Haters gonna hate. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
A record number of Americans are likely to watch this Sunday’s Super Bowl, probably only half of whom will be following the actual game. The other half will be scanning the luxury boxes for tantalising glimpses of Taylor Swift, the country’s most famous pop star, whose romantic alliance with Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce has united two tribes in a way that might have seemed impossible.
Welcome to the new America. In this strange new country, Taylor Swift fans are interested in football, while American football fans have been obliged to take cognisance of the existence of Taylor Swift, and even grudgingly admit that at least some of her music is actually quite good.
The Swift-Kelce singularity has already proved so powerful that there are dark mutterings from corners of the American Right that the celebrity couple is part of a plot to get Joe Biden re-elected, engineered by the US Department of Defense. Donald Trump is said to be personally miffed by Swift’s popularity, and to privately insist to unnamed advisors that his fan base is larger than hers.
Trump is right to take Swift seriously. I encountered America’s reigning pop princess on the last leg of her Eras tour — the music event of the summer, soon coming to Europe, with tickets selling for $1,500 and up — through a music-lover friend who, proclaiming himself tired of my unthinking prejudice against his teeny-bopper idol, offered me a ticket to see her show in Seattle. I alighted from my Uber outside the Lumens stadium in the company of a mother, in her 40s, and her daughter, in her mid-teens, wearing matching white glittery dresses. The middle daughter, in her early twenties, wore black, with a row of maybe a dozen friendship bracelets on her right arm.
By compelling the allegiance of all three generations, Swift has become the closest thing that America has these days to a national hero who connects the entire country, the country-club set included, together, and to a common mythos. F. Scott Fitzgerald would have loved Taylor Swift. A little bit cracked, a little bit reckless, bound for disappointment, but protected by invisible cushions of race and class, her tragedy is at once pre-ordained and, at the same time, affirms the country’s battered-but-still-existent social order. If “Cruel Summer”, Swift’s summer radio anthem, isn’t exactly Cole Porter, it’s easy to imagine F. Scott humming the tune.
But Taylor Swift is also something more than a pop star. Neither a brilliant singer nor a gifted dancer, she is the author of memorable lines and couplets that seemingly emerge from a stream-of-consciousness story-telling voice whose seeming artlessness is a calculated effect of her craft, of which she is a master. Her persona is a disenchanted version of the girl-next-door, who is overly labile, loses control of her emotions, gets dumped, and then pours out her simmering anger and hurt to her diary, as well as to her millions of fans, for whom she serves as a kind of substitute for family. What makes her persona stand out from the usual run of injured females is her awareness of her own failings, which is in turn the whetstone upon which she sharpens her daggers, which she thrusts into the eyes of those who have injured or betrayed her. Her actual family is an upscale affair, consisting of her young brother Austin; her mother Andrea, a former marketing manager at an advertising agency; and father Scott, a stockbroker-turned-vice-president for Merrill Lynch, who manages his daughter’s money.
Awaiting her arrival, the crowd was an explosion of cut-off-jean shorts over fishnets, prom dresses, glitter tops, shimmery metallic leggings, glittery tiaras, henna tattoos, rainbow glitter tops, glittery cowboy hats, and more glitter. It was like Planet of the Apes for Women Wearing Glitter. Perhaps half the crowd were seriously overweight, which is more or less the same ratio I’d expect to find among the men at a football game. Where male football fans wear team jerseys, the Swifties are dressed for a summer prom, proving once again that the audience for female finery is other females. Maybe one out of every 10 here is a man. Relations between the sexes are cordial.
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SubscribeYou know it really is something special when I could literally waste an hour of my time writing paragraph after paragraph about just how little I care about Taylor Swift, her fans, or whatever her latest annoying publicity stunt is.
Nothing against Swift or her fans, just not that interested.
I’m equally uninterested but there was some excellent social commentary about the state of women in the US.
“…young women are encouraged by schools, older women, and every form of entertainment on the planet to believe they can have it all … The result being, at least here in America, the near-certainty that young women will fail to achieve even basic levels of happiness, as the gap between their expectations and reality proves impossible to bridge.”
