What we lose in the gamification of music

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Did you hear the noise enveloping the pop music world last week? A squeal met by a sigh: the collision of excitement and exhaustion could only mean one thing. Taylor Swift was on her way back to center of the discourse, a new album cover (concealed, of course, in a monogrammed custom case) under her arm. Last Monday's public notice that The Life of a Showgirl 's physical existence would be officially revealed the next day on New Heights , the podcast hosted by Swift's boyfriend Travis and brother-in-love Jason Kelce, sent fans into a Pavlovian tizzy and critics into an equally kneejerk downward spiral. Swifties took mere minute