Taylor Swift is the biggest and most influential artist at the moment, and that comes with a lot of pressure. As the past few years have been rewarding for her fans in terms of music, they were also the harshest on her personal image, and the recent hit in the media is not the “reputation” Swifties have been waiting for.
Swift has been around for almost two decades, with a career filled with impressive credentials thanks to her singer-songwriter skills. In real life, she speaks about things she cares about, publicly supports other women, and quietly donates thousands, if not millions. Even so, it has never been enough for the media or her fans.
With great power comes great responsibility, and Swift learned that firsthand. Nothing she does ever seems to be enough, and, in recent days, the media has proven it. With an important electoral year underway, where Democratic candidate Kamala Harris faces Republican candidate Donald Trump, fans, haters, and the media have become incessant in their push for Swift to speak up.
Taylor Swift has proven her true values numerous times
Since the campaigns officially started for the next president of the United States, fans have been wondering who Swift will endorse. Her fandom already knew that there was no other option than Kamala Harris. Taylor Swift officially endorsed Kamala Harris after the second presidential debate, and the first between Harris and Trump, making her stance known, and addressing the fake AI pictures of her allegedly supporting Trump.
For years, Swift has made her values known through her speeches, music, and the causes she supports. She spoke against Trump on different occasions, including in her Netflix documentary Miss Americana, voiced her regret for being quiet during the 2016 presidential campaign, and publicly endorsed Joe Biden in 2020. Even so, it wasn’t enough to stop fans from pressuring her, nor the media from releasing lengthy features about her quietness.
As a true mastermind, Swift chose the moment with the biggest impact. Several details pinpoint at it being deliberate: Kamala Harris left the debate with Swift’s female empowerment anthem “The Man” playing, and the Harris-Walz friendship bracelets sold for her campaign. Swift surely had many reasons for her silence, as she highlighted when addressing the cancellation of the shows in Vienna, Austria, after a terrorist plot. As she has always been the target of hate, many fans turned against her for her silence, for the second time in a month, and a year after the backlash she received in May 2023 for dating The 1975 star Matty Healy.
This entire situation takes us back to 2016: Taylor Swift’s worst year yet, and the absolute worst time to be a Swiftie. In the aftermath of the edited phone call between Swift and Kanye West, which his wife at the time, Kim Kardashian, leaked online, the internet “canceled” Taylor Swift for lying. The media turned its back on her, spewing hateful headlines, and diminishing her efforts thus far. Everything turned out to be a lie, as the full, unedited phone conversation leaked in 2020 proved, but it was too late. However, there was a silver lining: in the midst of it all, Swift released Reputation, the most different project in her entire discography. Marketed as a dark-themed album, its themes mostly revolve around love and finding out who your real friends are, resonating with many fans and ultimately becoming a fan favorite.
Following recent events, Taylor Swift’s public image hit is not the reputation fans are asking for. Since she embarked on her journey to re-record her first six albums so she could own her life’s work, Reputation is the album fans wanted the most. Of course, she’s back in the public’s graces after her endorsement. With the MTV Video Music Awards happening on Sept. 11, 2024, she might take this terrible time for her reputation and use the opportunity to give fans what they want: Reputation (Taylor’s Version).
Published: Sep 11, 2024 03:47 pm