What RWBY Can Learn From Taylor Swift

INTRO:

I think it’s safe to say that the RWBY fandom is still clamoring for the Volume 8 soundtrack. Since its beginning, the music has continually been the thing receiving the most praise from fans, oftentimes filling in gaps in the story that the show couldn’t be bothered with portraying itself. And admittedly, I was one of those people heaping praise onto the vocal tracks.

However… I also didn’t listen to a lot of other music. At least, not music from artists unassociated with a show or anime, or that wasn’t from some sort of musical. And I suspect that’s a pretty common case for a lot of RWBY fans who still give unending praise to Jeff and Casey’s work. But when you’re so insulated from more content, you’re often unaware of what you’re missing.

While I wasn’t able to listen to Taylor’s music for a long while following certain events, I’ve managed to come back around to it and reclaim it for myself, and since then she’s become my favorite artist for her storytelling. And beyond even that, I’ve come to enjoy more artists, including mainstream artists whose work I’d normally be hesitant to listen to, like SZA, Miley Cyrus, Doja Cat, and Dua Lipa, to name a few.

By expanding your media diet, it can lead to you discovering new things you never could’ve imagined enjoying, and that includes the music you listen to. And while I do respect Jeff and Casey’s hard work on the soundtracks over the years, I think it’s clear they’ve been burning out, and specifically Jeff’s old songwriting flaws and crutches have been catching up with him. I think that not only with a much-needed break, but a reevaluation of their methods, they could definitely step up their game, and today, we’re gonna discuss what RWBY’s songs could learn from Miss Taylor Alisson Goddamn Swift.

RWBY’S MUSICAL PITFALLS:

As I’ve said, I initially adored the RWBY vocal tracks. The most common praises - from myself and others - were how they tied into the stories of the characters, and also how well the obligatory guitar solos managed to deafen you. But over time, the music has become stale, and going back, I’ve come to realize that even the songs from the first few volumes were never spectacular. Just… alright. Passable.

We’ll get the small things out of the way, starting with production. Production refers to how a song is created sonically; the quality of the instrumentation, vocal effects, layering, and so on. When it comes to good music, well-written lyrics can be amplified by production that helps convey the emotion behind them. But when it comes to RWBY, more often than that, the production is rather lacking, both in quality and mood.

Most songs tend to focus on sounding generically kickass with the same guitars and drums; just swap out the melodies to slightly alter their feel. There’s rarely meaningful experimentation in genre and style, meaning if you’ve heard one RWBY song, you’ve practically heard all of them, which undercuts the point in having them represent different characters. The closest you get to unique characterization are on-the-nose lyrics and occasional leitmotifs, but even that can be destroyed. Looking at you, “The Truth,” stealing Roman’s leitmotif and giving it to Cinder.

This especially goes for the slower songs. Whether it’s the nostalgic longing of “Home,” or the haunting eeriness of “Until the End,” or the pained vocals in “All That Matters,” the production across the board is too static to meaningfully separate these songs sonically. Again, you hear one sad RWBY song, you’ve heard all of them.

But on top of the lack of experimentation, there’s also an issue in the raw quality of the instruments. Most RWBY songs sound muffled instrument-wise. Upon listening to more albums by professional artists, I’ve come to appreciate quality production, and that includes crisp instruments that are perfectly balanced, so you can hear all the detail the artist has included. It’s like the difference between the original Red by Taylor Swift, versus Red Taylor’s Version, whose productions are night and day. The original Red’s production is solid, but Taylor’s Version has a higher quality production that provides a richer atmosphere. RWBY’s music, however, often can’t even stack up to something like the original Red’s production.

And back to balancing, there’s this huge issue where the guitars and drums overpower literally everything else, even the vocals. It often feels like when songs are produced, there isn’t much thought given to how the instruments all work together. If there’s a piano, it’ll probably get drowned out in the guitar riffs and snares, and it can be really difficult to decipher what Casey and Jeff are saying when the guitar is blaring at the same volume as their vocals.

I tried to look up who specifically produced the RWBY songs, but on Spotify no one is listed, which leads me to believe that Jeff produces the songs himself. Not only does this mean more pressure on him - having not only to create the music, but also mix it for release - but it also means he might be throwing himself into something he’s not really equipped for. Granted, I don’t know much about Jeff’s background, but judging from what we’ve gotten, I’d be willing to wager he’s not very versed in song production. Which is okay! Most artists have separate producers who are experts with those kinds of programs to elevate the artist’s work. And maybe that’s something the Williams need: a seasoned producer who knows how to take what they make and properly mix it.

