Taylor Swift at BBMAS: What are the keys to her enduring success?
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
Taylor Swift won multiple prizes at the on May 17, including such major awards as Top Artist, the Billboard Chart Achievement Award, and Top Female Artist.
In addition to those prizes, Swift also took the Top Billboard 200 Album prize for her work 鈥�1989,鈥� the Top Billboard 200 Artist award, the Top Hot 100 Artist prize, the Top Digital Songs Artist, and the Top Streaming Song (video) for her track 鈥淪hake It Off.鈥� In addition, the star-studded music video for Swift鈥檚 new song 鈥淏ad Blood鈥� played at the Billboard Music Awards ceremony.聽
How has Swift continued to dominate music? Various factors have contributed to her success. According to the , country music, the genre in which Swift鈥檚 first albums were officially released, became the most popular genre over top 40 music as of early 2014. 鈥淐ountry鈥檚 audience has grown stronger, wider, and younger,鈥� NYT writer Ben Sisario wrote.聽
In addition, Swift has been praised by many for her songwriting and knowing how to win over an audience from the beginning. Her debut album, 鈥淭aylor Swift,鈥� wasn鈥檛 reviewed by many, but after the release of her 2008 album, 鈥淔earless,鈥� critic Alexis Petridis wrote that 鈥渟he is fantastically good at regarding teenage life with a kind of wistful, sepia-toned nostalgia,鈥� while critic Jody Rosen wrote of 鈥淔earless,鈥� 鈥淪wift is a songwriting savant with an intuitive gift for verse-chorus-bridge architecture鈥� It's hard not to be won over by the guilelessness of Swift's high-school-romance narratives.鈥� And things got even better after that 鈥� for her second-newest album 鈥淩ed,鈥� writer James Reed wrote that 鈥渢he songwriting is leagues ahead of where Swift was as recently as two years ago.鈥�
Her announcement that her newest album, 鈥�1989,鈥� would be a pop album was also a smart move. Just four months after the NYT article about the popularity of country that called Swift 鈥渋ts biggest star,鈥� Swift said that 鈥�1989,鈥� the album released in October, would be her 鈥渇irst, documented, official pop album.鈥� It was a better move to simply acknowledge that her recent work was far from traditional country. 鈥淒oes anyone still think of Taylor Swift as a country artist anymore?" Rolling Stone聽contributing editor聽Anthony DeCurtis asked in an interview. "She's very career-savvy, and I'm sure she and her handlers are convinced she can withstand any potential blowback. And I would agree.鈥� It certainly doesn鈥檛 seem to have hurt her if those recent Billboard wins are any indication.聽
And Swift knows how to market herself. writer Rob Schwartz wrote of Swift鈥檚 鈥�1989鈥� campaign that 鈥渉er dexterity with the marketing maze of today is only rivaled by her facile way with words and chords,鈥� praising her partnerships with companies and how she engages with fans, including question-and-answer sessions on Twitter and Skype. writer Eddy Badrina pointed to Swift as a marketing example for companies to follow and agreed that her treatment of fans is one of the most successful factors. 鈥淭aylor Swift has built her brand around doing personal things for her fans,鈥� Badrina wrote. 鈥淪he engages with them on a variety of social networks. She gives them the freedom to create their own content about her (she even admitted to doing weird things on purpose so her fans can make GIFs). She trusts that this personal engagement聽will help ensure聽her shows sell out in 15 minutes for years to come.鈥澛�
With 鈥�1989鈥� still ranked at number nine on the months after its release and Swift currently involved in a , it鈥檚 obvious the singer isn鈥檛 going anywhere anytime soon.
