It’s Taylor’s town now.

It is summer in Melbourne and people have once again been embracing the Southern Ocean, eating and drinking on the footpath and showing off their tattoos and piercings. The cricket is finished, the tennis is done, the Grand Prix (yawn!) is a month away but the biggest show in the world is here. It is Taylor’s world now and as I type Ms Swift is a mere few kilometres away. I could hear the crowd going batshit last night, their excitement and joy carried on a breeze that was just cool enough to remind you that you are in Melbourne. Or should that be Taylortown.

I have been having a bit of fun lately either surprising whoever has asked me or annoying some of my oldest mates by expressing both my admiration for Taylor Swift and indeed appreciation of much of her work.

Why is my position so surprising? Taylor is no doubt the biggest star on this planet, the biggest thing in music since The Beatles, a phenomenon no matter how you look at it and I think she may now be the most famous female in history. Yep, THE most famous woman in history.

I guess being a 60+ man means I am a total outlier in her fan base but I just don’t get why a lot of people still sneer and dismiss her. Although I have to say about fifteen years ago I was about to do the same. I was introduced to her music by the most unlikely person. Over beers a school dad, a Harley riding tradie and successful business owner, [our daughters were besties], told me that he listened to Thin Lizzie, AC/DC and the Chilli Peppers on his rides but he also threw in a couple of tunes from this singer called Taylor Swift. He was referring to the songs You Belong To Me and Love Story from the Fearless album. I initially thought he was taking the piss and then realised after a few seconds that he was serious.

I was going to hang it on him but I was drinking his beer and anyway, then he played the songs. I can’t say my life changed but I recognise perfect pop songs when I hear them. They stuck in my head and when Taylor’s Red tour came to Australia in December 2013 he and I shepherded our daughters and three or four other pre-teen girls to their first concert experience. I suspect that unlike the very few other dads that were there I went willingly. Of course it was an incredibly professional show put on by a consummate performer. It was then I realised the full appeal of Taylor Swift. Going hand in hand with the rehearsed, timed to a second extravaganza are songs which are personal but also universal, delivered to her fanbase with sincerity. Naturally they are as powerful to her audience as Jimmy Page’s riff in Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love or Mick Rock’s video of Bowie singing Life On Mars was to me when I was twelve.

Isn’t this what music is all about?

And nothing has changed. As she has grown older so the song’s themes and content have changed and of course her fans have grown with her. I don’t like everything. I prefer the songs when she follows the country adage of three chords and truth than the more dance-oriented tunes but is there a better pop song this century than “Shake It Off?

After ten albums of excellent song writing and almost twenty years of live performance Taylor is this generation’s Carole King, a woman to be applauded for the way she has fought to control her career, music’s most savvy marketer, a generous boss and philanthropist and along with Bruce Springsteen and The Foo Fighters, an old school artist who truly understands and values live performance.

Jesus, what else does she have to do?

Photo by Omid Armin on Unsplash