Taylor Swift is the 34-year-old pop sensation of American origin, who has had the world in her grip, as a musician and performer, since 2006. Her reputation precedes her and she is known for her biographical songs, detail-oriented execution of album concepts, imagery in lyricism, and overall business acumen & marketing strategy. Even with all of the control that she exercises over her artistic production and the business of music, her work hasn’t been safe from criticism and controversy. Regardless of whether you hate or love Taylor Swift, her cultural impact has gone beyond petty celebrity gossip and expanded to discussions about her socio-economic-political & environmental impact. Her cultural currency has managed to keep her relevant and it’s a little hard to ignore it when there’s a billionaire with an undeniable stronghold over such a large, global demographic.

Also read: The Queerification of Taylor Swift: From Fearless to Folklore

Taylor Swift: A Lyrical Genius or Viral Buzzwords?

To discuss this, we brought on-board four self-proclaimed Swifties (members of the Taylor Swift fandom), Kashvi (she/her), Surabhi (she/her), Diksha (she/her), and Anjali (she/her). All 4 Swifties are in their mid 20s, cis-queer women living in urban India. Surabhi (she//her) an avid listener began by expressing her disappointment about the latest release, The Tortured Poets Department:

“The Eras tour and simultaneously dropping a double-album doesn’t feel like she’s sat with any of her releases lately. It feels like she’s putting out half drafts and has become a money-making machine. She has zero social media presence and only shows up with her albums. Everything is basic, trendy, and catchy (not in a good way). There was a time when I would sit with her lyrics and engage with her poetry. Her music these days is so repetitive.”

While this is hard to disagree with, it also raises certain questions about artists’ relationship with social media and using it for marketing. If an artist can afford to not care about their social media, wouldn’t they immediately also abandon the external pressure to maintain a social media account? And what kind of artists are able to afford such luxury? Kashvi chimes in that it is not necessarily about being active or vocal on social media, but about being authentic. One would agree that if being authentic and relatable was your whole brand identity, then what Kashvi says does make sense.

Surabhi has another bone of contention with the latest album:

“She’s repeated so many metaphors, it’s almost like she’s romanticizing her bad mental health and stretching it to fit the idea of ‘the Taylor Swift journey’ . What’s a journey if you’re not even honestly putting in the effort to revolutionize the creative hold you have on the world right now? There was a time when her lyrics showed how isolated she was. Some think it’s genius of her to create parallels in her songs and albums, but anyone’s journal entry will draw such parallels.”

Many fans reportedly had similar gripes. When one takes out the time to listen to 30 songs based on the life experiences of a 34-year-old white woman during a genocide of Asian people, a failing world economy, and political turmoil at-large, and she only sing about her romantic pursuits in a rather vague way to make it relatable for the listener, it begs the question –  what is the message that she’s putting out there?

“She announced the album with a caption where she said that ‘there is nothing to avenge, no scores to settle once wounds have healed’. But the album doesn’t represent that AT ALL. It’s so random. Feels like Instagram-able jargon put together. Like what is ‘I cry but I’m so productive’?” – Kashvi implores.

Socio-Economic Impact Of The ‘Eras’ Tour

A LinkedIn post recently highlighted what a blessing the Eras tour has been for the American economy, with Taylor Swift’s concerts not just creating jobs and paying hefty sums to everyone involved in the tour, but also boosting the local economy of towns in the neighborhood.

As highlighted by Surabhi, the experience didn’t exactly reflect what Miss Swift hoped to do;

“The Eras Tour was the most scammy concert that I have ever experienced on TV. Imagine how fooled I would feel if I actually spent money on this? Taylor has the same expressions while she sings. She’s singing the same mass-approved songs, and she frames a generic background story to make it special. What if she chose to sing ‘Ronan’or ‘Best Day’, which are basically the songs that make her the artist ‘Taylor Swift’!”

Also read: Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour Movie: It’s Fabulous but How do we Really See Queer Joy?

Not to mention the infamous topic about Swift harming the environment by having two private jets flying simultaneously between cities that are barely a state away. What ever happened to the tour bus culture? Time is money, but is the tour then worth experiencing? Does it remain one-of-a-kind? It makes a good case for anyone to question the motivation of the artist who seems to be out there to simply produce fast-music.

