Greetings of the day. (Ref to yesterday’s post)

Pre-Ps: Decode the blog title :p

Mother Taylor’s 1989 – HER VERSION – just dropped. And the world is falling back in place. That’s the album that pulled me into the fandom. It was a fun cycling evening. I came home to grab some water for me and the bros and go back. There was some time to kill while Nanhi aunty was filling up our water bottles. Picked up the remote and started scanning channels. In the midst of Chota Bheem, Balika Vadhu and Suryavansham kind of movie, Mother Swift shaking it off in a tiny tutu-skirt on VH1 caught my eye. I didn’t understand the music, no. The video was just really bizarre to look at. This frame.

Rest remains history.

I read somewhere that 1989 music draws a lot of inspiration from 80s-American pop. Which is interesting. When I do music, I want to do a lot of such taking inspiration, period-study and all that. Soon I hope, fingers-crossed. I often wonder what kind of music she listens. What has she grown up jamming. What is her jam of the day. What inspired her. All that.

Idea: If you picked your one favourite person – say, Taylor – and found out the 5 people who influence her work. People she learns from and is inspired by. And study them. And then do this with those 5 people. You’d have a set of 25-30 REALLY AWESOME Gurus who you could learn from. Even if it’s from a distance. Even if it’s practice by imitation.

Austin Kleon talks about the genealogy of ideas and learning from your creative influence. And then their teachers. The day I read that, I asked @hustlerani what her creative influences are. God, I love her energy! She told me it’s Emma Chamberlain, Valerie Lin, Lady Gaga and Mallika Dua. Should definitely explore that rabbit home.

Jay-Z said in his autobiography, Decoded:

We were kids without fathers, so we found our fathers on wax and on the streets and in history, and in a way, that was a gift. We got to pick and choose the ancestors who would inspire the world we were going to make for ourselves.

Ah, as @saurabh often says: Learning from your guru’s gurus.

On a slightly different note, I was at a McD last night with two 40-something women. We talked about many things. And I will give you a download on that. Starting with Taylor Swift.

I must say, it is very rare to find a middle-aged woman who wants to waste a single minute talking Taylor Swift. So that was interesting. They told me about “the silly academic papers people are writing about her music theme of depression, gender equality, gun violence, etc.”

One: They were unimpressed with the things future Gen-Z is taking interest in. Talking about. And is impressed by.

Two: They were particularly disappointed in me when I told them about the Taylor Swift tremor. Because why would I be excited about something so silly? Couldn’t I be excited about the prolonged coherence of the single-electron qubit to an impressive 0.1 milliseconds?

Three: I sensed a lack of openness, empathy and acceptance towards all woke moments. And using entertainment as a medium. And the kind of entertainment. Silly vs serious. (Oh, I have so many thoughts on how wokeness is perceived outside of Twitter and Instagram.)

Now, I often get super debate-y when people are unwilling and un-open to accept that Taylor is a big cultural moment. In adult words, I take it personally. Yesterday, I only listened. I’m happy about that. But let me reflect on this conversation.

One: Liking fun, “girly” things and being interested in the holy math and science are not mutually exclusive.

Two: Like it or not, the kids love Taylor. And they will group. And probably still be Swifties. You can either judge them for it. Or try to understand how the youth feel connect with their shared interests. How they think. What moves them. What they care about, etc.

Three: If important conversations need a Taylor Swift to reach front-stage, why not?

Four: If you want to help society be better, go OMG2 and not Rocky-and-Rani. I think it is not silly vs serious. Or implicit vs explicit. Or good vs bad art. It’s what goes against people’s strongly held beliefs and what re-affirms them. Honestly, people’s thoughts and perspectives on movies, etc is such a layered, complicated world, it is only foolish to generalise.

Five: Let’s talk about the concept of woke. Separately. Tomorrow?

Toodles!