Taylor for Elle - Label Disputes *New Snippets*

[Muh 144]

Queen of Everything tbh

 

 

This brought back all those sad memories from 2012 when Born This Way was robbed AOTY

 

[Prometheus 1,494]

​i hope so

idk whats so special about 1998

anyway her story reminds me of gaga when adele ruined her special night

​My heart.

[Yves 1,891]

Do you know how many sit downs I got at the label about that? A lot of me making this album was me going in the studio, making something I loved, and showing it to the label and getting a principle’s-office discussion. Like, “Young lady, you know you’re not going to sell as many albums if you’re not labeled as country.”

​She proved them wrong. Invisible Queen.

Thank God it worked out. If we’d sold one album less than a million in the first week, it would have been two years of “Taylor, we told you.” So glad we sold almost 1.3 [million] in the first week.”

​Queen of high standards.  

[AyaKara 2,281]

I never really listened to Taylor, but I really like this interview. She's really bold, eloquent, and very logical but warm at the same time. It's what attracted me to Gaga, too. Going to give Taylor a listen!

[Whispering 18,865]

Taylor is a smart business person. She writes her songs and has a definite vision of how she wants the album to come together. That's the kind of artist that impresses me! 

[Bebe 17,099]

I like this interview.

It actually reminds me about what Gaga talked about during TFM. 

"My record label didn't want to put out that photo that's my album cover, with the brown hair. They were like, "It's confusing, it's too dark, you look gothic, it's not pop," and I said, "You don't know what pop is, because everyone was telling me I wasn't pop last year, and now look — so don't tell me what pop is, I know what pop is." It's funny, because I fought and fought and fought, and I actually ended up having two covers, because I wanted to do this yin and yang presentation with the covers. When I go to see what my fans are saying, I go onto GagaDaily — they see the cover and say, "I don't really like the blonde one, but the brown one is ****ing sick. They love it, and I know what they love, so I make it for them, I don't care what anybody else wants."

[Celina 118]

​But what does "Gaga hasn't dated much for a popstar" insinuate? Do pop stars and us normal folk have different dating standards? Should she have dated more before getting engaged so people could slam her as a slut like they do Taylor? The only reason Taylor's relationships are on public display is because the paparazzi cannot leave celebrities alone for more than six seconds, and every guy she's photographed with is automatically assumed as a **** buddy. It's not like she drags them around to every awards show and has s-x in the front lawn; her relationships would be just as private as, say, Lana Del Rey's, but she's on a much bigger platform than Lana. She always steers away from specific relationship questions in interviews; most song-partner relationships are just assumed. Up until she was spotted with Calvin, she had been single for a long while in fear of people poking holes in her relationship's strength.

I never said she doesn't take risks (because the finalized transfer to pop was a huge risk in itself, as she said in this interview), but I don't see her putting more than two years between her albums, transferring to stupid lyrics that take a translator to interpret, or pole-dancing at the VMAs. I doubt she's holding back much of her inner creativity, and there's no reason for her to resort to stupid stunts when being herself is working just fine for her.

Gaga's first blackout was injury-induced, but she blew the whole ordeal way out of proportion during the few weeks that she actually promoted ARTPOP before meltdown 2.0. Have you noticed that all of the criticisms (some of which that are just petty) that have been hurled at Gaga (her album being posied to flop before it had even been released, being called fat, not even the fans loving her new work, being compared to more popular popstars, being told her career was over) have also been hurled at some other stars? In particular, does Christina Aguilera ring a bell? Yet, it seems as if she still is managing to survive without building her own website to #PromoteOnlineKindness and block out any opposing opinion to her work.

As for her composition of Mean and break-up songs, what constitutes a worthy situation for basing a song off of? She didn't invent the break-up song, but she's one of the few artists that has the integrity to write her own. Half of the artists on the scene today can't even write their own songs or write anything deeper than "pop that kitty down low, drop that kitty down low." Taylor may have written Mean about being told that she can't sing, but let's look at Gaga again, who wrote Do What U Want because some people called her fat. "You can't sing" and "You're fat" are both on the same caliber, so what makes Do What U Want and Mean so different?

​Ok, before I get into this, I want to point out that it really annoys me that Taylor's personal life is being used as ammo by detractors. However, you really don't have to make light of what Gaga has been through.