“Her tours are never ending, and while it improves the economy of the towns and cities she’s visiting, it adds to the air pollution so much more immensely, which she’s not even addressing.” Surabhi points out.

Taylor’s usage of private jets indicates her prioritization of her own comfort over all else. They are and will continue to be a status symbol. Investing in good security probably costs way less than maintaining private jets.

It’s not about pulling down a woman successful on her own terms, but white people who harm the entire world, justifying it as a requirement for success. People are annoyed with Taylor Swift because despite all the minimal good she does, people who are struggling worldover are carrying the burden of the issues that she creates.

“I’m a die hard Swiftie but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna support everything she does just because she is TAYLOR SWIFT.” announces Diksha.

A Feminist Icon

Let’s be real, when we think feminism, we do not think of Taylor Swift. Personally, when I think about feminist music, I associate it with Riot Girl music. Because that has made more impact on my life than Swift’s “The Man”. Even back in 2015, when Swift released the music video for ‘Bad Blood’ I felt more excited about the cameos and never really correlated it with feminism. Almost 10 years since the music video, I haven’t seen any of the celebrities featured interact with Taylor Swift in public (I almost forgot Zendaya was a part of it).

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“It was super radical of her to re-release her albums, but it threw light on all the feuds she’s involved in the past. I love ‘All Too Well’ but I doubt people would have heard a 10-minute version of a song if it wasn’t associated with Gyllenhall. Taylor is not a feminist, she’s just a woman and there are certain experiences she sings about that are shared by all of us.” Kashvi says, expressing her frustration.

It’s so vague, that everyone relates to it!

“Taylor’s connection to feminism is limited to calling out male singers for writing songs about their lives and exes, while she is herself being criticized for the same thing and putting a blotch on her exes’ careers. It was because of the Scooter Braun controversy that her albums were able to get that angle, besides that we don’t really know her involvement in the movement,” Kashvi adds.

When I think of feminism in the context of famous, contemporary American singers, Halsey sets a better lyrical and production standard for me. And I do think that Swift was wrong to say “Charlie Puth is underrated” . His music is pretty good, but he’s rated as much as a cis-het white male artist.

Comfort In Familiarity

I primarily associate Taylor Swift to be one of the first western artists that I was introduced to. I still think of her 2013 album, Red, as one of my favorite albums to relive my teen-days while listening to. The relatability of the lyrics are commendable as they helped comfort a confused teen, who is learning to be loving and kind, despite having their emotions all over the place.

But as Diksha points out, “Yes it was relatable back then, only back then”.

For Anjali who is in her mid-20s now, going through a sudden breakup, navigating expectations of adulthood and friends, the Tortured Poets Department album helped them process their sadness. There’s a universal feeling of betrayal that comes with being suddenly abandoned and questioning yourself about whether it is a fundamental flaw that you were born with.

“For me, the album is in different phases of heartbreak. It is not my place to dissect it for her, but I really hope she’s okay. I have more emotional attachment to the album as it coincides with my breakup. I related to the grief and confusion that came with the sudden breakup, and the desperation of trying to make someone love you.” [Anjali]

While I am well aware that discussing Taylor Swift probably adds to her celebrity, and it will likely not affect her public image on the scale that she currently exists, my point was to never to put down an artist. This piece was largely born after her new album dropped as a way to chronicle the moment. It has been over a month since the album came out, and we still get regular voice memos from Swift. By these memos, I mean her attempts to release new versions/draft recordings of her songs to remain at the top of the charts.

We doubt that with her marketing ploys and a loyal fanbase, her relevance will go away anytime. She has managed to cement her legacy such that her lore will likely be around for as long as our civilization continues business as usual. Should one person have this much power? That’s a discussion for another article. But, it’s not just about Taylor Swift and her individual ability to cultivate such influence on the media at a time when there are pressing humanitarian issues that need public attention. It goes both ways, newsrooms generate headlines about celebrities and celebrity culture because people love reading about it, but we are also fed media coverage strategically. Celebrity culture’s criticism has been reduced to mere criticism and requires more action from us – boycott and divest from celebrity culture now!