![Pet Shop Boys singer Neil Tennant pictured in 2023](https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/662b81ac23000032000d3a99.jpeg?ops=crop_429_571_2074_1257%2Cscalefit_720_noupscale)
Pet Shop Boys frontman Neil Tennant has admitted he’s a little unconvinced by Taylor Swift’s status as a pop icon.
Earlier this week, Neil took part in a live interview with The Guardian, in which he lamented about the current state of pop lyricism.
“[The self] is the only subject,” he said of modern pop. “To have a successful pop career now you have to have a series of relationships which are amazing and then break up tragically.”
Later in the conversation, Neil shared: “I was looking at the chart earlier today, and … it’s all Taylor Swift.”
Confirming he had listened to Taylor’s much-discussed new album The Tortured Poets Department, Neil admitted to being “fascinated” by the Grammy winner’s continued dominance.
![Taylor Swift performing on her Eras tour earlier this year](https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/662b81de220000af2bfc75bc.jpeg?ops=scalefit_720_noupscale)
“Taylor Swift sort of fascinates me as a phenomenon because she’s so popular and I sort of quite like the whole thing,” he explained.
“But then when I listen to the records [...] for a phenomenon as big [as she is]… where are the famous songs? What’s Taylor Swift’s Billie Jean?”
After Taylor’s 2014 single Shake It Off was suggested, Neil continued: “I listened to that the other day, and it’s not Billie Jean. It’s not…
“Melodically – she’s got a great voice, by the way, and the production’s beautiful – but melodically … it’s all sung one or two notes going up and down…”
While heaping praise on the sense of community and “collective experience” among the Swifties, Neil added: “I just think that the one disappointing thing is the music. Not even the lyrics, the music.”
![Pet Shop Boys performing at Glastonbury in 2022](https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/662b82ae2300003300bc4763.jpeg?ops=scalefit_720_noupscale)
The West End Girls singer isn’t the only veteran musician to call Taylor’s credentials as a pop juggernaut into question recently, though.
Last week, Courtney Love made headlines when she claimed Taylor was “not important” or “interesting as an artist”.