When discussing the greatest songwriters of our generation, Taylor Swift’s name is always in the debate, and for good reason. Swift’s musical popularity morphed her into a cultural phenomenon, practically worshipped wherever she walks. The release of her 12th studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” was highly anticipated, with countless Swifties waiting until midnight on Oct. 3 to be the first to listen to the newest addition to Swift’s repertoire. But many of her devoted fans were left highly disappointed. The lyricism severely lacked in comparison to what she previously delivered, which begs the question: What happened to Taylor Swift?
In recent years, society has been badgering creators for more content more often, resulting in artists placing quantity over quality, decreasing turnaround rates of new albums, movies and TV episodes. Swift usually comes out with new albums on a two-year cycle, with each album containing around 13 songs. However, the turnaround for her most recent albums, “The Tortured Poets Department” and “The Life of a Showgirl,” was only 18 months with a total of 43 songs between the two, almost double the number of songs typically produced in two albums. While Swift’s albums “folklore” and “evermore” both released in 2020 with 17 tracks each, they were well received and regarded among her best work. However, this was still a potential sign of burnout from the fast-paced production turnover.
It’s not just Swift and the music industry beginning to prioritize quantity; film and television have also been shifting away from the typical format. Marvel Studios, which once produced the most anticipated films of the year, has been relegated to a disappointing franchise past its prime. After “Avengers: Endgame,” Marvel pushed out movies left and right, using all their intellectual property to find their next blockbuster. None of these fast-produced movies stuck, condemning the studio that once served as the blueprint for success to being the butt of everyone’s joke.
On the television front, showrunners left behind the weekly episode schedule for binge-culture, with entire seasons dropping all at once. Viewers now churn through entire seasons of shows in one night then have to wait for years for the next season. The art of the cliffhanger and anticipating the season finale essentially died for the instant gratification of having every episode all at once.
Even though all forms of media seem to be shifting to provide quantity over quality, people still aren’t satisfied. Despite constantly begging for quicker releases, reactions to fast turnovers typically point out the flaws in production and how they dropped the ball. So, what do people want? Do they want a good quality production that takes the time it needs? Or do they want rushed, sloppy content thrown at them to ingest and spit out again? I believe that, deep down, we crave high-quality productions, but the current obsession with short-form content has convinced us otherwise. The rise of TikTok and other short video models such as Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts brought about a deluge of fast-paced, fast-released content. Younger generations “doomscroll” by burning through hours of brainless content, each video no more than a minute each, reflecting a trend of consuming media just to consume and not to learn or evolve.
Regardless of this shift, there is still hope for quality media. Some of the biggest recent celebrities have begun to ditch or call out the quantitative media dominating the scene. For example, pop icon Chappell Roan told Vogue in an interview that her much anticipated second studio album “doesn’t exist yet.” She stated, “It took me five years to write the first one, and it’s probably going to take at least five to write the next.” Roan is known for tackling societal structure, and her statement brings to light the problems with the current culture. The creative process takes time, and when given the proper breathing room, people create media that changes lives and becomes ingrained in a generation’s culture. Roan putting her foot down and taking the time to make music she is proud of will hopefully spur other creators to follow in her footsteps, serving as a beacon of quality.
The return of weekly episodes in television is also a positive sign. The final season of “The Summer I Turned Pretty” was a cultural phenomenon that enveloped every inch of social media, reaching people that had never even seen an episode. A significant portion of this spread came from the weekly episode format, allowing viewers to discuss and anticipate what would happen. This furthered the show’s impact and indicated the episodes were high in caliber, since the audience had to be — and was — retained each week.
Wherever media heads, it is important that content takes time to develop. Entertainment provides a gateway to cognitive development, teaching life lessons and how to grow as a person. If quantity continues to prevail, these messages will be lost, leaving only shallowness with no real purpose. Quality is necessary for us as a society to progress away from being monotone slates devoid of thought. So, take your time, artists. It’s worth it.