Pretty well nails bar mentioning that the discontent is usually blamed on men.
No, it’s not, on the contrary I hear young, white males blaming their malaise on females.
Only the terminally online. Most of the young lads I know are still normal, and thankfully spend their weekend drinking and reeling off cheesy chat up lines with varying degrees of success.
I think we all sometimes confuse a few noisy whiners (both left and right) on social media for real life, forgetting that most people couldn’t give a monkeys and act in largely the same way we always have
You personal anecdote aside, that’s just not true anymore if you see any of the stats on young people. They go out less, drink less, have less sex and less friends and consequently are far less mentally healthy. That’s both male and female.
‘Fewer’ friends please – ‘less’ is correct elsewhere. My anecdote is that both of my sons seem to go out, drink, shag and have sufficient friends for my generation to expect to be normal.
If they have less friends do they have more lonely?
fewer lonely of course!
If something’s countable, you use fewer. If it’s not countable, you use less. Fewer sugar cubes and less sugar.
That may all be true but I think Billy Bob’s point is that things are not as bad in the real world as they appear to be if you pay too much attention to the online world.
So true.
Your reply that most of the young lads you know are normal cheers me up. I hope you’re right about the noisy whiners.
Where do you live?
It seems to me, anecdotally speaking, that young, white males don’t “blame” anyone for any malaises, because they realise early on that unlike with women, nobody is interested or cares. They are simply figuring out that they are better off without females, and all the hassle, drama and potential damages from divorce.
Which will make things interesting in a decade or two, because our “we can do anything a man can” young women don’t seem keen on a lot of those jobs that young, white males used to do. And those men don’t need to do those strenuous, high risk jobs anymore – since they only need to take care of their own, individual, rather basic material needs, rather than slogging away to support a family.
I’m pretty sure you don’t really know any young white males
A few, but from what I’ve read and from listening to Jordan Peterson that seems to be so. As females started to excel in class, males declined.
This coincided with the feminization of teaching, mixed sex classes, a nasty anti-male culture in education from kindergarten to phd… the constant vilification of male achievement…… They are not blaming women. Mostly not blaming anyone – just staying j their rooms, masturbating (or not) playing video games…. and hanging out online, smoking pot (which Trudeau kindly made available on every street corner). And the result of all this ‘success’ on the part of young women hasn’t been any better for them. Unhappiness and mental health has gone up every year since 1970….they don’t marry, defer having children.. relationships break down, juggling single parent hood. All this progress is basically shit for women, shit for men and terrible for children ….and catastrophic for society. Until we get back to some version of natural law….it will only get worse. So I guess Jordan Peterson is mostly right. But it’s not ‘blame’…simply sociology, psychology, cause and effect.
Someone must be to blame!
I think you’ve got that wrong. But I get your frustration because you’re a man, and I don’t mean that disparagingly. As an older woman, I haven’t been drawn to the Taylor Swift thing either, but it certainly interests me and, I’ve been curious enough to try to understand it. So I found this essay interesting as it seems Samuels is curious, also. I’ve been exposed to her in the media and have heard about the phenomena she’s created, even positively affecting the economy and pissing off Trump. The power she has is truly amazing. The only time I’ve seen her interact is on The Graham Norton Show and she seemed quietly confident, unassuming, and as ever always smiling. Guileless is the word that came to mind. Travis Kelsey is always smiling, as well, so it seems their extroverted sunnyness is a good match. That’s the trick to finding a life partner, matching personality types. My only concern is that should they marry, would happiness dry up the source of inspiration for Taylor’s songwriting? Perhaps she won’t be able to have it all.
I wrote that before watching the documentary Miss Americana on Netflix. I now think there’s much more that Swift will be able to write about for many years to come. I recommend viewing the documentary for a deeper dive into the phenomenon that is Swift.
She has no power beyond that which the media choose to give her. And she’ll find it out soon enough.
A happy marriage (other relationships are available) might just dry up her songwriting, but it might also do her the huge favour of leaving the stage at the top of her game, unlike (for instance) Madonna who’s been an embarrassment now for at least two decades.
Maybe a couple of kids down the line, she could return to the stage but with a different and wider message. The point is about remaining relevant.
