Can someone explain to me what makes Taylor Swift so popular?

3 years ago by Varyk to c/asklemmy

I don't get it. Her music is sometimes catchy but otherwise unremarkable, from the songs I've heard. How does she break all these records and accumulate so much fame and wealth?

She's pretty, but a lot of singer songwriters are, especially those with makeup and costume people, a support staff.

Is there something else to her that people like?

I'm confused about what makes her so apparently unique or phenomenal.

Update: there are so many things that make swift unique or phenomenal.

I've received tons of great answers from people that have helped me understand, like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle, many factors that makes swift different and consequently more successful than her peers.

Clever lyrics, top-tier production, sharing autobiographical and emotional points in her life very directly, apparent honesty with few or no public blemishes, creating a community of fans through Easter eggs and house parties and unconventional, but always personal methods, an early start supported by wealthy parents, she keeps winning against abusers, and her music itself is popular and fun.

Those are just a few of the puzzle pieces contributed here, and a dive into this post is a pretty good explanation of many of the factors that must be contributing to her phenomenal success and recognition, that set her apart from other pop stars, even pop stars who were phenoms in their own right.

This is a very educational post, thank you to everyone who has contributed.

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Dulusa 37 points 3 years ago

The reason is that her dad is quite rich and was a stock broker.

He invested heavily in the label that had his daughter under contract, being able to dictate what the label was focusing on and on top he has thrown another Million on her, to start the journey.

So to sum it up a huge tone of money, contacts and knowledge about how to run a business by her father.

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Bitrot 26 points 3 years ago

Both of her parents worked in finance and upper middle class, but not "quite rich". He invested in a 3% stake in the label, approximately $120,000. That is big money for most but not ultra rich money. Even today they are worth the low millions.

Contacts, enough money to launch a career, business acumen, hard work, and luck have been most of it.

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Dulusa 17 points 3 years ago

Never said ultra rich and by any means someone who is able to take over a million out of their pocket to Kickstart anything is rich.

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Evkob 5 points 3 years ago

In what world does investing roughly 3x the median yearly income in the US into your child's potential music career not count as "quite rich"?

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CaptainSpaceman 5 points 3 years ago

My parents couldnt afford $1200 to invest in me. Mustve been nice

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HobbitFoot 9 points 3 years ago

Taylor's dad got her daughter a label to help make her a star, but I think that Taylor might not have done as well if she went through typical music industry channels. Taylor wasn't a Rebecca Black kind of artist; she wrote a lot of her own music and was able to define her image as herself at a time when that wasn't common at that time.

Keep in mind she came up around the time the music industry has lost most of its revenue due to streaming. The music industry would have commonly invested in Taylor like artists a decade or two ago, but the economics of doing that wasn't there. Self promotion and funding also wasn't that uncommon, a lot of the rap around that time came out under the same model of artists promoting their own work before getting signed; Taylor just had more resources.

But even then, daddy buying an label would explain a one hit wonder, or maybe even a good album or two. It wouldn't explain Taylor's sustained success. Money only goes so far.

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Jako301 7 points 3 years ago

That explains how she had a headstart in her career, but has nothing to do with her being so popular right now.

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Dulusa 10 points 3 years ago

Besides the insanely huge help she had on the beginning, the bigger part was for sure the knowledge transfer in terms of how to run a monetary wise successfull business.

And yes she is talented, I'm not saying she isn't. But the advantage she had, due to this, speak for itself.

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DrBob 5 points 3 years ago

They worked mid-level jobs in finance, which pays well compared to most careers, but it's just on the higher end of middle class. I know several successful people in the music industry and that's honestly a pretty common story. They all had high end instruments and gear at a young age. One band I know had a dedicated jam space at one of their father's warehouses. They could leave their gear set up in a secure location and play loud anytime for as long as they liked. Things like that really contribute to success.

The Kid Laroi is another example of it. Both parents were in the industry and he had a development contract at 14. At 17 he was living with Juice Wrld and doing remixes with Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber. That doesn't happen by accident.

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Varyk 5 points 3 years ago

Oh shnit, I didn't even know about this. Okay that explains at least a bit.

Thanks.

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Coreidan 2 points 3 years ago

Label*

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Dulusa 1 point 3 years ago