AIBU to think Taylor Swift is being carefully repositioned and we’re not meant to notice?

[MidnightTheory]

I can’t shake the feeling that there’s a very slow, very subtle shift going on with Taylor Swift’s brand.

She built herself up as pro-choice, feminist, outspoken and a liberal figure. But since this whole NFL era, it feels like the edges are being sanded down. It’s not loud, not obvious, just little things like the relentless focus on her cheering in the boxes, the glossy all American girlfriend framing, the way the messaging has become more family-friendly, less political.

It’s clever because it’s incremental. Nobody suddenly says that she’s gone conservative, but drip by drip she’s aligning with NFL values which are patriotism, wholesomeness and big money sponsors who want safe.

I'm not a massive swiftie, but I have enjoyed her music, and maybe I'm a bit of a cynic but isn’t this how brand re-positioning works? Quiet, steady, so by the time you realise it’s happened, it already has.

AIBU to think we’re watching that play out in real time and it could backfire badly? Especially if the upcoming album turns out to be very beige?

Exactly this.

Famous women can't win, can they?

JK Rowling is constantly called out for sharing her political beliefs and not just keeping quiet so that TQ+ allies can continue to consume her creations guilt-free.

And now Taylor Swift is being called out for not publicly supporting Palestine.

It seems to me that you are damned if you speak out and damned if you keep quiet, unless you speak out in support of the narrow set of beliefs that a certain cohort of shouty keyboard warriors believe to be the correct ones.

If JK Rowling kept quiet about trans issues she'd probably be lambasted for not tweeting "trans women are women".

It's very noticeable that famous men are not targeted in this way.

Leave famous women alone. They don't owe you either their silence or their support. Buy their books and music and merchandise if you want to, don't buy them if you don't want to.

God the Taylor bashing is so so old now. You don't like her. That's fine. Other people do. That's also fine. U don't need to justify it by slagging people off.

100% this. ^ I have deleted and blocked quite a number of people on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook who bang on about it, and insist people discuss it. And it's never people who support Israel who do this. It's people who support Palestine, even though they couldn't even point it out on a map, and have ZERO connection to it.

"Woman who grew up in a traditional church family joins in with her peers in supporting progressive values in her 20s in the 2010s when those were popular and uncontroversial causes, then enters her 30s, gets engaged and finds herself drawn to traditional family life again at a time when her peers are also settling down"

THIS MUST BE A PLOT

Won’t it be so much better when all music is created by AI and there won’t be actual musicians and stars out there any more who are expected to be someone the public wants rather than individuals in their own right.

In fact if you’re so adamant that you own an artist’s beliefs and actions then why not just go and download Suno or songer or some-such and create songs in the style of Taylor swift and then that music can reflect whatever you want it to without there needing to be a person at the other end of it.

Go on try it. Honestly it’s scarily amazing what AI can do with music…

That's not exploitation.

Nobody has to listen to her music if they don't want to.

Pathetic isn't it? Funny how people who despise Miss Swift so much can't seem to stop discussing her. 🤔

It can all start with a robotic prelude confirming the AI concerned was not built by organisations with any Israeli links.

I'm with you!!

😆

What do you do for a living, out of interest?

Trump is trying to get her on side because she's a huge asset and he needs help with the young female voting base. It will be his media seeing/projecting what they want her to represent for America.

Is your TS themed username your attempt to be ironic?
You clearly really dislike her so it's confusing as to why you have one of her lyrics as your username.

Another way to look at it might be high profile democrat voter reclaims traditional values for the left/centre. Republicans don’t have the monopoly on family values and tradition but the democrats do a poor job of reminding people of that sometimes.

Bashing and berating successful, beautiful, talented, American female singer-songwriters apparently! 😬

People shift political views as they get older all the time.

Honestly I'm not sure certain of her liberal views ever rang very true, and I'd be more inclined to accuse those of pandering to an audience than any current vague suggestions of conservatism. But lots of people go through a performatively progressive period in their twenties.

In terms of the broader zeitgeist, Big Media's showy progressive phase seems largely to have ended once Trump came back to power. The Democrats losing the election seemed to make the media realise that faking progressive values to gain streaming subscriptions may not have been quite the money spinner they thought it was.

I have asked this a couple of times, but @slippedawaylikeabottleofwine refuses to answer.

please explain, with diagrams if it helps, how she "exploits" people.

And use the regular understanding of the word "exploit" not some GenZ interpretation that has no actual meaning aside of "but I don't like it"

I mean, I was an outspoken activist in my twenties who became focused on my family in my thirties. My beliefs haven't changed, I just have less time and energy. I think that's fairly common?

I quite like Taylor Swift tbh. Not her music that much, but I like that she gave a language around feminism to a generation of women.

I doubt it’s a woman.

But whatever it is it’s pretty selective in terms of what questions it answers.

I actually wondered the same - was seconds away from digging the dictionary out to see if the definition has changed

It's so odd!

I can't explain why, and I'm probably BU, but Travis gives me the ick. The apparent personality change since she started her relationship with him and the close female friendships that suddenly aren't so close anymore, also makes me uneasy.

He’s a handsome 6 foot athlete who isn’t intimidated by a woman richer and more successful than him. He ain’t giving me the ick!

Taylor Swift grew up in a Christian family in a red state. It's absolutely naive to think that she does not know and love people who vote Republican, even if she personally leans Democrat.

I think this is actually very healthy. US politics are so polarised, and a big part of the problem is that the two sides don't speak to each other. If she has a foot in both camps she probably has more moderate views than most people.