Meh… I think the “liberalness” of artists is kind of overstated. Some are just better at hiding their political views than others or they make a conscious decision NOT to speak on politics because they don’t want to alienate their audiences. I think it’s just the out spoken artists tend to be on the left or at least liberal, which skews our perceptions. The music industry after all, is like any other industry, seeking to pander to the most people to make the most money in order to keep growing. Having artists agree with their audience - which with regards to rock and pop, is perceived as a youthful one and hence more liberal - is very much a business decision often times. I bet, for example, that there was a ton of testing the waters before Taylor Swift starting making explicitly political statements a few years ago. They (meaning her and her team) likely decided she could stand to loss some of her more conservative fans, as she was moving in a more pop direction anyway (this is entirely speculation on my part, of course - and it also doesn’t mean she’s not earnest in her views, just that she’s smart enough to take her brand into account when she makes a public statement).
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