2023 (Taylor's Version)
December 7, 2023 12:14 PM Subscribe
This was the year she perfected her craft—not just with her music, but in her position as the master storyteller of the modern era. The world, in turn, watched, clicked, cried, danced, sang along, swooned, caravanned to stadiums and movie theaters, let her work soundtrack their lives. For Swift, it’s a peak. 'This is the proudest and happiest I’ve ever felt, and the most creatively fulfilled and free I’ve ever been,' Swift tells me. 'Ultimately, we can convolute it all we want, or try to overcomplicate it, but there’s only one question.' Here, she adopts a booming voice. 'Are you not entertained?'"For building a world of her own that made a place for so many, for spinning her story into a global legend, for bringing joy to a society desperately in need of it, Taylor Swift is TIME’s 2023 Person of the Year."
Taylor Swift Makes History as Person of the Year. Here’s How
She’s the first person to be selected because of her achievement in the arts, and is only the fourth individual selection who was born in the last 50 years. As the first woman to be recognized more than once, Swift joins a small group of repeat designees, alongside several U.S. presidents and world leaders.The Inspiration Behind Inez and Vinoodh’s Taylor Swift TIME Person of the Year Covers
‘I Bet on Myself.’ How Taylor Swift’s Deal With AMC Came Together
Wikipedia: Impact of the Eras Tour
Publications and critics have reported on and analyzed the economic, commercial, political and cultural influence of the Eras Tour, the 2023–2024 concert tour by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. Accompanied by a fan frenzy called Swiftmania, the tour's social effects are considered an outcome of Swift's wider influence on the 21st-century popular culture. Pollstar called the tour "The Greatest Show on Earth".Taylor Swift on Her Friendship With Beyoncé
Runners-up:
Sam Altman - Barbie - King Charles III - Hollywood strikers - Jerome Powell - Vladimir Putin - Trump Prosecutors - Xi Jinping
Feel like the simplest proof of Taylor Swift’s importance is that she has people care about the vagaries of music industry publishing royalties.
posted by Going To Maine at 12:43 PM on December 7, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by Going To Maine at 12:43 PM on December 7, 2023 [5 favorites]
While not a Swiftie myself, that gal is a powerhouse. One of the things I do like about her music is that it can encompass generations. My sister's kids are Swifties but their mom was listening to TSwiffy before they were born; it's music they can enjoy together. I think that's super cool.
posted by Kitteh at 12:50 PM on December 7, 2023 [13 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 12:50 PM on December 7, 2023 [13 favorites]
As an out of touch millennial, I confess I have found the Swift hagiography this year to be nauseating. I like her music but it's like she ascended to mount olympus or got beatified by the pope.
She's just been relentlessly promoted into all of my feeds. Apple Music at one point had two out of six slots in the browse tab promoting her. Her tour stops are reported as news. Somehow she's person of the year. There's something weirdly broken about society that a beat-for-beat re-make of an album (admittedly, whose original release happened at the last gasp of my own youth) will go to number 1. It's a kind of necrotizing of culture.
Anyways,
posted by pmv at 1:04 PM on December 7, 2023 [32 favorites]
She's just been relentlessly promoted into all of my feeds. Apple Music at one point had two out of six slots in the browse tab promoting her. Her tour stops are reported as news. Somehow she's person of the year. There's something weirdly broken about society that a beat-for-beat re-make of an album (admittedly, whose original release happened at the last gasp of my own youth) will go to number 1. It's a kind of necrotizing of culture.
Anyways,
posted by pmv at 1:04 PM on December 7, 2023 [32 favorites]
Here's hoping that, if she tours again, she dismantles Ticketmaster. Then we can give her a Nobel Prize.
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:07 PM on December 7, 2023 [51 favorites]
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:07 PM on December 7, 2023 [51 favorites]
I applaud Swift's putting her concert film in movie theaters, because I'm sure that's why Bey did it, and now Pet Shop Boys are doing a limited release of their current tour... That's a doubleplusgood in my book.
The film deal is VERY interesting because she bypassed the Hollywood studios and went directly to theater chains. This may be another crack in another wall that could eventually change a lot of things.