True.
Well, I too am an older woman and I couldn’t give less of a sh*t about Taylor Swift.
I really don’t think there’s that much to understand
I’m a middle aged woman who nope, doesn’t care to “understand”. Pop is silly, fad celebrities are silly, there’s nothing to “understand”
I don’t think she’s a national hero for the US, but a national obsession, created by the media. Her life, her lifestyle, her morality and the rest of it, are so far from ‘ideal’ that the media will soon take delight in destroying her as fast as they created her.
They democrat frat boy is bigging her up , part of project to flatter her into supporting Biden or even standing in his place . Perhaps with the bearded football player as her running mate . Actually it could be the romance is fake , part of a deal to increase her appeal to male sports fans . These articles are coming thick and fast , even on Unherd . We hear you , now stop trying to corral us like sheep .
She was always supporting Biden. She did last election too.
I thought this time she might just want to go with a more youthful candidate her young fans can identify with , and back Trump .
Youthful?! What?! Who?!
That’s silly.
Thanks 🙂
I’m inclined to waste time and digital space proving how little I care too. But I like it when UnHerd takes a break from political complaints and cultural lamentations. It cleanses the digital palate and attracts a less-incensed weekend crowd. (Why did N. Satori claim that my comments tend to sound like restaurant reviews?!).
I was a little disappointed at first, but now i’m inclined to agree with your first point.
Regarding your latter point: because he can’t find anything to actually critique, which brings him out in hives.
It’s all current events and therefore relevant. If one is well-rounded one has an interest in everything except the Super Bowl!!
Including the Super Bowl.
Nah! What is there about it to be interested in except to marvel at the huge amounts of money made and spent. If one is a football fan then of course I can understand the interest, but I’m not, and I don’t know anyone who is.
I read that the nachos served in the stadium were $60. I guess if someone spent $8000+ to see the game, that’s a bargain.
This author, trust me, understands NOTHING about the US zeitgeist. This article couldn’t be more orthogonal to reality.
Am I the only one here who thinks Unherd has devoted way too much time and space to this particular celebrity? Just when I’m ready to commit and become a paid subscriber, Unheard goes head first into celeb coverage. Just stop – If I want to read about them I can go literally anywhere else.
When I was a kid (60’s) I felt the same way about the Beatles.
She won’t have made it until she drives her Rolls Royce into her Olympic swimming pool and takes her private plane to the Philippines for a peanut butter sandwich.
Snorting a line of Columbia’s finest off a strippers todger, before head butting a policeman and running off with her managers missus
Quite the image. You mean the manager whose missus Taylor calls “Mom”?
I must admit I’ve no real idea about her personal life, I just like pop stars to live a life of debauchery simply because I’m not able to
Fair enough. Some people praise Swift for her comparatively sensible habits though.
Which probably explains why she’s a billionaire and I’m stuck toiling on building sites
Exactly. She doesn’t seem to make even one misstep and she’s kind to everyone. It’s so refreshing.
I’m disappointed in you, AJ Mac, I thought you were more open-minded. If you think you are, check out Miss Americana on Netflix.
Living vicariously?
I have to these days, if I tried to act up like I used to it would destroy me. I learned the hard way recently I can’t keep up with the young lads anymore
I hear you, me too! I say I’m more of an observer of life, than a participant, now. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
I think Keith Moon already did that.
TL;DR
What is this Super Bowl you speak of?
Is it like Tupperware?
It’s a typo, it’s actually a Superb Owl
Super bowel and Swift will be its movement.
Very funny 🙂
All owls are Superb, particularly the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl.
Any owl is better than the so called sport of American Football
So agree.
Them’s fightin’ words, man. Do we want another war between Britain and the U.S.?
I googled the pictures, You are right.
Beautiful!
This may sound odd, but I think one of my friends is possessed by an owl.
It does sound odd.
Are they a hoot?
Funny.
Who?
actually, it is the hyper bowl.
Really good article. Thoughtful considered and it amuses me that the female phenomena does sometimes reveal itself through mansplaining. Well it’s a bit like being a Martian trying to understand humans on earth it is so imponderable.
