Taylor Swift has always been a polarizing celebrity. People have a lot of complaints about her in general, but none more controversial than her recent string of appearances at NFL games in support of her boyfriend, Travis Kelce. Numerous topics have been brought up in spite of their newfound romance. Predominantly, complaints from fans about the amount of time she’s shown during each broadcast.

The NFL is notorious for having celebrity guests featured on their broadcasts, but none have compared to the outrage of Taylor Swift. With that being said, her impact on the economic side of the business cannot be ignored. “The Swift effect has swelled the sport's TV audience, especially among young women, reportedly boosting the brand value of the NFL and the Chiefs by $331m (£260m).”₁ 

For only having a few seconds of screen time, Swift’s appearance has seemed to benefit the NFL astronomically, with Kelce’s jersey sales increasing rapidly from a single appearance. ”Sales of Kelce's Chiefs replica jersey exploded, seeing a 400% spike after she first attended one of his games.”₂ Additionally, her presence has inspired many women to learn about the sport and enjoy the game, specifically teenage girls and women in their early 20s. “Among teenage girls, NFL viewership has increased by 53 percent. Among the 18-24 age demographic, there has been an increase of 24 percent.”₂ 

Our very own students here at Comsewogue had a lot to say about the controversy. Aidan Bayer, a notorious Taylor Swift hater, made his opinion clear: “Taylor Swift is the most overrated artist out there today.” Angelica Paulson provided a more neutral stance, stating that she didn’t see what the issue was with her being at the games and that the hatred for her appearances may stem from internalized misogyny. 

Teachers such as Mr. Seifert and Mr. Tremblay admire Swift’s presence from a business perspective but believe that at times the NFL can overdo it with the amount of times she’s shown on screen and mentioned throughout the broadcast.

No matter what you might think about Taylor Swift, everyone can agree that she sparks opinions within her fans and haters alike. 

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1 Bradshaw, Joe. “Taylor Swift at Super Bowl 58: How Did Pop Star’s Attendance Influence the NFL’s Big Game?” BBC Sport, BBC, 12 Feb. 2024, www.bbc.com/sport/american-football/68270784. 

2  Staff, Al Jazeera. “How Has the Taylor Swift Effect Boosted American Football?” Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 12 Feb. 2024, www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/11/has-taylor-swift-helped-boost-nfl-popularity-in-the-us#:~:text=How%20much%20has%20NFL%20revenue,for%20the%20Chiefs%20and%20NFL. 

Many Tiktok users were confused when they saw many audios got removed starting February 2024. Tiktok is a worldwide-known app, mostly used by teens. “Earlier this week, Universal Music Group-which represents big-name artists like Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny and Drake said that it would no longer allow its music on Tiktok following the Wednesday expiration of a licensing deal between two companies”. Other major artists were removed like Billie Eillish, Olivia Rodrigo, Ariana Grande, SZA, Steve Lacy, etc. Teens listen to these big artists, making Tiktok less interesting as it was before. 

TikTok creators could add short song clips to this video for viral trends and now they are unable to make new videos with snippets from UMG artists. It is harder to make videos with audio from famous and known artists being gone. 

A lot of teens use Tiktok and they were negatively affected by the sound removal. Sarah said, “It affects my videos and there’s no reason for it because the sounds aren’t offending anyone.” 

Another interviewee, Grace Ruiz, had to take down her posted Tiktok videos with her friends because the sound was removed. When asked “Did Tiktok removing their audios affect your posted videos?”, she responded, “ I had so many videos with all my friends that were good memories.” 

Famous Tiktokers were also upset by this. “More seriously, artists like Australian singer Peach PRC are mourning their channels being muted”. With people making money from Tiktok, it can become harder to make content with many of their audios being muted. 

While people were negatively affected by this, others just acted humorous about it. A source quotes, “Tiktok users have, unsurprisingly, reacted to the situation with fresh memes or jokes about their dependence on UMG.” Although many users are annoyed and affected by this, it also has a positive outcome. 

People can get addicted to Tiktok and with less audio, it makes Tiktok less interesting and less addictive. Naomi Diaz quotes, “I think that with the audio I spent maybe four hours a day and without the audio maybe two.” 

In the end, people would be glad if Tiktok renewed their licensing deal with UMG so users could listen to their favorite artists on Tiktok. 

1  Rogers, Reece. “Why so Many TikTok Videos Don’t Have Sound Anymore.” Wired, www.wired.com/story/tiktok-universal-music-group-umg-remove-songs/#:~:text=Starting%20Thursday%2C%20the%20sounds%20on.

2  "Songs by Taylor Swift, Drake and More Are Starting to Disappear from TikTok. Here’s Why.” KUSA.com, 2 Feb. 2024, www.9news.com/article/news/nation-world/why-did-umg-remove-music-from-tiktok/507-89459386-259f-4351-adc4-6f9ea6c54715.

3  Weatherbed, Jess. “TikTok’s Fallout with Universal Music Group Is Ruining Viral Trends and Thirsty Fancams.” The Verge, 5 Feb. 2024, www.theverge.com/2024/2/5/24062260/tiktok-universal-music-group-audio-removal-ruining-viral-trends-thirst-edits.

By, Marissa Piombo

In recent years the use of social media amongst people has skyrocketed. Social media has had a positive and negative effect on people's mental health. Unfortunately, we are seeing an elevated amount of body negativity mainly hurting teenagers because of social media. In today's world, everyone has social media whether you have every single app or just one app; everyone is connected with social media in some way. 

Social media has positive effects, including people starting a business there, and posting pictures/videos advocating and helping people have a better lifestyle, but like all things, there are negative effects and the issue with the downfall of body positivity from social media needs to be talked about more.

These platforms are full of unrealistic beauty standards which cause people to constantly compare themselves to others who are posted on these platforms. We all know that Snapchat has face filters that we can use before we snap a picture. 

We found and read an article about the ongoing topic and a line that really stood out to us was “The authors of a 2018 research paper state that several people have shared that they’ve encountered people requesting to look like a “filtered” Snapchat picture.”1 

This shows us that people don't think they look good unless they have a fake Snapchat filter on, the increase in insecurities because of filters is an immense amount. 

In addition to reading and analyzing articles we also spoke to some students and a faculty member of Comsewogue High School. Senior Emily Silva stated, “When I look at models or bodybuilders it sets a standard that you might not think you can meet”. That quote tells us that social media is having more of a negative impact on her than a positive one. 

The thought of not being able to reach a beauty standard can have very negative effects on a person's mental health, and adults are also being affected by this ongoing issue. Mind and Body Wellness teacher Mrs. Kidd stated that “When people look at those body types they tend to compare themselves to something that isn't the norm”. 

People need to realize and come to terms with themselves that most of the things they see on social media aren't normal and it's all Photoshop. We all hope that in the future, AI and Photoshop slow down because who knows what long-lasting damage it will have on people's body image.