Taylor Swift was the big sister that tween girls looked up to. The Facebook friend teen girls wanted to have. The I'm-so-proud-of-you daughter parents wished they had.
"Was" is the operative word. Swift's reputation changed big time last fall with the release of her "Reputation" album.
"She doesn't sound authentic," says Dani Dahlseid, 17, of Robbinsdale, who has seen Swift in concert three times but won't be at U.S. Bank Stadium this weekend for either of her two shows Friday and Saturday. "She doesn't sound like Taylor Swift anymore."
Dahlseid has moved on to indie-rock and hip-hop.
At 28, Swift has moved on, too.
For a decade after her emergence in 2006 as a teenage Nashville star, authenticity was the key to Swift's appeal. She sang about being her age — whether 17 or 22 — more effectively than perhaps any other singer-songwriter in the history of popular music.
Even when she transitioned from country to pop four years ago with the Grammy-winning blockbuster album "1989," her music remained accessible and believable. Her songs were fresh, catchy and melodic, albeit featuring synthesizers instead of acoustic guitar.
"Welcome to New York," the newly minted New Yorker declared in the opening song. "It's a new soundtrack, I could dance to this beat forevermore."