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Tommy · Guru

Shania in Veja magazine (Brazil) - May 30, 2012

Clyvia · Newbie

All the article emphasizes Taylor Swift, in general talks about the evolution of country music and says that Shania innovated using guitars in your songs and used her sensuality with provocative necklines, what was once unthinkable for the veterans of country music.

Tommy · Guru

Clyvia wrote:
All the article emphasizes Taylor Swift, in general talks about the evolution of country music and says that Shania innovated using guitars in your songs and used her sensuality with provocative necklines, what was once unthinkable for the veterans of country music.

Thanks!

barebackwarrior · Senior Member

I have Brazilian friends so I understand some Portuguese. The article suggests that Taylor Swift is a modern day Loretta Lynn who employs a more urbanized sound as she comes from Pennsylvania, a northern state. The only thing the article credits Shania Twain for is bringing sex appeal to country music and giving the fashion an update as well as her being a really successful Canadian country singer.

No offense to Taylor Swift, but she doesn't compare to Loretta Lynn. She might sing about the things that are most relevant to her, but I've met plenty of hard living teenagers whose lives are not just about chasing boys or girls, getting stood up, dreaming about fairytale love, high school affairs and typical middle class problems. Swift brings a white collar attitude to country music whereas Loretta Lynn had a blue collar perspective. But if you analyze social trends it is not surprising to see Taylor Swift embraced as country. Farms are a thing of the past in many parts of the country.

The traditional country life of the house on a farm in a rural area becomes less the norm. Today more people live in suburbs and metropolitan areas. Corporations own most of the farms that produce our foods; they also own many of the companies that used to be locally and domestically owned, which means that we are less likely to see a blue collar perspective in country music. All of these shifts seem to point that singers like Swift will likely be the norm and the only other perspective to be heard in country is that of the poor people who live in trailer parks, government housing, short term living arrangements like rooms and hotels, and the intermittently homeless. If anything, Gretchen Wilson has more in common with Loretta Lynn than Taylor Swift. But she's not popular these days and the magazine has to sell.