Taylor Swift and the cost of talking about politics or being silent on "Miss American"

Taylor Swift and the cost of talking about politics or being silent on "Miss American"

At the start of "Miss American", Taylor Swift's new documentary, the 16-year-old singer takes a moment to celebrate "Tim McGraw", the 2006 hit that made her the youngest artist to do a country Song number 1 wrote what she interpreted.

"I give myself five seconds a day to say," Yes,its happens ! "", The curly and intelligent whip adolescent is happy. "The curly and intelligent whip adolescent is happy."

It didn't hurt him that much: seven million albums sold, two Grammy albums of the year and legions of fans filling stadiums everywhere. And his last album, "Lover" last year, is both his more mature performance and a creative upsurge after the slight disappointment in the 2017 "reputation".

However, when Swift heard about it in the Netflix film directed by Lana Wilson, all of this success had a cost: shut up.

"Miss Americana" tries to draw Swift's attention to this. Start slowly, follow your rise to fame, and repeat the battles with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.

However, the document becomes very convincing when you send a camera to the recording studio to capture your creative process and when you focus on two transformative events outside.

The first was a 2017 lawsuit that arose from the singer's claim that Denver DJ David Mueller had sexually assaulted her at a promotional event in 2013. Swift won a lawsuit against him for the $ 1 price she requested, and the $ 3 million defamation lawsuit against Müller was dismissed.

The second was his decision to make political statements in the 2018 midterm elections, particularly against conservative Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, whom Swift called "Trump in a wig". Swift was appalled at his vote against the new approval of the law against violence against women. Blackburn defeated his democratic opponent Phil Bredesen.

A central scene confronts Swift and his mother Andrea with the men in the room. Among them is his father Scott, who asks, "Did Bing Crosby do it?" Did Bob Hope do it? which suggests that he shouldn't risk alienating fans.

However, it is no longer portable for Swift to fight for the right girl. "I've been doing this for 15 years and I'm tired," he says.

The awakening manifests itself in the single "Feminist" by "Lover" as well as in "The Man" and in "Only The Young", the new song by "Miss American", which claims to be a hymn to the voices of young people his.

Swift's decision to participate politically is, of course, based on personal experience. And to remain neutral, she left open to excite her that she had not taken a position in the 2016 elections and to appropriate the white Supremacists as "Aryan goddess".

But the move to Swift is a great example of the pop artists' plight, with increasing pressure to take sides as the calendar moves inexorably towards November.

The choice between a political position and silence can be a business decision as well as a fundamental question. The art of protest doesn't necessarily have to stand the test of time.

The likelihood of artists alienating their audience varies widely. Rapper YG had little to lose when he launched "FDT" on Donald Trump in 2016. And in a non-musical area, Larry David made it clear that he didn't care if he lost fans because of his jokes. MAGA Hut excelled in the new season of HBO "Curb".

But a mainstream act in the country can tend to stay out of politics and reminds the Dixie Chicks of marginalization because they criticized George W. Bush in 2003.

This year the artists who made social comments at their best moment decided to listen to their voices, especially the southern rock group Drive-By Truckers, who just released "The Unraveling", their statement about the state of the nation , In "Thoughts and Prayers", singer Patterson Hood is angry about hollow reactions to gun violence. But you also want to be able to block the relentless partisan thug. "A white noise in my head, I think I need a filter, a pressure valve to avoid an explosion."

Green Day went the other way. In 2004, the pop-punk trio, directed by Billie Joe Armstrong, was a Bush fan of "American Idiot", his rock opera that became a Broadway success.

But his new "father of everything ..." avoids politics instead of returning to the pranks of his "dookie" advance of 1994. The new album makes Sp