Taylor Swift (Yes, Taylor Swift) Sends a Murder Ballad to Radio
Well this is an interesting development. With her last two surprise records Folklore and Evermore, former pop country superstar Taylor Swift has been dabbling more in sedated and organic styles that some are equating to folk music—or at least folk-inspired. In truth, the music is still very much warranted to be categorized in the pop range. But some of the songs with their acoustic nature have put Swift more in touch with country music than much of her previous material, even when she was claiming to be country.
Because of this, Taylor Swift and her team have been sending some singles to country radio again. From Folklore released in July of 2020, Swift sent the stripped-down and harmonica-happy “Betty” to country radio, which didn’t do well, but didn’t do terrible either. It ended up at #32 on radio, and also charted at #6 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, despite not really fitting the mainstream country format very well.
Now from Evermore released in December 2020, Swift will be releasing to country radio the song “no body, no crime” (purposely lowercased), and this one’s a bit more interesting. Tapping into the long-standing tradition in country music of the murder ballad, “no body, no crime” features two members of the sister trio Haim. The song tells the story of Este (also the name of Haim’s oldest sister), who suspects her husband of cheating, tells a friend, and then goes missing. So the friend takes matters into her own hand, killing the husband, and hiding the body in the bottom of the lake, the whole time the refrain “No body, no crime” constituting the chorus.
Similar to “Betty,” the new song includes some country instrumentation, including mandolin, lap steel, and harmonica. But unlike “Betty,” whose lyrics were very much steeped in high school theater, “no body, no crime” sits down in thematic and lyrical traditions in country dating all the way back to The Carter Family. Let’s not oversell it though. This song is still very much a pop offering more than anything, and the production by Aaron Dessner (from The National) is not exactly ideal for either country radio, or the traditional country crowd who may find a murder ballad appealing. Tapping into country music’s murder ballad tradition won’t necessarily help the prospects of Taylor Swift’s “no body, no crime” on radio. In fact, it’s more likely to hurt them.
But with the major success other murder ballads from women have enjoyed in country over the years, it wouldn’t be smart to count it out. Though “no body, no crime” has drawn comparisons to “Goodbye Earl” from The Chicks, the 2000 single had a decidedly more playful mood despite the macabre story. Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” draws the line on revenge of a cheating man at property damage. “no body, no crime” is more in line with The Band Perry’s “Better Dig Two,” or Underwood’s “Church Bells,” both of which had a much darker hue to the music like this Swift single, and both which were big #1’s.
Murder ballads have always played an important role in country music. As songwriter Stefanie Joyce told Saving Country Music recently, “There was a time in the early days of hillbilly music and the early Carter Family recordings when you could talk about really disturbing things. And I feel like the genre has become so sanitized, especially in the last 20 or 30 years … There’s something about murder ballads that people find as sinister and almost fun, along with country music that explores stuff like crime, murder, death, and drugs. For the genre to stay relevant, it needs to talk about the broad range of human experience. There was a time when people were more comfortable going to those places.”
It will be interesting to see what happens with “no body, no crime,” not just because it’s a murder ballad, but because it’s coming from the unlikely source in Taylor Swift. This is a long way from Taylor singing into her hair brush in “You Belong With Me.” But like with so many things with country radio, it’s success has mostly to do with how bought in the label is to promoting it.
January 6, 2021 @ 11:45 am
Guess that’s the natural progression from the crazy/jealousy type songs.
January 6, 2021 @ 11:51 am
I just find this song to be too repetitive/ monotonous sort of for my taste, but her fans hail this song to be the best thing since sliced bread.
January 6, 2021 @ 1:44 pm
Taylor swift herself to me IS the best thing since sliced bread ( if that’s the sarcastic way your going to put it). She spends time writing these songs, and insulting the supposed repetitiveness of a song she writes is either ignorant or arrogant
January 6, 2021 @ 2:38 pm
Lots of artists spend time writing songs, but that isn’t a guarantee they’re going to be amazing. I guess I’ll be both ignorant and arrogant, but I’m not the first person to say they don’t like the chorus. I feel like you’re joking with this comment though, lol.
January 6, 2021 @ 5:19 pm
Let’s watch someone’s poop
January 7, 2021 @ 5:22 am
yes
January 11, 2021 @ 7:52 am
she is the most overrated thing since sliced bread surely …I cant believe the fuss critics make about her rich teen whining dairy stuff they call songwriting..I haven’t managed to complete a full song of her
January 6, 2021 @ 12:02 pm
So much for picking a lane, Ms. Swift.
Lots of spilled ink was wasted here over that obvious falsehood.