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:14 PM on December 7, 2023 [17 favorites]
The film deal is VERY interesting because she bypassed the Hollywood studios and went directly to theater chains. This may be another crack in another wall that could eventually change a lot of things.
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:14 PM on December 7, 2023 [17 favorites]
I've been hearing for a bit now that she might be stepping away from music, with this Eras Tour being sort of the feather in that cap, and she might be moving more toward Hollywood. But if she's nabbed herself a hunky football player and is now living in Kansas City?
Obviously I don't know what's in her heart, but I think it's pretty unlikely she will retire anytime soon. She clearly gets so much joy from writing and performing music. She also has two more re-records to release and seems to be working on her next album. I do like the idea of her trying out different media and also maybe taking some breaks.
Another great perspective on Taylor, from her songwriting "soulmate" Aaron Dessner: People link
posted by lunasol at 1:17 PM on December 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
Obviously I don't know what's in her heart, but I think it's pretty unlikely she will retire anytime soon. She clearly gets so much joy from writing and performing music. She also has two more re-records to release and seems to be working on her next album. I do like the idea of her trying out different media and also maybe taking some breaks.
Another great perspective on Taylor, from her songwriting "soulmate" Aaron Dessner: People link
posted by lunasol at 1:17 PM on December 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
There's something weirdly broken about society that a beat-for-beat re-make of an album
only that she had to do it, to ensure her work remained her work. That's what's broken in society, and to be sure her solution was *chef's kiss* in the world of fuck-yous
posted by chavenet at 1:31 PM on December 7, 2023 [47 favorites]
only that she had to do it, to ensure her work remained her work. That's what's broken in society, and to be sure her solution was *chef's kiss* in the world of fuck-yous
posted by chavenet at 1:31 PM on December 7, 2023 [47 favorites]
Time Magazine ain't what it used to be. Just saying. But even without Time's honor, based on coverage, she seems to be everybody's person of the year.
That said, I'm a geezer who can't tell a Swift song from a Beyonce song. I heard the Rolling Stones are touring again, they even are older than me. Tickets cost about the same as those to see Swift, apparently.
posted by beagle at 1:31 PM on December 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
That said, I'm a geezer who can't tell a Swift song from a Beyonce song. I heard the Rolling Stones are touring again, they even are older than me. Tickets cost about the same as those to see Swift, apparently.
posted by beagle at 1:31 PM on December 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
The whole digital distribution thing has really revolutionized what movie theaters can be.
And movies haven't looked right since. If I'm going to haul my ass to a theater and pay theater prices, I want to see film grain. If I'm going to watch something digital, I might as well stay home.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:36 PM on December 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
And movies haven't looked right since. If I'm going to haul my ass to a theater and pay theater prices, I want to see film grain. If I'm going to watch something digital, I might as well stay home.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:36 PM on December 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
Beatlemania must have been something like this only more overwhelming because it'd never really happened before.
And because pop culture was orders of magnitude less heterogeneous than it is today, Beatlemania wasn't just a thing of promotional saturation, it was a cultural juggernaut untouchable by anything except perhaps Star Wars.
posted by tclark at 1:37 PM on December 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
And because pop culture was orders of magnitude less heterogeneous than it is today, Beatlemania wasn't just a thing of promotional saturation, it was a cultural juggernaut untouchable by anything except perhaps Star Wars.
posted by tclark at 1:37 PM on December 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
Beatlemania must have been something like this only more overwhelming because it'd never really happened before.
Franz Liszt would like a word.
posted by chavenet at 1:49 PM on December 7, 2023 [23 favorites]
Franz Liszt would like a word.
posted by chavenet at 1:49 PM on December 7, 2023 [23 favorites]
Here, she adopts a booming voice. 'Are you not entertained?'
