Neil Tennant Of The Pet Shop Boys Says Taylor Swift Doesn’t Have “Famous Songs”

She’s sold out stadiums and he’s produced one creative innovation after another, as well as defined what it means to be at a career zenith. But as far as Neil Tennant is concerned, Taylor Swift doesn’t have any famous hit songs that warrant the phenomenon she’s found herself at the center of.

69-year-old Tennant is a vocalist, singer, songwriter, and music journalist who is known as one-half of the Pet Shop Boys, which he co-founded with keyboardist Chris Lowe. Since 1981, they have shaped the landscape of the synth-pop genre and gained commercial acclaim with hits like “West End Girls,” “Heart,” and “Always on My Mind.” Now, Tennant want to know, where are Taylor Swift’s hits?

Neil Tennant feels Taylor Swift doesn’t have any famous hit songs

Tennant recently chatted with The Guardian, at which point he reflected on the cultural revolution that has been Swift’s commercial success. “Taylor Swift sort of fascinates me as a phenomenon because she’s so popular, and I sort of quite like the whole thing,” he mused, “but then when I listen to the records … for a phenomenon as big, where are the famous songs? What’s Taylor Swift’s ‘Billie Jean?'”

That got mixed reactions from listeners, and when one individual pointed to “Shake It Down” as an iconic hit, Tennnant returned to his former point comparing it to enduring songs like Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.”

“I listened to that the other day,” he responded, “and it’s not ‘Billie Jean.'”

The Pet Shop Boys co-founder explains what makes songs like MJ’s enduring compared to Taylor Swift

Tennant admits that vocally “she’s got a great voice by the way, and the production is beautiful,” but insists that “But melodically it’s almost restive,” he added. “It’s all sung on one or two notes going up and down.”

He also admits that she has been part of a unifying cultural movement that has seen a lot of fans who might have remained strangers come together under one umbrella, especially in the wake of her monumental Eras tour.

“I like the fact that it brings all these people together, even multi-generational,” admired Tennant, “but I think the one disappointing thing is the music, not the lyrics, the music.”

Tennant points to her multi-generational appeal as Swift’s greatest strength, which emerged during a perfect storm when the world needed something exciting and unifying. Society is meant to be an “ultimately a collective experience” that people lost hold of during the pandemic. Now, that zest for fun togetherness is back at full force in time for the era of Swift. “I think it’s down to a desire for a collective experience,” Tennant therefore argues.

What do you think of his analysis?