#plmasks

[capitainecorbeau]

Wow, j'adore votre style et la façon dont vous faites la colo et les lines. Ca me fait penser a un style "cartoon", c'est vraiment sympa! (Au passage, j'adore bara!sans, et vous le réussissez très bien 👌)

Merci beaucoup pour le compliment °u°/

“bara!sans” XD C’est pas exactement ce que j’avais en tête, mais vous êtes pas le premier à l’appeler comme ça ^^

[poetrydude66]

I hope record sales aren't important to you, because I get so frustrated with fans always focusing on Taylor's record sales and freaking out if she doesn't sell a million in a week. Numbers aren't important anymore once you've established a longevity in your career.

Taylor is that rare poetess who has a big platform for her message, and there is tremendous loyalty to her within the core fan base.   I guess she needs to decide for herself is she more concerned about money or connection.  At some deeper emotional level, I hope what she truly cares about and values is connection to her core base of fans.

If what she cares about is the core, then I think focus on deeply pleasing those people, and stop caring about pleasing everyone.  She has to be willing to take some punches when people who are not in that fan base try to put her down.  And focus on the art instead of the money.  In her case, by doing that she will get both good art and a lot of money.

[poetrydude66]

I thought Ed sheeran's new album lacked swear words because a young fan's father asked him to, so he complied

That’s true, but it was Ed who initiated the question to that fan’s father (a taxi driver I believe?).   And why do you think Ed had that question on his mind?   It’s because he is a smart boy and observes Taylor Swift’s success, and he is testing to see what aspects of her behavior and music people respond to positively.   

It’s all good, and I’m sure that Taylor is honored that someone she respects professionally even tries to understand her.

[poetrydude66]

What is your take on the possibility of Taylor not having slow songs on this album?

What I personally need from Taylor is strong lyrics about soulful subjects. To date, none of the Max Martin songs have done that for me.   But I keep an open mind, and they have a chance to win me over with the new album.

Slow songs usually give you a better chance to expose the lyrics, and since the lyrics and emotions are what I care about, a few slow songs is a must I think.   I hope they will be there.

I get the feeling that Taylor is making a full-court-press for pop stardom.  In some areas - like lyrics and emotional conveyance - being the biggest pop act in the world might mean partly abandoning your traditional fan base. Being the biggest pop act means focusing on the sound more than the lyric. [Edit prior to 1989 release:  many fans who went to the secret sessions assure us the lyrics are top notch, so there is hope here that no compromises were made to lyrical quality.]

I could ask Taylor the question is selling more records more important than connecting deeply to a smaller audience, and if yes why?   Is it that important to make another $20 million dollars a year from performances with a less-loyal pop fan base?  If I were talking to Taylor privately, I would ask wouldn’t she rather have ultra-close relationships with a core fan base than an ultra-shallow relationship with a pop fan base that is maybe 40% larger?   There comes a place where you might have to sell out your core value just to make an easy buck.  Is money really what should be driving her at this point?  Clearly money is what is driving Scott Borchetta, but his motives are transparent and understandable.   But our girl Taylor got into music to share her soul to the world, not to become a billionaire.   I think that would be an interesting conversation to have with Taylor.

[poetrydude66]

I disagree with u on the topic about Taylor is the main reason that Ed is so huge right now. Sure it helped but Ed's success is mostly due to his own talent and hard work. I do agree with the point u made about ed being more like Taylor. His song writing skills have been more confessional and personal like hers(such as don't n photograph). Sorry i don't hv a tumblr hence the ask is anon.

Hello anon.  This is the case where we actually agree with each other, and I think I am saying something different than you think I am.  

Ed is remarkably talented.  More than talented, Ed crafted his skill under brutal work conditions for many years, which turned that raw talent into expertise and true craftsmanship.  No one fills Madison Square Garden unless they can deliver the goods and entertain people.   Taylor Swift cannot pass her magic wand over Fred The Squirrel and have Fred sell out concerts.   I get that.   Ed has the talent and work ethic to hold his own once he gets to the top.

