Finicky Fanbases - The Feel of the Tide Turning
Taylor Swift might be the most news-prevalent person in the world right now. This certainly hasn't always been the case in her nearly 18 year long career. Being a fan since Fearless, I’ve observed the world pay special attention to Taylor, her songs, her style, and who she’s dating. Love her or hate her, everyone seems to have an opinion on Taylor Swift.
On the heels of releasing sister albums folklore and evermore in 2020, 2021 began the journey of re-recording the albums released under her previous record label. It brought us Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version), with “From the Vault” tracks that were left off of the original albums. For me, it was a chance to re-appreciate her sophomore album, the first one I loved, with her more mature vocals. I was excited to see how different her voice would sound compared to her 19 year old self and to see how well she would reproduce her country style voice. I still haven’t properly listened to Red (Taylor’s Version), still completely distracted by “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)”. But throughout 2021 and most of 2022, we saw dissections of vault tracks and the reemergence of old relationships brought to the forefront for us to talk about (again).
When Midnights was released in October 2022, I couldn’t wait to hear the album. Marketed as “the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout her life”, I was excited for an album where the scope for clues and Easter eggs was longer than her most recent relationship. To me this was the chance to more simply enjoy her craft as a songwriter than hunt for clues on who or what she was singing about. As an introspective person, I am always interested in learning about what is important in someone else’s life, someone telling their own story and processing their emotions. I expected a window into her soul, but I didn’t expect to see into my own.
Midnights took the music world by storm and “Anti-Hero” had me in a choke hold. The vulnerability she displayed in this song is awestricking and was something I continue to identify with. One of the most talented women in the world looks at herself as a problem, preferring to stare into the sun instead of her own reflection. It felt validating, that I didn’t need to feel shame for feeling like an “Anti-Hero” myself sometimes. And so many people around me were identifying with the music, producing their own content reviewing, appreciating, or decoding the album for its full meaning. It seemed that other people were seeing a little bit of themselves in Taylor too and it was cool to be a Swiftie.
The Eras Tour had many of us glued to Ticketmaster hoping for presale codes. While we didn’t yet know how disastrous the ticket buying would be, it was clear that demand for this concert would feel unprecedented. Social media was flooded with people sharing their status as one of the lucky ones who scored tickets and those who were still looking for available offers. For two solid years, we feasted on Taylor content: 5 albums and tons of commentary on her style, comings and goings, friends, and hidden messages.
2023 brought us the start of The Eras Tour, the breakup of her 6 year long relationship, Speak Now (Taylor’s Version), 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and a new relationship. As all these events were occuring, it seemed like her star was rising to unbelievable heights. At the same time, the temperature of the Swifties fandom feels different. It’s becoming more cool to not like Taylor Swift, to criticize her, to think she’s overexposed, that half of the news items are about her, and wonder why we keep hearing her name literally everywhere. It felt like the way the air stills before a storm. It can be a gloriously beautiful day until the rain starts.
To feel that shift was like a car slowing down. There’s a second, or a few, when you release from the gas and the speed hasn’t yet changed. The pressure is off but you’re still moving, but eventually inertia takes hold and tiny changes in speed can be felt. There’s no speedometer for the changes in public opinion besides hindsight. Last year, the world was singing her praises, her work ethic, her skill as a songwriter and storyteller. This year, the focus seems to be shifting to why she is so visible, why the NFL insists on showing her at every game she attends. Why she’s dating Travis Kelce, if it’s for publicity, if she’s living out her goal of “dating the boy on the football team”. Her private jet usage (this one is more fair to critique). The upcoming release of The Tortured Poets Department is being enveloped by people who think it’s an album crafted to make her ex-boyfriend look bad. A lot of spaces on the internet are returning to old campaigns about how she only sings about her exes. People are fighting each other in posts and threads about who was wrong in that relationship, who left who, despite neither party speaking out publicly to provide any details.
A public life provides content for people to think about and talk about. Given the immense impact that celebrities can have, it’s normal to critically examine what they do and how their actions impact us, societally, environmentally, etc. It’s fair to point out things we think are damaging, like the climate impacts of a lot of back and forth travel. We tend to put public figures on pedestals that give them god-like abilities and responsibilities. And because we place them there, we feel we can dictate what they can do with the power we gave them. In some ways that’s true; we can stop supporting someone, consuming their work and lower their income and impact. But we expect perfection from mortals and that can only lead to disappointment.
While public temperature has shifted, I can never tell: did people change their minds about her? Did they get tired of constantly hearing about her? Tired of all sorts of media putting her front and center, possibly to boost their own engagement to please the various social media algorithms? Or are these previously silent folks who have found their moment of oversaturation and determined the tide was ripe to turn?