I was just watching a recent interview that Taylor Swift did with Seth Meyers and I decided to start this thread to see if other people experience the same thing I do.
I’ve watched a bunch of Taylor Swift interviews and a handful of performances/videos. And I gotta say: I really like her even tho I don’t care for her art. She comes across as a vibrant, witty, intelligent, likable person who is deeply committed to her art and appreciative of her fans (and she does have a good voice). She’s interesting to listen to and she’s very good at describing her experiences in a relatable way.
Miley Cyrus is another performer like that for me. I don’t really like her art (another great voice, eh) but she comes across as intelligent and purposeful and funny and generally likable.
Billie Eilish for me. I’ve heard interviews with her on World Cafe, and she was pretty good on SNL last night, and she seems like an intelligent, personable, funny, nice person, but I can’t stand her music. I do realize I’m totally not the target audience.
Dave Grohl, maybe. I’m not going to say I actively dislike his music, but on the basis of the few songs I’ve heard here and there, I’ve never been moved to buy a CD or concert ticket or whatnot. Just, meh. On the other hand, stuff I hear about him personally makes me think he’s a pretty cool guy.
Reba Macntyre- I hate almost all country musice. Reba is constantly trying to get people to donate to Habitat For Humanity. When she discovered a gay man had risen to a small level of fame doing drag as her, she could have re acted badly. Instead, she watched his performance and loved it so much she made him her opening act.
Barry Mannilow- I despise his songs. But, when he first started out he was repeatedly told that if he wanted to be rich and famous he had to conform. He said that if he couldn’t be rich and famouse as himself, he didn’t want to be rich and famous. I respect that.
I like some stuff by Swift and Eilish but do not know most of it. However, when I first saw the thread title I thought of Basquiat. You just mean music artists, or any?
I would watch a movie about adventures of him and Andy Samberg in their horny guy personas (dick in a box, etc.). Give it 6 music videos within the film and it’s a sure winner.
I have friends who are in a band that plays hard rock/metal. They are very talented musicians and good friends, but it’s just not my genre. We go to see them maybe once a year, because we’re friends.
This was going to be one of mine. Seems like a cool, fun guy when he’s doing comedy (and he’s good at it) but I can’t give his commercial music more than a minute.
Blake Shelton always seemed like a fun guy to hang around with when I’d see him on The Voice but the little musical output I’ve heard from him was a reason to turn that dial.
(I’ll preemptively state that I’m aware that someone giving an interview, on a contest show, doing comedy, etc is still “performing” and for all I know they eat live kittens when the cameras are off)
I agree with the choice of Dolly Parton. She’s quite talented with the voice of an angel, funny and very sweet. A true national treasure. I’m just not much of a country music fan. But, on the rare occasions I do listen to country, Dolly is on my playlist.
Funny that you lead with Taylor Swift, because that was the first one that came to mind for me. I started as an anti-fan based on her music. But I started paying attention during her counter suit for battery and assault against a DJ who had sued her for defamation. I guess I expected vapid testimony from her about how she was personally traumatized, and instead it was compelling testimony against the status quo of abuse of women in the industry. I look back now at all the criticism of her for having many boyfriends and writing songs about them, and realize how much that narrative reeks of sexism.
But then funny thing, I started to like her music too. She’s not my favorite, but I’ll happy listen to her stuff any day.
As for an artist I wish I liked more, I’ll go with Tom Petty. I like a few of his songs, but really wish I liked him overall more.
And Dead Kennedys / Jello Biafra. I like punk, they were one of the defining punk bands, their lyrics were political and intelligent, his post-DK work was all worth following…and I just don’t like listening to their songs. His voice just rubs me the wrong way.
What began to win me over to Miss Swift was an interview where she talked about keeping control of her music. She was thoughtful and wonderfully thorough in her explanations and, as I noted in the OP, she was very, very good at being relatable despite the fact that what she was describing were things that 99.9999% of us will never know personally.