I tremble at her impossible fame. How she holds it. No preaching. Perfect humility. I’m now a Swiftie. To be able to reveal the problem of being a woman that cuts across all classes and ages, to acknowledge the insanity of it. I just hope they don’t eat her up.
No preaching? You’re not paying attention. She has claimed herself to be a Christian, but to be in support of killing unborn children in the womb along the lines proposed by those who want to kill them after they’ve been born. And she’s declared herself a supporter of the Democrat Party. If that’s “No preaching” I don’t know what is.
The idea that a Millennial woman is pro-choice can’t come as any surprise to anybody.
I’m not a fan but I like your position. It seems to me however that, bad previous relationships aside, Taylor Swift is pretty much in charge of her life and her success (I credit her decent parents too) so good luck to her.
well like you Catherine I am baffled musically but supportive of accomplishment but a bit scared for her.
Since her music doesn’t move you, I wonder how you would describe her “accomplishment”, if it’s anything beyond riches and fame.
There are lots of music acts that I wouldn’t listen to personally, but that doesn’t mean I dismiss their achievements as simply riches and fame
But what would you call it then: popularity, business savvy, mass cultural appeal…?
The only other things are the lyrics.
I like “Tremble at her impossible fame”. Good one.
I’ve listened to her songs but, but, having grown up a non-English speaker, yet a fan of English and American songs, I’ve never cared much for the lyrics as long as they scanned and the chorus was catchy, so I’m unmoved. She’s an ok singer but does not stand comparison to many country singers such as Kathy Mattea, Suzy Bogguss or Alison Krauss.
Her songs are decent I guess but nothing special compared to those of Dolly Parton, who also wrote her own tunes, not just the words. I can only imagine that she must be charismatic on stage and she does tour a great deal, so good luck to her, but I am baffled.
But with Dolly Parton, there’s such a lot of rather offensive visuals that one has to get past, and it gets worse as she ages. Taylor is unpretentious, authentic, and easy on the eye.
Lol. She’s completely manufactured.
May I suggest you check out the documentary Miss Americana on Netflix. I approached it not knowing much about Swift but being open to becoming educated about the phenomenon. I learned things about her that I found quite appealing and you may also.
As a European not-so-young male, I can only gaze across at the Swift phenomenon with a slack jaw. I tried to listen to her. I cannot finish even one song. It must be me.
It must be her tall stature and shapely long legs that draws her to men? Otherwise, I’ve tried but, alas, see no magic in her voice or lyrics or self-centered, confident ramblings on Talk Shows. Must be the legs?
I have yet to meet another woman, or girl for that matter, who likes her wailing! It has all been done before and much better – for example, Alanis Morrisette, Janis Joplin, Janis Ian. Every generation has a Taylor Swift. At least in tbe past her predeccessors could hold a tune!
And yet she seems to manage to get a few people to come to her concerts….
As a 41 year old European woman, I also don’t get the hype
I applaud Swift for her success of course, but when I compare the music to the fame and power she wields, the disconnect makes me think that I’m either missing something or I’m just old.
You are not that much older than Ms Swift herself.
Mary Harrington seems to think her songs gel with the emotional life of her teenage daughter . Something teenage girls and their mothers can share ?
As a middle aged female, I can’t stand her either. I don’t understand the phenomenon, and her stage performances and suits are so stupid. The article compares her to Madonna, in her youth, Madonna was incomparable. Now in her old age, she’s incomparable for all the wrong reasons!
Oh, I quite like the spangly leotards. Although those are hardly ground-breaking.
To be fair, I believe the author’s point was that Taylor Swift’s popularity is an American phenomenon. America is lumped together with Europe so often as ‘the west’ we forget how different they still are. The US isn’t Europe. Two hundred years ago their cultural paths diverged pretty dramatically and they’ve been drifting apart ever since, historical and political realities notwithstanding. I see it easily just reading this board’s comments. What the US does share with Europe is a reasonably well integrated ruling class that goes back to the previous century and the world wars, but it’s clear to me that the populations are drifting further apart even more quickly these days. Swift is far more popular in Asia than even the US. Japanese anime is more popular than anything I’m aware of that comes from Europe. I can think of more examples of Australian cultural influences off the top of my head than I can of German or French. The US is pivoting to Asia in more ways than one.
