Taylor Swift and sparks flying... literally. Image via allthingscountrymusic.blogspot.com.
Ah, Taylor Swift. The princess of conventional country-pop music that everyone loves to hate. She’s applauded for being ordinary and plain, which actually helps her image – her normalcy sets her apart from Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Ke$ha, etc. No one can accuse her of plagiarizing other artists because not only is her style solely hers, but she writes all of her own songs, too.
Not to say that she doesn’t use other celebrities to her advantage. Just look at Taylor Lautner and John Mayer. Those two acrid relationships resulted in two songs (“Back to December” and “Dear John”) that ameliorated the track list of Speak Now. And I doubt anyone could forget the ignominious Kanye West incident, which backfired badly and even bolstered Swift’s popularity.
So am I a Taylor Swift fan? I’d say yes, because she’s a respectable artist and her songs can be pretty darn catchy. Though some of her songs, like “You Belong With Me”, and most recently, “Sparks Fly”, really make me regret not being in a relationship so I could make everyone feel completely jealous of my hot partner truly comprehend the depth of her soulful singing.
“Drop everything now, meet me in the pouring rain
Kiss me no the sidewalk, take away the pain
‘Cause I see sparks fly
Whenever you smile”
In my opinion this is one of Swift’s best songs to date. Maybe not her best music video, but the song is great. It’s upbeat and commanding, sweeping you into Swift’s sentiment over a particularly pleasant guy. The lyrics are convincing and cute (Swift’s pronunciation of “sidewalk” gets me every time) and the song supplies a chance for her vocals to shine. The video, on the other hand…
She whips her hair back and forth, she whips her hair back and forth... a lot.
It disappointed me. I’ve listened to “Sparks Fly” a decent amount of times since the album’s release and have come to love it, so I expected something more. Don’t get me wrong, the video is decent, but not as amazing as her previous productions. There was an inundation of cliche close-ups, pauses, etc. that caused the video to appear almost… sophomoric.
Ha, fireworks. Just like in the lyrics. How literal.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who would have preferred a poignant music video as opposed to one showing the concert experience. I’ve never been to a Taylor Swift concert so I can’t judge, but this lady found it lukewarm. Either way it would’ve been nice to see a more “Mine”-like concept due to the song’s strength and compelling quality.
But, I still like Taylor Swift and one average video definitely won’t hurt her in the long run. I think I’m going to go fantasize about my future partner study now…
What do you think of “Sparks Fly” (the song or the video) and Taylor Swift in general?
the quiet voice 
just gave it a listen, i’m not an avid fan of taylor swift but i enjoy most her songs, this one’s pretty good too….. haha but i know what you mean when you hear a lot of pop songs out there and just wish you were in a relationship so you could relate to it more xD anyways, this is a fantastic blog, i’m really glad i found it, keep it up and i’ll be back haha
Same, I’m not totally love with her or her music but I like listening to her songs. Thank you so much, I really appreciate it.
Thomas
Anytime, I’m looking forward to following this blog- maybe I’ll find some new favorite music while I’m at it!
You are so right. But you see the connection between the songs Fearless and Sparks fly? The videos are both concerts and they talk about a boy meeting her in the rain 🙂
I like it a lot too. And really, the video was hell disappointing. But i’m sure not for the fans who got to be in it 😦
I do see the connection – for some reason I like the actual song “Sparks Fly” over the song “Fearless”, but I prefer the music video for “Sparks Fly” over that of “Fearless”. “Fearless” seemed less cliche and it showed more of Taylor Swift’s personality rather than just her onstage performance.
True, I bet a myriad of her fans must’ve been shocked when they saw themselves in the video! Good for them. (:
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Like a fantasy… i like it
I do too. (:
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I am a great fan of TS..I love almost all of her songs. But my fav. will always be THE BEST DAY. The Sparks Fly is the best song. The lyrics are so good and Soothing. Thanks to you Thomas, I heard the song again after 4 months:)
Anyways, the blog is good, and I am looking forward to follow ur blog:)
Just searched “The Best Day”, it’s a good song too! T Swift’s lyrics are well-written and soothing, I agree.
Thanks for your kind words Ananya, I look forward to hearing more from you!
oh T-Swizzle… i love to hear her songs.. during a break-up. or when im feeling extra cheesy. and i think that is fine! She’s a young girl like anyone else, like you said, and all of us can relate to her trials and errors in love. She has a good sense of what will make a hit, what sounds good lyrically/instrumentally, and she has a sort of raw-ness to her (is that a word) because she writes from the heart about real life.
THAT BEING SAID.. i think she could write a song or two that isn’t about a boy. i know 99.9999% of songs are about sex, drugs, being poor, or love and i guess she’s only experienced one of those, but i feel like after this many albums, it might be time for her to branch out a little. i also sort of dislike her sometimes because every single person on the face of the earth takes one look at my blonde, curly hair and says “DOES ANYONE EVER TELL YOU YOU LOOK JUST LIKE TS?!” i always say thankyou but in my mind im saying YES! TOO MUCH! AND I RESENT IT.. i guess it could be worse. everyone thinks my mom looks/sounds like sarah palin
Hm… well I see what you mean about the comparison thing, I think people are quick to try to match others up to the prototypes in their minds (aka, blonde and curly hair -> Taylor Swift), though you can’t exactly blame T-Swift for that.
And that’s true, a lot of her songs are about relationships. Personally, as a romantic, I don’t have a problem with that, but I can see how others might. There are some of her songs that aren’t specifically about relationships, like “Safe and Sound” and “Mean” and “Change”, and I’m sure a few others.
Thank you for reading and commenting!