"Is Taylor Swift being taken too seriously?" asks author who is taking Taylor Swift too seriously

If the title of your article implies that perhaps we should take Taylor Swift a little less seriously, your third sentence should not be "That Swift defies the current economic model of selling music is not a surprise since she is a star made for this post-recession era of staycations, “Downton Abbey” and Prius sports wagons."

Further, you should not go on to say, "As is known to any market research analyst, we aren’t rewinding to those halcyon days and our current “new normal” means downsized sales expectations in almost every market sector, especially cars, real estate, tourism. Which means the raised metric for pop longevity is demure thoughtfulness, not tacky opulence." If you do, it will be very confusing for readers who thought they were reading about Taylor Swift, and not some bizarro alternate world in which Taylor Swift was a key factor in economic analysis.  Also, it's hard for me to accept "demure thoughtfulness" as a trait we can ascribe to Swift, since her new single involves a significant use of the phrase "like, ever".

Finally, you really don't do much to answer the question of whether Swift is being taken too seriously when you conclude, "Even when Swift tries to be her most natural, the calculation shows. She may be praised as the apex pop star of her generation, but that reflects how tight our comfort zone has shrunk — just like our wallets — these last few years. Instead of singers who might leave our scars exposed, we cling to the ones who are CoverGirl-ready and know how to touch them up."

I've made some edits to your article; my version appears below.

Is Taylor Swift being taken too seriously? 

 

 

Yes.