What makes DWUW (and the whole blackout situation, really) different is that things like weight are probably extremely sensitive issues for someone like Gaga, who has struggled with self-image and eating disorders. So no, "you can't sing" and "you're fat" are not on the same caliber. Her trust was also broken during that time, among other things, and she at least implied struggling with depression. She tried to block out the negativity because she was clearly at the point where support was what she needed. Please remember that everyone deals with things differently & don't act like she was being whiny or thin-skinned because of her coping mechanisms, because NONE of those things are easy to face, especially with depression, and it's actually very offensive to insinuate that they are. 

With that said, again, I don't think it's fair to use Taylor's relationship history to bring her down. It's really not a big deal at all. I also don't think Mean blew anything out of proportion.

[Whispering 18,865]

​Writing negatively about Taylor is me being impartial. I admit when she has her good moments too, it's just you don't see too much of that. Like every critic, I critique the good and the bad. If Taylor ever makes an album that truly surprises me, I'll eat some humble pie. It's just she hasn't done it yet. I feel like a lot of critics must be getting paid to write good reviews for her as I find it very difficult to imagine that respected middle aged critics think that Taylor's elementery, basic songwriting and over-done topics is anything amazing. I feel some negative reviews might help her get better. And please note that my opinion and facts are different things. I make it clear when I'm referring to opinions and facts.

​I'm critical of some things Gaga and Lana have done too. Gaga had some dodgy relationships in the past, yes, but she's only had two known boyfriends since she became famous. One of them was an old ex and the other is the one she is currently engaged to after 3 years together. That sounds pretty respectable for me. Gaga hasn't dated much for a popstar. And Lana has only had one known boyfriend since she became famous too and keeps her private life private. Yes, she had some eyebrow raising relationships in the past that we don't know the full story on, but she's left all that behind. What I like about both of them is that they don't let their relationships be of such importantce to the public. We know a bit too much about Taylor's past boyfriends and I feel like she uses that to her advantage when she creates her breakup songs, as it keeps the public guessing and wanting to tune in. Just because her contemporaries may have worse issues doesn't mean that her issues aren't concerning.

 And yes, she hasn't flopped because she won't take risks, another one of her flaws. That may be smart business sense, but it doesn't half make for a limiting sense of creativity and being true to oneself.

I have a hard time believing that Taylor has a thick skin when she dedicated her song, Mean, to ONE critic who said she couldn't sing (she'd have a field day with me, huh?), writes scathing songs about all her exes and anyone who's ever "wronged" her, got a Shane Dawson parody of Blank Space taken down because she simply didn't like it, considers not winning the AOTY title for the SECOND time to be a failure and considers a parody of her 3-month relationship pattern by two comedians to be heavy criticism. That's the definition of having a thin skin.

Since the day Taylor started singing her songs to the country crowd, her songwriting has been praised by the critics. They aren't being paid, they simply know well-written songs when they hear them. 

Why is having a long term relationship considered "respectable", but dating several people isn't? I know PLENTY of very stable females who date way more than 4 or 5 guys a year. Some women just don't seem to pick the right guys, or they aren't really ready for a long term relationship in the first place. Who's to say what is "respectable" and what isn't? 

Taylor hasn't flopped because she has written songs that people can relate to and love to sing along with. She took risks the last couple of albums...to the extent that her label was begging her to change the plan and direction of her album. Going all pop, and leaving the crossover world, could have been a bad decision...and one that could have kept her from ever going back to her country roots. That was a big risk!

Taylor started out writing country songs and she has carried that style into her pop songs. That's why she writes in great detail about what she knows. Country music is about the details of real life, not about ideas, like much of pop music. Country music isn't about smoothing over the rough edges, it is about putting a microscope to those rough parts! If you listened to country music over the years, you can hear a difference between the way that most pop songs vs country songs are written. That's why we get detailed relationship songs from Taylor, instead of a general "I'm sad" song, like we would get in most of pop songs. Country music has been full of heartache and breaking up songs for as long as it has been around. Despite Taylor's album being pop, she's still a country music writer.

[Kayla 7,595]

​Um, To Pimp A butterfly will probably win it

​It better. If 1989 beats out TPaB I'm going to be PISSED. imo, Kendrick's album is better. He took more risks, there's more meaning in the lyrics, and he tried different techniques in the album as a whole. He didn't take old sounds and put his own twist to them, he made something very unique. 

