Rolling Stone Music Now

I love Brian Hiatt and company (especially Brittany). Even though I’m not a fan of Taylor Swift and her contemporaries, I always find something of interest in each episode. Brian’s and Rob’s and Brittany’s deep love of music and their insightful commentary make this one of my favorite podcasts.

I come here all the time just to hear their takes on what’s going on in pop music, but the Taylor Swift episodes with Brian, Brittany, and Rob are my favorite! They have such an extensive knowledge of Taylor lore it makes the deep dive really informative and funny!

I respect all of the journalists at Rolling Stone, but I listened to the first 5 on Taylor Swift an bailed out. We are 40somethings…when I heard “Fortnight” I had my first stroke and sent it to my husband and asked him to just listen and tell me his thoughts. He thought it was Lana, I said no, thats Taylor Swift now. We were appalled to say the least at the blatant rip off and poor job she did of stealing Lana’s entire style and getting a Grammy nod for a steaming pile of garbage.

I have been listening to this podcast for many years. The interviews (generally) go deep in the weeds and provide great insights about artists I love and admire. However, like most things in America The Rolling Stones Music Now ignores the contributions of black women in music. In the last episode (which how many episodes are we gonna get about Taylor and I say this as a Taylor fan) you ignored the myriad of black women carrying a guitar to protect themselves from the dominant gaze. Women like Corraine Bailey Rae, Lauren Hill, Indie Arie and so many others. Taylor is undeniably an important artist but why not shine a light on other women who are doing the hard work but getting sidelined. I do love this podcast and appreciate Brian and Brittany’s knowledge. However, I just cannot continue to support work that routinely ignores the contributions of black people and more specifically black women.