right-click

Is Taylor Swift Really All That?

Casey Ruble’s Isosceles (Yellow Wind) (2008).

Taylor Swift, according to a piece on the cover of this Sunday’s New York Times “Arts & Leisure” section, “has quickly established herself as the most remarkable country music breakthrough artist of the decade.” And indeed, we think we got a little fairy dust in our eyes listening to “You’re Not Sorry,” which debuted at No. 11 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100 chart. The second single off Fearless, out today, isn’t the stuff of redneck women but earnest suburban princesses, and while we can think of better songs from the last ten years (in fact, better songs by 18-year-old female singer-songwriters in the last ten years), this bittersweet bit of pop fluff succeeds splendidly. She’s an American idol, on her own terms.

Is Taylor Swift Really All That?