You are so gorgeous it makes me so mad
You make me so happy, it turns back to sad, yeah
There’s nothing I hate more than what I can’t have
Guess I’ll just stumble on home to my cats
Alone—unless you wanna come along, oh
Don’t worry – that’s not a personal message from me to you! Rather, it is a quote from Taylor Swift’s song Gorgeous.
Now, I’m not a massive Taylor Swift fan but given that she’sthe biggest pop star on the planet right now, she’s worthy of attention from anyone who wants to build a personal brand for themselves because . . . well, she must be doing something right.
I’ve thought about Taylor recently as I’ve been putting out all of this branding stuff, and particularly the PUNK PERSUASION concept that I’ve been writing about recently.
Darker Taylor
At first glance, Taylor would seem to be the exact antithesis of everything that I advocate for. Far from ‘radically differentiating’ herself, or channeling her dark side she appears—on first examination—to be a very middle-of-the-road performer. A classic ‘girl-next-door’ figure who would never do anything to alienate her audience.
Except, of course, that’s no longer really true. Not after the release of her album Reputation back in November 2017.
Bruised by high-profile confrontations with Kanye and Kim and others, Reputation offered a darker, electronic sound, against which Taylor vented score-settling venom with surprising viciousness.
I’m not making any huge claims for Reputation—it’s a decent pop album but it’s hardly Sgt Pepper’s. Nevertheless, it was a gamble, rowing back as it did on the saccharine girl-pop promise of Shake It Off. And it was one that may not have fully paid off—initially at least. Early sales were good (amazing by anyone else’s standards) but dwarfed by those of her last album 1989. And reports from her Reputation world tour report empty seats in major venues.
However, Billboard tells a somewhat more encouraging story. According to the industry bible the tour had grossed more than $54m after the first 5 shows and is set to make over $400m across its run.
Also, Taylor broke box-office records previously held by U2 in Seattle and Denver. The tour has also received some fantastic reviews so far, with the Independent (UK) even calling Reputation her best album to date.
If this is failure, it doesn’t sound too bad to me.
Of course, it remains to be scene what the long-term trajectory of Taylor’s career will be, and what part Reputation will have played in that. But my guess is that, in polarising opinion, she has played a very smart move. The new direction may well have put some off—but her hardcore fans just love her more. And that appears to be paying off—literally.
Too Much Information
One accusation that is frequently levelled at Taylor is that she gives ‘too much information’ out in her songs—about ex-boyfriends, her romantic disasters and so on. This has never made any sense to me. Every artist on the planet uses their personal experiences to inform their art, and if they’re not doing that then I would doubt that their work is either truly powerful or authentic.
An example of Taylor’s habit of ‘telling it like it is’ is that mention of cats in the verse that I quoted above. Actually, it’s pretty clever, since it’s well-known that she has cats in real life. And while she is undoubtedly ‘agreeing and amplifying’ the criticisms of her detractors, it has an air of authenticity. After all, she probably has stumbled home to her cats after a night out enjoying a couple of drinks and enduring heartache.
That is how you build a true connection with your audience: you tell the truth, even when it makes you look bad, sad, vulnerable, or a mix of all three.Because the truth is that plenty of people in Taylor’s audience will be able to relate only too well to her on this, and will love her for having the courage to be honest about it.
When building a personal brand there really is no such thing as too much information. On the contrary, the more information you can share with your audience the better. It makes you more human, and more relatable. And that, in turn, that makes them more likely to buy from you again in future. Because on a deep level trust and understanding has been established.
Which is priceless.
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