FEATURE:
Too Good to Be Forgotten: Songs That Are Much Than a Guilty Pleasure
Taylor Swift - Shake It Off
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THIS is a feature…
where I want to quote a lot from other people. I keep saying how there is no such thing as a guilty pleasure song. There are many who would disagree. Taylor Swift is an artist who can divide people. She has a huge fanbase of loyal fans, that is for sure. I have turned onto her work over the last few years. I think that last year’s folklore (the surprise album she released) is phenomenally accomplished and memorable. I think that her albums before then have highlights, though I sort of dip in an out. 1989 is considered to be one of her greatest works. The lead single from her fifth studio album, Shake It Off, was released on 18th August, 2014. Some consider it to be a bad choice for a lead single. Shake It Off is the sixth track on 1989 - so it did seem unusual to announce the album with a song so far down the order! I am keen to bring in some critical reaction to show what a strong song it is. There are many who think Shake It Off is among a collection of Taylor Swift songs that are very much in the guilty pleasure category. I am going to use some Wikipedia information to give more context about a hugely popular track:
“Shake It Off" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was written by Swift and its producers, Max Martin and Shellback. "Shake It Off" is an uptempo dance-pop song featuring a saxophone line in its production. The lyrics are about Swift's indifference to her detractors and their negative view of her image. The song was the lead single from her fifth studio album, 1989, which Swift marketed as her first pop album. It was released for digital download worldwide on August 19, 2014, by Big Machine Records.
Contemporary critics found the song's dance-pop production catchy, but some believed the lyrics were weak. Retrospectively, critics have considered "Shake It Off" an effective opener for the 1989 era, which transformed Swift's sound and image from country to pop. The song featured on 2010s decade-end lists by NME and Consequence of Sound. In the U.S., the single spent 50 weeks–including four weeks at number one–on the Billboard Hot 100, and received a Diamond certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "Shake It Off" also topped charts in Australia, Canada, Hungary, New Zealand and Poland”.
I shall conclude by defending a song that many see as one that you should not admit to loving. Renowned for Sound gave their impressions of Shake It Off:
“Shake It Off begins with a kicking drumbeat, almost like a cheerleading chant; Toni Basil’s famous one-hit wonder Hey Mickey springs to mind. Before too long Swift’s vocal kicks in, with the steady beat and brass to back her up; she addresses issues commonly talked about in regards to her love and social life. “That’s what people say”, repeats Taylor in the first verse as she speculates about people’s speculations of her. The chorus is a fun, repetitive hook that you’ll learn easily so that soon you can sing along and hum to it without realising; you’ve heard Taylor do pop before, but not like this people!
In the second verse, Taylor tells us some of the things she’s great at and how people don’t notice those abilities because they’re too busy focusing on putting her down; the pre-chorus assures us twice that Miss Swift won’t stop being herself because the music in her head says so. The bridge kind of lost the meaning behind the song; it went from being about shaking off the disses to dissing her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend, only to call on the “boy over there with the hella good hair”, at least it’s still catchy so in the world of pop she’s forgiven. The accompanying music video is just as fun as the track itself.
Shake It Off will be popular amongst existing Taylor Swift fans and should make her some new ones, its catchiness soon develops an addiction that you just can’t shake. Just when you thought songs about the ‘haters’ were getting really old, Taylor comes out to reinvent herself once again and puts them in their places swiftly in less than four minutes. It will be interesting to hear what else is in store with the new album, bring on 1989!”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Sarah Barlow
It is not just fans of Taylor Swift who have had a lot of good things to say about Shake It Off. Coming back to Wikipedia, and there has been critical acclaim. Some, mind, feel that Shake It Off is not as strong as other songs on 1989:
“Shake It Off" received mixed reviews from music critics. While some deemed the production catchy, others found the song repetitive and lacking substance compared to Swift's previous album Red, which was perceived to be her artistic peak. Critic Randall Roberts from the Los Angeles Times's lauded the song's energetic production, which they described as "perfect pop confection". Roberts, however, found the lyrics shallow, calling the song insensible to the political events at the time: "When lives are at stake and nothing seems more relevant than getting to the Actual Truth, liars and cheats can't and shouldn't be shaken off." Writing for The Daily Beast, Kevin Fallon described "Shake It Off" as "woefully depressing". While calling it "a great pop song", he criticized it as a generic song that failed to showcase Swift's well-known narrative songwriting.
The Guardian's Molly Fitzpatrick similarly lauded the song's music, but felt that the lyrics fell short of Swift's songwriting abilities. Giving the song a three-out-of-five-stars score, Jeff Terich from American Songwriter regarded Swift's new direction as "a left-turn worth following". While Terich agreed that the lyrics were dismissive, he felt that critics should not have taken the song seriously because it was "pretty harmless". In a positive review, Jason Lipshutz from Billboard wrote, "Swift proves why she belongs among pop's queen bees ... the song sounds like a surefire hit." In a review of the album 1989, Alexis Petridis praised the lyrics for "twisting clichés until they sound original". In the words of Andrew Unterberger from Spin, while "Shake It Off" was musically a "red herring" that feels out of place on the album, it thematically represents Swift's new attitude on 1989, where she liberated herself from overtly romantic struggles to embrace positivity. Swift herself acknowledged the song as an outlier on 1989, and deliberately released it as the lead single to encourage audiences to explore the entire album and not just the singles.
