Final Project

S - Spencer, E - Elaina, A - August, T - Taylor Swift Quotes

S: Hello! Welcome to today’s episode! My name is Spencer and I’m currently a freshman at the University of Michigan! Later today, I’ll have two of my friends joining in a discussion of today’s topic: Taylor Swift and Feminism! 

S: For those who don’t know, Taylor Swift is a singer/songwriter who debuted in 2006 with her album Taylor Swift. As of right now, she has a total of 14 albums and about 283 million followers on Instagram and 25.3 million on Tik Tok. 

S: In the past few months, Swift has been under some criticism, although this isn’t something new (people have been criticizing Swift for years based on her music, looks, presentation, and pretty much anything they can), this time fans are even stepping up and speaking against the music artist. 

S: There have been two recent critiques on the artist. The first has been the amount of CO2 that Swift released using her private jet to fly around, mostly to see her boyfriend, Travis Kelce. However, the second topic that has been brought to light is Swift’s silence on important matters around the world. Our conversation focuses on the fact that Swift claims to be a feminist, but fails to speak up on matters that feminists are meant to speak up on. The questions we focus on is: What is feminism to Taylor Swift and what is the impact she has on her fans' understanding of feminism?  

S: To understand Swift’s impact of feminism it’s important that there’s an equal understanding of what feminism is. There are many different interpretations of the word, both positive and negative. The original idea of feminism was that men and women deserve equal rights, and the sex of a person shouldn’t create separate or erase opportunities. However, since then, the idea has evolved to include that everyone deserves equal rights and opportunities despite their sex, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, and so on. Feminists are often known to speak up for humanitarian rights to fight back against the injustices that occur. Essentially, feminism impacts everyone. Every individual is connected to feminism, whether they know it or not. 

S; Back in 2012, Swift declared herself to be a feminist, but people had been speculating it long before then. She declared,  

T: “I don’t really think about things as guys versus girls. I never have. I was raised by parents who brought me up to think if you work as hard as guys, you can go far in life.” 

S: This was further proven later in 2018 when she spoke up about her political stance for the first time in her career. The election involved Phil Bredesen, whom Swift spoke in favor of, and Marsha Blackburn, whom Swift spoke against. 

T: "Her [Marsha Blackburn] voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me. She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Re-authorization 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."

S: Now since these events, Swift hasn’t spoken much on feminism, and in fact, many opposers (of Swift) speculate that she only spoke up because feminism was “big” at the time, and it brought her more attention. 

S: Another argument that is often made is that Swift only supports what is called “white feminism” — a version of feminism that only focuses on problems that that individual has faced, which is exactly what we are focusing on today. Here to discuss the impact Taylor Swift has made on them, are my two friends Elaina and August. Thank you for joining me today, how are you guys?

E: I’m doing good.

A: I’m good.

S: Today's topic is on Taylor Swift and her impact on feminism! Now, both of you are or have been fans of Swift, correct? 

E: Yup

A: Yeah

S: How do you feel she has impacted feminism, either positively or negatively?

E: I feel like, Taylor Swift she started off with like a really good idea of her fan base, you know, because it was mostly targeted towards like, little girls and like, being a girl. 

E: I was a girl when I first discovered her and it just really affected me in a way that I felt empowered by it. Just by the fact that she was someone that was kinda just like me and they had brought her rise to stardom in the same way. But now being older and now having more experiences of what is going on in the real world, I feel like because of her platform, she’s not using or utilizing to speak out against things that are going on, that billions of people in her fanbase could help against. 

E: Instead, she’s deciding to ignore it, even though on Spotify she’s like the #1 artist for like the whole year, and that’s billions of people. And her fanbase is huge now, but she’s choosing to ignore actual problems and focusing only on herself, and the problems that she faces. She only looks at what she’s gone through as a struggle, and that is why The Man and her talking about the sexism she’s had in the music industry is the only kind of sexism she talks about. 

E: She doesn’t talk about sexism that happens to people of color, she doesn’t talk about tragedies that actually happen to many women around the world, it’s only what she’s gone through. She doesn’t use any kind of platform at all to discuss about that, and it’s just- it made me distance myself from her and that’s- I’m not much of a fan of her anymore, and also, I just feel like she abuses a lot of her power, of being such, like a superstar. 

A: I agree because- I mean, I used to- I have been a Swiftie since I was a kid and I definitely agree with her impact as a little girl, because I was a little girl when I started listening to her. And I remember I would listen to her music a lot because it would just make me feel good because that’s the kind of music she would make. 

