Taylor’s Two Most Recent Moves Weren’t Real Swift

If Taylor Swift were a baseball player, she’d quickly find herself behind in the count, 0-2.  As quickly – and in the same timing – as the Major League Baseball season started, so has the songstress initiated a new campaign that, like the proverbial boys of summer and their bizarre 2020 season, seemingly will require an asterisk also.

I’ve been publishing a weekly blog here every week for what will be six years come the end of September.  While my content is always centered around the entertainment industry, I don’t write about songs, EPs, or full albums.  So, my offering this week is not a commentary on one (or more) of Taylor Swift’s songs.  I’ll leave that for the critics.

Instead, I am very bothered by two missteps she has taken in the span of just a few days.  It’s just not good business.

First is, I am not a One Direction fan.  To clarify, that doesn’t mean I don’t like their music, it just means that I don’t follow them.  However, you didn’t have to be a One Direction fan to know that last Thursday was the ten-year anniversary of the band.  I bumped into the news that day on Twitter, among other countless places it was being reported.

Notice the day that I said that occasion was.  Last Thursday.  As in, the same day that Taylor Swift decided to do an album release that no one knew was coming.

In a time when there is nothing going on thanks to the darn Coronavirus, there’s not a lot of entertainment news to compete with.  So – again, speaking as an uninterested third party who, as admitted above, isn’t a fan – did it have to be on the same day as One Direction’s milestone?  Am I supposed to believe that no one on the Swift camp saw it coming?  There wasn’t a single person around her who could’ve said, “Hey, that’s the same day as the One Direction ten-year anniversary.  Maybe we should wait until the following Thursday”?

The guys in One Direction will get over it, I’m sure.  But what about Tim Halperin?  Is he just supposed to get over Taylor Swift now putting out a music video that is an exact duplicate of one that he had put out nine years ago?  This, my friends, cannot be a coincidence, and again, she must be the one to accept responsibility, even if someone on her team did have prior knowledge.  And don’t just take my word on it.  Watch the side by side comparison of the two videos yourself.  I dare you to tell me that you don’t see the similarities.  If you do, I’ll ask you to watch it again without your rose-colored glasses.

Tim Halperin has done great things.  Back when I interviewed him for Episode 70 of “Now Hear This Entertainment,” he had been on Season 10 of “American Idol.”  Fast forward to 2020 and he was on NBC’s “Songland.”  He has built up a nice following, while not being quite the household name that Taylor Swift is.  Hopefully, their names will be in the same sentence, though, when she takes ownership of this situation and addresses him.

She needs to bear down on this test, though.  We’re all sitting in our home bleacher seats waiting for the next pitch to see if she strikes out.

Can I get an “Amen”?  Tweet at me to @NHT_tweets on this.  Alternatively, use Facebook, LinkedIn, or even email to continue the conversation.