Let’s Chase Taylor Swift Rumors

Why? Because it’s a rainy day out there, and we’re restless and bored. And because, as a music blog rockin’ from way back when the blogs first started bloggin;, we cover Taylor Swift suspiciously little around here. It’s just that (gawrsh, you noticed?) we aim for a different beat from the usual media/culture site, especially when it comes to not reporting every awards ceremony or who wore what / what wore who at said public galas. Hey, music “news” is why they made Twitter, right?

Same with Taylor Swift. There are two kinds of people in the world: People who could care less, and people who want to know more about Taylor Swift and hence greet the regular blasts from every media device, blasts of news about what she had for breakfast every morning, with joy. Can you be a Taylor Swift fan and still think she’s overexposed? After all, I’ve owned a “complete” Beatles collection in one medium or another at least once in my life, and if you ask me yes the Beatles of 1965 were overrated musically.

This is all the media’s fault. Nobody asked for reporters to follow Mrs. Swift around town and record her every sneeze. This is a general media industry grumble you’re all familiar with – Harlan Ellison said it so much better than I in his The Glass Teat TV column that I needn’t re-preach it.

Aha! You came here for Taylor Swift and the first thing I throw you is a link to Harlan Ellison. I’m a tricksy hobbitses I am! Anyway, blah blah Taylor Swift truth or fiction.

Taylor is a Friends Fan – Rings True

I find at least one source saying Taylor Swift watched the TV show Friends. Honestly not a surprising claim; it was one of the most Earth-shatteringly popular TV series of the ‘90s and missing an episode almost took a force of will at its peak.

Taylor Swift Considers 13 To Be Her Lucky Number – True

As she points out in this Economic Times article (keep hitting for the fences with that economic news, guys!), Taylor Swift was born December 13, and a Friday the 13th was her 13th birthday, plus her first album took 13 weeks before it turned gold.

Raised at a Christmas Tree Farm – Not Quite

It is true that her father owned a Christmas tree farm, and obviously a tree farm in Pennsylvania is surely a place the kids would at least be delighted to visit during Christmas season. But you also see where she summered in Stone Harbor, New Jersey, so at least 50% of the time she wasn’t living at a Christmas tree farm, diggity dig? Her parents were a stockbroker and mutual fund executive; no doubt they had access to resources to surpass the rustic charm of the agricultural industry. I see this repeated too many places without context until they make it sound like Mrs. Swift slept outdoors under the trees like a wolf.

Lost the Rights to Her Earlier Work – Yes and Yikes!

Let this be a lesson to you aspiring artists: Read your contracts. As this contract lawyer breaks it down, Taylor Swift was re-releasing her old albums because she had to re-record them after losing the rights to the originals. That happened when her label sold her song catalog to another label, and so on. Through a business change of mergers and acquisitions, your rights to your own work can get lost. More that a few popular artists have had similar traps set for them by greedy record executives. Gotta watch that bottom line!

Taylor Swift Doesn’t Write Her Own Songs – Bzzzt Wrong!

Swift does in fact write her own whole albums of songs. The false rumor was first spread by Damon Albarn of Blur fame who stated that he doubted Swift’s authorship of her song catalog. Swift got so snippy about it that she even tweeted back at him and then followed it up with an assurance of authorship of her own tweet, because her sarcasm was flowing like wine at that point. For the record, Swift has written every dang note and line on her albums. Albarn later said his comments were taken out of context by a reporter hunting for clickbait and apologized profusely.

There, wasn’t that fun? Eh, sorta? We return to the wild nooks and crannies of music next post.