OK this quote is pretty funny since it is a line from Gladiator and was Maximus being brutally sarcastic while absolutely hating his audience.
posted by srboisvert at 1:52 PM on December 7, 2023 [12 favorites]
OK this quote is pretty funny since it is a line from Gladiator and was Maximus being brutally sarcastic while absolutely hating his audience.
posted by srboisvert at 1:52 PM on December 7, 2023 [12 favorites]
'Cause there were pages turned with the bridges burned
Everything you lose is a step you take
So make the friendship bracelets
Take the moment and taste it
You've got no reason to be afraid
You're on your own, kid
Yeah, you can face this
You're on your own, kid
You always have been
posted by signal at 1:56 PM on December 7, 2023 [3 favorites]
Everything you lose is a step you take
So make the friendship bracelets
Take the moment and taste it
You've got no reason to be afraid
You're on your own, kid
Yeah, you can face this
You're on your own, kid
You always have been
posted by signal at 1:56 PM on December 7, 2023 [3 favorites]
Beatlemania must have been something like this only more overwhelming because it'd never really happened before.
What about Elvis? He was only a few years before.
She clearly gets so much joy from writing and performing music.
IMO that's the most interesting thing about her. Every other pop star really wants to be a movie star, including Elvis and The Beatles - her movie was her sitting and singing. Occasionally walking and singing.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:58 PM on December 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
What about Elvis? He was only a few years before.
She clearly gets so much joy from writing and performing music.
IMO that's the most interesting thing about her. Every other pop star really wants to be a movie star, including Elvis and The Beatles - her movie was her sitting and singing. Occasionally walking and singing.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:58 PM on December 7, 2023 [2 favorites]
Millennial women are having their moment and I'm absolutely loving it.
The interview touches on it but Swift has made herself the main character in her own story in the best way. She's owning and embracing her own narrative in a powerful way. She's in control. But she's also kind of goofy and unabashedly girly. I really like seeing all those sides of her.
She's clearly grown up a lot in the past several years and seems far more self-aware and comfortable with who she is.
posted by edencosmic at 1:59 PM on December 7, 2023 [11 favorites]
The interview touches on it but Swift has made herself the main character in her own story in the best way. She's owning and embracing her own narrative in a powerful way. She's in control. But she's also kind of goofy and unabashedly girly. I really like seeing all those sides of her.
She's clearly grown up a lot in the past several years and seems far more self-aware and comfortable with who she is.
posted by edencosmic at 1:59 PM on December 7, 2023 [11 favorites]
Every other pop star really wants to be a movie star, including Elvis and The Beatles
🧐🤨
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 2:15 PM on December 7, 2023 [3 favorites]
🧐🤨
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 2:15 PM on December 7, 2023 [3 favorites]
There's something weirdly broken about society that a beat-for-beat re-make of an album (admittedly, whose original release happened at the last gasp of my own youth) will go to number 1. It's a kind of necrotizing of culture.
See, I'm not big on Taylor Swift—I've listened to many of her albums in full! It's just not my thing!—but her rerecording her albums as a fuck-you to a grubby corporate leech is absolutely the kind of righteous, spiteful act that I can't help but cheer on. Similarly, I might still feel a little baffled at some of the hagiographic claims w/r/t her inspiring her fans, but even if the only thing she teaches them is that capitalist leeches suck and will drain the lifeblood of everything good they touch, she's done more to radicalize several generations of listener than most radicals ever will.
(I sometimes feel the need to liken her corporate machine to Disney's, and on a pragmatic capitalist PR marketing level I think it's true and it skeeves me out, but a major difference is that Taylor wields her machine to validate women's lived experiences, stand up to grody authority figures, and generally push back against systems of misogynist oppression by re-framing them as stories of an individual's struggle. So like, I can dislike the corporate medium, and also Taylor is both doing better things with it and pushing back against its worst and grossest aspects, and that's really neat! I'll roll my eyes at anyone who compares her lyrically to Bob Dylan, but whatever: if the worst energy she puts out is "some of her fans are annoying," she's still doing something really neat for the world.)
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 2:15 PM on December 7, 2023 [34 favorites]
See, I'm not big on Taylor Swift—I've listened to many of her albums in full! It's just not my thing!—but her rerecording her albums as a fuck-you to a grubby corporate leech is absolutely the kind of righteous, spiteful act that I can't help but cheer on. Similarly, I might still feel a little baffled at some of the hagiographic claims w/r/t her inspiring her fans, but even if the only thing she teaches them is that capitalist leeches suck and will drain the lifeblood of everything good they touch, she's done more to radicalize several generations of listener than most radicals ever will.
