Taylor Swift’s Most Countercultural Era Yet Has Nothing To Do With Politics
Taylor Swift is the most talked-about woman in the world. Yet while it is clear she is remarkably popular with most Americans, nothing she does seems to please the angriest, most online segment of the population. Every facet of Swift’s life is scrutinized endlessly by the digital mob, from her song lyrics and style choices to her relationships and even attendance at her husband’s football games. The seething rage of social media is truly shocking to behold.
The latest Two Minutes Hate was occasioned by Swift’s new musical release, a four-song “encore” to her recent album “The Life of a Showgirl.” Though a smashing commercial success, the original record came under intense fire from the industry media and so-called “fans” alike. These newest songs are facing more of the same; some have even alleged Swift has lost her pop star touch. Ultimately, though, these extreme reactions reveal that the loudest critics simply do not understand that Swift has finally achieved a real measure of happiness in life.
Much of that has to do with Swift’s marriage this summer to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Whatever her actual politics are, one could call her a “conservative of the heart.” As Clare Ath recently argued in these pages, there is actually something profoundly conservative about her celebration of Kelce’s success on the football field. Those occupying commanding heights of American culture seem to have turned against marriage, treating it as a joke or, worse, a relic of a backwards past. The example of a loving, supportive relationship is therefore countercultural, even counter-revolutionary. Indeed, some pro-natalist commentators have half-jokingly suggested there may be a Swiftie-inspired “baby boom.” By contrast, the bitter reactions denouncing it as “tradwife cosplay” only demonstrate how out-of-touch the digital chatterers are.
For years, Swift’s music fixated on heartbreak and yearning. Swift deployed her remarkable lyricism not only to articulate her personal suffering and desire for something more, but also to express the wider pain of loneliness — something that has become an epidemic afflicting generations of young people. Now, though, Swift has found a love that will last. And far from making her less interesting as a songwriter, as some (including Swift herself!) feared, marital bliss has inspired new music that is actually an antidote to some of the worst ills afflicting our culture.
Read more in the Daily Wire.