This interview excerpt actually makes me respect Taylor, and I think she could get best Pop album for 1989, but if AOTY goes to anyone by Kendrick I'm leaving this planet. 

[Kayla 7,595]

​I love rap but it's so overrated tbh, when someone makes an amazing rap album its like the second coming of Jesus, yet when someone makes an amazing pop album it's like meh, like its expected for every pop album to be a masterpiece. 1989 deserves it, screw the grammys

​Have you looked at the lyrical content of To Pimp a Butterfly? There's diversity in the songs, "literary merit" (I forget what that's called in music, but symbolism, references, etc.) he uses different techniques and even changes his voice to create different characters without calling it an "alter ego," and the album flows together nicely. 

It's not as much of a bop as 1989, but as an album it has more depth. 

Taylor reusing solid techniques from the 80s and singing about love again isn't unique or deep, although it's fun and enjoyable. It's not that 1989 is low quality, it's high quality, but it lacks that extra oomph that makes it an album truly worth remembering. 

[StrawberryBlond 14,898]

 But what does "Gaga hasn't dated much for a popstar" insinuate? Do pop stars and us normal folk have different dating standards? Should she have dated more before getting engaged so people could slam her as a slut like they do Taylor? The only reason Taylor's relationships are on public display is because the paparazzi cannot leave celebrities alone for more than six seconds, and every guy she's photographed with is automatically assumed as a **** buddy. It's not like she drags them around to every awards show and has s-x in the front lawn; her relationships would be just as private as, say, Lana Del Rey's, but she's on a much bigger platform than Lana. She always steers away from specific relationship questions in interviews; most song-partner relationships are just assumed. Up until she was spotted with Calvin, she had been single for a long while in fear of people poking holes in her relationship's strength.

I never said she doesn't take risks (because the finalized transfer to pop was a huge risk in itself, as she said in this interview), but I don't see her putting more than two years between her albums, transferring to stupid lyrics that take a translator to interpret, or pole-dancing at the VMAs. I doubt she's holding back much of her inner creativity, and there's no reason for her to resort to stupid stunts when being herself is working just fine for her.

Gaga's first blackout was injury-induced, but she blew the whole ordeal way out of proportion during the few weeks that she actually promoted ARTPOP before meltdown 2.0. Have you noticed that all of the criticisms (some of which that are just petty) that have been hurled at Gaga (her album being posied to flop before it had even been released, being called fat, not even the fans loving her new work, being compared to more popular popstars, being told her career was over) have also been hurled at some other stars? In particular, does Christina Aguilera ring a bell? Yet, it seems as if she still is managing to survive without building her own website to #PromoteOnlineKindness and block out any opposing opinion to her work.

As for her composition of Mean and break-up songs, what constitutes a worthy situation for basing a song off of? She didn't invent the break-up song, but she's one of the few artists that has the integrity to write her own. Half of the artists on the scene today can't even write their own songs or write anything deeper than "pop that kitty down low, drop that kitty down low." Taylor may have written Mean about being told that she can't sing, but let's look at Gaga again, who wrote Do What U Want because some people called her fat. "You can't sing" and "You're fat" are both on the same caliber, so what makes Do What U Want and Mean so different?

​It's just that popstars are known for dating a lot (Madonna, J.Lo, Britney, Taylor, etc). Gaga is one of a small group who have only had a small number of relationships since being famous. Plenty of other celebrity women get pictured with random men, but they're only connected to them if they're currently single or are known for serial dating, which is at least understandable. Taylor wouldn't get hounded for who she's dating if she actually took a break from it.

By taking risks, I don't mean selling out and being s-xual. I mean going back to writing real country music with no pop hooks. She's not risk taking, she's conforming. Her going pop was a natural progression - she's got more pop with every album, making her transformation just under a decade in the making. I hardly call that a risk. Since when is making pop music a risk? That's the kind of music you make to get popular. Taylor proved with Red that the public are here for her pop songs, so even if she lost some of her country music fans, she's gained new pop fans. We've seen her fans stick around for her pop work, so it wasn't like she was leaping into the unknown by making an album that her longtime fans might not like.

