Man Behind #Tay4Hottest100 Says Sexism Reason For Backlash

It’s been a weird week.

A tweet of mine from December (well more specifically Mark Scott’s response to it) got picked up by Buzzfeed – and that Buzzfeed article started the #Tay4Hottest100 campaign. Which, it turns out, might actually work. A lot of my week has been explaining to elderly relatives what Buzzfeed is, I’m not sure that they entirely understand but they’re happy for me.

So as someone who inadvertently helped start this campaign I’ve been following the discussion around it, and I think it has been interesting.

But somehow a lot of people are far more willing to accept that male artists can authentically write about themselves than women. And that’s kind of bullshit.

For one thing, it has validated the Hottest 100 as something people genuinely care about, whatever side of the debate they are on. After a year where we talked a lot about the ABC a lot it is nice to have a clear example of the cultural power of public broadcasting.

The responses themselves have been pretty interesting; to be honest I just find people’s opinions about Taylor Swift endlessly fascinating. I’ve been an open Taylor Swift fan for a couple of years now and I’m always fascinated by the weird responses to both her music and my fandom.

A lot of it is anachronistically macho – Taylor Swift is something that is supposed to be for little girls and a lot of people can’t handle the idea that a 23-year-old straight guy with fairly refined taste can unironically enjoy her music. Strangely enough, I get it a lot from people who call themselves ‘progressive’.

Music, especially pop music, works at a visceral level which means that people’s responses to it are often raw and blunt. More than that, responding to popular music in certain ways is how a lot of people position themselves in the culture.

I think that a lot of people like the fact that they don’t listen to Taylor Swift. They enjoy the ability to distinguish themselves from the kind of people who do listen to Taylor Swift.

And I don’t really mind that, except for when there’s a weird, gendered quality to that reaction.

After her latest album I have started to take the time to explain to these people how if you actually listen to the music without the preconception that it is ‘below’ them, it is actually complex, interesting and surprisingly beautiful.

My favourite way of explaining Taylor Swift to people is to compare her to Bob Dylan’s Blood On The Tracks. Not all of Bob Dylan, just specifically this album, because it is high-quality songwriting that is built around an emotional state. Some people get kind of offended that I would compare Bob Dylan to Taylor Swift in the first place – or think that I’m being deliberately ironic. I’m not. I always find that reaction pretty weird and I think that it does have a lot to do with gender.

Taylor Swift’s songs are explicitly emotional and always autobiographical. Almost all her songs are written in second person and directed to people that she actually knows. When she was seventeen she would write songs about school bullies and suburban crushes and now that she’s in her early twenties she writes songs about sex and fame.

Blood On The Tracks is a deeply autobiographical album about sex and fame. The songs on it tell stories that are told with incredible economy and precision – and it explores Dylan’s complex feelings about his divorce in a way that is raw, honest and smart.

I always find that reaction pretty weird and I think that it does have a lot to do with gender.

For that matter, Yeezus is a deeply autobiographical album about sex and fame, with stories that are told with economy and precision – plus you can dance to it (which you really can’t do to Bob Dylan).

Ask any of the people who hate Taylor Swift about Kanye West and most of them will start practically choking with fandom. That especially pisses me off when people go on about how 'manufactured' she is, compared to the 'authenticity' of Kanye. Incidentally, it’s how a lot of these people explain away his rampant misogyny.

Pop music at the moment seems to demand autobiography. Kanye, Taylor Swift, Drake and even Beyoncé are all exploring aspects of themselves. But somehow a lot of people are far more willing to accept that male artists can 'authentically' write about themselves than women. And that’s kind of bullshit.

Taylor Swift is writing incredibly good pop music at the moment. It’s raw, honest and smart. Plus you can dance to it. And millions of people are listening to it because it is actually good.

If she wins the Hottest 100, which I hope she does, that will be why. It isn't hipster irony ruining everything you love. And it isn't because triple j has sold out or anything.

It's just that great pop music transcends bullshit, gendered notions of authenticity.