My hat is off to Taylor Swift and whoever coordinates her marketing. It is a thing of beauty.
Taylor hung around all night at MTV’s VMA Awards, sat primly in the front row, and accepted two awards that were clearly pre-arranged and she knew all about.
Every artist who won a VMA was pre-arranged. That itself was a cynicist’s wet dream.
But then, Swift, winning Video of the Year, conveying mild surprise, announced her new album would be released on October 21st. “And more details at midnight.”
I can hardly wait.
I wondered why she was hanging around this low rent event, watching other stars like Lizzo and Harry Styles, pick up their pre-arranged awards. What, I wondered, is in this for her?
It was all about the new album announcement, of course. So well conceived and executed. I always like it when she tells the fans, “Well I can tell you now” as if it just came to her. “This will be our little secret.”
Brava! Taylor has outwitted everyone. Whatever news she drops at midnight — on social media, her website, whatever — will now get maximum attention even at this late hour.
To Taylor, a toast: she is the rare artist who has learned to combine business and art. We learned this when she went after her master recordings, caused her fans to reject her old records, then she re-recorded everything and they bought all the records again. And now, this. Breathtaking!
To be continued…
