Sinatra beaten by Swift?
By Mahnuel Muñoz
In an indirect way, Frank Sinatra returns to the headlines of the media after being surpassed by the pop superstar Taylor Swift in the number of awards for best album of the year. Although reading the news also mentions luminaries such as Stevie Wonder or Paul Simon, the bait is to say that Swift has won, none other than the voice of the 20th century; It is certainly significant (although not surprising) that the standard of quality and success to beat remains Sinatra, despite the time that has passed since his glory years and all the good music that has emerged since then. It is gratifying to see how the authenticity of art without artifice that Sinatra embodied triumphs in a time as critical for popular music as the one we live in.
I want to say something else, and let it be noted that it is not to the detriment of Swift’s achievements; The small gramophones were given to Sinatra in the middle of the rock era, when the man from Hoboken, already in his forties, had to measure himself against titans of the stature of The Beatles and Elvis Presley. Taylor has no rivals of such substance. And it is almost certain that in sixty-some years their albums will not sound with the strength and freshness with which “Come Dance With Me” (first Grammy for album of the year for Sinatra) pulses in the middle of 2024.