A: I mean, I just recently realized the kind of things she’s been doing, like not doing to help people. I literally went to her Eras Tour Concert last year– last June. And I’ve been like a really big Swiftie my whole life, and so, obviously like it hurts cause like you look up to those people [E: mhm], and you really think that they’re trying to do good in the world and they don’t. They just don’t. She could be using her platform and spreading awareness on, especially, women of Gaza right now.

E: Yes! That’s what I’m saying, yeah. 

A: Women are literally getting ran over by tanks and [E: and getting bombed] getting bombed and getting raped and sexually assaulted in front of their families, but she’s not. And I don’t even know if she’s taking the time to research it, because- everyone should know about it by now. Like, why are you not researching about it and using your platform to tell people about it, you know what I mean? 

E: Especially since the level of stardom she is, she’s literally

A: She’s one of the most famous people in the world right now

E: Yeah, I would say she

A: One of the most famous women, and she’s not using her platform to uplift women and help women. 

E: Yup.

A: She’s just most- I think mostly she cares about her own career and her own self gain, like, I like Taylor Swift, don’t get me wrong, I really love her music, but her- I think she should be using her platform for more good instead of just her career. Her career is fine right now, she’s literally thriving, this is the peak of her career. The Eras Tour and Midnights was her magnum opus, and so she be using her platforms for more things because she has so many people looking at her right now. 

A: And that, especially with she’s dating Travis Kelce now, so she’s always being broadcasted at games and everyone’s eyes are just on her right now and I can’t believe that she’s not using that attention to reflect back on people who need help in the world right now who are struggling. 

E: I’m gonna add onto the game part, too, because there was a situation where, when she was on tour for her Eras Tour, she was in Japan and it was the same exact day that Travis Kelce was going against the– He’s the Chiefs, he’s Kansas City and he was going against like Philadelphia, it was a really important game because he was going against his brother and she flew that day, twice to Japan and then she flew back to Kansas City, and then flew back to Japan.

A: Yeah, the carbon emissions? 

E: Yeah

A: I think it’s crazy especially because she sued a college student for exposing [E: Yeah, for exposing it] all of it. Why are you- why do you need to do that? Seriously, why do you need to use all of that fuel? Like, the world is already unstable as it is, and global warming is like- It’s just not helping. I think she doesn’t care. A lot of famous [E: celebrities] people just, famous people just don’t care about the environment because they are so engulfed in themselves and everything that has to do with their lives, they just don’t get it.

E: and the thing with this Taylor Swift and climate change thing, it’s- that carbon emission thing has been going on for like three (3) years now. It’s hit its peak, this year I would say. It has been discussed about and I’ve been guilty of defending her when I was a ginormous Swiftie [A: me too] and looking back on it, I just defended a billionaire 

A: It’s like a little embarrassing because you’re not like thinking cause you really like them, but like they’re not

E: They’re not good people

A: I don’t think it’s good to idolize famous people, even though I do. Like, I am still guilty of that because what are you supposed to do? 

S: Right

E: It’s hard

A: It’s hard not too, but you shouldn’t because they’re really just people and they shouldn’t be idolized because people are narcissistic and it gets to their heads and then that’s all they think about is themselves. 

E: Yeah, and I think that, that’s what I realized to for my childhood, when I was still finding out about myself and stuff, and like watching a white singer, sing about, you know, her problems with high school or middle school and her problems growing up and her being bullied as a kid

A: And like relationship problems 

E: Relationship problems, I really was drawn to it because she looked like, you know- I’m just gonna say it- She looked like me and I was attracted to that but now that I’m older and I’m able to realize, like, there’s so many more people in this world than just her and me. And it’s like, I don’t think that was marketed- it doesn’t market to me anymore because I’m aware of that, and I think that maybe that’s what Swiftie’s maybe have a problem of is that they’re so-

A: They’re so ill-informed, they’re not well informed [E: Yeah] on issue that affect today’s society

E: And they still think about them

A: Yeah, and I think that’s really adjacent to other singers such as, like, Ariana Grande, and like Selena Gomez 

E: My thing is like Beyonce v.s. Taylor Swift, and I’m not saying this to put a chick fight together, I just mean like an idea of a fanbase against each other. 

A: I think people are like, pitting women against each other and making them hate each other

E: That’s not what I was trying to communicate, I’m saying more like, if we look at what Beyonce has done for the music industry, I would say she has done more of a revolutionary job than Taylor Swift

A: Yeah

E: But I would say though, Taylor Swift has just mastered pop to the point where she’s perfect at it, but Beyonce has expanded her music, she’s tried different things. She’s just changed an entire culture

A: She literally just released an album [E & A: a country album].

