Via Politico 

Jacqueline Graif 
Voices Editor 

Prior to this year, Global Pop Sensation Taylor Swift had not been known to speak out about her political views. During the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, Taylor announced that she did not support Donald Trump. It was revolutionary. Taylor endorsed Joe Biden, and her 2020 Netflix documentary Miss Americana features an entire sequence of Swift being scared about how controversial her views were. 

Taylor even has an entire Wikipedia page titled “Political impact of Taylor Swift,” proving further that her political impact is no small thing, and has a large impact over her fanbase and mainstream media. 

In 2019, she released her 7th album Lover featuring the song “You Need to Calm Down” with a music video that showcased lots of LGBTQIA+ celebrities and introduced many queer themes. It highlights the men from the hit show Queer Eye, Lesbian Pop-star Hailey Kiyoko, and pride flags everywhere. It also features a group of homophobic protestors alongside a gay wedding featuring Modern Family actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Another song on Lover, “The Man,” condemns the patriarchy and anti-feminist values of American society. 

Additionally, Taylor spoke out during Pride Month in Chicago on the American leg of her Eras Tour in 2023, urging her fans to vote and that the wave of new legislation would “put people in the LGBTQ+ community at risk,” according to The Tennessean. She has also donated over $113,000 to the Tennessee Equality Project to combat anti-LGBTQ+ bills in her second-home state, according to NBC News. But, is it all performative? 

Prior to 2020, Swift had been known to be apolitical, or at least silent about her political views. However, in light of recent events, Swift has rescinded back into her shell of apoliticalism after the Eras Tour and upon dating Travis Kelce. 

Since being with Kelce, Swift’s fanbase and audience has expanded from liberal teenage girls and millenials, and has slowly seeped into conservatives and football fans. In October, Taylor announced she would be marrying her boyfriend of two years. Travis Kelce is a tight-end for the Kansas City Chiefs, the winners of the 2024 Super Bowl, definitely not a music guy.

”Upon Taylor’s recent album release, it is apparent that the identity of liberal Swift has disappeared. ”

Taylor Swift has become increasingly criticized for her greediness in regards to music charts. Every single or big song she releases has three or four preceding versions that hardly differ from the original, allowing her to remain at the top of the charts. In fact, she was under fire last year for releasing more and more versions of her songs on The Tortured Poets Department while Chappell Roan, an up-and-coming queer artist, was attempting to promote her album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess. The rumours have since been dispelled, as The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess  would’ve charted the same regardless of Swift’s remixes. 

Recently, Donald Trump’s new administration has used a variety of artists’ songs to promote the White House and I.C.E. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Including Olivia Rodrigo, who immediately spoke out about it and condemned the use of her song “all-american bitch.”  Swift’s songs have been used a myriad of times for the same purpose, and she has remained completely silent. So, if Taylor’s messaging is meant to be liberal, why isn’t she condemning the White House’s usage of her songs? Trump is famously anti-Swift, and Taylor has always endorsed Trump’s opponents. It was almost imminent that she would respond immediately, which she does normally by issuing lawsuits as soon as possible. 

Taylor Swift’s most recent album The Life of a Showgirl came out in October, and has been criticized for being of poorer quality than Swift’s other albums. To most fans, this album felt like a cash-grab: rushed and spurious. Her songs attempt to reach her audience, but fail to do what her past albums did: feel authentic. One of her songs “Actually Romantic” is a diss to Charli XCX’s “Everything is romantic,” which was aimed at the industry and not directly at Swift’s demeanour. Yet, Taylor “retaliated” to an inexistent “beef” just for publicity. 

Another song, “The Fate of Ophelia,” is being criticized for its inaccurate depictions of Ophelia from Shakespeare’s iconic tragedy Hamlet. The song elucidates that a woman can be saved by a man from Ophelia’s “fate,” which is not at all accurate to the plot of Hamlet. Ophelia’s suicide could not have been prevented by a man, since it was essentially inspired by misogyny. This doesn’t mean the album wasn’t a big hit with her die-hard fans, though. She beat Adele’s 25 for the most sales in a week in the U.S., according to The Guardian. 

As a Swiftie, I was personally disappointed by the album, but also by Taylor’s lack of action taken against I.C.E. regarding the use of her songs. I think that Taylor Swift has turned into a version her fandom never thought was possible: a capitalistic monger.