(I sometimes feel the need to liken her corporate machine to Disney's, and on a pragmatic capitalist PR marketing level I think it's true and it skeeves me out, but a major difference is that Taylor wields her machine to validate women's lived experiences, stand up to grody authority figures, and generally push back against systems of misogynist oppression by re-framing them as stories of an individual's struggle. So like, I can dislike the corporate medium, and also Taylor is both doing better things with it and pushing back against its worst and grossest aspects, and that's really neat! I'll roll my eyes at anyone who compares her lyrically to Bob Dylan, but whatever: if the worst energy she puts out is "some of her fans are annoying," she's still doing something really neat for the world.)
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 2:15 PM on December 7, 2023 [34 favorites]
And Taylor Swift has not ended music for other people or other genres. There are still big breakout stars. Look at what boygenius accomplished this year! There is room for Swift to be a giant but not the only game in town. It's about time women artists are getting their due and dictating their own terms
posted by rikschell at 2:43 PM on December 7, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by rikschell at 2:43 PM on December 7, 2023 [7 favorites]
I really like Taylor, and Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé is one of the best people of the year of all time.
Seriously, though, that runners up list is pretty depressing.
posted by snofoam at 3:03 PM on December 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
Seriously, though, that runners up list is pretty depressing.
posted by snofoam at 3:03 PM on December 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'm also still believing the story that she declined to sign on with FTX because she asked questions about the overall structure of the company. The "she signed! she signed! But SBF decided not to countersign the agreement after all" from an anonymous source doesn't hold water with me. That's not generally when $100M deals fall through.
Anyway, she seems like a smart cookie and I'm glad she's in the spotlight.
posted by queensissy at 3:18 PM on December 7, 2023 [8 favorites]
Anyway, she seems like a smart cookie and I'm glad she's in the spotlight.
posted by queensissy at 3:18 PM on December 7, 2023 [8 favorites]
IMO that's the most interesting thing about her. Every other pop star really wants to be a movie star, including Elvis and The Beatles - her movie was her sitting and singing. Occasionally walking and singing.
Swift leans more towards writer/director than aspiring to act. Just watch her chatting with Martin McDonagh for Variety about his writing/directing of Banshees of Inisherin and her writing/directing of the short film of All Too Well. I expect there will be more.
More broadly I think the point you're touching on is that fame isn't her goal, fame is just a by-product of what she wants to do. In an age of influencers where being famous for being famous is literally a viable career, she genuinely seems to just want to Create Art and Tell Stories, first and foremost. Which does give her more in common with the likes of Martin McDonagh than with a lot of other pop stars.
posted by mstokes650 at 3:23 PM on December 7, 2023 [8 favorites]
Swift leans more towards writer/director than aspiring to act. Just watch her chatting with Martin McDonagh for Variety about his writing/directing of Banshees of Inisherin and her writing/directing of the short film of All Too Well. I expect there will be more.
More broadly I think the point you're touching on is that fame isn't her goal, fame is just a by-product of what she wants to do. In an age of influencers where being famous for being famous is literally a viable career, she genuinely seems to just want to Create Art and Tell Stories, first and foremost. Which does give her more in common with the likes of Martin McDonagh than with a lot of other pop stars.
posted by mstokes650 at 3:23 PM on December 7, 2023 [8 favorites]
She was also #5 on Forbes magazine's list of the most powerful women in the world.
She placed higher than, among other people, the CEOs of General Motors, Citi, and CVS, the Secretary of the Treasury, and Beyoncé and Oprah.
posted by box at 3:32 PM on December 7, 2023 [5 favorites]
She placed higher than, among other people, the CEOs of General Motors, Citi, and CVS, the Secretary of the Treasury, and Beyoncé and Oprah.
posted by box at 3:32 PM on December 7, 2023 [5 favorites]
She has done some acting and it hasn't gone well overall but I think with the right director, she'd handle herself well (she was miscast in Cats but she was one of the few people that realized what movie she was in so I give her credit for that). But I do see her more on the writing/directing side.