Honestly, the songs with the best production - at least to me - are songs like “Gold” and “Neon” that shake up the usual formula. “Gold” sounds like an old disco bop that perfectly matches the cheery message of the song, and the vocal effects go hand-in-hand with that, while “Neon” integrates some cute 8-bit sounds along with the synths to fit Neon’s retro flashy vibe. And this might be a sin, but I prefer “Ignite” to “I Burn” not only because of the better vocals, but also for the superior production. The jazzy flare of “Ignite” is GORGEOUS and works perfectly for Yang’s kickass, fun-loving personality, and the quality of the horns is actually top-tier; certainly leagues better than most of the guitars in these songs.

As for vocals, they’re… fine. At least Casey’s. She’s come a long way as a vocalist, and the acoustics are by far the best showcase for that. She definitely struggled more in the early days, especially in songs like “I Burn,” but Jeff doesn’t help with his lyrics. Good lyrics are like good poetry; focusing not only on what the words mean, but also how they sound when strung together. Jeff has a tendency to cram as many syllables into lines as possible, drawing out what could be simple phrases into needlessly convoluted run-ons. You can hear Casey struggle to keep up with this, and they just do not sound good when paired with the songs’ melodies. “I’m the One” is the perfect example, with so many words crammed into each line that they wind up bleeding together into a slurry shit show.

Jeff’s vocals in particular, though… I just don’t like them. I know that sounds mean, but I gotta be honest, hearing him scream like a squirrel is actively painful to my eardrums. That’s not an exaggeration. I’ve actually come to realize how sonically uncomfortable so many RWBY songs actually sound, especially listening to other albums like SZA’s Ctrl, Miley’s Plastic Hearts, or Demi’s Dancing with the Devil. Good music should be effortless to listen to, feeling like a massage for your eardrums to immerse you in the song. RWBY’s music does the opposite. Even the lackluster production exacerbates this problem, as harsh vocals paired with muffled, inconsistent production lead to a hazy end product that’s difficult to understand, and even more difficult to enjoy.

And there is a way to do harsh vocals more enjoyably. Just look at Alanis Morisette’s “You Oughta Know.” The harshness of her voice might seem unpleasant, but it actually works because it’s expertly produced, and part of the story of how Alanis is lashing out as her ex. I mean, the album is called Jagged Little Pill for a reason. Or Taylor Swift’s “closure”. That song is considered one of the weaker tracks off evermore, specifically because the production sounds like weird electronic effects that resemble a computer failing, or… a Big Machine failing, which resembles the failing connection between the singer and the former lover who tried reaching out to them, to no avail.

And then… the lyrics. If I had to summarize how I’ve fallen out of love with Jeff’s lyrics, it’s that they’re not telling you a story - they’re Wiki page summaries of character motivations. Instead of telling you a story through the song, the song is just yelling basic facts at you - it’s “show don’t tell,” or as I prefer, “describe don’t explain.” This problem is tied to how convoluted the lyrics are to begin with, as nine times out of ten, Jeff will simply yell a character’s background and motivation instead of setting a scene. The newer songs are especially guilty of this.

Virtually all of the Volume 7 and 8 soundtracks have this problem of yelling the message at you rather than painting you a picture of what characters are going through. We’ll describe this more in the next section, but rather than putting you in the shoes of characters and getting you to viscerally feel what they’re feeling, the lyrics tend to fall flat and feel hollow, reading more like a pitch for a song’s concept than actual lyrics, especially when they fall into the same tired tropes over and over again, like writing yourself into a fairy tale.

“Trust Love” feels like the quintessential example of all these problems coming together. It’s a “Death By A Thousand Cuts,” if you will. Weak production, bad mixing, uninspired, clumsy lyrics, a thousand syllables, and ear-grating vocals from Jeff result in a mediocre intro song that can’t evoke a single emotion other than boredom.

