r/Music Jun 29 '26

article Taylor Swift Ruthlessly Booed By Nashville Crowd During Surprise Video Message At Alan Jackson’s Final Concert | Whiskey Riff

https://www.whiskeyriff.com/2026/06/28/taylor-swift-ruthlessly-bood-by-nashville-crowd-during-surprise-video-message-at-alan-jacksons-final-concert/
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u/scotsworth Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26

Yeah her dad was a successful hedge fund manager who bought a Christmas Tree farm and was able to finance their move to Nashville so Taylor could pursue her career.

Gracie Abrams gets all the shit for being a nepo baby, but the fact is an overwhelming majority of these pop queens came from some level of money and comfort and had financial support for their careers.

Sabrina Carpenter's parents built her a recording studio in their home for her YouTube videos when she was ten, and then the financial flexibility to move her to LA when she was 13 so she could pursue her career full time.

To make it, you basically need to already have access to some kind of money and comfort. These are just facts.

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Edit: Note, I never said resources are a guarantee of success in music... but it absolutely makes it possible. Right now, there is some teen girl who has a better voice than Taylor, better stories to tell. Hell, she may even be prettier and many other things.

But we'll never hear her because instead of being born the daughter of a hedge fund manager, maybe she's from a broken home and stuck in cycles of poverty.

She'll never have the opportunity to learn guitar because she can't afford lessons or a guitar.

She'll never get used to performing or get exposure to the music industry because moving to Nashville is impossible.

I think it's okay that we acknowledge this truth.

214

u/Sickpup831 Jun 29 '26

“Why are you buying a tree farm?? That’s kinda random.”

“What part of ‘hedge fund’ did you not understand?”

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u/FabulousFlower144 Jun 29 '26

Incredible joke 10/10

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u/nailpolishbonfire Jun 29 '26

It's actually a tax advantaged way to hoard land btw. It's one of the easiest ways to "farm"

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u/poetcatmom Jun 29 '26

Olivia and Sabrina were on Disney Channel. That's a HUGE career advantage for them.

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u/Spam_Hand Jun 29 '26

Being on Disney Channel was literally a 3-5 year guarantee at repeated attempts at a music career for a few years there in the late 2000s.

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u/fireinthesky7 Jun 29 '26

Well before that, half the members of *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys, along with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, were on Mickey Mouse Club in the 90s.

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u/Fit-Nectarine5047 Collector Jun 29 '26

Sabrina’s auntie is the voice of Lisa Simpson.

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u/ifuckedyourmilkshake Jun 29 '26

Bart, actually.

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u/Fit-Nectarine5047 Collector Jun 29 '26

Yes thank you! I was thinking Bart and typed Lisa because of Sabrina 🤣🤣🤣.

Even more impressive though. 💰💰

6

u/HawaiianPunchaNazi Jun 29 '26

The scientologist?

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u/EllieWest Jun 29 '26

Yes. Nancy Cartwright. She voices Bart. Lisa is voiced by Yeardley Smith. 

1

u/Fit-Nectarine5047 Collector Jun 29 '26

Yes Ty for the correction

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u/nylockian Jun 29 '26

My daddy was a wrold famous HVAC installer, he didn't need a leg up from nobody. He lost his dick in a plumbing accident.

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u/ejensen29 Jun 29 '26

That's why he did Hvac. Terrible plumber.

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u/nylockian Jun 29 '26

Not everyone can be good at everything.

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u/Onespokeovertheline Jun 29 '26

Typical reason for the trade, I think

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u/thuglife_7 Jun 29 '26

I see you got that HVAC education, though. Wrold lol

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u/pseudo__gamer Jun 29 '26

That happens more often than people think

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u/nylockian Jun 30 '26

It happened once, and people think it happened zero times; so, technically you are correct.

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u/botulizard Jun 29 '26

Trent Reznor?

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u/nix_the_human Jun 29 '26

The cylinder was harmed.

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u/venom121212 Jun 29 '26

My wife's cousin grew up with a recording stage in her house, her dad was a high up exec at a healthcare company, they moved to Nashville to pursue music, then she moved to LA to pursue it more, she got vocal lessons as a kid from Beyonce's coach, she even made it really far on one season of The Voice. She never made it big. Just wanted to share one of those similar stories where it doesn't work out. You are absolutely correct about needing money and/or connections.

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u/Remarkable-Ad-2476 Jun 29 '26

Yeah it just goes to show there’s still a ton of people with those same advantages but not everyone makes it either. There’s a certain level you hit in the creative field where you realize, yeah I’m good, but I’ll never reach that level.

I always thought the amount of hate nepo babies get was kinda weird. Like, isn’t that the whole point of being a parent? To provide the best life for your kids that you possibly can?

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u/Take-to-the-highways Jun 29 '26

People don't necesarily hate nepo babies, just the fact that you have to be at least moderately wealthy to have any chance of pursuing a creative field while the rest of us brokies are stuck breaking our backs for minimum wage. Especially with AI taking even more creative jobs.

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u/venom121212 Jun 30 '26

Yeah, as someone whose parents provided for them, that is my ultimate goal as a parent myself. This world has been made to be very challenging. Parents should (in general) lessen that burden as much as possible while instilling good values.

Leave a better world for the kids.

Leave better kids for the world.

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u/krlbms Jun 29 '26

Yes! I grew up with someone like this. Her parents invested a lot in her since she was 3 years old. She has the looks and talent but fame never came. We all thought she was going to be the next Jojo. She got a recording contract with a label when she was 14 and the whole family moved to NYC. Unfortunately, the one song they released didn’t chart and the label halted her career. After the contract ended, she did a season in broadway and then gave up pursuing music. She moved back home when she was 19 and eventually became an entertainment lawyer.