January 6, 2021 @ 1:17 pm
Picking a lane works only when you’re still moving full speed ahead in the lane you picked. Her last few pop singles tested horribly and heralded a slowdown at pop radio, so now she finds herself in a similar position as Sheryl Crow, Jewel and other former pop stars who got pushed out of CHR and Hot AC formats by changing music trends and decides to “go country.” There’s also an element of throwing stuff at the wall and hoping something sticks, since she even sent a single to Triple-A radio (“Exile” featuring Bon Iver – I’m not buying into the trend of all-lowercase song titles which seems to have picked up steam thanks to Billie Eilish).
January 6, 2021 @ 2:01 pm
I respectfully disagree with this assessment. I think Taylor Swift released a couple of understated pandemic records similar to what many artists have done, irrespective of how they would fare on radio. I’m sure she will have big pop singles in the future. I don’t think “no body, no crime” is a great song, but as I tried to illustrate in the story, it’s very much in line with other murder ballad singles released to country radio, and I think it’s interesting, in line with country traditions, and certainly doesn’t hurt country radio if it finds traction there.
I also don’t see this as Taylor Swift going back on her “choose a lane” stance. I don’t think she considers herself a country artist. I think she considers herself a pop artist. But if she or her team want to release a song to country radio that is frankly better than many of the other songs you’ll find there, I’m not sure why we’d have a problem with it.
Just Like “Betty,” I suspect this song meanders in the 30’s at country radio. They don’t have the stomach for a murder ballad these days.
January 6, 2021 @ 3:16 pm
I’m not saying she’s completely done for. I was speaking more from a radio perspective than from a career perspective, and it just seems to me that her footprint at pop radio has declined since she stopped working with Max Martin. And it started before COVID. “Lover” missed the Top 10 at pop radio, and that was before the pandemic. “The Man” did even worse. She hasn’t had a Top 5 hit at CHR radio since “Delicate” and that was 2 1/2 years ago now. A return to form in terms of having massive pop hits isn’t out of the question (especially if she starts working with Martin again), but to me at this moment it looks like she’s experiencing the inevitable result of years of overexposure. It happens to every pop star, whether it’s Lady Gaga, Katy Perry or Madonna. Of course, she will continue to have a devoted fan base who will buy whatever she releases and will probably continue to sell albums and singles regardless of whether they get airplay and at what format(s). But she appears to be past her peak at the moment (again this is not to say she couldn’t pull off a Cher or Mariah Carey and come back with a huge massive single that appeals to everyone).
I don’t disagree that this song would probably benefit pop country radio more than it would harm it.
January 6, 2021 @ 4:29 pm
I’m not Taylor swift fan but most people tend to pay attention to the Hot 100 chart which trends heavily towards streaming. Taylor still has had a number of top 5 and number one hits from her two recent albums.
January 6, 2021 @ 6:00 pm
How the hell does this not equal going back on her pick a lane?
She left country music yet is sending singles to country radio. That is not picking a lane.
I liked this place better when it wasn’t filled with Taylor Swift defense.
Still the best music site on the web,
January 6, 2021 @ 6:35 pm
This song will stall in the 30’s on the chart, and will be better, and more country than most on country radio. I advocate for country music to improve. If this song is an improvement—however slight—from what it might replace on country radio, I don’t see the harm. There is no indication Taylor Swift is moving back into country, or exploiting country music. She released a couple of understated records this year, and her folks feel some of the songs work better at country. I’m not coming to her “defense.” But I would also be a hypocrite if I did not point out that she was sending a murder ballad to country radio, when six weeks ago I posted the big feature referenced in the article on the importance of murder ballads to country music.
January 7, 2021 @ 2:05 pm
“No Body, No Crime” sounds like Carrie Underwood and would be markedly better if Carrie sang it. But “Cowboy Like Me” is the best song off Evermore (includes harmony vocals from a Mumford) and it’ll be interesting to see if she releases it to country radio. I suspect it could do really well, although its pace is really slow.
January 20, 2021 @ 10:44 am
YOU’RE AN IDIOT BASHING TAYLOR SWIFT. GO FUCK YOURSELF
January 7, 2021 @ 4:05 pm
Taylor is an album artist. Her fans always buy multiple copies of her albums that’s what folklore is the biggest record released this year (by far) and evermore is second. With that said she still is the most streamed female artist of 2020.
January 7, 2021 @ 7:43 pm
Don’t forget she released it CD, vinyl and cassette format with 4 different album covers to choose from so yeah I’d say sales numbers are skecthy. But I think the real truth she is confronting is she is thirty and at 30 in today’s internet pop realm you are done more or less… in the MTV days of Madonna you could until 40 or so. But turnover rates are much higher now it seems to me.
January 6, 2021 @ 12:45 pm
Had to listen to it twice before I could get past how much of the harmony was recycled from “Before He Cheats” and an assortment of other radio pop hits.
