Yeah. She has a rather pedestrian singing voice, but she's an excellent songwriter. I really only know her older country stuff, not the newer stuff, but that's always been her claim to fame. She'll be writing a burner when she and Kelce split, I'm sure...
My 11yo daughter is in prime Swiftie mode right now. My wife is actually going to take her to the Swift concert movie next weekend (she--the 11yo--already saw it once with friends but one of my wife's adult friends wants to go and has nobody to go with, so the three of them are going together).
IMHO this is one of those areas where it's about more than songwriting talent, however. I think to an extent Swifties are Swifties to fit in with all the other Swifties, i.e. literally every tween and teen girl that isn't goth.
@utee94 what's your take? I know your daughter is older than mine... Not sure how big Swift is in that demographic?
My 16yo daughter likes Taylor Swift well enough, but I wouldn't classify her as a Swiftie. She's a band nerd and so a little more eclectic in her musical tastes. She's more into small indy rock and alternative bands and singer/songwriter kind of stuff. And of course she also still loves 80s music, because I raised her properly.
I do think a lot of those girls are just going along with the pop phenomenon, which is natural at that age. I mean, that's why it's called "pop music" right?
My own personal take on Taylor Swift is a little different though. Personally I don't find her singing voice to be "pedestrian" at all-- it's actually quite good. And she's a fantastic songwriter. More than that, she's an outstanding performer. I've actually been to a Taylor Swift concert-- she played during the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas back in 2016 I think. As a performer she came across as sincere, charming, and relatable. The only music of hers I knew at the time was some of her original country stuff, and she played some of that alone, either on her guitar or on the piano. But even her huge pop numbers with a full band, came across as earnest and engaging.
Honestly I put it in my top 5 shows I've ever attended, and living in Austin I've been to a LOT of shows. I was completely blown away, which was totally unexpected.
Also, it doesn't hurt that she's pretty cute.