Taylor Swift’s tenth album “Midnights” has made her the most popular artist ever. It is praised by international media: British The Guardian gives the album top marks, the leading music website Pitchfork gives the album seven out of ten, while the magazine Rolling Stones is convinced that the album must be seen as yet another classic from Swift. But in Norway, the music announcers have proven to be a tougher audience than their international colleagues. – Scandalously weak With the new album, the artist has broken her own record from 2017. The record is the only one since her album “Reputation” that has sold one million copies in the first week. “Midnights” was released on Friday night and broke the record in just three days, according to Variety. Music announcer Audun Vinger in DN is alone in Norway in calling the album one of the very best pop albums of the year. Robert Hoftun Gjestan in Aftenposten thinks the album starts promisingly, but ends up being repetitive and boring. He gives it a roll of the dice 3. The harshest in the judgment is the music reporter for news P3, Espen Borge, who thinks the album is “scandalously weak”. He rolls the dice 2. Borge thinks it is difficult to answer why there are such large gaps between Norwegian media and American and British media. But he thinks it is a repeating pattern. – I have noticed that Rolling Stone and The Guardian often give good reviews, they are perhaps very happy with great artists, and happy to praise the established. It’s just speculation. But I don’t feel that they are really looking for new impulses. – Something fundamental that is bridging the gap between Norwegian and foreign messages is also something that music producer Pia Skevik in news P1 has noticed. On Facebook, she has shared the message to Rolling Stone about Swift’s album, where she writes, among other things, the following: “Impossible not to love people who (really) know what they’re talking about, and don’t just try to paint condescending pastel insults to be the coolest in class.” Photo: Screenshot She disagrees with Aftenposten’s report, but thinks the message is thorough and factual. She misses that in the message to Borge. – There is something fundamentally jarring when P3’s Borge starts his slaughter by admitting that he has neither heard particularly much of Taylor Swift before nor likes her particularly well in the first place. The beginning of the message that Skevik refers to reads like this: “Taylor Swift (32) was never my favorite artist in the 2010s. She sounded streamlined, unoriginal and predictable.” Borge himself thinks it is irrelevant to compare the Swift of the 2010s with today’s Swift. – Her two previous albums, “Folklore” and “Evermore”, which I think are very good and gave a dice roll of 5, those are the ones I compare them to. She has become a much more interesting artist in the last ten years, and then slightly different demands are made, he says. “Guteklubben halvgrei” Skevik does not think Swift has gained a strong enough foothold in Norway to be taken seriously by what she calls “guteklubben halvgrei”. – An interesting exception is DN’s Audun Vinger, who in any case after more than 20 years as a music reporter remains the only person I have read who has not once tried to make an ironic career coin by slaughtering someone because it is popular , she says. Both Gjestan and Borge deny that their messages are influenced by all the popularity of the album. Music announcer and journalist Robert Hoftun Gjestad in Aftenposten. Photo: Stig Jaarvik / news – You can’t go on like this, but we have to deal with the product. I have no need to be contrary. It doesn’t matter that I think differently. I try not to have made up my mind before I start a message, says Gjestan. Borge points out that Swift’s music has a broad target audience. – I understand that that criticism can be directed at old men who sit and report youth music. But I don’t feel Swift’s only youth music for long. I take a lot of pride in my messages to be objective, says Borge. – Tendency to be critical of pop music Erik Rydning is behind the music podcast Popstalgi and is not surprised that there is a gap between Norwegian and foreign messages. – Before the album “Folklore” it was not particularly recognized among music connoisseurs to like Swift. After that, things have turned around, and people have taken notice of her writing. He thinks Norwegian music commentators tend to be too critical of pop music. In common with other reviewers, Rydning believes that “Midnights” merges “Folklore” and the more “poppy” Swift that you know from the time before “Folklore”. – Maybe that’s why it takes time before music reviewers can like it. I think the album can help raise awareness of pop music and what it can be. CRITICAL: Rydning believes that Norwegian music critics are sometimes too critical of pop music. Photo: Stig Jaarvik / news – No stranger to controversy Taylor Swift has been the main character in several controversies. The most famous one that has followed her for the longest time is perhaps her turbulent relationship with Kanye West. The feud between the two dates back to 2009, when Kanye West decided to interrupt Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV Awards. Now fans have speculated whether Swift is coming back with a kick back, now divorced couple Kim Kardashian and Kanye West on the new song “Vigilante Shit”. There, Swift sings, among other things: “Now she gets the house, gets the kids, gets the pride / Picture me, thick as thieves with your ex-wife.”
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New album receives praise abroad, but slaughtered in Norway – news Culture and entertainment
