If you live in the US, chances are you are well aware of who Taylor Swift is. You may have grown up hearing her songs on the radio, or hearing celebrity gossip concerning who she is dating. There is no question that in recent times, Swift has taken the world by storm, with her Eras international concert tour garnering so much attention that it’s predicted by its ending Swift will be a billionaire. Her newest album (not-rerecorded), “Midnights”, has more than 37 billion streams in total, placing number one on the US music charts for more than five consecutive weeks. Despite this, some people believe that the attention she is receiving is undeserved, saying her music is “overrated”, and “annoying”, bringing us to the question of: Is Taylor Swift overrated? 

Christian Grow, a Lower Dauphin junior, could not disagree more. He states that Taylor Swift is “the G.O.A.T” (Greatest Of All Time), and how he can not even pick a favorite song, saying how “the entire album of Speak Now” is his favorite. Brandon Everett, another Lower Dauphin Junior agrees, saying how Swift quite literally “is the music industry”, and has made a huge “lasting impact”. Senior Alivia Gregorits agrees, saying how she “loves Taylor Swift”, and appreciates that she “has a song for every feeling you can experience, as well as ones that are just really fun to listen to”. 

However, not all students feel the same way. Keaton Wagner, a Lower Dauphin sophomore, thinks that Taylor Swift is very overrated, saying that only a couple of her songs, “Love Story, Cruel Summer and Anti-Hero” are worth listening to. He states how he thinks “too many people listen to her, and the music is not as good as people make it out to be”. Lower Dauphin Junior Tavian Boone agrees, saying how surprised he is that she’s “one of the biggest musical artists in the world despite the mediocre music she makes, which many other artists have managed to do both before and after her, while making it better sonically”. He states how the “only thing admirable about her music is the success she’s managed to achieve in the industry”.

It is irrefutable the influence Swift has over the music industry, no matter your opinion on her music. Whether she is “overrated” or not, cannot be proven, but regardless, Swift will remain one of the most influential names in pop music history for decades to come.