Friday, March 29, 2024

Taylor Swift: After All That, Her Lame New Single Just Rips Off a 25 Year Old Novelty Song

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Taylor Swift’s first new music in a couple of years doesn’t show off her writing chops. It shows she’s lazy. I’m a little surprised that all she and Jack Antonoff could come up with is ripping of a 25 year old novelty song, “I’m Too Sexy,” by Right Said Fred.

That’s all they’ve got to say? Imagine Carly Simon and James Taylor doing that back in the day. Or Carole King or Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. We’d have laughed ourselves silly. But this is what pop music has become– a marketing tool. On Taylor’s website she’s already sold out ‘snake’ rings for $60 a pop. The music is secondary.

The two guys from Right Said Fred are thrilled, of course. They get a royalty and songwriting credit. They were pretty much forgotten. Now, for a nanosecond, they’re back. On Twitter, which didn’t exist when “I’m Too Sexy” was released (neither did smartphones) they wrote: “We’re very pleased to hear Taylor Swift’s interpolation of our 1991 hit ‘I’m Too Sexy’. Taylor and her team reached out to us about the track, we like what she does and we were very honoured to have her interpolation feature on her new single ‘Look What You Made Me Do.’ Thanks to Taylor and her team for being absolutely wonderful. We’re very happy that our debut single will potentially be reaching new fans 26 years after its release.”

So all this hype about Taylor’s new single was for naught. How can you even compare it to Kesha, or even Katy Perry? Or half a dozen other singers who are better than Taylor but don’t have the Big Machine behind her?

As Donald Trump would say: “Sad!”

The “Reputation” album had better be a huge improvement over this. Otherwise, Taylor’s actual reputation may slither away like the snake she’s chosen for her logo.

Taylor

Right Said Fred

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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