The Swift Effect
I remember people asking me – ‘What are you gonna write about if you ever get happy?’
Taylor Swift in an Elle magazine article 2019.
The Taylor Swift juggernaut has left Melbourne and is about to be unleashed on Sydney. Swift will hold four stadium concerts in Sydney before flying to Singapore to continue her Eros Tour.
Love or loathe Swift’s music – there’s no denying the woman has an audience. A massive global audience. I should mention I’m not a devotee but at the same time I’m intrigued by Taylor Swift’s enormous appeal.
In Melbourne Swift filled the MCG stadium with 96,000 fans for each of her three concerts. It was the biggest stadium concert she’d played to date.
Mothers and daughters were spotted in matching outfits dancing alongside hardcore Swifties attired in sequinned dresses, glittering cowgirl booties and variations on cowgirl/cowboy kit. According to the news media an excess of glitter, sequins, fringing and handmade friendship bracelets seemed almost mandatory.
Hysteria, weeping and over the top sheer joy was reported widely by journalists, fashionistas and music aficionados. Some commented on the wholesomeness and youth of the Swifties and their entourages. Many underage fans were being chaperoned by their parents.
This is no mean feat given we are bogged down in the ugliness of brutal wars, terrorism, global climate change, escalating financial disasters and economic recessions. Not to mention the grotesque actions of Vladamir Vladimirovich Putin and Donald Trump.
Let’s face it, with all this trauma going down – why wouldn’t young women be keen to frock and devote themselves to the blissful distraction of Swift’s juggernaut?
A brief digression. Trump is known to his detractors as the Toupeed Travesty, the Dumb Corleone and the Petulant Pumpkin. There’s also an excess of crude but witty nicknames in circulation. Trump has earnt them and his nicknames offer a bit of comedic relief.
In the last few months, the Carrot Caligula was indicted on four separate criminal cases and charged on a total of 91 felony cases. It therefore defies belief that Trump is still the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. And that’s keeping a lot of folk awake in the midnight hours.
Getting back to Taylor Swift. She’s a veteran in the music business despite being in her early thirties. Namely because as a precocious eleven year old she ditched competitive equestrian riding and dedicated herself entirely to naked ambition. For Swift was utterly determined to become a famous singer.
Her parents willingly moved house and drove Taylor up and down Nashville’s famous Music Row. She offered up CD’s of herself singing popular country-style songs accompanied by Karaoke music.
Swift kept her request simple, ‘I’m eleven. I really want a record deal’.
At 13 Swift was signed to RCA in a development deal. A year later she wrote her first song, Lucky You. She was quick to realize that singing the US anthem Star Spangled Banner was a great way to be heard by large audiences.
Fast forward to 2024 and what is known as The Swift Effect is credited with bringing huge profits to the cities hosting her Eras Tour.
She’s also credited with making the American NFL popular with females aged 18-34. This is due to the exposé of her intense relationship with the NFL player Travis Kelce. Venerated as the ‘tight end’ for the Kansas City Chiefs, Kelce will be joining Swift on tour.
According to research instigated by Apex Marketing, Swift’s ‘influence’ and her many public appearances at Chief’s games has significantly lifted NFL female membership.
Unsurprisingly it’s all about the rising brand value of the Kansas City Chiefs and the NFL – which is reported as currently being around $335.1million.
Despite being famous for writing romance breakup songs, Taylor Swift courses have taken off at prestigious universities. Her lyrics and ability to mine her own emotions is being analysed in depth. This has aroused a degree of irritation and indignation amongst some scholars and students.
Meantime, Medieval literature Professor Liam Semler of Sydney University asks the students in his course to compare the Bard’s sonnets with Swift’s 2022 album Midnights. Swift has also been included in academic symposiums on great writers and the literary canon.
A Swiftposium was recently held at The University of Melbourne. The organizers were at pains to point out Taylor Swift had not been expected to attend. The conference accepted 130 accepted submissions from 78 institutions across 60 countries.
A specialist in ancient Greek philosophers at Sydney University has written an academic treatise on Swift’s lyrics. According to the academic, Taylor Swift is on par with the famous philosopher Aristotle born in 384 BC.
But the obvious question remains, as in Swift’s quote above – what will Taylor Swift write about if she finds love and domestic bliss?
photo above: an early photo of Taylor Swift in her country music phase.