Taylor Swift (b. 1989) is an American singer songwriter who is currently holds the record for the most Billboard music awards with 23 wins. She also has won 10 Grammy’s, which are awarded by The Recording Academy to recognize achievement in the music industry. At the moment, Swift has released six albums, roughly 2 years apart each, and shows no signs of stopping.

Country Beginnings

Taylor Swift’s debut single “Tim McGraw” was released in 2006, went platinum, and landed in the top 10 in the Billboard chart. She co-wrote the country song at 14 years old with Liz Rose.

This song is not really about Tim McGraw, but rather a relationship and all of the things that would remind Taylor’s boyfriend about her. The track features acoustic guitar and crosses over into country-pop region due to Swift’s voice being soft and pleasant rather than the traditional nasal twang of pure country. This song follows the formula for crossover success as laid out in the text book by opening with a country sound, follow with a singable melody and string accompaniment, and packaging it all together with an appealing personality (in this case a teenage girl in love). These are likely some of the reasons that the single charted successfully even though she was unknown at the time. During Taylor’s country days she portrayed the image of a small-town girl with curly blonde hair and a naive essence.

 

Experimenting With Country-Pop

Taylor Swift stuck with country for her first 3 albums, and with her 4th album “Red” in 2012 the crossover to pop began. “We Are Never Getting Back Together” is one of her more popular songs that marks her subtle transition from country to pop music. It is also interesting that during this time Swift started straightening her long blonde hair and changing up her “country bumpkin” image.

This song follows the same formula for country crossover success but adds in some pop sophistication through more complex chords and sound landscape. The track still features guitar but it sounds more electric than acoustic, and there is a lot more sound layering in this recording than the previous example. With this album Taylor started appealing to a more mainstream audience and could capture the attention of both country and pop listeners.

 

Pop Star At Last

“1989” was the 2014 album that marked Taylor’s full transition into pop music. “Blank Space” showcases this nicely and will be the last example today. It was during the year of this album release that Taylor significantly change her look and chopped her long hair into a shorter version to show off an edgier side. This may seem trivial to some, but as a performer in the public eye changes to your image can have a significant impact and reflect on changes in your life as well.

This song clearly features synthesized sounds and a singable melody. There is virtually no trace of country influence left in the song. Like Michael Jackson and Madonna, Taylor uses music videos to enhance the popularity of her songs. Many of her videos are released after the songs came out to help hype them back up.

 

Significant Impacts

Swift is known for writing her songs with shocking honesty about her personal life, which is what makes fans feel that she is so relatable. Similar to Madonna, Taylor Swift has shown that she has a great deal of control over her career. Not many artists are able to crossover to a new style as successfully as she has done. Taylor Swift has a history of bringing special guests into her stadium shows as well as playing secret album previews to small groups of fans. This method sets her apart from many pop stars in the current era.

 

A notable moment in Swift’s career is when she wrote an open letter to Apple Music and its CEO (Tim Cook). Apple offers users a free 3-month trial period of their music subscription service, and Taylor objected to Apple not paying artists/writers/producers for their work during this time. She stated that she was standing up for those artists who may not have a voice and could not afford to give their work away for free. This letter gained a great deal of public support and actually got Apple to change their mind and pay the parties during the free trial period. This essentially helped to change how the streaming service would be ran, as this new offering was just coming out at the time. She not only succeeded for herself, but also helped other artists in moving popular music into this new direction and era of how recordings reach consumers.

 

Another notable thing about Taylor Swift is that she is a master of her own public image. She has undergone scrutiny for her dating life, career habits, and personal choices but is always able to swing general public opinion back in her favor. She began with a good-girl image, then was labeled a serial-dater, followed by victim of Kanye West at the Grammy Awards, enemy of Katy Perry, and most recently labelled a liar/snake by Kim Kardashian West. All of these are seemingly negative but Swift and her PR team always seem to get out on top and use it to her advantage, such as the snake being her mascot for her latest tour. Like her or hate her, whatever strategy they are following seems to be working and Swift will likely be popular for years to come.