TAYLOR’S SONGWRITING:

When a Taylor Swift fan is asked why they love her music, usually the answer is her storytelling. Taylor might not have the best vocals, but the girl is a writer, and she knows how to take the blurry, fleeting emotions we all experience and transform them into musical masterpieces. She does mostly write about romance, but so do most other artists. And the reason is because love is something universal. Most people have been through bad relationships, bad breakups, the fear of new relationships, and so on, and Taylor simply uses that to make great music.

She’s been creating music since she was little, and currently has nine albums and is in the process of re-recording her first six. Why? Well, long story short, the music industry is full of snakes, and her old record label refused to even give her the chance to buy back the masters for her first six albums when she decided she wanted to own all her work, including her future albums. If you’re wondering why there’s been an influx of old songs making a comeback with that little “Taylor’s Version” on the side, that’s why.

All her albums fall into different “eras,” each with a different genre, a different aesthetic, and a different story told through each song. Her first three albums - Debut, Fearless, and Speak Now - were her country girl era. Then came Red, when she wanted to experiment with her style, and created a bloated masterpiece of so many different genres mushed together, capturing the full emotional spectrum that comes with a love that was both passionate and tragic. Afterwards was 1989, the height of her fame where she fully committed to pop without compromising her lyrical storytelling, moving onto bigger and better things.

Her Reputation era came years after 1989, where after being villainized by the media for standing up for herself and “dating too much,” she came back swinging, taking this manipulative, scheming caricature that was projected onto her and reclaiming it, branding herself the Queen of Snakes. But actually, that’s just a facade. Reputation is actually one of her more lovey dovey albums, with its story centering on a new, more private relationship where she took time to heal and learned how to focus on what was best for herself, and leaving behind things that weren’t serving her. Rep starts dark, with a heavy EDM-style production, but ends on “Call It What You Want” and “New Year’s Day,” much softer songs all about the love she’s found for this person and herself, showing that she’s come out the other side of this storm and is in a better, calmer place.

Lover is Taylor’s first owned album, all about the many ways love manifests, with a focus on the messy bits that movies and books tend to gloss over. It’s a cute, domestic album that’s very much a 180 from the darkness of Reputation. And then, my personal favorites, folklore and evermore. These albums were actually created spontaneously in a matter of weeks while Taylor was in quarantine. After learning all her tours for Lover were cancelled, Taylor began to write music to process the state the world was in, along with lyrics allowing her to grieve the loss of her masters and the betrayal she felt from her record label turning on her and selling them to someone who bullied her for years.

Folklore and evermore are storytelling masterpieces. I’m actually hoping to release a video all about folklore soon, ideally on Taylor’s birthday December 13, but suffice to say they’re fantastic. They’re less autobiographical than her previous albums. In fact, Taylor went full novelist mode and tried to tell fictional stories about the people living in the woods of her mind, including messy love triangles, historical pariahs, and people who struggle with their mental health, chronic illness, and burnout.

Though her albums are sonically different, they still flow with each other because of Taylor’s songwriting abilities. She paints a picture to get you invested in these characters and their motivations, even in her earlier songs, making the pain visceral through vivid imagery and expert motifs. And because that sits at the core, Taylor isn’t afraid to experiment with her production. In fact, she knows it’s necessary so she won’t stagnate. That’s why she’s able to switch from country, to pop, to indie folk music flawlessly, and why she’s able to practically create her own genres in the form of Red and have them still become beloved classics.

Let’s look at a few songs to showcase her storytelling. Three songs, each from a different album for variety’s sake: “Treacherous” from Red; “Clean,” the closing track for 1989; and “august,” a fan favorite from folklore and part of that love triangle I mentioned earlier.

Red is about heartbreak. It’s about the highs and lows of love, and it’s called Red because it represents that: passion and romance, along with pain and anger. “Treacherous” specifically is about falling for someone you know it won’t end well with, but you just can’t help it. Something about that danger, knowing you’re headed for an iceberg, is enticing. Intoxicating. And the singer definitely romanticizes that danger before leaping in without looking. “Treacherous” has a largely soft production that feels dreamy, which builds in the bridges when the passion - and the danger around the corner - becomes more prominent.

The song starts out strong: “Put your lips close to mine, as long as they don’t touch. Out of focus, eye to eye, ‘til the gravity’s too much. And I’ll do anything you say, if you say it with your hands. And I’d be smart to walk away, but you’re quicksand.” Very simple words, but they’re strung together in a way that’s pleasing to the ear, easily fits the melody and rhythm, and they tell a concise story. Getting close enough to someone you’re attracted to where you don’t wanna hold back, but you know you should for your own sake.