Retrospectively, Hannah Mylrae from NME considered "Shake It Off" an effective opener for Swift's 1989 era, which transformed her image to mainstream pop. While saying that "Shake It Off" was not one of the album's better songs, Rob Sheffield from Rolling Stone applauded it for "serving as a trailer to announce her daring Eighties synth-pop makeover". Nate Jones from New York agreed, but described the song's bridge as "the worst 24 seconds of the entire album". In his 2019 ranking of Swift's singles, Alexis Petridis ranked "Shake It Off" third—behind "Blank Space" (2014) and "Love Story" (2008), lauding its "irresistible" hook and "sharp-tongued wit". Jane Song from Paste was less enthusiastic, placing "Shake It Off" among Swift's worst songs in her catalog, writing: "Swift has a pattern of choosing the worst song from each album as the lead single".
One of the unfortunate things about Shake It Off is that it has been part of a lawsuit. One that has raged for quite a while now. This NME article explains more about a high-profile case that seems to exist on the flimsiest of pretences:
“A court case regarding Taylor Swift‘s 2014 song ‘Shake It Off’ is to go ahead, a Los Angeles judge has confirmed.
The case, brought forward by songwriters Sean Hall and Nathan Butler in 2017, alleges that Swift copied lyrics from the pair’s 2001 song ‘Playas Gon’ Play’, which they wrote for girl group 3LW.
The case was originally dismissed in February 2018, but the decision was then overturned last October by an appeals court.
Now, LA judge Michael Fitzgerald says that Hall and Butler “have sufficiently alleged a protectable selection and arrangement or a sequence of creative expression” and that the relevant parts of ‘Shake It Off’ that the pair have identified are “similar enough” to ‘Playas Gon’ Play’ for a court case to proceed.
The lawsuit concerns the chorus of ‘Shake It Off’, in which Swift sings: “Players gonna play, play, play, play, play” and “haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate,” while ‘Playas Gon’ Play’ reads: “Playas, they gonna play, and haters, they gonna hate.”
Hall and Butler are seeking a share of profits from the song. In a statement shared with Billboard upon the reopening of the case last October, Hall spoke for the pair and said: “We are happy the court unanimously sided with us. We simply refuse to sit still and have our creative work be culturally appropriated as if it never existed. This case is giving voice to all of those creatives who can’t afford to stand up and protect their work in the face of well-financed Goliaths.”
Representatives for Swift then replied: “Mr. Hall is incorrect, the court did not unanimously side in their favour, the court sent the case back to the lower court for further determination.”
The singer’s team also said that they considered ‘players gonna play’ and ‘haters gonna hate’ as “public domain cliches”. “These men are not the originators, or creators, of the common phrases ‘Players’ or ‘Haters’ or combinations of them,” a representative for Swift said”.
It is a shame that, in some ways, Shake It Off has been a little tarnished by legal issues. I admit that there are better Taylor Swift songs. For those who are uninitiated or have never bonded with her music, Shake It Off is a song hard to dislike. Swift has grown as an artist since 2014’s 1989 - though I feel songs like Shake It Off are the type that will endure and influence others for years to come. Last year, as Forbes write, Shake It Off received quite an honour:
“Taylor Swift is no stranger to critical and commercial accolades, and on Friday, she collected one that few artists ever achieve: a diamond certification from the RIAA for her smash hit “Shake It Off.”
A diamond certification represents sales and streams exceeding 10 million units in the United States. “Shake It Off” is Swift’s first single to reach this milestone, and it’s her second diamond certification overall behind her 2008 sophomore album, Fearless. The RIAA’s latest award makes Swift the first female artist in U.S. history to have both a diamond-certified single and album, per Chart Data.
Swift released “Shake It Off” as the lead single off her 2014 album, 1989. The song rocketed to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, consummating the singer’s shift from country darling to global pop superstar, which she had begun on her previous album, Red. Its music video has also earned more than 2.8 billion YouTube views. 1989 spawned two more No. 1 singles, “Blank Space” and “Bad Blood,” which are certified 8x platinum and 6x platinum by the RIAA, respectively”.
If you are someone who feels Taylor Swift is a guilty pleasure artists and her music is for a teenage audience or has restricted appeal, then have a listen back through her albums. There is no denying her success, quality and popularity. Maybe ‘coolness’ is a factor that influences many when it comes to music. The much-streamed and loved Shake It Off is a pretty decent track that…
SHOULD be played loud.