I think her target demographic is young females, not middle aged males.
.
I have to admit that I too am speechless that this is even a thing.
That’s funny!
Some commenting here just love to broadcast how much they care about not caring. Whatever criticisms one may have of TS she’s a superb performer who also reflects the angst of a vast number of normal people and is generally a positive role model for youngsters.
And the last throw of the dice for the Democrat establishment , great white hope for 4 more years of a critical race theory obsessed America led by a man who can no longer tie his own shoe laces.
What does that have to do with the essay? Your comment is silly.
In fairness, this article is clickbait. The guys that run UnHerd don’t seriously think that their readers wanted a longform essay on the talents and interests of Taylor Swift …they were just doing some cheeky click-baiting for the weekend emailer, and it worked!
Well said.
Normal and role model seem to be mute points in this and other examples of the ability of the Western media’s way of rising to stardom anyone they wish. What short memories we all have at times. It is just her turn. Pity the enormous amount of money she and her handlers will make for the short time she will be around is not shared with the many other enterainers who struggle even though they have plenty of talent.
You do not need talent to succeed in America..
True, look at Trump and Biden
One of America’s most redeeming qualities- anybody can make it.
Also one if its biggest flaws in that shysters often do
True.
Nor in Europe, Eurovision is the epitome of that!
I don’t find Swift’s diary-entry songs appealing or admirable, especially as she approaches 35. But 10,000 country songs, usually by dudes, with the theme: “You don’t understand how much I care, so I’m getting hammered (again)” aren’t too fresh either. I like some of those tunes though.
I can’t imagine that she’ll alienate a major subset of her fans by openly endorsing Grandpa Joe.
Samuels can write something of interest even when his subject is trivial. He made me pay a bit of attention and almost care about the gushing mass-hysteria of some so-called Swifties. This doesn’t seem like a very good era in pop music; it’ll never be 1965-1973 again. So many of the reigning and ascendant stars are female, so maybe my ears are suffering from an auditory version of the “male gaze”, trying to hear what the clamor is about yet detecting little more than faint sirens and pretty noise. But Olivia Rodrigo gave a great performance on SNL a few weeks ago.
Yes, yes about music from ’65-’73! Never to be repeated.
A large part of her continuing appeal has been her relative outwardly apolitical nature. I think it would be the beginning of the end if she took a position on a 2024 candidate, but maybe she’s fine with that.
Maybe she is. I don’t think she is going to have a problem paying her rent anytime soon.
It’s Lesley Gore (not Leslie – the male spelling of the name) and her hit records were in the early Sixties. Sorry to be a pedant.
No better way of dealing with this form of mass hysteria
And only as Rab Butler used these words in Gone With the Wind
‘ Frankly my Dear, I don’t give a Damm ‘
Rab Butler, the Minister for Education who introduced the 1944 Education Act in the UK?
I think you mean Rhett Butler 🙂
Steve I know but getting the edit button on this site to work
Is Akin attempting to herd cats
Someone in UnHerd needs to herd up
Their software engineers
I’ve never had any trouble with it.
A haiku, right? Brilliant!
I think those two were brothers….
After spending too much time trying to figure the whole thing out your piece has answered all my questions- well done, interesting and I think you have nailed it.
“She would’ve made such a lovely bride,” she sings. “What a shame she’s fucked in the head.”
This is a “perfectly constructed line”?
According to the Quran one of the signs of the end times is an over-abundance of female singers.
I think it’s also one of those seven seals from Revelation.
There’re probably a song in that….
If you don’t know her too well (or get put off by the pop megastar image), take a look at her NPR Tiny Desk Concert on Youtube which is more personable.
Or the documentary Miss Americana on Netflix.
Ok, your comment hooked me, so I just tried, listened to the first three songs, and sorry, no, this middle aged woman simply cannot stand her flat horrible voice.
From her position on top of the celebrity world she wines how it “would be different as a man”? that is the utmost in ridiculousness.