It’s not a bad song, I just feel like I’ve heard it a million times before.
January 6, 2021 @ 1:01 pm
Big label attempting a big money grab. Let’s roll the dice and maybe it can chart on the country and pop charts simultaneously. Its been done thousands of times. Nothing to see here. Yawn…now, about my nap. Wake me if actual country music ever materializes.
January 6, 2021 @ 1:18 pm
You kind of people never give Taylor a break. She tries to break away from her previous pop albums and yet you call her new songs too pop-like. She honest can’t win with you can she?
January 6, 2021 @ 2:19 pm
Personally, I do think the two songs Taylor Swift has released to country radio are “pop-like.” But I wouldn’t characterize them as “too pop-like.” Frankly, they’re more country, and less pop than much of what you’ll find on country radio. So at the worst, I see it as a sum neutral, if not a sum positive.
January 6, 2021 @ 7:58 pm
I find it amazing that apparently most songs on US country radio are less country than this! I quite like this song (I couldn’t stand ‘Betty’) but this song is pop not country. I bet there’s a few reasonable pop songs on country radio at the moment like this one and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with, in this day and age, them being sent to country radio. Although unfortunately I’ll probably miss most of them because I can’t be arsed to listen to country radio!
January 7, 2021 @ 1:47 am
I would agree with you that she hasn’t fully transitioned from pop when she wrote folklore, there are certainly elements that indicate it’s still in her mind! I think evermore did a better job in some aspects at splitting away from pop but equally seemed to me like a worse album on the whole. Being a 17 yr old myself, I never first hand experienced anything from before reputation, and thus I understand your point!
January 6, 2021 @ 4:04 pm
I haven’t listened to this full album, but I thought the last release was much better than anything she had done since 1989. I thought it was about 4 tracks too long and overproduced in parts, but not a bad album on the whole. I actually played “Betty” for my wife after listening to the album.
Pop music isn’t inherently bad. Kroeger/Moi-ing a successful album release is, and that’s what a lot of major label producers prefer these days.
If a song starts and my initial reaction is “where have I heard this before?”, it’s usually distracting and detracts from my opinion of the work.
January 6, 2021 @ 1:48 pm
Out of curiosity i listened to a solid 45 seconds of this song, and 15 seconds later Kate McCannon was on. No regrets
January 6, 2021 @ 2:44 pm
Violent Femmes, Country Death Song. That’s a modern murder ballad.
January 7, 2021 @ 2:42 am
Modern? To all the girls Ive loved before and Ghostbusters were released in the same year.
January 6, 2021 @ 3:44 pm
Honestly not awful. It does the murder ballad thing, and I chuckled at the extra twist where the mistress gets framed. Chorus is repetitive, but I’m guessing that was so she could switch it up at the end, so I get it even if I don’t love it. If anything, I think the instrumentation is too sedate for it to be a big hit on radio. Doesn’t have the energy of the other songs you mentioned.
January 6, 2021 @ 7:22 pm
Yes I agree it does do the murder ballad thing! However I think a great murder ballad would set the scene better and get deeper with feelings and emotions – I think Stefanie Joyce achieves this in her song ‘On the Ohio’ which is what I’d call a solid murder ballad! And of course “On the Ohio” has a more country rhythm to it too.
January 6, 2021 @ 6:20 pm
Sounds like a dull, unfinished, VH1-version of her “Should’ve Said No”.
January 6, 2021 @ 9:02 pm
This woman has some of the worst diction I’ve ever heard
Did she have a jawbreaker in one cheek recording this?
And another thing: the melody goes nowhere on this song.
January 6, 2021 @ 9:18 pm
Why is a multi-millionaire singing about Olive Garden?
All that aside, this song is pretty fucking bad, mild “better than most country radio” instrumentation or not.
January 6, 2021 @ 11:34 pm
We seem to be comparing this to (a) her other pop stuff and ( b ) ”country” radio which is pop as well .If we were comparing this to the REAL country so many folks are recording right now this would be a completely different discussion . She cannot sing ….much less deliver an emotion-driven COUNTRY music vocal regardless of the lyric . She’s a pop star for kids and thei moms who like trendy pop music and wish they looked like her . Trying to compare this to COUNTRY music is akin to comparing apples to watermelon ( sugar ) . I get that its a different kinda lyric ….and that’s all .
January 7, 2021 @ 12:04 am
first verse, definitely pop.
reminds me of 80s pop radio, really.
Well, she’s never flipped my switches with her songs anyway.
January 7, 2021 @ 1:31 am
In my opinion, the recent gold standard for a female murder ballad is Roses by the Dozen by Jamie Lin Wilson. If things were right in the world of country music it would have been right at the top of the country charts.
