Discord in fandoms is exhausting

Before I start, two things:

I realize that by criticizing the criticizers that I’m not only a hypocrite but I’m only adding to the toxicity I’m calling out
We really need to stop lumping people into a category because you disagree with them. Because their opinion might be more complicated than simply hating on something for no reason

And honestly both of these apply to more than just music. And I do blame social media and the internet for fostering this environment. But I think that’s really what’s wrong with the world today- assuming all people who have an opinion you don’t agree with are the same.

Anyway the majority of this post is about Swifties.
But as a Prince fan, I gotta do a sidebar for him.

I’m no stranger to discord within the Prince community. It’s ultimately why I left the fan boards after several years because everything got too toxic.
And this was BEFORE his untimely passing. I’d hate to see what it’s like now.

But since 2016, there’s been constant criticism about his legacy and his music is being handled by the people in charge. The majority is what’s being released from the vault and what isn’t. A lot of “we want more music- no, not that music!” bitching and moaning.

What happened with “United States of division” last week was just another piece of that. But it’s the first time since purple rain deluxe that I was underwhelmed or at least critical of a release.
Admittedly a lot of my frustration is my own fault. After experiencing how Taylor swift handles her releases, maybe I just assumed that Prince’s people finally got it together and all of this recent musicology hype lately was leading to something huge.
Except it didn’t… we got ONE song.
I’m not saying I’ve lost faith into these people but it certainly took a hit in that moment.

Some other stuff that need to be clarified-
Unlike most of the complainers, I didn’t have this song. I’ve never heard it before and it’s cool.
However, it’s not something I’ll listen to on repeat. The music was super groovy but the whole “make love not war” thing is played out. But I suppose it’s better than a full blown political rant like “Avalanche” was
My biggest pet peeve with the people running things continues to be the fact they’re not even the first ones to break the news

Taking the pet peeve further, that’s probably what frustrated me most about this announcement. The same people mishandled the D&P deluxe announcement. Speculation had been running rampant and they finally decided to admit they were doing exactly that.
Why even have a marketing department (or is that a PR thing?) if they can’t control what news comes out? Fans can speculate all they want but when an official announcement comes out after others less official have already come out… someone isn’t doing their job.

Meanwhile, Taylor has supreme control, not just over her music (cuz she owns her own creations) but the news that comes out about her releases.
So why can’t the Prince team be like that? Is it because it’s too many people or are there rats that leak the news before the majority of them are ready to come forward?
Either way, this needs to stop. Don’t be the last ones to confirm what everyone already knows.

Like many others, I heard about this song’s release a day before the announcement. So, forgive me for being an optimist, but I thought the big announcement they wasted a graphic on was in ADDITION to that one song.

And in all honesty, yes. I’d be cool with a musicology re release with new material. I’d buy it as soon as it was on sale, most likely. But it’s not at the top of my priority list.
I’m still waiting for Parade simply for the vault- songs of legend I’d only heard by name but not the songs themselves. And of course a full blown come and gold set with every alternate version of the album tracks.
Everything else is optional, lol
But knowing myself I’ll probably buy everything that comes out until these albums do… just out of paranoia of missing out but also, what if they don’t get what I want because they didn’t profit from what they did release…
It’s one big mind game. And yes I’m grateful for any new music.

It was just a little disconcerting to see people complain about the complainers and say “these people find fault in all the releases.”
To which I say- don’t compare us. I’m allowed to be mad about not getting what I wanted out of this. My reasons, while a bit selfish, are still valid reasons. It isn’t as if I’ve given up on things. Only thing is- going forward, I’ll be less likely to get excited for anything until they officially confirm it. I.E. less speculation- which is fine cuz it’s easier to wait for these things anyway.

And in typical “me” fashion- I say I’m gonna talk about something else briefly and it winds up not being brief.
But I’m sure I have more than enough Swiftie pet peeves to make up the difference.

In all fairness, I think the source of annoyance is all generated by a single Twitter account.
I’m super grateful it has a filter for “following” vs just “recommended” posts. I’d lose my mind otherwise.
In those times I do get curious, I’m usually rewarded with frustration and stuff that annoys me.

I may have gone on a rant about this before but the Swiftie community got stupid complicated after Taylor released Folklore and started her “Taylor’s version” journey. And if it wasn’t, maybe I’m just more aware of these complexities than I used to be.

In general I think criticism is fine as long as it’s constructive. That notes can be taken and you’ll learn from them and get better at whatever it entails.
And it genuinely is ok to not like something if it doesn’t work for you. It’s not as if you’re a bad fan of someone if you have album tracks you skip.

With very few exceptions, it’s safe to assume that everybody skips at least one song they don’t like by their favorite artist or musician.
And those who don’t- cool. You’re probably better off than the rest of us anyway.

