On Becoming a Swiftie

I am not sure how publicly I have ever declared my love for the artist known as Taylor Swift, but I think I should confess. At 40 years old, I am five years her senior and I already have a marriage and a divorce under my belt, plus the two children. And I gave her a romantic run for her money in my youth, acting as if and keeping Portland weird in a Jungian parade of personality.

Everyone is talking about Taylor these days, she is known on every side of the aisle and the planet. She is a self-made billionaire boss bitch and I love her. And while I am not exceedingly hyped (I cannot imagine the pressure she must feel!) on The Life of a Showgirl, I will say that I am excited for her new era as a ‘permanently’ partnered person and the Showgirl era.

This poor girl deserves the break that she seems to be begging for. Let her find a comfortable home in her beloved Travis, let her find a family of her own making, let her put out records at her own pace. The woman has been working tirelessly since she was a child, and we are all complicit in the making of the showgirl that we see today. If we don’t like what we see, we should take a long hard look at ourselves. Without the fandom and the attention, there would not be an economy of Swift.

I am tired of people projecting their insecurities and ethics onto Taylor Swift. No one can deny that she is doing the best that she can, and she truly puts in a Herculean effort to create her music, performances, and persona. Swift creates the songs that have made her rich and famous, so like them or not, they are a creative act of art regardless of your personal interpretation. I don’t love every song, but I still appreciate that she has made them.

Swift announced her new album a few weeks ago on her boyfriend’s podcast, and then immediately after received the proposal and upgrade to fiancée of Travis Kelce. It was the first time she had been on a podcast, a medium that has been around for over a decade. Since then, she has appeared on a slurry of late-night chat shows to promote her album, with those outlets hoping to pose more as podcasts.

Tradwifes are upset, MAGA is upset, the Left is upset, the Right is upset, the moderates are upset. You can read about that elsewhere. I just sincerely hope that TS is not upset in the least. Seeing the hatred and ridicule directed at Swift the last few days has been embarrassing for me to see. But there are plenty of people who love and adore her. In a sit-down with Jimmy Fallon to talk through the tracks on the album, the entire audience sang along while Swift danced happily to their voices. It brought me joy, which is the least I can ask from entertainment these days.

I have been a Swiftie since Shake It Off, basically, at first very tentatively to work out to, then regularly in the car, now religiously on YouTube whenever. I don’t love every album or song, but she gives us plenty to work with and react to. I like the sadder piano songs and the poppier songs depending on my mood. The kids and I watch TS videos all the time, and Fern has a dress that she calls her Taylor Swift dress. I’m not just a Swiftie, I’m a mom! Multiplying Swift’s power.

I’ve sadly never seen her play (I had tickets to see Run the Jewels open for her in Portland which would have been amazing but I got too anxious to make it to the show!) I do own merch, a Folklore album forest green hooded sweatshirt. I don’t think she’s the most brilliant artist or writer of our time, but I do think she is the most brilliant showgirl, having seen the Eras tour film a number of times. And she is consistently herself, which I appreciate. She has not remained stuck at the age that she got famous as some people say, she has very clearly grown and changed as a person and an artist.

And I look forward to seeing Swift continue to change and grow and dominate the recording industry. I think she will go down in history for changing the conversation about musician’s rights as artists and women as business empires. She has spoken out for the rights and protection of women in the world. She has faced so much hardship at her own level, with no one who could possibly understand what she is going through.

I am proud to be a Swiftie and to enjoy her music with my children, even if she does use a few swear words. Lord knows I do. There is a time and place for that language, and at this time and place Taylor is using it like a weapon. She shows a lot of skin in the video for The Fate of Ophelia but she also is showing off art and history in a pop music video. And she looks killer as a redhead. I don’t see a lot of other artists even attempting to get on her level. She is operating at a frequency that we can only hope to hear captured in her lovely music. And it bops.

Loving Taylor Swift at forty feels like permission—to grow, to get older, to change your mind, to still be sentimental. She keeps working, keeps shapeshifting, keeps surviving the spotlight. It makes me feel a little less foolish for still trying to do the same.

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