New album gets praise abroad, but is slaughtered in Norway

Taylor Swift’s tenth studio album “Midnights” was a huge hit hottest artist Something.

Acclaimed by the international media:

The British Guardian gives the album top marks, leading music site Pitchfork gives the album a seven out of ten, while Rolling Stones is convinced the album should be seen as another classic by Swift.

But in Norway, music broadcasters have proven to be a tougher audience than their international colleagues.

– Hardcore weak

With the new album, the artist broke her own record since 2017. This record is the only one since her album “Reputation” that sold one million copies in the first week.

The movie “Midnight” was released on Friday night and broke the record in just three days, reports diverse.

Music broadcaster Audun Vinger at DN is the only one in Norway to have named the album one of the year Best pop album ever.

Aftenposten’s Robert Hoftun Gjestad thinks the album starts promising, but ends up repetitive and boring. throws the dice 3.

Most ruthless in judgment is NRK P3’s music reporter Espen Borg, who believes the album is “frighteningly weak”. throws dice 2.

Borg thinks it’s hard to answer why there are so many gaps between the Norwegian media and the American and British media. But he thinks it’s a recurring pattern.

– I’ve noticed that Rolling Stone and the Guardian often give good reviews, are probably very happy with great artists, and are happy to praise the establishment. It’s just speculation. But I don’t feel like they’re really looking for new motivations.

– Something basic shake

The gap between Norwegian and foreign letters is also something that music producer Pia Skevik noticed on NRK P1.

On Facebook, she shared the message to Rolling Stone from Swift’s album, where she writes the following, among other things:

“It’s impossible not to like people who (really) know what they’re talking about, and aren’t just trying to paint condescending pastel insults to be the coolest in class.”

She does not agree with Aftenposten’s report, but believes the report is comprehensive and factual. She missed it in the letter to Borg.

– there is something The basics that rattle when P3’s Borg starts his slaying by admitting he’s never heard particularly much about Taylor Swift before and doesn’t like her particularly well in the first place.

The beginning of the letter that Scivic is referring to reads as follows: “Taylor Swift (32) has never been my favorite artist of the 2000s. She seemed streamlined, unoriginal, and predictable.”

Borg himself thinks it inappropriate to compare Swift 2010 with Swift today.

– Her two previous albums, “Folklore” and “Evermore”, which I think are very good and gave 5 dice, those are the ones I compare. I’ve become a much more interesting artist in the past 10 years, and then slightly different demands have arisen, he says.

Half-ass boys club

Scivik doesn’t think Swift has gained a strong enough foothold in Norway to take seriously what she calls the “half-backside boy’s club”.

—An interesting exception is DN’s Audun Vinger, who after more than 20 years as a music reporter anyway remains the only person I’ve read who hasn’t once tried to make a satirical career coin by slaying someone because it’s popular, she says. .

Both Gjestad and Borge deny that their messages are influenced by all of the album’s popularity.

– You can’t go on like this, we have to deal with the product. I don’t have to be against it. It doesn’t matter that I think differently. I try not to make up my mind before I start the letter, he says visitor.

Borg notes that Swift’s music has a broad target audience.

– I understand that this criticism can be directed at old men who sit and report young music. But I don’t feel like the only youth music of Swift for long. Borg says I take great pride in my letter to be objective.

– Tendency to criticize pop music

Eric Redning was behind the music podcast Popstalgi and is not surprised that there is a gap between Norwegian and foreign messages.

– Before the album “Folklore” it was not particularly known among music connoisseurs to like Swift. After that, things changed, and people noticed her writing.

It is believed that Norwegian music commentators tend to be very critical of pop music.

As with other commentators, Redning believes that “midnight” incorporating “folklore” And the most “Poppy” Swift you know from pre-“folklore” time.

– Maybe that’s why it takes time before music reviewers like it. I think the album can help raise awareness of pop music and what it can be.

He is no stranger to controversy

Taylor Swift has been the main character in many controversies. Perhaps the most famous one that followed her for the longest time was her turbulent relationship with Kanye West.

The feud between the two stretched back to 2009, when Kanye West decided that Interrupting Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV Awards.

do not have Fans speculated If Swift comes back with a kick now, divorced couple Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are on the new song “Vigilante Shit.” There, Swift sings, among other things:

“Now you get the house, you get the kids, you get the pride/Imagine me, like thieves with your ex.”