With the person this song is supposedly about, Taylor often uses images like cars and polaroids - things present in their relationship that tie the story to him specifically, which is why these images also dominate 1989’s tracklist. She goes ham in the bridge, giving us a picture of how this man and reminders of him - like his car’s headlights breaking through the night - are stuck in her head, and she can’t get past him. “And nothing safe is worth the drive.”

“Clean” is easily one of my favorite songs. 1989 is mostly about the highs and lows of a relationship with the love interest described in “Treacherous,” and in “Clean,” Taylor is working through the aftermath of that relationship’s end, saying she’s finally clean of this person. The lyrics actually liken to people’s struggles with addiction, and though Taylor didn’t initially intend that, she does welcome that interpretation. That’s just how good her lyrics are, taking specific experiences and emotions she feels and creating something universal.

“Clean” was actually co-written with English songwriter Imogen Heap, who spoke about her and Swift’s collaboration in an article I’ll link down below. But it sounds like the two had so much fun experimenting with different sounds that could help set the mood for the lyrics and imagery. When I hear this song, I immediately think of water, and Imogen’s backing vocals beautifully expand this atmosphere, feeling like they’re signaling the clouds opening up to release a downpour in the choruses, especially that final chorus.

“Clean” begins by describing a terrible drought, killing flowers she’d grown with her former lover. The flowers are a metaphor for their relationship, and right away, Taylor has created a vivid story that tells you so much about the relationship she’s left behind, all in just two lines. The rain that nearly drowns her can be likened to tears, for the pain she’s feeling after the end of this relationship, but is also washing away the traces of this relationship until Taylor is “clean.” Until she’s free and finally able to move on.

Trigger warning, I’m gonna be describing sexual harassment briefly, so if you wanna skip that, head to this time. But this song was especially powerful following a court case with a radio DJ who’d groped Taylor at an event, described in the Miss Americana documentary on Netflix. After she called him out and he’d been fired after an investigation, he sued her for defamation, and just to prove she wasn’t making this up to gain something, she countersued for one dollar. She goes into detail about the process in the documentary, and it’s both harrowing and heartbreaking, and this happens to women all the time.

“You walk into a courtroom, and then there’s this person sitting in a swivel chair, staring at you like you did something to him. The first thing they say to you in court is, ‘Why didn’t you scream?’ ‘Why didn’t you react quicker?’ ‘Why didn’t you stand further away from him?’ Then he has a lawyer get up and just lie. There were seven people who saw him do this, and we had a photo of it happening. And I was so angry. I was angry that I had to be there. I was angry that this happens to women. I was angry that people are paid to antagonize victims. I was angry that all the details had been twisted. You don’t feel a sense of any victory when you win, because the process is so dehumanizing. This is with seven witnesses and a photo. What happens when you get R’d, and it’s your word against his?” (Taylor Swift, Miss Americana on Netflix)

She briefly mentioned this on the Reputation stadium tour before performing “Clean,” sending her heart out to the people who spoke about what happened to them and weren’t believed. She actually was unable to sing the line, “You’re still all over me like a wine-stained dress I can’t wear anymore,” presumably because the lyric reminded her of the situation in an unpleasant way, but it shows the power this song can hold in different interpretations. And on a real note, I’m proud Taylor came out the other side stronger and stood up for victims of assault.

And then we have “august.” As I’ve mentioned, folklore includes a love triangle between three fictional characters, where this teenage boy James has cheated on his girlfriend Betty with this other nameless girl (we call her Augustine). “August” is from Augustine’s perspective, reflecting on this whirlwind summer romance

The chorus is iconic. “But I can see us lost in the memory. August slipped away into a moment in time, cuz it was never mine. And I can see us twisted in bedsheets. August sipped away like a bottle of wine, cuz you were never mine.” Excellent wordplay, as the slight differences sound close enough to please your lizard brain’s expectations, but change it up to keep you engaged. It’s also a concise way to describe the relationship. A summer fling that was bound to fade away. A bottle of wine that goes quicker than your liking.

