And that’s an understatement. She’s record-breaking popular, in fact.
Taylor Swift’s new album, Red, is projected to sell over 1 million units in its first week. If it does, Swift will be the first female performer in the Nielson Soundscan era (which began in 1991) to have done that twice. According to Billboard, she has already sold over 500,000 copies since the disc was released in iTunes on Monday. Swift’s last album, Speak Now, also topped the million mark in its first week.
The only other singers or groups to have two albums that debuted to a million-plus week are The Backstreet Boys, NSync and Eminem. (Via)
Real talk: I like the album, and love “State of Grace” in a way only 12-year-old girls should. I’ve come to terms with this. T-Swift has a polarizing persona (rightly so; in public, she’s all “oh golly little ol’ me,” but in her songs, she’ll throw lover after lover under the bus because of girl power, or something), but if you look past that and solely focus on the songs, Red is a solidly produced, self-assured pop (an important distinction to make) album. It’s polished and everything sounds exactly where it should be, but it’s distinctly and unapologetically a TAYLOR SWIFT ALBUM — she’s the one calling the shots. She gives her fans exactly what they want, sure, in revenge fairy tales come to life, but that’s at least partially because her fans have crafted their entire identities around her songs. When you hear a Taylor Swift song on the radio, you know it’s a Taylor Swift song. In a fractured, disposable identity pop music scene (and Red is all pop, no country), there’s something to be said for that.
Then again, every time I see her do this:
I want to pull all my hair out and punch EVERYONE.
