Neil Tennant Questions Taylor Swift’s Status as a Pop Icon

Taylor Swift is one of the most prominent artists in contemporary music, and whether you like her music or not, it’s something we can’t deny. She’s had world tours, released a new album, sold re-recordings of her old albums like hotcakes, capitalized on bad publicity caused by other celebrities (like the whole snakes incident), and became one of the richest women in the world according to Forbes.

Regardless of personal music preferences, you can’t deny that almost everyone has heard of Taylor Swift. I mean, even my grandfather knows who Taylor Swift is. But there are always haters who claim that Taylor Swift isn’t a great artistand recently, a member of the Pet Shop Boys, Neil Tennant, said that Taylor Swift doesn’t have any famous songs.

What Did Neil Tennant Say About Taylor Swift?

Neil told The Guardian that Taylor doesn’t have enough hits to be an icon on the same level as Michael Jackson. People reacted in different ways, and I think it’s a mistake to compare Taylor Swift to Michael Jackson because they’re entirely differentin distinct contexts, and they don’t really have anything to do with each other.

Tennant said, “Taylor Swift fascinates me as a phenomenon because she’s so popular and I like the whole thing, but when I listen to the records… For such a huge phenomenon, where are the famous songs? What’s Taylor Swift’s ‘Billie Jean’?”

One of the songs presented to NT to challenge his argument was “Shake It Off,” but he just said it’s not memorable (which might be true; Taylor has better songs), and the British artist also mentioned that Taylor has a good vocal ability, but despite that, her music still isn’t that great.

NT also said, “I like the fact that she brings together all these people, even from different generations, but I think the one disappointing thing is the music, not the lyrics, the music.”

Neil hit a nerve when it comes to upsetting the Swiftiesas he said that the only way to stay relevant is to have high profile relationships that ends badly, and we don’t think that’s true. Either way, setting her music aside, we can’t deny that Tay Tay is a complete businesswoman; she didn’t get to where she is for nothing.