To narrow things down a bit, these are the criticisms I’m addressing. People feeling ick from other fans because they

Don’t automatically love the Taylor’s versions over the originals
Didn’t like a certain song until they saw the eras tour performance
Praise folklore and evermore for being the so-called “breakthroughs” for her as a songwriter

I don’t know whether I should be more annoyed at the people making these comments or the people they criticize. Probably the former because it comes off as a toxic trait. Like they can’t help but attack people over opinions they disagree with. I just don’t think it’s ok to assume everyone who shares one opinion, does so for the same reason. And therefore they can all be criticized with a single sentence.

To speak for myself, I conduct myself as a Swiftie the same way I do as a Prince fan. I focus on forming my opinion first before checking on everyone else.
And with Taylor, I’ve arrived to all my conclusions on my own. And by pure coincidence, a lot of her fans share the same sentiment.
Case in point- all too well was my favorite Red track since the beginning. And I learned years later that it was a universal fan favorite AND Taylor’s personal favorite. The same coincidence can be said about her bridges. They’re my favorite parts and usually what makes me LOVE certain songs. I didn’t know until her recent acceptance speeches that it’s one of her favorite parts as a songwriter- cracking that code.

This segues into one of these bullet points.
I didn’t know vigilante was the least loved Midnights track. I just knew it was the one song I skip on that album regularly.
My dislike for it comes down to it just not being my thing. It’s a little close to hip hop for my liking and the story, good as it is, doesn’t interest me enough for additional revisits. But mainly, it doesn’t fit with the rest of the album for me so I skip it.
Seeing it done live in the Eras tour movie did make me like it more than I did- it was an unexpected inclusion that was really cool.

A lot of the midnights set for me was “I wouldn’t have picked that song but I really like what she did with it.”
The only ones I was really excited for were Karma and anti hero. I would’ve exchanged bejeweled, midnight run (which I skip time to time as well for the auto tune alone) or vigilante for snow on the beach but I did like the setup for those numbers.
If I get raked over the coals for not responding to “you’re on your own, kid” until the piano performance… fine, go ahead. It was sorta like a piece was missing for me until seeing her live interpretation.
Speaking for bridges, that’s a top tier one for me. It’s like going downhill really fast, trying to keep up with where she’s going and you don’t realize until you reach the end what she’s ultimately saying. Everything after “saw something they can’t take away” sneaks up on me every listen and I love that feeling. The one time not quite knowing all the lyrics actually enhances the experience.

This carries over to the whole “not realizing Taylor was a greater songwriter before folklore” comment…
But basically, you shouldn’t be so rude to people just because they’re late to the party. Or that they just realized something you’ve known longer than them. The proper response is to welcome them with open arms because they showed up. It’s not like they showed up late to a dinner party and everyone else is eating dessert… music is timeless so don’t put a time limit when it’s acceptable to appreciate it.

This sort of discord has been happening in the Prince community since 2016- seasoned fans being elitist towards the newbies. We need all the new fans we can get so it’s not doing any good to giving them attitude because they didn’t start when you did.
And believe me, I’ve told the story enough times how the attitude I got from experienced Prince fans early on almost halted my journey when it was just beginning.

Also, I was sorta under the impression it was music critics and non fans who “woke up” and realized Taylor was talented because of folklore.

Someday when I find the time, I’ll go back and decide which songs of hers were objectively the best written. I’ll probably find plenty of them that predate the quarantine era.
Speaking as a long haul fan, there was a learning curve for me with folklore and evermore. That’s not reprehensible either. It’s like how it takes some kids longer to learn how to read or tell time. And if you’re not helping others to understand what is giving them trouble, you’re part of the problem.
Oddly enough I’ve found this with a lot of things- but I find the things I work the hardest for, I have a greater appreciation and enjoyment of them. Case in point- albums by other artists that didn’t work for me at first, once they did, they became my favorites. Like it’s a reward for putting in all that work. Maybe I’m not there with evermore as a whole yet but that’s become my story with Coney Island. I didn’t get it at first but now that the message makes more sense, it’s becoming a favorite. Ultimately it’s a nice step in the right direction.

Which leaves the superiority complex the Taylor’s versions are getting opposed to the originals. A lot of the people with this issue tend to refer to the originals as “the stolen versions.” While this is true, the masters were upended by Scooter Braun buying big machine. But Taylor, correct if I’m wrong, never called them that. As far as I’m aware, she’s moved on and is perfectly fine with the new versions.
This rhetoric just bothers me a little because it creates an “us vs them” mentality. Meaning that if you’re not all in on every Taylor’s versions, you’re not a good fan.
For me, moving on hasn’t been easy and for some albums, I still haven’t fully embraced the Taylor’s versions over the originals. As someone who’s going through a similar journey with Prince posthumous albums… I still have conflicts. Not just having to buy albums I already bought again, but if I have any sort of attachment to the music, I can’t just move on and act like the originals don’t exist. That the memories I had with them didn’t happen and it’s not as if those memories can easily transferable. To me, they still feel like separate entities because I owned them at different times.