The music videos she's directed have shown promise so I'm curious what kind of movie she'd direct.
posted by edencosmic at 3:52 PM on December 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
The music videos she's directed have shown promise so I'm curious what kind of movie she'd direct.
posted by edencosmic at 3:52 PM on December 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
Imagine if she and Greta Gerwig made something together. Judging from the smoothbrains shitting purple Twinkies over Taylor's Person of the Year, it might just destroy the US right wing, or patriarchy in general, or, or, or. Which is to say it would be amazing.
posted by rhizome at 4:10 PM on December 7, 2023 [10 favorites]
posted by rhizome at 4:10 PM on December 7, 2023 [10 favorites]
I myself am enjoying the absolute meltdown of men on the internet regarding this. Imagine being so pathetic about a woman's success that you make misogynistic posts about it. Oh wait. It's a day ending in Y.
posted by Kitteh at 4:19 PM on December 7, 2023 [18 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 4:19 PM on December 7, 2023 [18 favorites]
What about Elvis? He was only a few years before.
And, um, the young Frank Sinatra in the 1940s and Mozart before Franz Liszt, for that matter.
Judging from the smoothbrains shitting purple Twinkies over Taylor's Person of the Year, it might just destroy the US right wing, or patriarchy in general, or, or, or.
Or oh, ri-i-i-ght, as if, etc. etc. etc....
posted by y2karl at 4:27 PM on December 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
And, um, the young Frank Sinatra in the 1940s and Mozart before Franz Liszt, for that matter.
Judging from the smoothbrains shitting purple Twinkies over Taylor's Person of the Year, it might just destroy the US right wing, or patriarchy in general, or, or, or.
Or oh, ri-i-i-ght, as if, etc. etc. etc....
posted by y2karl at 4:27 PM on December 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
0f course, as she does have a far superior skillset to TFG in such matters, she could decide to run for President. But there's always 2032. And take that, Ye, if she does.
posted by y2karl at 4:52 PM on December 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by y2karl at 4:52 PM on December 7, 2023 [1 favorite]
I applaud Swift's putting her concert film in movie theaters, because I'm sure that's why Bey did it,
Beyonce's Homecoming was released in 2019 as a concert film about her performance at Coachella and won multiple awards. I think it's still available on Netflix. And Beyonce's Lemonade, released in 2016, is absolutely one of the best visual albums ever. And Renaissance was clearly planned out in advance to be released as a film and not a last minute decision.
So I think your sentiment may need to be reversed but there's totally room for both as fantastic artists.
posted by beaning at 5:26 PM on December 7, 2023 [11 favorites]
Beyonce's Homecoming was released in 2019 as a concert film about her performance at Coachella and won multiple awards. I think it's still available on Netflix. And Beyonce's Lemonade, released in 2016, is absolutely one of the best visual albums ever. And Renaissance was clearly planned out in advance to be released as a film and not a last minute decision.
So I think your sentiment may need to be reversed but there's totally room for both as fantastic artists.
posted by beaning at 5:26 PM on December 7, 2023 [11 favorites]
So Taylor stepping outside the traditional distribution chain for her movie... is that really that different or strange?
No. like 95% of the "innovations" attributed to the Swift camp, it's all been done before. The difference is that this time regular people known and care that it happened. And since these regular people are hearing about it for the first time, they think no one has ever done it and Swift must be some kinda genius etc etc.
I was in the streaming biz in the early days, and my larger team dealt with her people on streaming royalties just over 10 years ago. Not to get too far into the weeds into the Wild West of early streaming and how it was different than radio, but artists/labels could negotiate direct deals that paid whatever both parties agreed to, unlike in radio where royalties are super ironed out and everyone gets basically the same deal.
She (well her people) negotiated a deal similar to all the other semi-big-time artists (which is all she was back then), but it seemed like every industry publication had something to say about how amazing and novel her approach was. She wasn't even the only artist we did a deal with that week. But, her people really knew how to sell a story.
posted by Back At It Again At Krispy Kreme at 9:00 PM on December 7, 2023 [12 favorites]
No. like 95% of the "innovations" attributed to the Swift camp, it's all been done before. The difference is that this time regular people known and care that it happened. And since these regular people are hearing about it for the first time, they think no one has ever done it and Swift must be some kinda genius etc etc.
