Taylor Swift: musically relatively reserved
Photo: Beth Garrabrant / Universal Music"Surprise", tweeted Taylor Swift on July 23rd: The pop star announced that her eighth studio album "Folklore" could be heard the next day from midnight. The reviews for "Folklore" were overwhelmingly positive, even if our critic Jenni Zylka observed an escapist "post-war comedy effect" - and Swift set a record with the album: for the first time since the industry magazine "Billboard" raised the US charts , one performer managed to go from zero to number one in both the album and song charts in the same week. In our number 1 check, we explain what's behind it.
What exactly is it about?
Not only Swift's song "Cardigan", which was featured as a single with a music video and entered at number one, but also two other album tracks made it into the top ten of the Billboard song charts - the opener "The 1" at number four and " Exile, "the duet with Bon Iver, at number six. The Hot 100 even made all 16 songs of the standard version of "Folklore" - a total of 113 Taylor Swift songs have been in the US charts since their first hit "Tim McGraw" in 2006.
That means a chart record: So far, Nicki Minaj had been the woman with the most hits with 110 chart entries - in 2017 she again overtook Aretha Franklin, who had held the record for almost 40 years.
What do we learn from Swift's record?
The Billboard Hot 100 was originally conceived as a single chart; they linked record sales with radio airplay (and initially the jukebox use!). Aretha Franklin's 73 hits were all available as singles - albeit partly on the A and B sides of the same disc.
In 1998 the Hot 100 became song charts - with a rule change, the industry magazine "Billboard" now also allowed album tracks that had not been released as single, but received a lot of airplay. Sales of digital downloads have been counting for the charts since 2005, and streamed songs since 2007. Nicki Minaj, whose career in the charts began in 2010, benefited from this - but also from a large number of features, i.e. guest appearances on tracks by other artists. So the Billboard Hot 100 reflects not only the popularity of songs at a given point in time, but also the way music is heard at that point in time.
And how is Taylor Swift heard?
Taylor Swift long tried to resist the trend towards streaming and singling out individual songs. "Music should be consumed in album form," she said in a 2014 speech, and for a long time her albums were only available as downloads. Her music has only been back on the big streaming services since 2017.
The fact that all album tracks are now counted among the hundred most popular songs of the week suggests that Taylor Swift's audience may stream music, but in their case often the entire album. Although the attention is waning: The last track, "Hoax", is also the lowest on the charts at 71.
Why has "Folklore" become such a success?
The strategy of attracting attention with a surprising album release has been used by many stars in recent years, from Beyoncé to Eminem. But in the current drought, when it comes to spectacular innovations, the effect is apparently even stronger.
"Folklore" is musically relatively reserved; most of the songs were created in collaboration with Aaron Dessner from the indie band The National and are miles away from gaudy pop refrains like "Shake It Off". Taylor Swift also refrains from big slogans or even political statements in the lyrics - at least in her songs, apart from that, she uses her prominence to make statements.
What do people like about it?
During the administration of Donald Trump, the already existing political polarization in the USA intensified even further. And in the corona crisis, the situation is getting worse, and fears are mixed with the excitement.
In the text accompanying the album, Taylor Swift emphasizes that the songs for "Folklore" were created in the corona-related isolation. While writing the lyrics, she escaped in "Fantasy, History and Memory".
Apparently she hit a nerve with the listeners. Who want to let themselves be carried away by the uncertainties of the present while listening. Who let themselves be warmed by Swift's songs - almost as comforting as the cardigan that gave the song its title could. But wait: there is also one, of course available online.
Icon: The mirror
