@Venin
But have you asked her? Like, you can say she’s not giving it her all, but is she really not? How do you know who she IS? Belting is not the only signifier of passion. Passion is a feeling, so it’s not a vocal quality. Your interpretation of her passion is through what you take from her performance in how it makes YOU feel, but that doesn’t have anything to do with what she brings.

"But also I do feel u in that swift (to my ears yeah yeah) has generally sounded very controlled and put-together esp since 1989, but hey maybe part of her like aspirational appeal or whatever is that she can sing about personal emotional things without constantly sounding like she's falling the fuck apart?"

That seems more reasoned than any other response I've gotten. For me the "falling the fuck apart" sound just gets me on a personal level. But I can understand the more measured, controlled approach.

@MoM: all i'll say is i heard about her lip syncing a lot during live performances, which, i mean whatever as long as it preserves her voice, but i feel bad for the swifties getting scalped so bad on tickets only for her to half-ass it live to the point where she's pulling a Milli Vanilli.

Well, thankfully, if the fans are happy, then they got what they wanted. But is she lip syncing or is there a backing track? Cause that’s totally different

as long as they're happy, really my complaints are moot. but i know for me, if i'm paying... *looks it up* $1000+ for tickets (and that's not even factoring in ticketmaster fees) I better be getting the most life changing, phenomenal show I've ever seen. money doesn't come easy for me.

I had to split the bill just to get tickets for Motionless in White in 2 months. I know those guys kill it live. I've seen the haunted house livestreams. And that's not even a tenth of what Swifties gotta pay to see her. I'm not spending that much for tickets to ANYTHING unless it's like WrestleMania or something.

i think it's clear at this point that you struggle to understand nuance or really any emotion that isn't exaggerated to the point of melodrama. as others have said, no one considers taylor to be a technically gifted vocalist, but she's been one of the best songwriters in mainstream pop music for fifteen years now. as time goes on, she's matured (mostly) to the point she uses understated deliveries a lot more often as a tool to convey apathy/introspection/exhaustion which are just as valid emotions as any other. i still haven't jammed the whole of this yet, but anti-hero (which is my fave song of hers since cruel summer probably) is a perfect encapsulation of that, it's a conversation she's having internally with her own ego, not something that requires to be shouted out in a sea of people.

This woman crafts fitted clothing with speed

^ totally agree with Sint. As a vocalist myself, i wouldn’t say she’s not technically strong, i haven’t heard her live, but on record, there’s a technical difficulty to various aspects of her vocal usage, that I’d say puts her at a pretty skilled level.

Regardless, I would hate to be a Swiftie paying top dollar and not getting the return on my investment in a top notch amazing concert half the time.

But is the very often the case? If ever, how often?

I've had people tell me they went to Swift concerts and she was lip syncing half the set. Quite frankly I have an inhuman standard for shows as expensive as Swifts so it would take an absolute behemoth of incredible to get me to not feel bad for anyone paying that much.

But why would she lip sync half the set? Is she not singing or is she singing with backing tracks, which plenty of people use? It makes no sense. At this point, why not just get vocal training (though i know she has had training)? The voice is not fragile if you have good technique, it doesn’t need to be babied if you know what you’re doing

No clue

Then it just seems super harsh and judgmental to say all these things about her as if she isn’t a person, when there isn’t much to back it up

I feel like it's less about her and more about the disgusting ticket prices to shows. Nothing you can really do when she's that popular admittedly but it's fucked that to go to a show you have to practically sell your body parts if you're not already rich...and then the show ends up not being the single greatest thing you've ever witnessed in your life.
Like if it was on the level of say that "last NIN show" in 2009 I'd honestly be okay with the price.

well
imagine that there are people
who experience emotions
and care as much about taylor swift as you do about NIN
there you go

Well, the price thing is an iffy subject that i don’t have much info on when it comes to her actual, individual intentions. I don’t know how much the venues cost or all the other things that go into her specific shows that might make an overall greater cost. And how do any of us actually know that people AREN’T getting the show of their life? I’m sure some people are extremely satisfied with her shows

Album Rating: 2.5

venin gonna travel to the swift shows and protest

Album Rating: 2.5

the swift tour / ticketmaster nonsense would have made a great south park plot

Album Rating: 2.5

listen man if she's putting on a baller show with set pieces and stages and convoluted bullshit clothing she can lip-sync half the show. Pretty sure Kate Bush did it all the time back in the day for the sake of theatrics, and also has anyone see the damn setlist for the eras tour? 44 songs. That's bonkers. i don't defend Taylor a lot but leave her alone here

44? Insane! I think people are way too harsh on her. What, is she supposed to reject success that comes her way? People act like she’s not even human