 

#M10Q1

 

Bibliography

Bajarin, Tim. Time. June 30, 2015. http://time.com/3940500/apple-music-taylor-swift-release/ (accessed August 2, 2018).

Lansky, Sam. Billboard. November 8, 2017. https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8030142/taylor-swift-red-best-album (accessed August 2, 2018).

Yahr, Emily. Washington Post. June 16, 2016. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/06/16/taylor-swifts-first-song-came-out-10-years-ago-heres-what-she-was-like-as-a-teen-songwriter/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.46fed876583f (accessed August 2, 2018).

 

Hello again everyone, today I have chosen to research The Great American Songbook.

The Great American Songbook is a collection of the most important and influential American popular songs and jazz standards from the early 20th century. It contains the most popular and enduring songs from the 1920s through 1950s that were created for Broadway Theatre, musical theatre, and Hollywood musical film (What Is The Great American Songbook? 2016). The American Songbook Foundation classifies the included song genres as “American Standards”, and the included years capture the eras of musical theatre, modern song, and jazz as learned in class.

There isn’t really a consensus on what to include in the Great American Songbook collection, and many publishers have released their version of a Great American Songbook. The songs included are those that were most popular between the 1920s through 1950s. One thing that made a song popular in this era was the reproducibility of it, as music was often sold as sheets for performers. These standards have been recorded and performed by many artists, each putting their own interpretation into the song.

This module’s readings were about early Latin music in America, musical theatre, jazz, and the evolution of popular song. Musical theatre is a huge part of why the Great American Songbook came to be, as it was a very popular form of entertainment during this era. Theatre orchestras were starting to sound more like a symphony orchestra, as opposed to swing music, which likely heightened their perceived level of prestige. In the 1950s musical theatre was considered to be the most prestigious entertainment one could attend. It was during this time that Rodgers & Hammerstein teamed up to create the musical Oklahoma! which was considered to be one of the first dramatically credible musicals. This piece also revolutionized musicals in a way, because before Oklahoma! people generally remembered the songs, but after they began to remember more of the storyline and production.

Modern Jazz in the 1940s through 1950s also took a turn because it became more of a listening music than a dancing one, due to slowed down tempos. The readings most related to the song I have chosen are about the evolution of popular song interpretation, in which singers personalize their performance through emotion. This performance style also brought on the emergence of solo artists as opposed to bands. Artists would reconceive songs by changing the rhythm, tempo, or instrumentation included to help mold the song into their own personal performance style. This is also considered to be the age of “American standards”, which basically stands for songs that hold their popularity well after they are released. If you are reading this and think “how could they do that and have the song still be recognized as a standard?” then please listen to the performances below to get a better understanding.

The song I am choosing to discuss is Heart and Soul, music written by Hoagy Carmicheal and lyrics by Frank Loesser in 1938. This song meets the general criteria for inclusion in the Great American Songbook because it is a jazz song from the 1930s that has been performed and recorded by many artists over the years, all the way up to Train’s Play That Song in 2016. This song is one that many people recognize upon hearing, but the majority don’t know about the creation of it. The song generally fits within the jazz genre, and taking a look at the lyrics it is a song about falling in love. An example of these lyrics is when the artist sings  “Heart and soul, I fell in love with you, heart and soul, the way a fool would do, madly”.

The first performance I chose is by Bea Wain and Larry Clinton in 1939. In the beginning the focus in this performance is on the female singer, she simply stands at the microphone and all the attention goes to her vocal skills. Her style embodies romance and elegance; I see this through her outfit and upswept hairstyle. Part way through the singer steps aside and focus goes to the band as they carry out the melody without vocals. The singer then steps back into focus to finish off the song. This performance has a slower tempo and feels like a love song.