Having said that, before he started touring with Taylor, Ed was a major star in the UK, but virtually unknown in the US.  Penetrating the US market and achieving the same level of success here is something that could easily have taken Ed another two or three album cycles (four to six years).  And - at the end of that period - he could easily have ended up being only a fraction as popular as what he has become with Taylor.

What Taylor did is give him enormous amounts of free public relations, exposure to more than a million fans at concerts (who then go and talk to millions more who did not attend the concerts), and amazing amounts (tens of millions of people) of free online distribution by recording “Everything Has Changed” with him and then having performances of that play 24 by 7 on TV, on YouTube, etc.   New fans - who never knew Ed’s work - had the opportunity to be constantly impressed by these performances and to then go and discover his other albums.  That is the way I discovered him, by the way.   I would never have bought an Ed Sheeran album if it were not for my being a Taylor fan.  Now I have purchased every one of them.  Taylor’s tens of millions of fans quickly became Ed’s fans because of these issues.  

Now, don’t make me pull out my calculator, because then everyone’s eyes will roll and you will get me in trouble for being so serious.   But I don’t think you need to use very aggressive numbers to calculate that Ed will realize more than $10 million USD per year of additional album and performance revenues because of what Taylor did here.   It is not any sleight on Ed’s major talent and skill to recognize how enormously valuable are these gifts from Taylor.

If you still don’t believe me, then maybe you will believe Ed Sheeran himself.  Read this short interview where Ed credits his US success to Taylor and even goes so far as to say that she showed him how to be successful in the US market.

[poetrydude66]

Since its obvious you ship sweeran, do you think that they would be dating now if ed didn't hv a girlfriend?

I usually don’t encourage the gossip type questions on my blog, because then you end up getting  full inbox of anon messages and never have time to produce any original content.  But in your case I’m making an exception. :)   I wish Tumblr had a way to answer such messages anonymously back to the anon sender rather than publishing….

I actually don’t ship Sweeran that much.  I like to play with the theme because a Taylor Swift blog needs a little romance. :)    Maybe they get together someday.   Maybe they don’t.   I have no horse in that race.

Who knows what Taylor really wants these days.   Based on her interview in Glamour UK November 2013, I half expected her to get back with Harry Styles.  Unlike the popular press depictions, I think Album 5 will probably show that she cared for him a lot and still does.   Based on Taylor’s comments midway through that interview, she leaves open the possibility that they will get together again someday.   Buy the Glamour UK November 2013 issue.   It’s a decent read.

Regarding Ed and Taylor, here is what I am sure of:

1) Ed and Taylor are good for each other’s business.   Their fan bases strongly overlap, and as a result each of them picks up new customers from the other.    The person who benefits 95% from that arrangement is Ed.  In fact, Taylor accelerated Ed’s career by about four years.   Hey Ed, take Taylor, Meredith, and Olivia out for some Caviar and Catnip. :) You owe one of those females big-time for handing you - for free - about $10M/year of income for the rest of your life.   As a business guy, I think what Taylor has done for Ed is way beyond generous and is one of those life changing moments for Ed that he correctly saw and seized.

2) Ed is in the process of transforming himself into Taylor in important ways.  His personal behavior, his use of swear words inside his music, his public drinking and partying, are all becoming more subdued.   Taylor has become Ed’s role model, and he is carefully studying her and copying her.  It’s an act of respect, but it is also evidence he is sly and is correctly realizing his opportunity to learn from someone whose audience is remarkably loyal - and very large - how he can develop a similar following.

So Sweeran is real, even if “Sweeran” is not.

Now any of you other anons out there who are just dying to get my opinion on something, any chance you could send to me as a non-anon and ask me to answer privately?  Would be glad to do that for you.

[poetrydude66]

hey you! i love your blog and we've been in a mutual for a while. i just want you to know that you're wonderful and i love all your insightful comments on everything :) have a good day/night and enjoy the grammys!

Oh my gosh, I’m in a mutual :)  (Someone please tell me what a mutual is :) )

I’m such a workaholic I don’t even have time to watch the Grammys tonight.  But I definitely am recording to Tivo and hope to watch by next weekend.  I don’t want to miss Ed and Taylor blowing sweet kisses back and forth. :)