Sunday, November 7, 2010

The Magic of Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift rocks. That girl can flat out sing, and she's one of the few pop stars I don't mind my five-year-old singing along to. With the release of her new album the magic is back, and her new single "Mine" reveals the secret to her success. Like all great country singers, Taylor is a great "storyteller." It's the narrative component of Taylor that, as an English teacher, I can really appreciate.

However, as an English teacher, I do have a few criticisms. In the song "Fifteen," does she really have to sing "say hi to your friends you ain't seen in a while." Really? Try singing the song with the phrase you haven't - it doesn't mess with the cadence at all .... and it's grammatically correct. Is the use of the word "ain't" so important for realism? At my school it isn't. And of course, in the same song she sings "If someone tells you they love you, you're gonna believe them." It should be "he loves you ... believe him." And the idea of making the song appeal to both genders isn't relevant.

Regardless of these weak points, though, Taylor still rocks. Here's the latest:




Enjoy a great story - a love story.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

And I get crushed for seeing "How to Train Your Dragon?" You're growing sappy in your old age. How about a little Kanye West?

mmazenko said...

Crushed? When did you get crushed for Dragon? Shrek 14 maybe. The abomination called "Beowulf" definitely.

And if Taylor can forgive Kanye, then so can I.

Jordan Crawford said...

I think when a word is as prolific as "ain't" is in English, it should be considered a real word, especially in a very active and lively young language like English. Even I use "ain't" in normal speech, and, excluding English teachers, I am the biggest grammar nut I know (if you spell "okay" with a lowercase o and k, I will yell at you). I do, of course, agree with the them/he argument.
I am a fan of Miss. Swift, but all of her songs sound similar. I know this, as my complaint about the Huck Finn ending, is very mainstream. But it is actually original thought. I promise.