I was in the streaming biz in the early days, and my larger team dealt with her people on streaming royalties just over 10 years ago. Not to get too far into the weeds into the Wild West of early streaming and how it was different than radio, but artists/labels could negotiate direct deals that paid whatever both parties agreed to, unlike in radio where royalties are super ironed out and everyone gets basically the same deal.
She (well her people) negotiated a deal similar to all the other semi-big-time artists (which is all she was back then), but it seemed like every industry publication had something to say about how amazing and novel her approach was. She wasn't even the only artist we did a deal with that week. But, her people really knew how to sell a story.
posted by Back At It Again At Krispy Kreme at 9:00 PM on December 7, 2023 [12 favorites]
I'm geriatric and couldn't identify a Swift song if you paid me, but I'm finding the notes of "she's overrated" kind of sus.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 10:20 PM on December 7, 2023 [10 favorites]
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 10:20 PM on December 7, 2023 [10 favorites]
Unfortunately i only knew about this because of a nasty intersection between swifties poisoned by stan culture who couldn't take Palestinians noting the difference with previous POTY covers that celebrated Ukraine or health workers, to the point that one of them got doxxed.
Anyway, unrelated to that, but what a brave soul to have wrote this: There’s So Little To Say About Taylor Swift Being Person Of The Year (Defector)
posted by cendawanita at 2:49 AM on December 8, 2023 [3 favorites]
Anyway, unrelated to that, but what a brave soul to have wrote this: There’s So Little To Say About Taylor Swift Being Person Of The Year (Defector)
posted by cendawanita at 2:49 AM on December 8, 2023 [3 favorites]
I don't get her celebrity and her music has never really bowled me over the way it seems to bowl over a lot of people, but everything I've seen about stuff she's done beyond her music itself suggests she's empathic and thoughtful and I am pretty happy to see a celebrity showing those qualities whether or not the particulars of her celebrity are comprehensible to me, so, uh, I for one welcome our new god-queen.
posted by jackbishop at 4:48 AM on December 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by jackbishop at 4:48 AM on December 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
One of the things I do like about her music is that it can encompass generations. My sister's kids are Swifties but their mom was listening to TSwiffy before they were born; it's music they can enjoy together.
Yep; my 14-year-old niece is a fan, my sister-in-law can point to an album of hers she likes. Even I, who's older than both of them and is in her "I am sticking to my own already-familiar music usually" phase can point to an album or two that I kinda like when it comes up on Spotify (the folky stuff, mostly).
I was also thoroughly charmed by this moment with her on the Graham Norton show, where he shared tweets of fans who'd been to Taylor-Swift-hosted listening parties and were completely freaking out about it, in hilariously over-the-top ways.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:10 AM on December 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
Yep; my 14-year-old niece is a fan, my sister-in-law can point to an album of hers she likes. Even I, who's older than both of them and is in her "I am sticking to my own already-familiar music usually" phase can point to an album or two that I kinda like when it comes up on Spotify (the folky stuff, mostly).
I was also thoroughly charmed by this moment with her on the Graham Norton show, where he shared tweets of fans who'd been to Taylor-Swift-hosted listening parties and were completely freaking out about it, in hilariously over-the-top ways.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:10 AM on December 8, 2023 [2 favorites]
I like and defend Taylor in the way I like and defend vanilla -- it's ubiquitous because it's pretty good! With the right influence, it can be downright great sometimes! Doesn't really inspire passion in me, but I'm glad it makes so many people happy. There's at least one song on every album that is completely fucking insane, and I love that for her and us. (My favorite from an early album is "Speak Now," where the song POV fantasizes about interrupting her crush's wedding to another woman, while noting that the evil bride-to-be mysteriously "forgot" to invite her. From a recent album, I like "Anti-Hero," which contains an extended fantasy about the son Taylor Swift doesn't have marrying a woman Taylor Swift has never met and having such a bad relationship with this doubly hypothetical daughter-in-law that the younger and more beautiful queen poisons her, but Taylor has foreseen this and cut them all out of the will. If anyone is teaching a seminar on this grand text, please let me know. And we are to believe this is an ironic sort of self-pitying song, but as ever with Taylor Swift songs -- "Who is Taylor Swift, anyway?" -- I don't quite believe her.)