Instead, if she had ANY insight in humanity, she’d have written: “would it be different if I wasn’t a tall slender blond”
Conplexifying Swift is like oversimplifying Any actually significant public figure, complete mindlessness
Please watch “The Animals – House of the Rising Sun” on YouTube.
Now imagine for a second what would have happened if the Internet existed during Beatlemania, and what parents and their children would talk about on social networks then.
I think this provides a good frame of reference for our discussion today.
Thanks. Enlightening as to the phenomenon. What I consider to be country music has to come from love or pain that feels authentic. Evidently she evokes that in this vapid generation to the tune of billions of dollars. I am unmoved though and prefer other singer songwriters. If I was in my twenties or teens, she might appeal. At 35, she’s not maturing much though. Unfortunately, her fame isn’t going to help that. Still, so many pop icons have made lifelong careers of adolescent angst! She was a shill for Pfizer like so many celebs. If she shills for Biden, she will lose quite a few fans.
One day I picked up what I think is a successful (I don’t pretend to be anything) term for classifying this kind of performer: “hormonal singers.”
No, she won’t lose fans if she openly supports Biden. As far as her seemingly not aging at 35, yes, it is rather odd. Perpetually young.
If she sang about the things 35 year olds care about, she would probably make less money.
I’ve tried and failed to understand her stardom based on her music, which I find formulaic and repetitive. The writer does a good job of explaining that it’s not really about her music, which is a relief because I can still hang on to a shred of my faith that people still can distinguish between musical genius and marketing.
Well said.
“America’s national hero”
Geez that’s pathetic.
Can’t they find someone more substantial?
Yes, hero is the wrong word to use, but I suppose it’s meant to suck us in.
Not quite. I am really tired of seeing her face on almost every media site. Enough!
Make. It. Stop.
Interesting essay until you wrote ‘Biden’s senile ramblings.’ Seriously, really….
Well we can call some of them attempted Haley Joel Osment impressions, Miterrand to to think of one…
The sneering tone of this article makes me disregard a lot of what the writer puts forth as insights. Perpetuating the misleading trope that Biden is senile is a cheap shot. As Biden himself says, “Don’t compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative.”
Prefer the alternative.
The wealthiest and most powerful country in the world, and all they can put forward as leader are two 80 year old sex pests, one a colossal crook and the other horribly senile
BB you are getting all mixed up, It’s the same person. Just a little Democrat projection thrown in.
Anybody who thinks Trump is anything but an overly privileged simpleton needs their head testing quite frankly, and Biden was useless even before his brain turned to mush.
There are plenty of bad leaders throughout the world, but very few first world countries can throw up a leadership contest as abject as that one
Not bad for a guy who did such a tremendous job as President of the USA for four years, starting in 2016. I will not bother to re-iterate all his accomplishments; all I will say they are the exact opposite of Biden’s’ starting with no wars.
Fewer U.S. soldiers are in harm’s way and the U.S. is at war with fewer countries right now than we were under Trump. You blame every world conflict–or terrorist outrage–on the man in the Oval Office?
So how many US soldiers got harmed let alone killed? No do not answer the question, I take it back…… no point!
Yeah. You never come here to discuss or debate, let alone learn anything. You already know everything, courtesy of the infallible sources you drink from without any twist or chaser. Carry on then, Mr. Big Guy.
Any list of his “accomplishments” as President must necessarily end with “Sent his goons to trash Congress”.
Hardly true. Trump is the sex pest and I wouldn’t say Biden is “horribly” senile. Aging memory lapses for sure.
You may wish to edit your comment about ‘misleading trope’.
These comments are hilarious! Grumpy old men complain about a phenomenon that they don’t understand and dislike, for reasons that they can’t articulate.
Utterly predictable. I know every single thing you people are going say long before you have even thought of it. Especially the yappy little stalker with the lame puns – looking forward to seeing ya, lil’ guy!
Hello darkness, my old friend.
Come to speak to us again.
What’s up Youngblood?
Did Taylor Swift write that? I like it!
It’s a Simon & Garfunkel song.
Yes, I know….
