In 2014, Longreads published the first-ever Taylor Swift reading list, recognizing her (perhaps somewhat provocatively for the time) as a music business genius. But how could anyone have predicted what became of the Taylorverse after that? The past nine years have been filled with new albums, re-recorded “versions,” tours, arguments, encounters (musical, romantic, and otherwise), and failures. , a rebound, a friendship with an ex, and the collapse of the National Football League.
The Eras tour is expected to gross $2.2 billion in North America alone, and its re-release on October 27th. 1989 (Taylor version) approach, and Taylor Swift’s genius is no longer in question, as her upcoming Ellas Tour movie is predicted to shake up the film industry. She continues to get incredibly big and her supernova never stops expanding, swallowing up more fans (and more money). Swift’s rise over the past decade has made the star an ever more inscrutable cipher on our devices, stadiums, screens and football games. How can any of us empathize with the champagne issue? Whose seasoning choices will be the talk of the town? But even as Swift’s ubiquity makes her increasingly invisible, what Amanda Petrusich identified as the star’s “talky, quirky intimacy” leaves us feeling “seen.” Her brand is built on “feeling.” She invites identification with her, but as her monocultural presence increases, this identification becomes increasingly difficult unless we project ourselves onto her. Swift’s artwork is now completely separable from Taylor studies.
This reading list brings together works from the past decade that have used Taylor Swift as a muse, conduit, springboard, or punching bag for the author’s own journey. These are the kinds of things that, as Taylor’s Swiftdom grows, so do the opportunities to use her as a lens through which to project all sorts of issues: gender, race, identity, authenticity, and the prismatic result: It shows you how to witness ‘Kaleidoscope’. “Under the coat,” an Easter egg waiting to be unwrapped. After all, she is a disco ball that reflects every version of us.
Listening to Taylor Swift in Prison (Joe Garcia) new yorkerSeptember 2023)
Joe Garcia, who has been incarcerated for 20 years and is currently waiting for his first chance at parole, reflects on how Taylor Swift’s music helped him stay in prison in California. As her lyrics offer solace in desperate places and her voice brings happiness, Garcia reflects on life beyond his prison and what it means to love in broad daylight.
After a few months, my belongings, including my CD player, finally caught up. I was preparing to purchase “Red” from the certified CD catalog when I learned that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) had placed me on another transfer list. After being deported, the album did not stay in prison, so she turned to country stations that regularly featured Swift. Sometimes I would listen to a medley of Southern roars and honky-tonk and laugh out loud to myself. But it was the station that played her widest variety of music, from “Tim McGraw” to “I Know You Were Trouble.” There was something intuitively soothing, pure and good in her voice, hinting at happiness, or at least the possibility of happiness. When I listened to her music, I felt like I was still part of the world I had left behind.
Lack of charisma can be a comfort (Anna Dorn, los angeles book reviewsAugust 2023)
To novelist Anna Dorn, Taylor Swift is a cracker-eating bitch. In this essay, Dawn describes her own acerbic attitude toward artists who (in her opinion) suffer from a fatal lack of charisma, and how she gradually came to terms with Swift’s virtues, if not her charms. I’ve been fascinated by what I’ve come to accept. Much of that change is due to the things that Dawn finds frustrating about Swift, such as her desire to please people, her feeling that she’s not that talented after all, and how she feels about herself. This stems from the realization that this is also an aspect of one’s own personality. But in the end, she realizes that Swift makes people happy, and that’s not for nothing.
I understand how watching Taylor Swift can tell you what you hate and fear about yourself. I worry that we too have the same type of unexceptional, largely unattractive WASP faces and share a history of throwing ourselves at people who have little or no interest in us. doing. We both consider ourselves artists, but rather than have something original to say, we instead parrot various inspirational source texts and current pop culture trends. . Neither of us are exceptionally talented. Even as an adult, no one ever told me I was a good writer, so much so that I don’t think anyone other than Taylor’s family told me she had a good singing voice. her voice is good. My writing is fine. Our lack of charisma may kill us.
Revenge of the Nerds (Tuffy Blosser-Akner, paris reviewsJune 2015)
In a class I once taught, a student highlighted a writer’s choice to use a “passive-aggressive voice.” Since then, I have cherished that slip. Journalist and novelist Tuffy Brodesser-Akner famously wrote this article about Taylor Swift’s passive-aggressive use of voice before writing the definitive celebrity profile of Swift’s ex, Tom Hiddleston. I wrote a hymn. In the current era, Swift may be rewriting her lyrics to better embody the brand of feminism she currently espouses, but Brodesser-Akner’s work has always shown that Swift’s subtle savagery has always reflected her It reminds me that it was part of its charm.
