchy songs about relationships, romantic or friendly or unfriendly. It was an album that not only got high praise from the President of the US but was also recently inducted into Harvard's inaugural hip-hop library along with Tribe Called Quest's "Low End Theory", Lauryn Hill's "Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" and Nas' "Illmatic." Its provided the theme to protests, its been taught in some college courses, and its generally regarded as a classic album for our troubled times.
"1989" had none of that. You didn't see people chanting "Welcome to New York" at protests, nor did you see the president claim "Style" was his favorite song of 2015, nor do you see professors talking about the thematic impact of "New Romantics" in the album. It's fine for what it is, a collection of songs that talk about TS's life and appeal to her base, but the fact it doesn't go out of its way to make listening to it an experience, something you need to listen to in full, something you need to listen to over and over to find bits you've been missing, is a disservice to the album format and frankly an example of a lack of vision for the album as a whole.
I have no doubt TS has faced a lot of shit in her life by virtue of her being a woman. But even in that case, her presence as one of the biggest stars on the planet juxtaposed by her unwillingness to speak out is deafening. She didn't speak out during the election at all nor did she participate in any of the rallies. Even beyond that, she isn't above attacking other women if they make a snide remark about her and invokes the spirit of feminism against them, see Tina Fey & Amy Poehler, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry.
I know a lot of people see Taylor's music as just break-up songs or songs about your ex or songs about finding love and nothing more, but you can't really say Swift hasn't pigeonholed herself as pop's #1 purveyor of the stuff. And while there are people out there who hate on her because of this, I don't like her because of the cracks in her facade, like the attacks on those who snipe at her brand or her backstab of Kanye or her general apolitical stance in a year that needs powerful people to speak out. At the end of the day, Swift is a star who made a good album that sold well and Lamar was a duller star who made a phenomenal album that sold less and didn't get as much radio play. And the system that has been continually critiqued for its refusal to recognize young black artists made a choice that not only reflected poorly on them in terms of image but also showed that they don't truly recognize the best album of the year. And that's where we're at now.
_/¯. They certainly don't deserve the shallow shit that's heavily promoted towards them.
