If you haven't heard that Ryan Adams released a cover album of Taylor Swift's 1989, then you obviously haven't paid attention to any music media outlets over the past two weeks. The story goes that Adams had written with Swift a few years ago and has always been a fan. Last December he tried his hand at recording a few covers off of 1989 with a 4 track recorder, only to have the tape destroyed by the machine. This summer he tried again, this time capturing the attention of the internet and Swift herself - who was VERY excited by the project. They texted about it as he recorded the songs over the course of a few weeks, and she encouraged him to release it for sale. When it came out last Monday, the press had a lot to say about it.
Most of the reviews I read were all positive in regards to Adams' take on Swift's songs, but there were a fair amount that looked at this as an opportunity to show respect for him as an artist and degrade Swift as one. As Anna Leszkiewicz points out in her article "Ryan Adam's 1989 and the Mansplaining of Taylor Swift," outlets such as The New Yorker call his versions "'subversive' and 'more sincere than the original'" - essentially saying that his take on the songs were much more emotionally connected and well thought out. She also takes note of The Telegraph's comment that Adams is able to show "emotion beating beneath [her] gleaming surfaces.”
While all of these claims may not be motivated by gender or promoting stereotypes that Swift is a pop princess and Adams a more thoughtful artist, it is important to be aware of the language used to describe each of them. "Mansplaining" is defined as "(of a man) explain (something) to someone, typically a woman, in a manner regarded as condescending or patronizing," so it is an appropriate part of the title for Leszkiewicz's article. While people are quick to praise Adam's release, they sometimes forget the craft of the original album.
At the end of the day, I adore Ryan Adams' version of 1989. I think he did an incredible job with songs such as "Out of the Woods," "All You Had to Do Was Stay," and "Blank Space" - finding the sadness that was already in the lyrics and applying it to his own life. Though he likely didn't intend for it to explode the way it did, it is a great way to expose his music to a wider audience. The fact that he and Swift are such fans of each other shows that the respect they both have for songwriting and music is what should be at the center of the conversation. They're both very talented, and hopefully this will lead to a collaboration in the future!