Taylor Swift Massive Media Blitz Arrives with CD Release Tonight
The Taylor Swift media and merchandise blitz arrives tonight at midnight. So does her CD, called “Red,” which will be downloadable starting at midnight. Usually CDs come out on Tuesdays, but “Red” is a whole different story. Five singles have already been released over the last five Tuesdays. They’re all over iTunes. Tweenage girls and maybe even country music fans (and kids, this is not country music any more) have been plunking down their money to get it all Swift-ly.
What’s more: Swift, who spent the summer by dating the 18 year old grandson of Robert F. Kennedy Jr in the tabloids, will play live twice on “Good Morning America” this week. She’s also be on David Letterman, Katie Couric, and The View, and she’s on the cover of Rolling Stone. She’s also got a big syndicated radio event on Friday out of Nashville. It’s doubtful a single interviewer will ask her about the fact that Conor Kennedy is four years her junior, is still in high school, or any of that. It will be a week of vacuous flattery.
And let’s not forget the merchandise: the Swift machine is in full gear, with plenty of endorsements, licenses, and a website selling housewares. Fans can also buy Taylor Swift’s fragrance, which rivals the Krystal Carrington perfume from the “Dynasty” collection decades ago.
And oh yes: is “Red” any good? Not really. It’s rated mostly B plus reviews. Rolling Stone, which usually panders to its cover subjects, gave it only a 3.5 out of 5. The catchiest songs have been released; the music for most of them is written by the Max Martin machine to give them a ready-for-radio sameness. Taylor Swift is like really good Campbell’s soup on a cold day. There’s nothing homemade about it, but it works on a basic level.
So stand by for midnight. The person taking the most notes will be Justin Bieber, wondering how this is all done. And, of course, the Kennedys will be paying attention, too.
” RED” IS VERY POP AND MATURE, IT IS SOME WHAT DIFFERENT THEN TAYLOR’S OTHER ALBUMS. ALSO ALL OF THESE SONGS HAVE SUBSTANCE !! I WONDER IF THE YOUNG KIDS CAN HANDLE THIS. I FEEL THAT *** TAYLOR SWIFT’S *** FANS ARE SO DEDICATED TO HER THEY WILL NOT CARE WHAT SHE SINGS!!! ALSO HER VOICE IS GREAT ON ALL THE SONGS….. *** TAYLOR *** SEE YOU IN NEW JERSEY TOMMI N.J.
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“Is “Red” any good? Not really” – Only four reviews of note have been released and all of them are very positive, so it’s premature to discuss critical consensus. The Guardian gave it 4/5, as did The Times. The aforementioned Rolling Stone review compares her to Joni Mitchell and Carole Kind, while USA Today believes the record demonstrates “dramatic artistic strides”.
“the music for most of them is written by the Max Martin machine” – Martin co-wrote 3 of 16 songs. Swift has sole writing credits on 10 of the songs.
“It’s doubtful a single interviewer will ask her about the fact that Conor Kennedy is four years her junior, is still in high school, or any of that.” – And why would they? And why would we want them to?