The second performance I chose is by The Cleftones in 1961. I was unable to find a video performance for this one, but I chose it because the audio is noticeably different from the previous performance. Upon listening to the first few seconds of the song, you can tell that the instrumentation and melody are different. This edition is considered to be rhythm and blues style and it’s also interesting that they have background singers for additional vocals. There appears to be one main singer with multiple others providing supporting vocals. This performance has a faster tempo and gives you more of an upbeat, energetic feeling.

Both of the above performances reached the music charts in their respective years, and it was The Cleftones most popular work.

 

I think that songs are no longer added to this collection because the music industry is flooded with original work. In the era of the Great American Songbook there was more of a focus on the songs themselves and many people would record them. In today’s society we put more of an emphasis on the performers, as opposed to the songs, and are always wanting new music instead of reproducing older songs. I think that this style of music can still be relevant in the musical theatre industry, as it has a genre separate from mainstream popular music. I think that the styles are too outdated to be popular with the general public, but there is probably a small niche market for them to thrive in.

 

#M5Q2

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

Campbell, Michael. Popular Music In America: The Beat Goes On. Nelson Education, 2012.

Chilton, Martin. U Discover Music. 3 April 2018. https://www.udiscovermusic.com/in-depth-features/cover-to-cover-the-story-of-the-great-american-songbook/ (accessed July 16, 2018).

Metro Lyrics. n.d. http://www.metrolyrics.com/heart-and-soul-lyrics-hoagy-carmichael.html (accessed July 18, 2018).

What Is The Great American Songbook? 2016. https://thecenterfortheperformingarts.org/Great-American-Songbook-Inititative/About-the-Great-American-Songbook. (accessed July 16, 2018).

Winer, Deborah Grace. “He Wrote The Song.” Forbes, 2000: 188-190.

Yagoda, Ben. Time. 11 June 2015. http://time.com/3916642/america-songwriting-history/ (accessed July 16, 2018).

 

 

Hello everyone, my name is Allison and I’ve decided to trace the influence of Elvis Presley through Queen to Lady Gaga.

Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley is considered by many to be the “king of rock and roll”. He was one of rock and roll’s first true musical stars and later went on to act in movies including Love Me Tender and Jailhouse Rock. What made Elvis so refreshing to young audiences is that he performed on stage with an uninhibited, rebellious attitude and didn’t care what people thought about it. Elvis was a unique musician in the sense that he was able to emulate almost any style of music while retaining his distinctive sound.

At the time (mid 1950s) Elvis was considered to be a risk taker with his stage presence. He had cultivated a signature look of tough-teen dress, greased pompadour, and dance moves. This was in stark contrast to the typical white pop singer who simply stood at the microphone crooning. Despite criticism, Elvis refused to tone down his style essentially giving rock n roll its signature look and sound for the coming years.

One of the songs I am choosing to look at is Suspicious Minds, shown below. This was considered to be the song that signalled Elvis’ comeback success.

I chose this song because it seems to tell a personal story, it is said that the song is about Elvis & Priscilla’s early years of marriage (Greene 2015). Apparently things were already falling apart in their marriage, and you can hear Elvis’ disappointment over this in the song. Some lyrics in particular that point to this include “We’re caught in a trap, I can’t walk out” and “we can’t go on together, with suspicious minds” which signals that there is tension in the relationship and he is not sure how to move forward.

A few things that catch my attention in this song include:

• Elvis carrying words over more than one beat (“I lo-ove you too much ba-aby”)
• Tempo of the song slows down in the middle (1:45), then returns to original tempo (2:14)
• Drum sounds are carrying the beat, makes you want to dance or tap your foot at the same rate
• Guitar melody is slightly quieter than Elvis’ voice but still occupies a place in your mind

Queen

Queen is a rock band that formed in 1970. The name Queen was thought up by Freddie Mercury, the bands lead vocalist, and he chose this because he liked that it was “open to interpretation” by fans (Anderson 2014). This cues to me that they were interested in blurring the lines of music much like Elvis did by performing in multiple genres.

Musical Influence Elvis to Queen

The song I am choosing to talk about for Queen is Crazy Little Thing Called Love.