“no body, no crime” seems lazily written and feels flat. I would say it struggle on country radio but heck I never thought “Meant to Be” would do anything on country radio. And we all know how that worked out, unfortunately.
January 7, 2021 @ 10:58 am
hey, that ‘roses by the dozen’ is a good song, thanks for the recommendation.
January 7, 2021 @ 9:07 am
If I were on Taylor’s team, I wouldn’t send anything to country radio because let’s face it, we all know how conservative most people at country radio are (especially when it comes to how women should speak or act) and I’m betting they still haven’t forgiven her for suing that radio guy from a few years ago for being inappropriate.
She’s fine without radio.
January 7, 2021 @ 9:51 am
Why all the grief about Taylor. She is one of the most talented people in music today. Regardless of what genre she happens to record in. If you do not like to listen to Taylor Swift then don’t. But do not ridicule the lady for the music she releases. Her new album, Evermore, is a gem.
January 7, 2021 @ 10:14 am
No she isn’t. She has a two octave singing range. That’s remarkably below average especially for someone who sings all the time as a career
She’s empirically NOT talented and she has bad diction, no breath control and her guitar skills are rudimentary on a good day
Bob Dylan has more than two octaves, and compared to the 3 octaves of most older country singers and the four octavesof mat rockers she’s demonstrably subpar
And two say otherwise is a simple rejection of facts. Singing ranges are not subjective
December 16, 2021 @ 7:12 am
Her obvious considerable talent is her music compositional skills, in particular her sense of melody is exceptional. She never claimed to be able to shred an instrument, but is nevertheless a solid acoustic guitar player and a decent piano player – and they are mere vehicles for her song writing. Her vocal skills have seriously improved, but IMO (and many other millions) she has a really pleasant character to her voice – I’m sure it is a source of frustration to her that she has struggled to control it over the years, and a source of great sadness because she has been mercilessly attacked over it..
Before you roll your eyes, and accuse me of being tone deaf, I have excellent relative pitch, and am a rock guitarist for 35 years – and I can shred a guitar. I have a great many musical influences, but Taylor Swift is one of the few mainstream pop ones. There really is something very special about her ability to pluck out gorgeous melodies over and over again, song after song.
There is nothing “formulaic” about her songs musically either. I’ve analysed a great many. “Trouble” (E minor) does have a cliched chord progression (Em, Cmaj D maj Gmaj Dm), but the vocal melody – magic. There is a staggering variety to her complete catalogue.. anyone who could write Love Story, Enchanted, Story Of Us, Long Live, Red, State of Grace, Trouble, WANGBT, I Know Places, Clean, Blank Space (oh yeah – she wrote that – not Martin), Lover, Delicate, Cornelia Street, Me, and Christmas Tree Farm is a f**kin’ amazing musician.
I can only imagine what it is like to have 75,000 people sing along in unison as you sing a song unaccompanied on an acoustic guitar. Taylor Swift knows. And guess what, some of the people in the crowd will be first class musicians in the making .. loving every second .. so get off your high horse.
January 7, 2021 @ 10:48 am
I read most the comments here and the whole article, my personal opinion is the song is just not that good. I love a good country murder ballad, this was just cookie cutter and boring. Not that country either. From the music to the story being told here, its just poorly done. The murder story in this song is elementary at best, not that creative at all. Bad all around for me. But thats me.
January 7, 2021 @ 11:02 am
I think a lot of folks are misunderstanding the point of this article. This was not a music recommendation, as is rarely the case when I broach mainstream country music or radio specifically here. I simply thought it was interesting that Taylor Swift released a murder ballad to country radio, dovetailing it with a feature I published recently about the importance of murder ballads to country music. I concur that the song isn’t great. But I also think it’s important to critique music among its peers. And among its peers on country radio, no body, no crime” is probably above average, even if that isn’t saying a whole lot.
January 7, 2021 @ 1:18 pm
Taylor swift and murder. I’m not sharing my thoughts on that.
January 7, 2021 @ 3:19 pm
Geez, I am beginning to think swift has handle in the media and press who hype her up
I finally listened to Folklore and what a bore. it has some well done songs but nothing i will download.
also i dont think she has grown too much as an artist and I dont think she will ever be a great singer.
the hype of folklore was overblown, sometimes it felt too artificiality produced, i am thinking maybe she is just to reliant on autotune now.
January 7, 2021 @ 7:54 pm
This reminds me of Johnny Cash’s Deala’s Gone. Cash’s song is better, but the dark story telling is still there. I like it when singers try something different. Good song. Would love to here Taylor do a blue grass album. I know am dreaming but oh well.
January 9, 2021 @ 8:00 pm
My favorite old country murder ballad is Porter Wagoner’s 1967 “The Cold Hard Facts of Life”. And more recently Cody Johnson’s “Guilty As Can Be”! Similar story lines.