Yes, other artists have had to suffer the same kind of backlash Gaga has (I even mentioned Xtina's name previously) and yes, some of them did go into a blackout period afterwards. Had it not been for The Voice (and by extension, her co-judge asking her to do a feature on his song), she would have gone into hiding like she always does after an album. She's currently doing that - Lotus flopped even harder than Bionic and she responded to that by taking a break from The Voice judging and went out of the public eye to work on her album. She's barely been seen for the last 2 years. So, your example of her wasn't the best. I could give you a long list of artists who took a blackout period after a failed album or public backlash. As I keep saying, Taylor has never endured that, so she's never had to make a comeback or redeem herself, so how do you know if she'd respond so positively if she did?

My point is that making a song about one critic's opinion seems too nitpicky. It's like, get over it. Use the bad review to line your cat's litter tray and move on. If a whole bunch of critics brought her down, that's a bit more understandable, but one? Plus, a professional critic's job is to critique a singer and if the singer can't sing, they should say so. Taylor is essentially belitting someone for doing their job. And she goes for the jugular: she calls the guy "a liar and pathetic and alone in life." That's meaner than anything he said to her. But you know what, I could have accepted the song a whole lot more if she'd just made it a song about mean people in general. A feel good anthem for every victim of bullying. A nice gesture for her fans who can sing along to it and relate. But she destroys the relatability factor when she drops that killer line: "drunk and rambling on about how I can't sing." And suddenly, it's revealed that the song was about her all along and comes across as self-absorbed. And as for comparing it to DWUW, like Cellie said a few posts above, Gaga's reasons for such a song were much more severe. Being called fat is worse than being told you can't sing. Gaga once had an eating disorder and still struggled with her diet to this day. When someone like that gets called fat, it can trigger a relapse and it's an evil word that haunts them. Being told you can't sing is factual and something you can improve on. There may be a few people who breakdown after having their singing trashed but it's nowhere near as widespread as the amount of people who develop eating disorders after being called fat. Gaga kept the song reasonably relatable for her audience and never made it overly personal, so it could be a comfort to a lot of people, not just her.

Since the day Taylor started singing her songs to the country crowd, her songwriting has been praised by the critics. They aren't being paid, they simply know well-written songs when they hear them. 

Why is having a long term relationship considered "respectable", but dating several people isn't? I know PLENTY of very stable females who date way more than 4 or 5 guys a year. Some women just don't seem to pick the right guys, or they aren't really ready for a long term relationship in the first place. Who's to say what is "respectable" and what isn't? 

Taylor hasn't flopped because she has written songs that people can relate to and love to sing along with. She took risks the last couple of albums...to the extent that her label was begging her to change the plan and direction of her album. Going all pop, and leaving the crossover world, could have been a bad decision...and one that could have kept her from ever going back to her country roots. That was a big risk!

Taylor started out writing country songs and she has carried that style into her pop songs. That's why she writes in great detail about what she knows. Country music is about the details of real life, not about ideas, like much of pop music. Country music isn't about smoothing over the rough edges, it is about putting a microscope to those rough parts! If you listened to country music over the years, you can hear a difference between the way that most pop songs vs country songs are written. That's why we get detailed relationship songs from Taylor, instead of a general "I'm sad" song, like we would get in most of pop songs. Country music has been full of heartache and breaking up songs for as long as it has been around. Despite Taylor's album being pop, she's still a country music writer.

​Well, I may not be a professional critic, but in all the music I've reviewed, I've learned a thing about good songwriting and Taylor's efforts are average at best. There's a few other songwriters that get bigged up that I aslo disagree with, but Taylor is the one I can understand the least. If I, a 25 year old (her age), finds her songwriting childish and bland, surely a much older person will echo it too? Her repeated praise from respected critics really baffles me. Meanwhile, Lana Del Rey had to work so hard to be taken seriously by critics and still isn't considered a phenomenal songwriter, despite her lyrics being a million light years above Taylor's.

Well, yes, it's hard to say what's respectable, but admit it, dating a lot of people isn't good for your reputation, especially when you're a woman. It's s-xist and men aren't chastised in the same way, but like it or not, it happens. Not all serial daters or bed-hoppers are bad people but their reputation suffers whether they like it or not. Which can prevent you from finding the perfect partner later. It's no wonder celebrities who date a lot ultimately can't seem to find that one person they stay with forever - they start to become notorious and someone not to go to if you're looking for a "real relationship."