Some things that catch my attention in this song:

• Freddie Mercury sings with a deeper voice than usual, sounding a lot like Elvis Presley’s signature vocal sound
• Mercury plays a limited chord range on guitar in this song
• Drum sound is carrying the beat

Listening to this song reminds me of Elvis Presley’s sound, and has been described as rockabilly, a form that Presley had also been known to use.

Visual Influence Elvis to Queen

Freddie Mercury was particularly concerned with the bands showmanship, and declared “a concert is not a live rendition of the music, it is a theatrical event” (Anderson 2014). This is in line with Elvis’ sexualized dancing, because at the time it was revolutionary to dance during live performances.

If you look at the below photo, you can clearly see that Freddie Mercury (in front) has the slicked-back short hair look that Elvis is known for. The band’s body language in the photo also conveys a rebellious attitude similar to Elvis.

Musical Influence Elvis & Queen to Lady Gaga

Elvis was made famous by his popular songs in the mid-1950s, and in addition to those released ballads such as Can’t Help Falling in Love, that were said to be key to his popular success in the long run (Hanson 2011). Similar to this, Lady Gaga was made famous by pop songs such as Poker Face and Just Dance in 2008 and transitioned to a more-stripped down sound, including ballads, in her latest album Joanne in 2016.

The song I am choosing to talk about for Lady Gaga is Joanne, the song for which her newest country infused, pop-rock album is named.

Some things that catch my attention in this song:

• Dragging words over more than one beat (“gi-irl, where do you think you’re go-ing?”), similar to Elvis in Suspicious Minds
• Guitar melody leads the song
• Vocals have a country-twang to them
• Song about a lost love ( in this case her aunt), you can hear sadness in her voice

Visual Influence Elvis & Queen to Lady Gaga

In the early stages of her fame, Lady Gaga dressed in over-the-top outfits and performed much in the same fashion. Her live performances can be considered as more of a theatrical experience than simply listening to music. This form of stage presence is similar to that of Queen, specifically Freddy Mercury’s vision of what a show should look like. Elvis may seem tame in comparison, but he opened the door for performances like this with his unusual stage presence and dancing.

 

Lady Gaga’s newest album Joanne is a reinvention of her musical style, featuring a more stripped down sound. To me this is similar to Elvis in the sense that he performed many types of music, starting with popular songs and branching out afterwards. Gaga is also displaying a more stripped down style, perhaps to put the emphasis on her singing capabilities as opposed to focusing on the showmanship of it all.

Elvis Presley influenced many artists, even some that we may not immediately think of such as Lady Gaga. Through these comparisons I hope to shine a light on one line of influence as found on Spotify’s Elvisualization page.

#M6Q1

Works Cited

Anderson, Sarah. NME. May 28, 2014. https://www.nme.com/photos/50-geeky-facts-about-queen-1419950 (accessed July 15, 2018).

Campbell, Michael. Popular Music In America: The Beat Goes On. Nelson Education, 2012.

Greene, Andy. Rolling Stone. January 1, 2015. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/readers-poll-the-10-best-elvis-presley-songs-151994/suspicious-minds-164924/ (accessed July 15, 2018).

Hanson, Allan. Elvis History Blog. December 2011. http://www.elvis-history-blog.com/elvis-best-ballads.html (accessed July 15, 2018).

Outfit Trends. n.d. http://www.outfittrends.com/lady-gaga-most-funkiest-and-weird-outfits-collection/ (accessed July 15, 2018).

Pelfrey, Daniel. post post modern dad. July 18, 2016. http://www.postpostmoderndad.com/2016/07/18/music-monday-queen-part-3/ (accessed July 15, 2018).

Sisavat, Monica. Popsugar. April 13, 2018. https://www.popsugar.com/celebrity/How-Old-Would-Elvis-Presley-2017-43862559 (accessed July 15, 2018).

Warnes, Andrew. Cross Culture. November 16, 2016. http://thecrossculture.org/2016/11/16/lady-gaga-joanne-clean-version/ (accessed July 15, 2018).