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ago in General Factchecking by Newbie (230 points)
In this article the author states many reasons for why Taylor swift is a bad artist. He uses reasonings such as lack of originality, unoriginal rhymes, repetitive reputation. But why does this classify someone as a bad artist? The author mentions how she uses the same rhymes for most of her songs but again that doesn't categorize someone as a bad artist. He also talks about how all of her songs are about relationships and breakups and thats why she's a bad artist. The author seems to really dislike Taylor swift as a whole by mentioning how unoriginal she is by using repetitive history throughout her songs yet started the article stating she's the pop idol who just finished the second most grossing tour by any artist ever. This source has no sources to back up why Taylor Swift is a "bad artist" and seems to just have a very opinionated claim. He talked nothing about her as a person and what she does as an artist. The author claims she's unoriginal but is probably the artist of the decade with millions and millions of fans. I find this claim hugely  exaggerated and untrue with the lack of references and facts to back up his claim.

6 Answers

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ago by Apprentice (1.3k points)

The main "claim" here is that "Taylor Swift is a bad musical artist."

The immediate problem here is that a claim should assert a statement as fact or true. The topic in the "claim" is a subject that can never be definitively established as such or the opposite.

The article from Medium, written by Curtis Stone, summarizes a compilation of pseudo-arguments in the author's attempt to "prove" Taylor Swift is, by a definition that is not fixed, a bad artist. Many of these use concepts and metrics presented in the form of statistical evidence, but the figures shown are related to the topics on which Taylor Swift bases her lyricism and specific words that may be commonplace throughout her songs.

None of these are evidential, impartial, or definitive metrics by which to measure how "good" or "bad" an artist Swift may be. 

The author also does not make a claim that is specific enough to assert a fact. Are they claiming that Taylor Swift is an unsuccessful artist? That Swift does not excel in popularity metrics? Or that Swift fails to make music that would be agreeably placed in the genre(s) she promotes that she makes? Which part of her music career, if not all, constitutes a conclusion that would be based on non-circumstantial, measurable, and fairly collected evidence? Because these questions must be asked, the author fails to adequately define "bad artist" to make an argument for their claim that Taylor Swift falls under this definition.

If an artist's being good or bad is measured by the mass appreciation of their creative works, then Swift currently stands to be one of the best artists of our time. Of course, that's a subjective statement, and it is not agreeable to everybody, nor shall it ever be.
Swift can continue to gain a larger and larger following just as easily as she can lose them en masse. A person's evaluation of the compatibility between her music and their tastes is not related to such.

TL;DR: This can be neither true nor false as the claim does not have a fact to assert. It is an article composed entirely of opinionated statements and circumstantial arguments. The author fails to define what composes a "bad artist," and with no definition, fails to apply the argument that Taylor Swift meets this criterion -- simply because such criteria are impossible for it to exist impartially and as a fact. The evaluation of whether or not Swift's music is appreciated or disliked is up to the person who listens to it, not a statement of fact that can be applied to the masses.

Can't be true or false (Opinion, poem, etc.)
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ago by Newbie (300 points)

The main claim stating Taylor Swift is a bad musical artist is false. This claim is ran on opinions and thoughts without any logical reasoning or facts. The first articles that come up on the internet are articles from Reddit and Quora. These two websites are ran off of unofficial opinions of others. From the source Sun News, we see the main claim stating Taylor Swift is a bad musician, but within the main claim, the article stats that this is nothing but an opinion.

 https://sunnewsdaily.com/stories/articles/2023/03/30/opinion-taylor-swift-is-all-too-overrated/

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ago by Newbie (300 points)

The article cited, is not from a credible source. It cites a variety of reasons that attempt to disqualify Taylor Swift as an artist, but fails to define the term artist. https://medium.com/theherald/taylor-swift-sucks-and-i-can-prove-it-cae12926e284

There are very few articles of credit  to be found calling Taylor Swift a bad artist. The top article in fact, is the one cited above. The issue with this piece is again it fails to set a bench mark. Taylor Swift is a bad artist compared to what? What constitutes a good artist? It cites her receptive lyrics and unoriginal rhymes and three rotating topics. All this to say, if there is no gauge for what makes someone a 'bad artist' the claim does not hold up. As seen in this article.

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ago by Newbie (300 points)

I was drawn to this claim as Taylor Swift is one of my favorite artists. While I would love to talk about how much I disagree with the writer, but on the practical side, he did not list any kind of factual evidence to prove his points. All he really did was talk about his opinions. I don’t think this claim can be true or false because everyone has a different music taste and every artist has different styles that others may not get a kick out of, i,e; this writer. The ending reads, So, Taylor Swift sucks. Not because she can’t sing, just because she does the same. . .exact. . .thing in every song. Maybe you love that and, well, good for you! I personally like my music with a bit more variety and character, but that’s an opinion.” Which definitely helps prove that this claim really can’t be counted as true or false.

Can't be true or false (Opinion, poem, etc.)
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ago by Newbie (300 points)
This article's claim is that Taylor Swift is a bad artist. This claim is not backed up by any amount of fact it is entirely based on opinion. There is no source used. There are a lot of other articles stating a similar opinion but none of which can be backed up with any fact as there is no straightforward definition of a good or bad artist. This article is not a legitimate source.
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ago by Newbie (300 points)
This article is an opinion piece; music is subjective, and therefore, there is no good or bad in a strict definition. I myself do not like Taylor Swift, but to say that the most grossing artist in the world is a bad artist is laughable. What makes a good artist if a bad artist can sell out in multiple countries?

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-eras-tour-highest-grossing-all-time-1-billion-1234921647/
Can't be true or false (Opinion, poem, etc.)

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