Nope, I’m a feminist leftist woman and I can’t stand her atrocious voice. Without the pretty hair, face, long legs, she’d be nothing.
I’m pretty far from a Swifty, but credit must be given where credit is due.
Her voice is pretty far from atrocious and the simple fact is millions and millions of fans (mostly women) love her music. If her success is based solely on her looks, why then do other even more beautiful women in the industry achieve a small fraction of her success?
She writes simple but well-constructed country-pop songs which speak to the experience of being a young-ish woman in our day and age. She has an eye for lyrics which resonate with a huge section of the population, a section which now commands the majority of spending on entertainment. She also performs all her own material for hours at a time, with the audience eating out of the palm of her hand. People say her subject matter is adolescent, but I disagree that disappointment with romantic love is necessarily a teenage or trivial phenomenon.
Basically, if it’s all so simple, I suggest her detractors give it a go and see how far they get.
Apparently women watch football regardless of Taylor Swift. It’s just that more will tune in this Sunday. Not sure we needed an article this long to tell us that, too bloated.
Swift seems like a nice enough woman. But it’s odd that she’s 34-years old and still singing about issues a 17-year old normally angsts over. And her boyfriend, Kelce, is a mouthpiece for big Pharma. Regardless of his being a football player that alone should ring a warning bell for Swift. She has poor taste in men for sure, as her songs attest.
But it’s odd that she’s 34-years old and still singing about issues a 17-year old normally angsts over.
Why does that seem odd? It’s made her a billionaire!
Every time a Taylor Swift song is played, I am spared having to listen to rap. For this, I must be very grateful.
Taylor seems to have the same taste for a genetically ideal prospective father of her children as most women. Their taste in studs were set 20000 years ago in the Paleolithic and never updated. An NFL superstar has perfect genes by cave girl standards. She should remember that high end studs find women fungible and easily replaced. She will only be lead girl in his harem. They maximize their genetic potential by impregnating a hundred women and not paying child support. They marry supermodels and then cheat on them. For example, Mr. Olympia himself Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger married Maria Schriver a 10 but did not neglect to impregnate the maid a 3. This is the deal that Taylor Swift is entering. I anticipate the breakup song Taylor makes when she realizes she is just lead girl in a harem. She will either keep searching forever for a nonexistent idea mate or finally settle for a Beta Male (who finds her non easily replaceable) as dad to Super stud’s children. This pattern of male / female behavior is exactly the same in supposedly monogamous birds. It’s pure genetic advantage behavior.
You have a very strange view of the world don’t you? I do wonder where these ideas and theories of yours come from I must say
This pattern of male / female behavior is exactly the same in supposedly monogamous birds
Sorry, your knowledge of biology is poor.
You’re wrong about that. Travis seems to be grounded by family.
Test
Nope. Like Trump-Biden, she’s a litmus of the decline of the West into meaningless narcissistic materialism – a mechanical meme-pop regurgitation of post-War and post-cold war tropes the scaffold for which – constant economic growth, Enlightenment hubris and more lately post-modern insanity – is crumbling beneath our feet. In ten years, she will be as relevant as the Twin Towers and JFK. The liberal age is over and has been found wanting.
You don’t think she is the new Bob Dylan?
Well , as far as Taylor Swift mania is concerned I can only confess I don’t “get it” and very much doubt I ever will. I am then left wondering whether that matters. I think not. But who really knows?
“By compelling the allegiance of all three generations”
Gen-X gets shafted again. Typical. The least awful of the 5 extant generations.Also, hard pass on the manufactured spectacle. Both.
Hear hear from an old Gen-X-er
Amazing really how the neither the zoomers or the mills of the BBs know we exist, it is so exactly how we fit our label, we’ve always been non-existent.
Like another, I too enjoy these less overtly politicised pieces. I’ve had a listen to TS but not been hooked. I kinda liked the last album with it’s lo-fi feel. But Swift never convinces with anger or with disappointment. She’s actually Nashville sunny. Guileless, someone else said. Now Lana Del Rey? She’s got some real issues. And more my taste tbh.