E: Yeah

A: She got, I’m pretty sure she got one on the charts, right? That’s the first time a Black woman has ever gotten first on the charts for a country album or something like that, but

E: I mean yeah, and it’s like- I- In my opinion, Micheal Jackson, Beyonce, they’ve all done more revolutionary things for the music industry than Taylor Swift [A: than Taylor Swift has] it’s just, Taylor Swift has perfected the usual

A: She’s just so good at music and people like that, people like her sound so they forget that she actually has responsibilities- she should have responsibilities as somebody who has a higher platform and has people's eyes on her twenty-four seven

S: Now, do you think that it’s because- do you think this has always been a thing where Taylor Swift has always intended to just say what she needed to, to get popular, or do you think she actually had good intentions when she was younger and she was first becoming an artist? 

E: No

A: I mean, she was a kid when she started becoming an artist

E: Have you seen her, um, her house that she lived in? 

S: I have not, but I've known she lived on like a, tree farm, didn’t she? 

E: That was only in the beginning part of her life until, that was like when she was born. She was born in Pennsylvania and then she moved to Nashville to become a country singer when she was 13, and when they moved, they got a 1.75 million dollar house. 

A: Is she like a nepo baby, then? 

E: Her parents, I don’t know about that (referring to nepo baby), but I know her parents came from- they were rich and they indulge her in that. And yeah, she was singing at the Bluebird cafe when was like 12

A: Yeah, and I think that being a child star in any sort of way, is dangerous for a kids mind, especially because they’re growing, and I think she just like, didn’t get the-

E: Well, her mom was her manager

A: Yeah, exactly

E: Which is better

A: Yeah, but like mom’s they just push their kids and I think she probably didn’t- She just like, got famous to get famous because she wanted to be famous

E: Well, she’s definitely like- She’s a great songwriter and that’s probably the only thing she has. I think she her vocals are not as great as people admit, but she is an amazing songwriter

A: She is, I like her vocals but that’s just me

S: Well, something to think about is in 2018 the election where she finally spoke up about her political choice, that was a very big thing for her because she never spoken up before and that was kinda a thing where everybody was like, ‘oh, Taylor Swift supports, you know, gay rights and she supports women, and she supports people of color

A: Yeah, and she was making those songs like [S: yeah] You Need to Calm Down, especially

E: You Need to Calm Down was, I feel, almost strategic because it was almost like she played a part and released that at a certain time, knowing that she’d get the most views

A: All of that, cause like the time that happened, all of this stuff was going down, especially

E: Gay rights was the big thing of the 2020 election

A: like the biggest thing

E: Yeah

A: Yeah, because everyone was so afraid of Donald Trump getting elected because, you know how he feels about rights for any minority

E: Yeah, but I almost feel like she played a part on that, honestly, looking back on it, it seemed to strategic 

A: That song became such a hit though, too, it’s like

E: Yeah, 

A: It’s one of her biggest, genuinely feels like it was one of her biggest songs, too

S: Kind of backtracking, you mentioned her CO2 release, how much carbon dioxide she’s used/released, now she isn’t even number one on the list, of emissions

E: Yeah, she’s like 77 on the national list, right? 

S: Right, but do you think it’s more important, people draw more attention to her because of her fanbase, rather than it’s not the fact that she’s not number one? That it’s the fact that she is releasing so much and she has such a large fanbase, instead of spreading information, she’s doing exactly the opposite? 

E: Wasn’t it, it was like a popular rapper that was number one. Because I’ve heard about that, it was a popular rapper that was number one for the carbon emission. 

S: But there’s also companies and factories above her and that’s like what a lot of Swifties that I had online were defending her with, ‘like she’s not the first one on the list, why are you going after her?’

A: Okay, but she’s still on the list. 

E: And I feel like- I feel like that doesn’t help the situation because she still has, like the biggest fanbase in the world. I think she has the biggest fanbase in the world, I think because of that, it does not excuse her for being anywhere above a hundred on that list

S: I would agree! But thank you guys for joining me!

E: You’re welcome

A: You’re welcome

S: Taylor Swift has become a big influence on many people, especially young teen girls. Her music has become a way of connecting with a specific group of people, which is amazing. However, the problem is that outside of that audience, Swift doesn’t do much to help people the way she claims to. 

S: She declares herself a feminist but does not speak up on actions or raise awareness among her fanbase; instead, she only speaks up when it affects her. Does that make Swift a white feminist?

I would say yes, but I also cannot determine what you believe, just as I cannot tell you what feminism means to Taylor Swift without assuming. 

S: I appreciate all of you who have listened today, and until next time, goodnight.