Taylor Swift

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

What about "Fat" by 'Weird Al' Yankovic?

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

She has written all of her songs, whether as solo writes or with a co-writer. 

Yeah, was just saying that for this debate it seems worthwhile for the song in question to be one she has sole credit for.

[Skeever]

IMO Taylor doesn't have a "Billie Jean", but few do. But that's beside the point. She might not even have a "Hit Me Baby One More Time" or "Real Slim Shady" or "10,000 Miles". That's not necessarily due to the quality of her songs, but moreso due to how insular and atomized cultural experience are these days - you can fill stadiums, and be the biggest artist in your field, and yet there the majority of people would not recognize your song, because in this moment everyone lives in their own technologically carved out algorithm. I'd bet many Swifties in this thread would feel similarly about Beyonce. How many people here could recall a single tune, or hum more than a chorus or two?

Though, I've had a feeling, even though I don't think Taylor Swift has anything close to, say, "Falling in Love With You", "Ring of Fire", "Born in the USA", "Piano Man", "Sympathy for the Devil", "Bohemian Rhapsody" - the list goes on and on - she might very well be the last celebrity that we all at least recognize. Being that person, moving forward, will only get harder and harder as the culture continues to fracture.

[nick_z]

Interesting points all around. Which actually makes me wonder - what are more recent songs, from any artist, that managed to be super-popular and "iconic"? Almost by definition, some time needs to have passed for a tune to be cemented in the overall public consciousness, so there's that.

As for Taylor Swift - I'd agree that Love Story is perhaps her "classic" (not comparing it to the other classics mentioned here, necessarily). She herself says that she will always play that one live.

Oh, and for what it's worth, as far as songs go, I'd also say Billie Jean is MJ's signature tune, more so than Thriller.

[MirrorMask]

I'd bet many Swifties in this thread would feel similarly about Beyonce. How many people here could recall a single tune, or hum more than a chorus or two?

I absolutely not know any single song from Beyoncé. And if I ever heard a chorus here or there, I don't know it's her.

But then again, I went four months without knowing which song was Despacito.

[Zantera]

Interesting points all around. Which actually makes me wonder - what are more recent songs, from any artist, that managed to be super-popular and "iconic"? Almost by definition, some time needs to have passed for a tune to be cemented in the overall public consciousness, so there's that.

As for Taylor Swift - I'd agree that Love Story is perhaps her "classic" (not comparing it to the other classics mentioned here, necessarily). She herself says that she will always play that one live.

Oh, and for what it's worth, as far as songs go, I'd also say Billie Jean is MJ's signature tune, more so than Thriller.

In terms of pure pop songs you'd hear on the radio or anywhere else I'd say Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe is up there. Whether you like it or dislike it I feel like its a song a lot of people would recognize just right off the bat.

[Stadler]

I think the problem with this latest question is that it's too easy to be a novelty.  I think the only Beyonce song I know is "Put a ring on it" or whatever (it's called "Single Ladies"), and that's not because of the song itself, but the sort of social construct around it.

[KevShmev]

Uptown Funk is the first song that came to mind for me when thinking about iconic songs from the last 10-15 years that have held up as one that (almost) everyone knows. I suspect even people living under rocks know that song.

Love Story and You Belong with Me both deserve consideration for Taylor's most iconic.  The number of songs that brought the house down at the Taylor concert I saw a year ago is long, but You Belong with Me had the crowd into as much of a frenzy as any song.

[hefdaddy42]

What about "Fat" by 'Weird Al' Yankovic?

  What about it?

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

  What about it?

Michael Jackson parodied it with his hit song "Bad"!!!! Poor Al was trying to move away from the comedy/parody life and write originals and MJ had to come along and one-up him with a parody

[hefdaddy42]

Michael Jackson parodied it with his hit song "Bad"!!!! Poor Al was trying to move away from the comedy/parody life and write originals and MJ had to come along and one-up him with a parody

[Metro]

I think he’s referencing the Weird Al movie from a couple years ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weird:_The_Al_Yankovic_Story




Oh yeah, Taylor Swift thread. Uh, Shake that blank space off and waterboard a poet, or something like that.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

yeah it was a joke about Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

[KevShmev]

I am waiting for Weird Al's "I Did Something Rad" parody.

[Dream Team]

yeah it was a joke about Weird: The Al Yankovic Story

Nobody laughed. Keep trying though!

[skydivingninja]

Michael Jackson parodied it with his hit song "Bad"!!!! Poor Al was trying to move away from the comedy/parody life and write originals and MJ had to come along and one-up him with a parody

 

[MirrorMask]

For no reason at all, I've decided to use the font size to describe my liking of the tracks. Standard font is standard liking. Smaller is negative, the bigger, the better the enjoyment. I could probably be a bit more nuanced but no need to introduce colors, various degrees of font size and italics.

The Tortured Poets Department

1.   Fortnight
2.   The Tortured Poets Department
3.   My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys
4.   Down Bad
5.   So Long, London
6.   But Daddy I Love Him
7.   Fresh Out the Slammer
8.   Florida!!!
9.   Guilty as Sin?
10.   Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?
11.   I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)
12.   Loml   
13.   I Can Do It with a Broken Heart
14.   The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
15.   The Alchemy
16.   Clara Bow   3:36

The Anthology

17.   The Black Dog
18.   Imgonnagetyouback
19.   The Albatross
20.   Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus
21.   How Did It End?
22.   So High School
23.   I Hate It Here
24.   Thank You Aimee
25.   I Look in People's Windows
26.   The Prophecy
27.   Cassandra
28.   Peter
29.    The Bolter
30.    Robin
31.    The Manuscript