Taylor Swift
Out Of The Woods (Single release from ‘1989’ album)
(Big Machine Label Group)
‘Wait a minute!’ you may cry – ‘The works of this pop music queen/goddess are hardly aimed at veteran guitar rockers ..’ Which is probably true, however the aim of this site is to cover as wide a range of musical creations as we can, why limit ourselves?
A small revelation, I was at Ms Swift’s first major gig in this country, Shepherds Bush Empire May 2009. Having heard a little about a young country singer/songwriter I had bought tickets at the standard price, some months ahead and awaited the gig date. In the meantime, the lithe lass has a huge hit with ‘Love Story’ and its quasi-Disney video and the teenage girls of the metropolis are now aching to be at this show. Hence the bunch of Dads in the Gents and at the bar complaining bitterly at having to shell out big bucks to the ticket scalpers to have their daughters be present at the Shepherds Bush show. I could have sold my tickets for a tidy sum and gone home, but journalistic duty and curiosity led me to the balcony.
The show was slick but very well done plus a first rate young country rock band made it cohesive and appeared to be enjoying themselves. As with the great Andre Rieu, if the ensemble on the stage are having fun, it’s likely that the punters will too. Swift seemed bowled over by the crowd response and vowed to return to the UK.
I left the show impressed by the music and performance – it wasn’t Alice In Chains and didn’t need to be – BUT hoping Taylor wouldn’t feel the need to compete with the likes of Katy Perry and Lady Gaga ( who I has also tipped for global success ahead of her single releases). Of course, Taylor did. And for me her music since has not been as satisfying as at that early show.
Now mega-rich, confident and known all over the world, Taylor Swift is an unstoppable pop empress. This is the SIXTH single taken from her ‘1989’ album release. The sixth…wow.
Produced by Swift and Jack Antonoff the look of the accompanying video is very Hunger Games fantasy thriller style. We see a girl forlorn on a beach – guess who – who is then swept off into various elemental scenarios over a grimy electro pulse.
When you write comedy, anything funny that happens domestically tends to drop into your ‘For Later Use’ mental file. So you get used to your other half spitting out ‘ I bet you use this in one of your..jokes’….similarly anyone becoming romantically involved for any length of time with this female will be – or should be – aware that they are Future Song Fodder. A song will appear, drenched in acid and scowls casting you as wrong-doer, liar, failure and worthy of universal contempt. And ‘Out Of The Woods’ is another one, kids! The subject – let’s keep this anonymous eh? and call him Larry Piles – is a walking bag of the brown stuff, unworthy – in retrospect – of the love of our heroine. Now he can be seen a talentless rogue, a ne’erdowell who has probably never washed his hair and dresses like a clown. May he be damned forever and this song a constant reminder of his scumbag status. Current beau beware!
Thus Swift and her lovely endless legs career though vegetation, race from canine horrors, plunge into water, mud, filth and puddles. With a damn catchy chorus and fashionable pop production. Icicles, tendrils and snowstorms can’t stop Swift from looking beautiful, of course and deserving of our admiration for overcoming troubles.
The coda brings up the phrase ‘ She lost Him….but she found Herself ’…..you would need a heart of stone not to laugh out loud. Maybe Larry dodged a bullet, there. Might the angel be a touch high-maintenance, one wonders? Dare one wonder?
There cannot be a current pop performer on this planet more adept at giving her audience exactly what they want. For that Taylor deserves respect, but real tenderness ain’t on the storyboard here.
Pete Sargeant
(Many thanks to our friend Kate Head at Stoked PR for this single and video)
Watch the single music video here:
www.talyorswift.com will give you more general information