Taylor Swift being considered "political" now is the result of being a famous woman (bad, don't do it) and, I guess, being pro-LGBT. The funny (sad?) thing about that is it feels more impressive now than when she started proclaiming allyship. My benchmark for this is Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, which lampooned queer allies who only chimed in after acceptance became a majority view; the movie came out in 2016, and Taylor Swift's loud, pro-LGBT stance came in 2019. I think a lot of Taylor Swift's more "political" stances are the-bar-is-the-floor stuff, but in 2023 a lot of loud people are aiming lower than that.
posted by grandiloquiet at 10:15 AM on December 8, 2023
Taylor Swift being considered "political" now is the result of being a famous woman (bad, don't do it) and, I guess, being pro-LGBT. The funny (sad?) thing about that is it feels more impressive now than when she started proclaiming allyship. My benchmark for this is Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, which lampooned queer allies who only chimed in after acceptance became a majority view; the movie came out in 2016, and Taylor Swift's loud, pro-LGBT stance came in 2019. I think a lot of Taylor Swift's more "political" stances are the-bar-is-the-floor stuff, but in 2023 a lot of loud people are aiming lower than that.
posted by grandiloquiet at 10:15 AM on December 8, 2023
She has pledged to be anti-tfg, so that makes me like her as a person. I'm a geezer, her music doesn't grab me, but I am amused by the Right going off on this, so it's all good.
posted by theora55 at 10:24 AM on December 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by theora55 at 10:24 AM on December 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
'Wokeness' ambulance chaser Stephen Miller launches Taylor Swift conspiracy theory now that she's trending
In which Miller -- the xenophobic ghoul who could be attorney general if Orange Mussolini is reelected in 2024 -- declares on X/Twitter that "what's happening with Taylor Swift is not organic" and indicates his willingness to delve into it.
In which Miller -- the xenophobic ghoul who could be attorney general if Orange Mussolini is reelected in 2024 -- declares on X/Twitter that "what's happening with Taylor Swift is not organic" and indicates his willingness to delve into it.
Miller declines to lay out one specific loony liability theory, but given his particular grift, he's signaling some sort of vexatious legal intervention to "get to the bottom" of the reason why the most famous person on the fucking planet might win Person of the Year.posted by virago at 2:52 PM on December 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
... Expect social media posts linking official-looking but ultimately frivolous demand letters seeking documents from Time Magazine about the process or FOIA requests about government involvement.
Especially because in the early days, some on the right claimed her (probably because she originated in Country music and was “wholesome” in comparison to Katy Perry who kissed a girl and liked it).
posted by rikschell at 2:53 PM on December 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by rikschell at 2:53 PM on December 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
Vice had some good reporting on that subject way back in 2016.
tl;dr, she's white, they're trolls.
posted by box at 3:04 PM on December 8, 2023
tl;dr, she's white, they're trolls.
posted by box at 3:04 PM on December 8, 2023
I don't think there should be billionaires at all, but she does seem to be the least evil of the bunch.
posted by birdsongster at 4:16 PM on December 8, 2023
posted by birdsongster at 4:16 PM on December 8, 2023
Are we finally past the era of the "Darn, I thought I was going to win again this year" gag?
posted by qntm at 4:50 PM on December 8, 2023
posted by qntm at 4:50 PM on December 8, 2023
> "Taylor Swift's loud, pro-LGBT stance came in 2019"
I mean, yes, that is when she began making public statements about it, but her bringing in Tegan and Sara as special guest performers in 2013 was not exactly a subtle clue about her opinions on the subject.
posted by kyrademon at 5:02 PM on December 8, 2023 [3 favorites]
I mean, yes, that is when she began making public statements about it, but her bringing in Tegan and Sara as special guest performers in 2013 was not exactly a subtle clue about her opinions on the subject.
posted by kyrademon at 5:02 PM on December 8, 2023 [3 favorites]
She looms on the horizon like the Tyrell pyramid in the opening scenes of Bladerunner. A brand bigger than a corporation, an enormous presence in our collective consciousness who may soon bilocate personally to each and everyone of us all.like Wilbur Mercer walking out a wall in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Life imitates Philip K Dick. Brings to mind The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch Comes to mind as well.
posted by y2karl at 5:20 PM on December 8, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by y2karl at 5:20 PM on December 8, 2023 [3 favorites]
I honestly think it's nice that someone in the arts won it.
