Final Taylor Swift
I think Taylor Swift embodies the term “Girl Icon” like no other. Before beginning my research and analysis on Taylor Swift’s journey as an activist, I would like to point out that the trajectory of her career would be exponentially different if she were a man. Throughout the course of her career she has set over 30 world records. Some of the records she holds are: Most Number One Songs on The US Digital Song Sales Chart, Most Viewed VEVO Video In 24 Hours, Fastest-Selling Digital Album In The USA By A Female Artist, Most American Music Awards Won, Most Album Of The Year Awards Won At The Grammys By A Vocalist, Most Weeks At №1 On Billboard’s Artist 100 Chart, Only Artist In US Chart History To Have Seven Singles Debut In The Top 10 Of The Hot 100, and Most Simultaneous US Hot 100 Entries By A Female. These are just some of the Guinness World Records that Taylor Swift holds.
Taylor Swift released a song titled “The Man” that was featured on her album Lover. In the song, Swift questions how she and her career would have been perceived if she were a man. “This is a song that I’ve been wanting to write for a very long time in my career, but I could never figure out exactly how to phrase it. I’ve wondered several times, “If I had been a man instead of a woman and had lived my life exactly the same way, what would people have said about me?” It’s about perception. It’s not, “what would I do if I were a man?” It’s about how I would be seen if I’d done exactly the same stuff. This is when I finally got an idea of how to approach this song.”
Ever since the release of that song, I realized just how much Taylor Swift is the driving force of the music industry and she gets little to no recognition for that. While Justin Bieber, Harry Styles, Ed Sheeran, Shawn Mendes, John Legend, and Nick Jonas stand on stage with their guitar and one outfit, Taylor Swift, as well as other female artists, are constantly putting on a spectacle for the audience. Here are some examples from The Grammys from this past year:
The amount of work female artists have to put in to stay “interesting” is absolutely absurd and unfair. In Miss Americana, Taylor Swift’s Netflix Documentary, she touches on this.
“It’s a lot to process because we do exist in this society where women in entertainment are discarded in an elephant graveyard at 35.Everyone is a shiny new toy for like two years. The female artists have reinvented themselves 20 times more than the male artists. They have to or else you’re out of a job. Constantly having to reinvent, constantly finding new facets of yourself that people find to be shiny. Be new to us, be young to us, but only in a new way and only in the way we want, and reinvent yourself, but only in a way that we find to be equally comforting but also a challenge for you. Live out a narrative that we find to be interesting enough to entertain us, but not so crazy that it makes us uncomfortable.”
Taylor Swift has dealt with sexism in the music industry basically throughout her entire career. Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran’s catalogues of songs are all about love, and most of them they didn’t even write themselves. When they write songs about love and heartbreak they are perceived as “sensitive”, but when Taylor Swift does she is called “crazy”.
“You’re going to have people who are going to say, ‘Oh, you know, like, she just writes songs about her ex-boyfriends’. And I think frankly that’s a very sexist angle to take. No one says that about Ed Sheeran. No one says that about Bruno Mars. They’re all writing songs about their exes, their current girlfriends, their love life, and no one raises the red flag there.”
Throughout her career, Taylor Swift has made remarks defending herself here and there from sexism. However, she was never seen as a political figure. She wasn’t seen as an activist, she was plainly a celebrity that wanted to stay out of politics. For this, some people loved her and some people hated her.
This all changed in 2018 when she endorsed Phil Bredesen for Tennessee’s State Senate. Here are some quotes from her Instagram post where she finally spoke on her politically views:
In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now
I cannot support Marsha Blackburn. Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me. She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic violence, stalking, and date rape. She believes businesses have a right to refuse service to gay couples. She also believes they should not have the right to marry. These are not MY Tennessee values. I will be voting for Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives. Please, please educate yourself on the candidates running in your state and vote based on who most closely represents your values. For a lot of us, we may never find a candidate or party with whom we agree 100% on every issue, but we have to vote anyway.
She stated she was voting for Phil Bredesen and Jim Cooper, but in Miss Americana she made it very clear that she was more voting AGAINST Marsha Blackburn.
She was urged by her entire team not to make this post. This post would only end up badly for her and she would be blackballed in the music industry, just like The Chicks. However, she ultimately decided that she needed to be on the right side of history and chose to use her platform to spark a change. Within 24 hours 65,000 new voters were registered in the state of Tennessee and the link in her Instagram bio took 155,940 users to Vote.org. (Their average daily amount is a little over 14,000) I think this is one of the more obvious ways Taylor Swift used her platform for change.
Another way Taylor Swift used her platform for change was Mueller vs. Swift. While at first, I don’t believe she saw this as an opportunity for using her platform, she eventually flipped the script. In 2013, former DJ David Mueller groped Taylor Swift at a meet and greet. She reported him to his radio station and he was fired. At first, she didn’t report it because she didn’t want to cause any stir, as so many women often do not report their assault. Mueller then went on to sue Taylor Swift for $3million for defamation. She, in turn, countersued him for $1. In so many cases, celebrities are the ones being accused of sexual misconduct, not victims. However, it is far from uncommon. Ke$ha was a victim of sexual abuse by her producer Dr. Luke. (Where Taylor Swift donated $250,000 to help her cover any legal fees)
When Taylor Swift won the case she acknowledged her privilege and fame could have potentially been a factor into the jury’s decision.
“I acknowledge the privilege that I benefit from in life, in society and in my ability to shoulder the enormous cost of defending myself in a trial like this,” she said in a statement. “My hope is to help those whose voices should also be heard. Therefore, I will be making donations in the near future to multiple organizations that help sexual assault victims defend themselves.”
Ever since the case, Taylor Swift has been a vocal advocate and supporter of the #MeToo movement. This is what Taylor Swift had to say at her Tampa stadium tour a year later. In this emotional video she recounts her trial and the aftermath:
Whether or not you enjoy Taylor Swift’s music, she is undeniably a Girl Icon and has been most prominent artist since her rise in 2007.
From the biggest Taylor Swift hater to someone completely indifferent they can both name at least 5 of her songs. She uses her platform to uplift other women and make a real change in society. She is aware of her power and consistently uses it to spark discussion and change.