One Surprising Artist Credits Taylor Swift With Their Success
When Taylor Swift first stepped on the stage at the beginning of her career, no one could have imagined the widespread appeal her music would have. She started out with catchy, country-pop-infused tunes, but fans know she's come a long way in her songwriting style since then.
Sure, she still sings about romance and heartbreak these days, but she does it in a brand-new way ('Folklore' anyone?). She also takes inspiration from other areas of her life and hobbies -- and maybe it's telling that she's a self-proclaimed 'Crime Junkie' podcast fan. And though many of her newer tunes are less personal -- in the sense that they're about made-up characters -- they're still imbued with that TS touch.
According to Taylor herself, that's intentional. In a piece she penned for Elle, Taylor explained that she wants her pop music to be personal and that the entire point of music is to create connection.
To illustrate her point, Swift quoted popular song lyrics and talked about the pivotal moments in her life that she recalls when listening to them. The storytelling draws listeners in, but it's the feelings they feel because of the story that makes these songs memorable and catchy.
But catchy doesn't mean "lyrically generic," says T. Swift. And one example of a song that includes "extremely personal details" and is a complete 'bop' is The Chainsmokers' 'Closer.'
Quoting the line "Baby pull me closer in the backseat of your Rover," Taylor lumped the lyricists into the same category as her countless hits. It's not Shakespeare, Swift says, and that's the point.
But although it seems like Taylor has drawn inspiration from other artists in recent years, The Chainsmokers had to praise Swift for helping inspire them, too. While their music is distinctly different from Taylor's, the group explained on Twitter that "a ton of [Taylor's] songs inspired [theirs]."
While Taylor has broken a monumental amount of records in her career, The Chainsmokers have had plenty of success, too. Maybe they even realized the "visceral song writing" strategy was a good move before Taylor did. After all, it was a few years before Swift's Elle piece that 'Closer' came out.
That song may not beat out T. Swift tracks, but the Halsey collab did spend countless weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, received a Grammy, and earned a diamond certification for selling 10 million "units."
In short, it's a wildly successful hit, and The Chainsmokers had to point out that while Taylor's music is pretty different from theirs, there's more in common across all musical genres than fans may have realized. And that winning formula involves storytelling that's hugely personal and meaningful -- even if it involves mattress stealing in specific states.
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