And I mean, cripes, there's worse choices. It went to Elon Musk in 2021.
posted by kyrademon at 5:32 PM on December 8, 2023 [5 favorites]
And I mean, cripes, there's worse choices. It went to Elon Musk in 2021.
posted by kyrademon at 5:32 PM on December 8, 2023 [5 favorites]
I don't like her. She's a climate criminal.
posted by Didnt_do_enough at 9:28 PM on December 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Didnt_do_enough at 9:28 PM on December 8, 2023 [1 favorite]
I used to be disinterested to lukewarm on Dr. Swift but if you’re a fan of brilliant lyrics/poetry/prose and can appreciate kindness, wisdom and authenticity, combined with a killer work ethic, I would encourage you to be curious about the phenomenon and look deeper into her artistry. To paraphrase her “the more famous you get, the more you risk becoming a commodity like an iphone or a starbucks” and Taylor, the individual is so much more than that!
I wouldn’t mind if she keeps doing more good in the world and ends up getting a Nobel Peace Prize!
My only quibble with Sam Lansky, the interviewer/writer for Time is that she’s not yet the main character of the “world”, just parts of it.
posted by cynicalidealist at 11:28 AM on December 9, 2023
I wouldn’t mind if she keeps doing more good in the world and ends up getting a Nobel Peace Prize!
My only quibble with Sam Lansky, the interviewer/writer for Time is that she’s not yet the main character of the “world”, just parts of it.
posted by cynicalidealist at 11:28 AM on December 9, 2023
* or a Nobel prize in Literature!
posted by cynicalidealist at 1:49 PM on December 9, 2023
posted by cynicalidealist at 1:49 PM on December 9, 2023
... I mean, cripes, there's worse choices. It went to Elon Musk in 2021.
Wow, I don't even remember that happening. YEESH!
posted by spoobnooble 3D: the spoobening at 10:27 AM on December 10, 2023
Wow, I don't even remember that happening. YEESH!
posted by spoobnooble 3D: the spoobening at 10:27 AM on December 10, 2023
> "Taylor Swift's loud, pro-LGBT stance came in 2019"
"And you can want who you want / Boys and boys and girls and girls"
-- Taylor Swift, "Welcome to New York", 2014.
Is it cheesy pop about moving to the big city, discovering yourself, etc?
Sure. It's meant to be. That's the point of the song.
And at the heart of it, Tay herself is telling you you're okay.
posted by nickzoic at 2:15 PM on December 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
"And you can want who you want / Boys and boys and girls and girls"
-- Taylor Swift, "Welcome to New York", 2014.
Is it cheesy pop about moving to the big city, discovering yourself, etc?
Sure. It's meant to be. That's the point of the song.
And at the heart of it, Tay herself is telling you you're okay.
posted by nickzoic at 2:15 PM on December 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
So, I read My Delirious Trip to the Heart of Swiftiedom after I heard The Year of Taylor Swift, both of which were quite edifying.
posted by y2karl at 2:50 PM on December 15, 2023
posted by y2karl at 2:50 PM on December 15, 2023
She's a climate criminal.
Fossil-fuel companies like BP and Shell are the climate criminals, she's just a person who made a handful of poor choices amid her good choices. Just like every person.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:30 AM on December 16, 2023 [3 favorites]
Fossil-fuel companies like BP and Shell are the climate criminals, she's just a person who made a handful of poor choices amid her good choices. Just like every person.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:30 AM on December 16, 2023 [3 favorites]
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This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
[An unrepentant Swiftie, I am posting this link ironically, archivedly and not directly to the cesspool that is Unherd so as to spare them the clicks. Feel free to turn away, or to point and giggle. The Albigensian Crusade! Girls swooning in romantic unrequited love! Choking play in sex! God is dead! Marriage as an institution is failing! Body hate! All of this and more is decidedly not Tay-Tay's fault, wink wink.]
posted by chavenet at 12:36 PM on December 7, 2023 [1 favorite]