Alibaba

Taylor Swift seems to be much more of a controlled construct as an industry player than Madonna ever was. As already stated, her music doesn’t reach across cultural divisions the way Madonna’s did. Madonna was a truly global powerhouse…Taylor Swift’s touring success is really more a reflection of today’s YOLO/FOMO consumerism on steroids. Attending the Eras Tour was the thing to do, and people do what everyone else is doing. Yes, it’s always been the case that corporatism dictates group think, but it’s far more palpable now than ever before. Madonna was antithetical to this, even if she was bankable. She was always an underdog, even at her commercial peak, and this was part of her appeal. Her exploration of different musical genres makes her discography particularly unique, and it’s Madonna’s ability to successfully lend her voice to almost any genre that many young people today are in awe of when they discover her music. In Swift’s case, while there have been discernible shifts in the production of her albums over the course of her career, they aren’t innovative; they are adapted to sound current. Like Lana Del Rey, her musical style is quite consistent. In total honesty, I personally find this boring. When an artist stays faithful to the same songwriting style and delivery, I lose interest. I loved Del Rey through Ultraviolence, but it became an exercise in patience to endure her output thereafter. That isn’t to say she hasn’t made some great tracks since 2014, but the vibe never changes. I feel the same about Swift, except that I find her music extraordinarily tedious. Lyrically, she is confessional but lacks the poetry of Joni Mitchell to elevate the songs above a perpetual adolescent perspective on life, which is, I guess, why her music seems to appeal to children. At almost 35, she seems preternaturally stunted. I suppose one might say that Madonna was no beacon of maturity at 35 either, but her subversiveness combined with an implicit intellect gave depth to her work. The media may elevate her as a cultural phenomenon, and clearly she is that to many. However, I think she peaked as a pop star with 1989. Midnights was like a comeback in my eyes, and so it’s hard to say what the future holds for her. Perhaps she will try other styles, but like Beyonce (Gaga doesn’t qualify at all at this stage as her influential cultural peak ended a decade ago), I think any effort to compare her to Madonna is pointless. Madonna has really managed to remain culturally, artistically and commercially influential for longer than anyone else. When Taylor has been in the game for over 40 years we can reassess. Until then, I think the most obvious conclusion lies in the notion that Swift has more VMAs than Madonna, and yet I can only recall seeing two of her videos in all these years. That explains it all in a nutshell.