IN the world of pop she is the ultimate digestive biscuit, when what we really want is a party ring.
I appreciate I’m one of a very small minority of people who can’t stand the Taylor Swift phenomenon, but I’m standing my ground here.
Not because I’m a misogynist who can’t stand to see a powerful woman call the shots in a male-dominated industry, but the opposite.
I refer you back to the Eighties, when the changing world of rock and pop became dominated by divas strutting around stages with bouffant hair, giant earrings and towering high heels.
And that was just the men. The women were even wilder. Tina Turner, Madonna, Annie Lennox – they were gender-bending, trendsetting, rebellious trailblazers who took the planet by storm.
They broke taboos regarding race, class, religion and, of course, sexism.
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No one had ever seen anyone quite like them before.
Which is why I’m utterly bewildered by our fringed friend whose army of sycophants hail her as the musical messiah.
I will acknowledge that Tay-Tay writes great lyrics and has knocked out some sensational pop songs.
She’s also clearly very shrewd and strong-willed and isn’t pandering to anyone’s perceptions of how she should be.
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Good for her. She’s a decent pop star. But she’s not, as so many claim, an iconic one.
Taylor not distinctive
In order to earn this iconic status, and the smoke constantly blown up her backside, she ought to be serving something more than a few brightly coloured leotards, which, let’s face it, is the sort of get-up Madonna would wear to nip for a loaf at Tesco.
Madge tackled head-on sexuality, male chauvinists and just about every other form of bigotry imaginable.
Those of us of a certain age will recall her Like A Prayer video, which took a swipe at the Catholic Church and featured a black actor playing Jesus Christ, who she snogged . . . oof!
Do you really want your kids to grow up coveting a career washing their dirty linen in public?
Rod McPhee
And my scepticism isn’t just because I’m a child of the Eighties, either.
Look at all the amazing performers who have emerged since then – Britney Spears, Beyonce, Amy Winehouse.
They’re all incredibly distinctive, talented women who, 30 years from now, will still be impersonated and revered.
But will we be able to say the same thing about Swifty? I doubt it.
And for all parents who think she’s an inspirational role model, do you really want your kids to grow up coveting a career washing their dirty linen in public?
