Taylor Swift has thrown a lot of people into a tizzy lately, culminating with this incredibly awesome article which describes everything that's wrong with Taylor Swift The Product.  (The author is careful to distinguish Taylor Swift The Person from Taylor Swift The Product.  The person is perfectly nice, if over-managed.  The product is just horrifying.)

(One interesting thing that I've seen in a lot of comments on these issues is, "I'm not a feminist, but I think Taylor Swift needs to stop singing just about boys and take control of her own life."  For a lot of people, "feminist" is some kind of bra-burning 1970s man-hating icon, I guess.  That's the only sense I can make of it.  Because those statements come across as, "I don't eat beef, but I eat steak a lot."  Totally contradictory, in a way that hurts my brain.)

The article includes a handy infographic to the elements of Swift's songs, along with their frequency of usage.  And yes, it turns out that all of her songs are about boys.  Wonderful magical boys, not real life boys.  Swift may as well be singing about unicorns (and as far as I know, she does.)

Contrast this with Lady GaGa, who is a mere three years older than Taylor Swift, but comes across as being A) modern, and B) a grown-up woman with grown-up ideas about how the world works.  (And C) a lot of fun, whereas Taylor Swift seems like she would be nice enough, but kind of a drag at parties.  Plus I find Swift's songs drippy.)

Lady GaGa's songs are unquestionably empowering.  As are her music videos, except for the part where she is forced to dance inside a sparkle cage for a man with a brass jaw, except that she ends up taking control of that situation and twisting it to her will.  I think.  Sometimes it's hard to tell.  

Lady GaGa is the anti-Swift, and I'm surprised the conservative Right hasn't risen up to decry her.  Maybe they're just behind the times.  Give it five or six years and suddenly they'll be all "This muffin you speak of, it is not a muffin at all, but a euphemism for a body part!"

Pink is also the anti-Swift, and perhaps a better example than Lady GaGa.  Although I adore Lady GaGa, Pink's songs are much more… well, human.  She pours all of her heart into "Please Don't Leave Me," and then turns around and pours all of her attitude into "So What."  

Pink has had a string of overtly empowering (dare I say it, feminist) songs aimed at a younger audience, and thank goodness for that.  If there is anyone who can push against the tide of anti-intellectualism in America, I would not have guessed that it would be a pop star.  But Pink proves otherwise in her cutting hit, "Stupid Girls"

What happened to the dreams of a girl president
She's dancing in the video next to 50 Cent
They travel in packs of two or three
With their itsy bitsy doggies and their teeny-weeny tees

I hope that there are more mothers who approve of this song than approve of Swift's sappy passive longing after a boy who wants someone else.  (Boys are allowed to want someone else, by the way.  Being human, they are allowed their own agency.)