Indeed, Taylor’s career is the complete realization of every writer’s narrowest dreams. It takes revenge sharply and loudly on those who have wronged us, and then we can exclaim innocently that our intentions were nothing but poetic and pure. That’s true. Most of us can only achieve this with small digressions. In addition to being public about her dates and breakups, Taylor has vowed not to talk about the end of her relationship, but she’s released a song about it that’s painfully specific and has an unforgettable hook. Yes, if you date Taylor Swift, not only will she berate you on her album, but that song will become a single, then a hit, and you’ll have a bunch of young women at Staples Center swearing at you. You will hear it being done. And she would deny that she was doing anything other than legitimately expressing her own art. It was atrocious, and for a lifelong passive-aggressive person like me, she became my hero.
On loving Taylor Swift while being brown (Vrinda Jagota, pitchforkNovember 2017)
Written the year after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States and the year before Taylor Swift endorsed a Democratic candidate for the first time in her adopted home of Tennessee, this thoughtful piece by Brinda Jagota explores the fact that Swift is white. We will explore how people benefited from this and used it as a weapon. The pop star has come a long way since her tentative step into a post-Trump political outsider, but Jagota’s interpretation of Swift’s public feuds with black artists and blue-eyed lyrics is particularly troubling to her. It’s still beneficial if your lover is a racist aclown.
Each of these missteps made me question not only Swift’s brand of white feminism, but also the relatable vulnerability for which she is known. Swift’s reluctance to denounce the racists who idolize her, even in the face of her absurd accusations about her neo-Nazi ties, seems more alienating than incapable of empathy. I feel it. It reminds us of how different our lived experiences are. Like all people of color, I do not have the Swiftian privilege of remaining silent and therefore neutral about white supremacy, especially during these tense times. Swift’s seemingly indifferent attitude toward the struggles of people of color also made me reconsider her music, and how it influenced my understanding of femininity as a teenager, and how her music influenced my understanding of femininity as a young person. I decided to think about how I can continue to influence fans of color.
The Intolerable Whiteness of Taylor Swift Fandom (Jenna Maher, microphoneDecember 2021)
Bops and great albums aside, Taylor Swift has galvanized a 21st century fan culture, and that’s one of the most notable features of her hyperbolically remarkable career. But what happens when she feels unrepresented within that culture? This article picks up where Jagota’s essay left off, outlining the history of white conservatism within Swift’s fan community. doing. Mahale argues that Swift’s emphasis on emotional intimacy in her songs and interactions with fans may lead to her fans’ own parasocial feelings towards the singer, and to her at all costs. He points out how her desire to “protect” is increasing.
Zoya Raza Sheikh, a 24-year-old Pakistani-British Swift fan, said the extreme online behavior she witnessed as Swift drove her away from the fandom, especially as someone who identifies as pansexual. I noticed that there was. Swift has been a vocal supporter of LGBTQ causes since her political “coming out.” “It’s basically disenfranchising everyone who isn’t a straight, white, cisgender man,” she said. trend “I didn’t realize until recently that I could advocate for a community I wasn’t a part of.” Unfortunately, this message hasn’t reached some of her most ardent fans.
Pleasant Guilt (Jay Jolls, EagerlyMay 2021)
In this concise and striking article, Jay Jolls charts his love for Taylor Swift in relation to broader questions about gender, queerness, and emotion. For Jolls, it is Swift’s unerring commitment to raw emotion that brings about guilt upon contact with white masculinity. Jolls, who is transgender, pokes fun at the ironies and complexities of Swifty’s manhood.
I’ve learned that many men worry that liking Taylor Swift goes beyond guilt and is indicative of something deeper — even though it’s always been Swift. I’m still trying to understand my masculinity — not out of guilt, but out of fear that it’s indicative of something much deeper. Just a feeling of guilt. A quick perusal of the r/TaylorSwift community reveals many threads on the following topics: [gay? weird? creepy?] For being a 34-year-old straight white man who loves Taylor Swift? Will my girlfriend think it’s weird that I like Taylor Swift? Is it okay for me (38/male) to take her daughter to a Taylor Swift concert?
What this line of thinking proves to me is that my fellow male Swifties are worried about what the potential (or even love) of Taylor Swift’s music means. Not only that, but the element of guilt is deeply embedded in our understanding of hobbies. and how they relate to perceived types of masculinity. The irony here is that I would argue that Swift herself frequently crosses, if not obscures, the gender binary in her writing. It’s not just when she changes her pronouns in her songs. I think this is a big reason why her work is just as readable to me, a 28-year-old man, as it is to me, a 15-year-old girl.
Jill Spivey Caddell is an American writer and teacher of literature, art, and culture. She lives in the mountains of Virginia.
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