The Taylor Swift Phenomenon

Opinions are divided on Taylor Swift, the biggest pop star of our time. To her fans, known as Swifties, she represents a new, honest form of female self-determination. To her critics, on the other hand, she is mediocre, irrelevant, and wildly overrated. As someone who provokes so many emotions, she has clearly struck a lot of nerves.

In the last two weeks, Swift has made appearances in Germany for the first time since 2015, giving concerts — completely sold out, of course — in Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, and Munich. These were part of a European tour, which is actually “just” a stop-over on the world tour she embarked on last autumn. From Japan to Nigeria, Brazil to Singapore, the “girls and gays” (and a few hetero men) are dancing to Taylor’s music all around the globe.

Swift, who was chosen as TIME’s 2023 Person of the Year, is a superlative star. She recently set a record by winning her fourth Grammy Award for Album of the Year; a new record was likewise set by her eleventh studio album’s sales figures. And in addition to her musical successes, her political remarks have repeatedly triggered veritable earthquakes. So where does Swift’s success come from, and why is she so divisive?

Haters Gonna Hate

It comes as no surprise that big stars receive a lot of criticism when they reach the point of oversaturation, provoking irritation. Along these lines, critics say that Swift’s music always sounds the same and is mediocre at best. She is accused of singing exclusively about her ex-boyfriends, of only being as famous as she is because she is white and pretty. Her squeaky-clean image is attacked as fake, while her plane trips are said to be destroying the environment.

In addition, some on the political right have recently begun to claim that she is ruining American football. The backdrop for these accusations is her relationship with Travis Kelce, star of the Kansas City Chiefs, the team that has dominated the football field in recent years. When Swift appears at games, many cameras turn toward her and away from the playing field.

But leaving aside the politically motivated objections, let’s take a look at why this “girl next door” with her superficial dating issues stirs up so much passion.

On one point, the critics are completely right: many of her lyrics are indeed about ex-boyfriends. But that is not only true of Taylor Swift. It is fundamentally banal for musicians to write about love; there are entire documentaries about the inspirations behind the songs written by big rock and pop stars. The difference? The muses in those songs are all women; women who all too often met a tragic end, who were forgotten, whose biographies have had to be painstakingly reconstructed. Women like Edie Sedgwick, who inspired numerous Bob Dylan songs, or Pattie Boyd, who inspired both George Harrison and Eric Clapton to make some of their best work.

Shake It Off

In contrast, Taylor Swift is no muse. Quite the opposite: she turns the tables, making men into muses. Yes, her songs are inspired by her relationships and her exes — and these songs resonate with millions of people, particularly women. Swift writes with radical honesty about love as she has experienced it, including its disappointments. She pulls the curtain back on her emotional world, inviting fans in and allowing them to take possession of these feelings, to identify with them, and to carry them over to their own anger towards exes. This can feel absolutely freeing.

Swift gives her fans a special way to express what it means to experience heartbreak and betrayal, to be broken up with, cheated on, and humiliated. She pours the female experience of the twenty-first century into the receptacle of well-made pop music. For Swifties, this makes her concerts tremendously emotional experiences.

While many songs depend on the chorus or the verses, the lifeblood of Taylor Swift songs are their bridges, which regularly go viral on social media.

Not everyone can stomach it, particularly amongst men.

Even though Swift never calls her ex-boyfriends by their names in her songs, they can still be identified by her fans. In the nearly twenty years that Swift has been making music, she has encouraged her fans to pay close attention.

It all started with her CD booklets, in which some letters were capitalized and could be put together to form new words and clues. These treasure hunts were eventually expanded to incorporate social media postings, clothing, fingernails, song choices, and quite simply everything that Swift released. She also plays with her favourite number, 13, the date of her birthday. Through these clues, Swift manages to keep engaging her fans with riddles related to her music.

Swift certainly does not owe her popularity to her music alone. Her lyrics are sophisticated not only in terms of their language, but especially in terms of their emotional reach. They demand a willingness to take one’s own emotions seriously, to make oneself emotionally vulnerable — and that, in turn, is something still derided in our society, especially by men. In their synthesis of form and content, her songs continue to give rise to feelings and narratives that create poetry through their portrayal of human experiences.

While many songs depend on the chorus or the verses, the lifeblood of Taylor Swift songs are their bridges, which regularly go viral on social media. Bridges are musical passages that connect one part of a song to another, usually used to connect the second refrain with the third stanza. Swift’s musical and lyrical prowess in creating pointed narratives comes together in her bridges; they are the heart of her songs. Swift is hardly the best singer or guitarist in music history, but she is extraordinarily skilled as a songwriter. This has long been acknowledged by music legends like Paul McCartney, Dolly Parton, Stevie Nicks, and Billy Joel.

Politics Matter

Taylor Swift, who comes from an upper-middle-class family and whose parents supported her from the beginning, is a career woman. She knows exactly how to market herself and her music, and how to endear herself to her fans.

She has experienced a lot of hate and rejection in her life, yet has managed to transform every setback into a new step in her career. The apparent ease with which she does this can provoke jealousy — as can the humility and sincerity that she has outwardly retained.

But despite this ease, Swift does take some things very seriously. She has by no means shied away from making explicit political statements, something that strikes fear in the heart of every manager. Her political opposition to Donald Trump in the 2020 US presidential election garnered particular attention, and Fox News and the Republicans reacted to her recent call for voter registration with a new round of hate-filled tirades and conspiracy theories.

The fact that Swift seems to do it all because of her convictions makes her engagement seem authentic in a way that is often missing from today’s culture industry.

Even beyond political statements, Swift puts her money where her mouth is. In a country where corporations and the super-rich are notoriously hostile to unions, she is a union member. Her band, crew, and dancers are insured, which is anything but ordinary in the US, where employees regularly bear the brunt of the hunt for extra profit. She paid 55 million dollars in bonuses to her crew at the end of her Eras tour, regularly makes donations to social causes, and supports the LGBTQ community. So far, so good.

None of that makes the billionaire a leftist.

But the fact that Swift seems to do it all because of her convictions makes her engagement seem authentic in a way that is often missing from today’s culture industry. This authenticity is ultimately part of her recipe for success, as is her approachability. She doesn’t come across as aloof, doesn’t seem to take her fame too seriously, always remains friendly, and lets herself be photographed with all her fans.

The key to her success, however, seems to lie in the way that she has so thoroughly rejected the phrase so often aimed at young women: “That’s unbecoming!” With this cultural feminism, she has risen to become the greatest pop star of the twenty-first century. This does not make her a hero, but rather a good example of Theodor Adorno’s claim that a wrong life cannot be lived rightly.

Translated by Anna Dinwoodie and Ryan Eyers for Gegensatz Translation Collective.