And for proof of her writing abilities, I highly recommend checking out her Reputation poetry, where she describes the vibes of this era in some of the most gorgeous prose you’ve ever witnessed. “Why She Disappeared” tells her story through a broken woman rising above her sullied reputation to finally step into her power. “The Trick to Holding On” focuses on letting go of whatever isn’t serving you anymore, and “If You’re Anything Like Me” is a sweet narrative talking to the reader like they’re in the same struggle as her, almost like she’s talking to her past self with all the wisdom she’s gained through her hardships.

Over the years, Taylor’s worked with a number of producers, including Max Martin and Shellback, the most iconic pop producers… well, ever. They’re part of why the pop songs on Red, and so much of 1989 and Reputation, were as catchy and fun as they were. But the two main producers Taylor works with, especially on folklore and evermore, are Jack Antenoff and Aaron Dessner. These two have vastly different styles, but they always find a way to bring Taylor’s vision to life, working with her directly, and you can get a glimpse of that in the long pond documentary on Disney Plus. Hello, Disney, Netflix, PLEASE SPONSOR ME FOR THIS.

Jack loves to experiment with his productions, and he’s quite versatile. He produced the lead Reputation single “Look What You Made Me Do,” but he’s also produced “Getaway Car,” “Cruel Summer,” “The Archer,” “my tears ricochet,” and many more. He excels in finding new sounds to bring out the emotion of the story Taylor is trying to tell, and he never winds up being pigeon holed into one specific style.

Aaron, meanwhile, is a perfect addition to the folk vibes on folklore and evermore, and has even helped with a lot of the vault songs on Taylor’s re-recorded albums. When this man picks up a guitar, it’s magical, and he can find a million different ways to make it sound, from the heavy metal plucking on “invisible string” that’s cute and endearing, to the wispy, witchy strings on evermore’s opening track “willow.” And the fact he created the perfect sound for female rage in the subdued piano of “mad woman”? Magical.

She works with plenty more producers, and this in concert with her songwriting focusing on very specific emotions and scenarios keeps her songs from sounding same-y. Slower songs sound plenty different, whether it’s the heavily-processed yet vulnerable vocals of “Delicate,” the dreamy, far-reaching atmosphere of “Treacherous,” or the soft love confession of “New Year’s Day.”

CONCLUSION & OUTRO:

Taylor’s music is a masterclass in storytelling, from her lyrics to her word choice to her production, and I think Jeff and Casey could definitely learn a thing or two from studying her work. That said, I do wanna say the scores are still excellent. There, Jeff shines, especially with help from Alex Abraham. Their work doesn’t get nearly enough praise compared to the vocal tracks, as plenty of Volume 8’s score still managed to enrapture me in spite of the lackluster product it was put to.

I do also appreciate the inclusion of OK Goodnight’s “Awake.” I really enjoy their work, as it feels they’re far more willing to experiment with their sound than Jeff, and the lyrics tend to have stronger, albeit trippier imagery.

But to Jeff specifically, I wanna say I appreciate the work you’ve put into the show’s music all these years. This isn’t to disparage your efforts at all. Rather, I think maybe a new approach might be in order, from looking at the lyrical stylings of other artists, to looking for producers who could find ways to mix your songs you yourself might not’ve tried otherwise. Along with Taylor, some artists I recommend checking out are SZA, Alanis Morisette, and Lizzy McAlpine, but don’t stop there - get curious about music from all sorts of genres you might normally not dip your toes in.

Oh actually, one album I very much recommend that I think would fit RWBY’s style is Plastic Hearts by Miley Cyrus. This album has Miley dedicating herself fully to rock, in this case a very ‘80s and ‘90s style that reminds me a lot of Taylor’s Reputation era - very much “fuck you, media” energy while also getting a lot more vulnerable than expected. And while Plastic Hearts is full of rock songs, their production is crisp, and the vibe of all the songs are vastly different from each other. The title track “Plastic Hearts” would lowkey make a better intro to Volume 7 than “Trust Love,” I’m just saying.

Anyways, if you enjoyed this video and would like to see more content like this from me - whether it’s RWBY, Taylor Swift, or mayhaps some of the other artists I’ve mentioned - then be sure to subscribe and ring that bell for notifications because YouTube hates creators. Also please consider, if you’re willing and able, pledging your support for myself and the channel over on Patreon, and checking out my debut urban fantasy novel, De Cineribus: From the Ashes, in the description below!

I’m the Unicorn of War, and “The Truth” is a musical shit show.