Taylor Swift - The Story of Us
[6.36]The Queen of the Jukebox’s crown slips ever so slightly…
B Michael Payne: The song is the storytelling equivalent of an episode of How I Met Your Mother, but that may be more a condemnation of CBS’s pablum than this song. Actually, the song’s focus on the way tiny miscommunications can erupt into cacophonous misfortune is more reminiscent of Seinfeld than any other TV show. And of course, that may say more about what it means to be an adult (popularly conceived) than about Swift’s music, itself. The two are related, though. What I find pernicious about Swift’s music (exemplified by “Story of Us,” of course) is how it’s a narcissistic tidal wave of self-regard. Romeo and Juliet has a body count: It’s a tragedy. Lacking the courage to flirt with your crush is not a tragedy. I simply disdain everything about this song. Its music has the confidence of catchiness without any of its other positive qualities. Its lyrics should bear the label “Now with 50% more cliche!” Even the video, a visual mashup of Gossip Girl and Harry Potter, plays down to the lowest common without any of its attendant (but still repulsive) populist tendencies. It’s just a cheap ploy to get the world to root along with her own triumphalist march over the hearts and minds of those young or foolish enough to indulge her.
[0]
This is like 94% of why I even joined TSJ: To give Taylor Swift some 0s.
