[troutman]

I mean no disrespect to Jay or Macker. I recently read those comments about Swift by Noel and Dan and they were fresh in my mind. Noel is always good for a laugh.

It is interesting how powerful Swift has become as a person and brand. I think she gets treated with kid gloves because of her importance in the music industry. Did she make a great "pop" record"? Sure, if by "pop" we mean popular. If "pop" is defined as something else (light, catchy, danceable music), her songs sound really average and derivative to me.

Is she a great song writer? That is hard to judge, because she works extensively with other producers and writers (at least 11 on 1989). I know she plays some guitar, but I don't know what level of musician she is. A great female song writer that I like is Courtney Barnett (about the same age).

Would she sell so many records if she didn't have the expert production, promotion and super-model looks?

There was a special interview show with Swift on TV last night. In 30 minutes, they talked about music for 30 seconds.