“Now it’s not my story… it’s all yours,” Taylor Swift posted as she “surprised” fans two hours after releasing the highly anticipated The Tortured Poets Department with a double album version and 15 new songs. “It’s a surprise at 2am: The Tortured Poets Department is a secret DOUBLE album. I’ve written a lot of tortured poetry over the last 2 years and I wanted to share it all with you, so here is the second part of TTPD: The Anthology. 15 extra songs. And now the story is no longer mine… it’s all yours,” she declared.

Understanding and following how Taylor Swift emerged as a young country singer determined to be famous, respected, and adored (not necessarily in that order) and became a cultural and social phenomenon over 21 years is the subject of doctoral theses in sociology, culture, philosophy, economics, and even theology if the author is a Swiftie. It’s not an exaggeration to treat the singer and actress’s fans as members of a cult whose idolization of Taylor is brilliantly fueled by her songs, videos, posts, and social life. Taylor Swift is more than a billionaire and famous, she “is” and understanding her is not just deciphering the female soul, but navigating the (still) strange and complex millennial generation. Hence its relevance today.

Taylor was underestimated when she started her career in 2003. Everything she is and does has already been present since her appearance with the 2006 album named after her. She was only 17 years old, but she had already been on the road for 3 years, and determination was the first of the talents she never hid.

Born in Pennsylvania, she is already part of her personal legend as even before she was 10 years old she already wanted to be an artist, and – although far from the American state in which country music is strong – she wanted to be the star of this musical genre. Her muses were Shania Twain, Patsy Cline, LeAnn Rimes, Dixie Chicks, and Faith Hill, and after some time performing at local festivals and events, she determined that she needed to move to Nashville, Tennessee, the birthplace of country music in the USA. Taylor was just 11 years old, but her parents never doubted her dream.

Convincing executives and record companies, at the time, seemed more challenging. She was rejected by everyone and she understood that to get where she wanted she had to focus on her songwriting. At 12 she learned to play the guitar and compose. Combining talent and focus is part of her difference: Taylor is natural with melodies and lyrics, but she is equally dedicated and hardworking, never treating her music with contempt or carelessness. This is important to understand where it has arrived in 2024.

It would be important in her biography to address how she managed to sign her contract, via Scott Borchetta of Big Machine Records, but for now, just keep that name. If you’re an E.T. and you’ve never heard of him, you’re not a Swiftie and you’re still in the 20th century. Taylor Swift defined what it means to be a 21st-century star and that’s no exaggeration. What you need to know is that Scott saw “a” potential in the 14-year-old girl, but no one really understood what she represented. Scott only realized after the 2020s, we’ll get there.

The first album already produced songs that proved that Taylor was on the right path, with a nomination for New Artist at the Grammy Awards and the beginning of relationships with famous artists. Yes, Taylor’s love life is essential to her work and must be mentioned, it is not gossip or judgment.

Taylor’s “country” years, from 2006 to 2012, are full of successes and strides towards the global stardom achieved in 2014, with what I still consider her masterpiece, the album 1989. Beautiful, talented, and present on social media, Taylor’s youth was a mask that more mature artists appreciated but didn’t really read. She always seemed just the right amount of immature, singing openly about her disappointments with boyfriends as if each one was dealing with life and death. An essential part of her legacy.

Taylor Swift’s music and attitude defy the cynics and that’s part of her magic. Her repertoire is about Love, its pains, and delights. Her lyrics are from her everyday romantic soul. As a child artist, she never had the privacy of anonymity and never cared about it. Taylor is not a millennial, but she is Y and what she complained about this generation was just a hint of what was to come. Speaking from the heart, not “hiding” anything and imposing yourself even at a young age would become “normal” after 2020, but at the turn of the millennium, it was still seen as temporary.

Through her music, everyone knew who she loved, who broke her heart, and how she reacted, but since she wasn’t even 20 years old, it was considered “cute” and superficial, and they didn’t realize how she was creating a fan base that was an essential part of who he would become as an artist. Taylor Swift doesn’t have fans she delivers her music. She has billions of best friends who accompany her in writing her diary, her doubts, and romantic disappointments as moments of happiness and success. Her social networks, her videos, her songs, and her albums are a kind of these are sleepover extended for this ever-growing group of confidants. None of your songs are irrelevant and joining her “squad”, or her team is intoxicating. Even better, it’s affordable

Today Taylor Swift is over 30 years old, but her sound – even though she is more mature – remains youthful and current. She made the transition to pop in 2014 with 1989, added indie tones in 2020 with Folklore, and united Generation X with Milleniall, a rare link that only she seems to achieve with ease. For that alone, she would be legendary, but she is truly wonderful as a composer and artist. Idolatry is justified.

Becoming a billionaire before 35 shows Taylor’s intelligence in managing her career, which is inspiring. She fought with Scott and the unfairly divided royalty rights. If in law she had no alternative, she went ahead: she re-recorded everything with her version, told her fans why, explained what they had to do (listen to “her” versions), and as a bonus, she gave so much material extra that his followers quickly understood the Master. How can we not admire her for that?

So we arrive at her 11th album, which the resisters want to reduce to just another one of breakups and whining songs, but that’s a trap. One that her ex, actor Jon Alwyn, is unwittingly understanding in 2024 as the inspirational muse of The Tortured Poets Department.

To give him credit, Joe was part of Taylor Swift’s turnaround. She was aligned with her followers sharing her love life with unparalleled honesty, but was judged – including by women – because of it, making her question whether she was making a mistake in the exposure. The bottom line is that after six years of trying to be what was expected of her according to pre-millennial criteria (discretion, secret, hidden) Taylor is who she is and will not apologize to anyone. Even less so for Joe. As he apparently didn’t go even halfway to compromise and stay with her, he’s out of her life and in the library of what I call receipt songs or payback songs. He knew the game and he wanted to play, it wasn’t as if she didn’t warn it.

He got into the long list of ex-lovers that she mentions in Blank Space, in which Jake Gyllenhaal still has a leading role because he is the man who made Taylor write one of her biggest hits, All Too Well, (as well as several other brilliant ones). After all, when they met, she was under pressure that she “used men to have love songs”, a paradox as misogynistic as it is simplistic, and she fell in love with the notoriously discreet Joe Alwyn starting a six-year relationship (almost) away from the cameras. As much as possible, of course, and rarely with him by her side.

This new phase is easily identified throughout her albums since Reputation, in which Taylor made an effort to understand who she really wanted to be. What some expected of her was inconsistent with her personality. Even though she “preserved” her relationship from the cameras, she did not stop speaking from her heart, and “speaking” is through her lyrics, posts, and videos. Somehow, it was as if some wanted to “shut up” a woman who never accepted barriers as limitations. She kicked the bucket and reaffirmed herself: “It’s not my story anymore… it’s all yours”.

Does the sound sound the same? Yes, but it’s an incredible, delicious pop. Taylor will break more records. I’m grateful that she introduced names like Dylan Thomas and Patti Smith to her audience. It creates a link between parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, instilling curiosity in a generation that is technologically agile but has restricted curiosity. Who cares? With Taylor Swift, we can move forward and reduce this space. Yes, Taylor Swift has this role. Like it or not. As a Swiftie, I declare this. Deal with the facts.

Pesquisar

Pesquisar