I explained how going pop was not a risk at all in my reply above. I really am mystified at people who claim that this pop transformation was the biggest risk of her career. On the contrary, it was the ultimate conformity.

Well, I'm not a country music fan, but I do find a charm in some "real" country music better than Taylor's brand of country pop. I've never liked country pop at all. Real country is gritty and heartwrenching and country pop diluted the genre until it was so bland. And it turned country songs into more wholesome pop songs. So, I basically have always seen Taylor as pop songwriter. Admittedly, some of her earlier country influenced stuff was better but still not on the level of "real" country artists. I sometimes wonder how they feel about people like her becoming world famous and being awarded while they barely get the recognition for doing the genre right.

 

[Pop 4,541]

​Reading through this thread, I was quite stunned by your responses. You seem hung up on Taylor's public relationships, yet you are on a Lady Gaga fan site with a Lana Del Rey avatar. I admire Lady Gaga, Lana Del Rey, and Taylor Swift, but I'd like to argue that Taylor Swift's 'three-month' relationships are a bit more respectable than Gaga's go-go dancing, d--g-abusing past and Del Rey's nods towards submissive and abusive relationships and prostitution.

Taylor grew up within the reach of the public eye (just like Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, Britney Spears, etc.), and her relationship troubles are such petty things to get caught up on compared to her contemporaries' problems. Failed relationships are really nothing to be ashamed of.

Everyone has struggles in life. It's insensitive to say that her criticisms are supposedly not as significant as those thrown toward Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera, and so on. Her platform is huge, which gives more room for people to find fault: she sings flat live, she writes a bunch of songs about guys, she dates a lot of guys, she had the body shape of a 2x4, she dances awkwardly, etc. The only reason why she hasn't been criticized for a flop era like the artists you listed is because she won't allow herself to risk her success. She's an incredibly smart businesswoman and knows how to stay at the forefront of the public eye, which is probably why Big Machine rightfully gives her free reign. She sets high standards for herself and clearly knows how to achieve them without some record executives shooting her in another direction.

You may see her as the 'thinnest-skinned' celebrity on the scene, but she's not the artist that threw herself into two whiny, self-loathing blackout periods because she was heavily criticized. She can transform any criticism she gets into multi-platinum pieces of work (see: Blank Space, in which she is able to poke fun at herself and media response to her) instead of melting down and blocking the world out. With this brainpower, she will always come out on top.

​oop! 

drag them

[Gagamel 3,410]

​Have you looked at the lyrical content of To Pimp a Butterfly? There's diversity in the songs, "literary merit" (I forget what that's called in music, but symbolism, references, etc.) he uses different techniques and even changes his voice to create different characters without calling it an "alter ego," and the album flows together nicely. 

It's not as much of a bop as 1989, but as an album it has more depth. 

Taylor reusing solid techniques from the 80s and singing about love again isn't unique or deep, although it's fun and enjoyable. It's not that 1989 is low quality, it's high quality, but it lacks that extra oomph that makes it an album truly worth remembering. 

​It also took like 50 or more people to write To Pimp a Butterfly while it took 5 or so to write 1989.
Just because he doesn't call his different characters alter egos doesn't mean the concept is new.
While 1989 was influenced by the 80s, To Pimp a Butterfly was influenced by the 60s and i really didn't notice any amazingly new techniques or whatever while listening to it.
I am not saying the album is not worthy of the success it has got, the album is really amazing, but i think it is heavily overrated since Kendrick is the new thing right now, same way people think 1989 is overrated which i also agree with to some extent.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was not even nominated for AOTY and i dare say it is better than To Pimp a Butterfly, yes that year had Adele and Gaga but it is without a doubt, in my opinion, a better album.

 

Anyway, i can't at these people taking Taylor's critiques lightly compared to others. Just because it seems like a little thing to you it does not mean it's easy on her. For example calling me fat does nothing but calling someone else, that is self conscious of their body, fat might make them self harm or whatnot. It's the same thing with Taylor. You can't possibly know what effect that has on someone since you are not that person. It is bullying and you can't pick and choose when you're gonna tolerate it. "ermg they called gags fat? how dare they" "they called taylor a *****? well its true she dates everyone!"
 

