Legendary songwriter Sir Tim Rice has a rather interesting take on Taylor Swift’s pop music. Best known for his works with Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Elton John, Sir Tim is seemingly not impressed by today’s genre of pop music. He claims most of the songs are somewhat “miserable” in context and the musicians sound “unhappy” when singing.
After a brief remark on Olivia Rodrigo, Sir Tim joked about Taylor Swift writing songs for her ex-lovers. Consequently, he opined that had the pop star ever asked him out, Sir Tim would decline her request.
Sir Tim Rice’s response to hypothetical date with Taylor Swift
In between dishing out his opinions on modern pop music, Sir Tim made an unfiltered remark on Taylor Swift’s music. While it’s hard not to include the Cruel Summer songstress when discussing pop music, the English lyricist spoke of being skeptical of dating her. “And Taylor Swift: every time she falls out with somebody, the poor bloke gets slaughtered in the next song. In the unlikely event that Taylor Swift asked me out, I would say no,” Sir Tim said in an interview with The Times.
This was shortly after the veteran lyricist, who has written for musical theatre since the 1960s, expressed his ambivalent thoughts on another pop sensation, Olivia Rodrigo. Sir Tim shared, “I was listening to Traitor by Olivia Rodrigo — she’s a great singer and there’s some great musicianship, but you think, ‘They sound really unhappy.'”
The 79-year-old songwriter is among the only 19 people who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award, and a great many legendary songs under his name. Speaking from his expertise spanning decades, Tim Rice expressed his distaste for today’s pop music overall. He said, “One of the things that depresses me today about a lot of pop music is that so many of these songs seem to be pretty miserable in a very ‘me me me’ way.”
Sir Time Rice is fond of cheerful music
Having dedicated most of his life to writing and making music, Sir Time Rice has crafted hit musicals like Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, and Joseph and the Amazing Dreamcoat. The songwriter who shared his admiration for “early rock ‘n’ roll” in the interview, has also written songs for animated films The Lion King and Aladdin.
“Early rock ’n’ roll: Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly … all the stuff that was really big when I was in my early teens. Even if it was a sad song, it cheered you up,” the EGOT winner recounted. However, in another interview, Sir Tim opened up about his favorite written song.
The English songwriter told 12 News, “I can never really give a quick answer. There’s a lot I have a special soft spot for. ‘I Don’t Know How to Love Him’ — which was the first hit that Andrew Lloyd Webber and I ever had as a song, we never really thought that that song or indeed any song from ‘Superstar’ was going to be a hit single because it wasn’t written for that.”
Sir Tim was recently in Milwaukee to promote the Midwest premiere of his new musical, From Here to Eternity at the Skylight Music Theater.