Having gone through this with Prince four times already, the only remaster that falls short is purple rain. I don’t get the same warm feelings as the original songs. And as I progress through the disc, I just keep getting hit with the hard fact he’s longer with us. Releasing it as quickly as they did after his death ruined it for a lot of people, including me.
Every other super deluxe, the album is sonically superior to the original. 1999 even felt like a brand new album. The other two, the sound is louder and clearer but I didn’t hear a huge difference otherwise.

The Taylor’s versions have gotten better with each one she’s put out. But it’s not without internal conflict.
Fearless and Red have a lot of personal memories attached to them, so moving on like the originals didn’t happen- next to impossible.
Fearless was all about high school innocence and it’s interesting looking back on it with an older perspective. There’s just one or two songs where I didn’t like her singing as much as the originals. “Tell me why” suited her younger voice a lot better. Whereas “you belong with me” benefited from a redo because it doesn’t have the sudden inhale in the bridge.
Red- I loved the new coat of paint in pretty much every instance except “stay stay stay.” Because the laugh at the end no longer has that fun spontaneity to it. It’s there cuz the original had it and I liked it better when it was a spur of the moment thing.

I’ll come back to both of these in another post eventually. But I really need to listen to the vault tracks more cus I still don’t know them, not even by name. The trouble with Red is that all too well overshadowed everything else. And Ronan is not something I wanna play all the time.

As for being a truly better version, speak now is it.
Something about its production never quite worked for me. Maybe it was just too country and I’m not a fan of that. Somehow it just became my favorite.
This goes for nearly every album but for the Taylor’s versions, I’m playing all the songs I used to skip. So maybe the fresh coat of paint was all I needed for them to click.
I skipped nothing on fearless except “you’re not sorry” the first few years. Red, I skipped “the last time” for being too sad and “beautiful tragic love affair” for meandering too much. Now, things have changed for the better.

Then speak now- I skipped “grow up” for being too sentimental and “innocent” for, I’m not quite sure. It just took the new version for me to understand it better. And maybe it being removed from the Kanye drama (I still don’t get how that was a response to that incident) made me respond to it more.

1989- it was among my least listened to albums but not for lack of connection or enjoyment. I just never found the right time and place where it’d be my go to album. All the others had a month or time of year or weather pattern I associated with them.
Several of the songs had a similar story arc where I either didn’t hear a difference or I really liked the differences I did find. Out of the woods is a good example of the latter.
There were two I skipped simply because they were sleepy ballads that didn’t excite me. Maybe it’s because the music reminds me a lot of the video game Stardew Valley in winter time, but I’ve come around on “You Are In Love” in a big way. And I think “This Love” started to hit me differently for its own reasons, but not quite sure what they were.

My only setback- which is enough where I’d put the original version in place of the new one in an iPod playlist- is New Romantics. And this is the moment I’d confront the fans who insist ALL Taylor’s versions outdo the originals and anyone who says otherwise is nitpicking differences between the two.
I might do a direct side by side comparison someday but not anytime soon.
But I don’t need to do that to recognize something is off about the new version.
This song is about the reckless abandon of camaraderie and the burst of energy when the chorus hits makes that a reality. The new version is missing that distinct oomph, that surge of adrenaline, and I miss it so much that the song is incomplete without it.
What I’m trying to say- you can’t put a price on how a song makes you feel and no one has the right to take that away from you.

This also connects to a recent thing Taylor has done leading up to her new album- she constructed playlists with her catalogue to demonstrate her 5 stages of grief.
I’d read comments here and there while I tried to find the playlists on Twitter and I can’t help but agree. I feel strange putting some of these songs in the categories she chose. Her breakup with Joe Alwyn has clearly changed a lot about how she looks back on them in retrospect. She is entitled to change her mind- they are her songs after all.
I just don’t know if I want to make that change with her. Putting Lover and Sweet Nothings together in the denial phase… I’m sorry, I can’t do that. I think Tolerate It was anger but it’s definitely bargaining or somewhere between those two.
Then again I shouldn’t be too surprised. She composed folklore and evermore playlists and I don’t think of those songs in that context at all. And I’d rather keep a lot of these songs where they are in my head instead of a more cynical context. And a lot of this feels steeped in cynicism.

Tortured poets has had a lot of hype. But also a lot of “soundalike” conversations. To the point all of her albums are being compared to the new music.
I’m just hoping it’s not similar to evermore- because at face value, it was a very cynical album with a lot of break up songs and not many lighthearted moments.

So to sum everything up… I will definitely be listening to Taylor later.
But seriously, you are what you love so let people love what they love without your interference.