[Kayla 7,595]

​It also took like 50 or more people to write To Pimp a Butterfly while it took 5 or so to write 1989.Just because he doesn't call his different characters alter egos doesn't mean the concept is new.
While 1989 was influenced by the 80s, To Pimp a Butterfly was influenced by the 60s and i really didn't notice any amazingly new techniques or whatever while listening to it.
I am not saying the album is not worthy of the success it has got, the album is really amazing, but i think it is heavily overrated since Kendrick is the new thing right now, same way people think 1989 is overrated which i also agree with to some extent.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was not even nominated for AOTY and i dare say it is better than To Pimp a Butterfly, yes that year had Adele and Gaga but it is without a doubt, in my opinion, a better album.

 

Anyway, i can't at these people taking Taylor's critiques lightly compared to others. Just because it seems like a little thing to you it does not mean it's easy on her. For example calling me fat does nothing but calling someone else, that is self conscious of their body, fat might make them self harm or whatnot. It's the same thing with Taylor. You can't possibly know what effect that has on someone since you are not that person. It is bullying and you can't pick and choose when you're gonna tolerate it. "ermg they called gags fat? how dare they" "they called taylor a *****? well its true she dates everyone!"
 

Keep in mind TPaB has more writing credits but many of them are to the artists of songs Kendrick sampled who didn't write any new material for Kendrick's album. For example, Christopher Jasper is credited as a writer on "i," but he didn't write any of Kendrick's lyrics; he made a song years ago that was sampled. (and Kendrick personally asked Jasper face-to-face if he could re-record the original song to use)

(out of curiosity, have you listened to Kendrick's album in full and read the lyrics?)
The album title itself is a reference to "To Kill a Mockingbird," which also has meaning/symbolism. It's not just rap. There's jazz, funk, spoken word, poetry, it's a criticism of gang life with a positive twist on becoming a better person. 

Kendrick's album was to Rap what The Fame Monster was to Pop, albeit deeper and with more socially important roots and diversity in content. It was a critique of what Rap/Hip-Hop has become, but made with respect and hope for the future. 

Kendrick spoke out against gang wars, against violence and greed, against envy, and in support of black empowerment, digging into the deep parts of himself in a very depressing song and following it up with a positive one to indicate things will be alright, the music industry, colorism, racialized self-hatred, the lack of self-love in the streets (and the necessity of self-love), and the songs when listened to together, in order, tell a story that progresses from one track to another.

Kendrick made the album with the goal of telling a story, of being a part of a long line of leaders from Nelson Mandela, to Malcolm X, to Martin Luther King Jr., who inspired positivity in the black communities. He was also heavily inspired by Tupac Shakur and a trip to South Africa, speaking positively about his "motherland" in the song "Momma," it is believed; the idea of returning back to your roots. 

Taylor's inspirations included past lovers, minor media criticism, and losing a Grammy. Her lyrical content includes past love, relationships, new york, and a pop feud that hasn't gone beyond random subtle disses on Twitter. It's easier to bop to her album and the songs are more fun, but to say it deserves a Grammy (or any award meant to indicate music excellence) over Kendrick's is flat out whack. Best Pop album? Sure. She deserves that. Album of the Year? Not when To Pimp a Butterfly is a candidate. 

​We have the same opinion of each artist, but reversed.  You feel Kendrick's album is overrated because he's the new thing right now, I think 1989 is overrated because her going pop is the hot new thing right now. And honestly, looking at all the ideas, references, meaning, intention, etc. in To Pimp a Butterfly and saying it's overrated because he's "the new thing right now" is something I can't agree with for even a fraction of a second. It's getting the praise it deserves, every ounce of it. 

MBDTF was a damn good album- I still listen to that and the fact that it wasn't even nominated is cringe-worthy. But I disagree it's better than Kendrick's album. (And I'm one of the few people here who will honestly admit to being a Kanye fan, and I think Yeezus was one of the best albums that didn't get the respect it deserved)

I do agree with what you're saying about people who criticize Taylor's dating. It is questionable how she sings about falling in love, marriage, etc. yet seems to leave relationships between 2 and 4 months into it habitually, but we have no idea what's going on. I find it annoying how her music seems to revolve around her "love" and breakups, but I don't feel personally qualified to speak for or about her love life itself. 

[Redstreak 6,653]

I don't think anyone would say objectively that 1989 is better than TPaB. It's just not true. But at the same time we all know that the Grammy committee is not going to vote for records like that over other genres.