Putting all else aside, my issue with this media frenzy is just that; can we have one Chiefs game where Swift is shown perhaps once in the beginning and that’s it? She isn’t the problem here, the media obsession with a non-participant is the problem.
She drank a beer at the Super Bowl! It was on the big screen!
Quote from article
“Donald Trump is said to be personally miffed by Swift’s popularity, and to privately insist to unnamed advisors that his fan base is larger than hers”……
Investigating reporting at its finest by Samuels. Would not want to mention any names, would we, David? So I pay $120 per annum to read this nonsense: good job there are the commenters..
“Donald Trump is said to be personally miffed by Swift’s popularity”
Do you doubt this for one moment?
No. It’s a huge blow to his fragile ego. I think Swift is courageous for speaking out as pissing off Trump is to piss off the MAGA cult followers who are prone to violence, and she could well end up getting shot.
No, not at all, but it is his own fault. All his songs suck.
The Swift-Kelce singularity has already proved so powerful that there are dark mutterings from corners of the American Right that the celebrity couple is part of a plot to get Joe Biden re-elected, engineered by the US Department of Defense.
Does the US Department of Defense write her songs?
This chap is a bloody good writer. I’m depressed now.
Deify celebrities much? Imbecile.
She has stunning good looks, nimble as an Olympic athlete, wildly successful entertainer and business person but I am really, really tired of hearing about her 24/7.
I’m a 62 years old male from the UK and only a decade plus ago enjoyed the music of Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Beyoncé, Lana Del Ray, Adele, Amy Winehouse. Just do not get the fuss about Taylor Swift!
Taylor’s music reminds me of Billy Joel’s. His music used similar personal narrative style. Joel never enjoyed very broad popularity. Critics in the music and entertainment industry ran him down at every possible opportunity, for much of the same reason the same elite establishment despises Donald Trump, not because he caters to the lower class folk, but because he actually respects them. Joel’s respect for poor dockworkers, city-dwellers, fishermen, dive bar patrons, and such resonates throughout so much of his work. He wrote almost exclusively towards that audience. His concern seems genuine though I don’t think the man was ever truly poor himself. Joel was unapologetically an entertainer first and an artist second or at all.
Swift seems to me to be the same sort of person. She’s not trying to leave some artistic legacy like Lady Gaga or Madonna. Swift uses a style similar to Joel in her use of first person almost stream of consciousness narration. Unlike Joel, she does so in a way that isn’t as easy to pigeon hole into that ‘lower class music’ ghetto. She uses her ‘woman’s perspective’ liberally to appeal to issues common to all women, like being obsessed with men despite not really actually liking men and finding most of them severely lacking, a timeless theme if there ever was one. It helps that she’s so wildly popular the critics would suffer for criticizing too loudly. She’s certainly not the ‘artist’s artist’. Her appeal is mostly to regular folks, and that’s why she fits in easily with the NFL. The NFL is also popular with the common folk though almost none of them can so much as afford tickets.
Steve, that is a very perceptive comparison. Not one that immediately came to my mind but very true. Joel was an entertainer who happened to be a great writer but long after he stopped writing new material, he kept touring with the substantial catalogue of quality songs that he had built. Swift could do the same at this point.
I’m not sure about the article – a pseudo-jungian mish-mash. But I do agree with one of the comments: “Some commenting here just love to broadcast how much they care about not caring. Whatever criticisms one may have of TS she’s a superb performer who also reflects the angst of a vast number of normal people and is generally a positive role model for youngsters”. It seems that there are a lot of grumpy cynics out there who don’t listen to a lot of modern music. I’m a seventy something one time muso who loves TS’ work – and she does it so well. Here’s a fave line from my favourite TS song:”Loving him is like driving a new Maserati down a dead-end street/Faster than the wind, passionate as sin, ending so suddenly”. Ouch!
It’s time for mediocrity to become a star
Who is she again?
So many people seem to hate the woman who is currently the most successful pop act in the world.
So many men hate her and have boycotted the superbowl because she’s going out with their crush.
So many climate change deniers are complaining about her carbon emissions.
Taylor Swift is popular and successful.
Grow up and get over it.
Other than the run-on sentences, a well-written article.