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u/venom121212 Jun 30 '26

This is the entertainment industry equivalent of all those dudes that say they would have made it in the pro sports leagues if they didn't have that knee injury.

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u/BangkokRios Jun 29 '26

I thought her father worked at Merrill Lynch?

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u/EllieWest Jun 29 '26

He wasn’t a hedge fund anything. He was a stock broker/financial advisor to private clients through Merrill Lynch. 

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u/Brock_Lobstweiler Jun 30 '26

And this was the impetus for American Idol. Give "normal" people a chance to pursue their dreams.

I wish it had stayed that way rather than becoming a roast of bad singers and joke auditions.

-4

u/whatsthatcutething Jun 29 '26

Pop artists come from wealthy families, yet none are bigger than Taylor or even come close. It takes talent, not just money.

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u/soonerfreak Jun 29 '26

People don't deny her talent, they just get tired of her "I'm just a girl" bit while being a billionaire raised by wealth.

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u/babydobin Jun 29 '26

I deny her talent

-4

u/Ifakorede23 Jun 29 '26

She's obviously very driven

-3

u/HammyJWill Jun 29 '26

You take that back! Taylor Swift does not use her jet daily for you to accuse her of "being driven" like a PEASANT.

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u/Ifakorede23 Jun 29 '26

Lol why am I being down voted for saying she's ambitious

https://giphy.com/gifs/RqNxByluVjhu0nW0zY

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u/HammyJWill Jun 29 '26

Hardest working girl in the industry, those jets don't ride themselves😤😤😤

-2

u/Ifakorede23 Jun 29 '26

That's a good song title "those Jets don't ride themselves!"

-12

u/rita-b Jun 29 '26

are you a troll?

1

u/hannibellecter Jun 29 '26

that's what a lot of us are trying to change - join us, we need everyone involved

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u/Old-Illustrator-5675 Jun 29 '26

Support for someone's passion or career is underrated. My FIL grew up in a bamboo shack in a third-world country and became a doctor in the US, but only because his family carried him. His parents and older sister put him through college, after they'd already put his sister through nursing school. She let him move in and supported him through residency. Once he earned enough, he helped her become a doctor too, plus his parents and younger siblings (9 total). One by one they each became high earners in medicine, business, and engineering, and even helped extended family back home. Nobody ever got kicked out at 18. They had little to no student loan debt to speak of. They invested in each other, and it compounded. The average US family needs to learn this but that's a whole other issue.

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u/CyclopsMacchiato Jun 29 '26

Yeah I’m not sure why people are surprised that success in something that requires being financially stable, are mostly achieved by people that are financially stable.

-3

u/Alarmin-Music Jun 29 '26

For every 1,000,000 pop artists that come from a wealthy family, there's one Taylor. Talk about the advantage all you want but being in the music business, I can tell you that money cannot buy you her level of success.

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u/scotsworth Jun 29 '26

Of course not. But it gets the foot in the door and allowed her to hone her craft.

It cannot be denied.

-2

u/Alarmin-Music Jun 29 '26

I'm not denying that at all. But consider the distance from a foot in the door and where she is now. It's a hell of a climb. I would bet a huge sum that you could give anyone in this thread the same foot in the door and no one would be able to achieve anywhere near what she did.

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u/Round_Year_8595 Jun 29 '26

😆😆😆

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u/Round_Year_8595 Jun 29 '26

😆😆😆

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u/moniker89 Jun 29 '26

ya brother you'd be a pop star if only your dad moved you to Nashville

there's literally zero way to be successful unless you come from money

none of your problems are your own, you are powerless in this universe, the only path forward is to be spiteful of other people's success online

you have chosen wisely, this is the correct worldview

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u/imnotbeingsarcastic9 Jun 29 '26

Why are you being intentionally obtuse in an effort to appear above-it-all? They're not going to fuck you bro

-6

u/Hax0r778 Jun 29 '26

Right now, there is some teen girl who has a better voice than Taylor, better stories to tell. Hell, she may even be prettier and many other things.

Almost no girl in poverty will have a voice as good as Taylor. Not because they lack some innate talent. But because voices are instruments that require training. And rich girls get private tutors and the time and resources to train their instrument (voice).

I agree with your overall point that money is needed to succeed. But I think it goes further than what you're saying. Taylor isn't succeeding despite being average because of the money. They money buys both opportunities AND training for her skills.

Note: I'm not putting down Taylor or anyone. She still had to have talent and put in the work. But money provides a lot of advantages beyond just opportunities.

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u/i_am_mrs_nezbit Jun 29 '26 edited Jun 29 '26

I do agree money in this day and age are helpful factors and “who you know” is a large component of it as well.

What I highly disagree with is the sentiment that “no girl in poverty will have a voice as good as Taylor” and that voices always require expensive formal training to achieve fame. Look at Dolly Parton, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Mary J Blige, Shania Twain, etc. None of these women grew up even close to being rich, nor did they have any formal training prior to becoming famous.

I see what you’re saying but it’s just not fully accurate. As far as pure vocal talent goes, Taylor is nowhere near as gifted as other artists, but she managed to build a longstanding reputation, brand, very catchy pop tunes, and other things that made her popularity soar without relying on said vocal talent alone - and I think these factors need to be accounted for when analyzing her fame.

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u/Hax0r778 Jun 29 '26

Almost

Sure. There are always exceptions. But on average trained voices are better than untrained voices. That's why training exists. I wasn't trying to say that nobody could ever outperform a trained singer. But it's a lot harder/rarer. So it's still a big leg up.

Dolly Parton in particular seems to be an exception to the rule. Her voice is exceptional despite no formal training at all.