Youth & Media

A fandom is “a common feature of popular culture in industrial societies. It selects from the repertoire of mass-produced and mass-distributed entertainment certain performers, narratives or genres and takes them into the culture performers, narratives or genres and takes them into the culture of a self-selected faction of the people. They are then reworked into an intensely pleasurable, intensely signifying popular culture that is both similar to, yet significantly different from, the culture of more ‘normal’ popular audiences” (Fiske). They are a place for marginalized groups to be able to find people with a similar interests as theirs. Taylor Swift’s fandom is predominantly made up of young girls who were able to find a sense of identity for themselves through the artist’s music. When she first became famous, Swift represented a level of pure innocence amongst young girls. She is seen as “an “authentic” American girl subject is wholly tied to her status as a white, middle class, heterosexual, normatively feminine girl—characteristics that are repeatedly shored up through the lyrical and visual elements of her music and music videos and through fans’ insistence that she is a “good girl” whose infallibility makes her a good role model for young girls (Brown p.162).

Swift was one of the first music stars in a long time who embodied pure authenticity. Swift wrote her own songs which were about her own real-life experiences that she wrote in a diary-entry style. Fans were encompassed by how her songs offered fans "intimate access to her ‘real’ self, working her ‘celebrity-as-commodity’ star text through all possible points of connection” (Wilkinson p.442). She wrote all of her own songs and performed them only accompanied by her guitar, creating a personal experience. Seeing a beautiful “good” girl being successful, encouraged young girls to want to be more like Taylor. Young girls across America aspire to stay pure, while also allowing themselves to be open to romantic experiences and feelings. Swift served as an example to young teens. She showed how to balance these feelings as they entered an influential time in their lives.

Young girls looked to her music for help with coping with bullying, unpopularity, and romantic relationship problems. “Swift publicly presents an image of sexual innocence, wears relatively conservative clothing, and sings about romance in nonsexual ways—but her music goes beyond that, actively and frequently declaring the dangers of straying from sexual purity” (Brown p. 166). Her music discusses the romantic struggles of young girls and provided an outlet for girls listening who were struggling to finding their way romantically. She is able to encourage her fans to ignore societal expectations of women in relationships and how they should act sexually. Swift also openly discusses her own struggles with bullying amongst friendships during her adolescence. Young girls who were also facing these struggles are able to find comfort in Swift’s songs that are encouraging them to look past the bullies and stay true to who they are.

Communities are essential to fandoms. The fans who make up the 'Swifties' fandom are young girls across the world who all feel marginalized from society - creating their own subculture (Fogarty & Arnold). The fans who are a part of this community are often stereotyped as having an excessive response to the things they love and are out of control, undisciplined, and rogue readers. The fans create a fandom community to bond with one another over their shared devotion to Taylor Swift and her music. The fandom does not simply consist of just listening to her music or watching her music videos, but about creating and taking part in the consumption of her work. The fandom members are your average listener, but active and empowered members are a part of a deeper, larger community otherwise known as 'The Swifties". The Swifties are an exclusive “self-selected group of individuals whose devotion to Swift and her music extends beyond listening to albums and attending concerts” (Brown p. 163).

The internet has opened up a world of opportunities for Swifties to create art, fan fictions, and podcasts. Instagram fan pages can serve has a “home” fandom. Public platforms as such create an open platform for fans to discuss all things Taylor Swift or share their fan work that they have created. It is a more democratic and accessible space for the fans to share their ideas. “Access to online fan communities affirms fans’ idealization of their object of adoration, especially for those who feel that they cannot talk about their fandom with friends and family offline, either because the object of fandom is scorned by others or because their degree of devotion is considered extreme” (Brown p.168). Oftentimes fans apart of the fandom will take certain lyrics of their favorite songs and transforming them into ways to meets their specific needs. This can be referred to as cultural poaching, which is often seen in fan art that is shared to one of these online publics.

Online public platforms for fandoms creates a participatory culture amongst fans. Participatory culture can be described as “a culture with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations, and some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed to novices” (Jenkins, et al p. 3). The community encourages its members to share their experiences and ideas regarding the fandom. Each fandom platform is known for having rules of what you can and cannot post or say on it. They are intended to be a place for fans to share positive thoughts or work regarding the fandom. A well known Taylor Swift fandom website called ‘Taylor Connect’ restricts any negative comments regarding the singer or her personal life to ensure the only voices that are heard are those who are completely supporting Swift. ‘Taylor Connect’ and another fandom website ‘Amazingly Talented’ “have strict swear filters which translates curse words into cutesy girlish words like ‘rainbows’, ‘unicorns’, ‘cupcakes’, and ‘kittens’, the latter of which is actually the replacement for the word ‘sex’” (Brown p. 171).

The strict rules are set in place to protect Taylor’s fans' innocence. She is a figure that displays purity and her fans want to ensure their fandom sites do not contain any explicit content. Instagram in particular has been able to serve as an online public space for fandoms to create fan pages. Taylor Swift has numerous different fan pages that all focus on various aspects of Swift’s life such as her cats, style, or any updates on her life. All of these accounts were created by members of the Swiftie fandom and in doing have created an even smaller subculture within the fandom. There is an instagram page created by a fan with the handle “meredithswift” with fifteen thousand followers that is dedicated strictly to Swift’s first cat Meredith Grey Swift. The instagram page has different pictures and videos of Swift's cat sitting or playing. Another fan chose to create a fan page dedicated to Swift's outfits. Some members of the Swiftie fandom envy her style in particular and have devoted their time to posting Swift’s outfits that she has worn either for an event or even an everyday look. One fan page in particular called ‘taylorswift.updates13’, has accumulated a striking 49,700 followers.

This fan page has existed for years and served as a public space for any Swiftie members to partake in sharing content or ideas. The owner of the account has been a dedicated member of the fandom for years and uses her account to connect with other fandom members and share content. The content of her page is devoted to providing the fandom with updates on basically Taylor’s every move. Some members of her fandom find staying up to date with Swift’s life and want to discuss their opinions with others. The comments section of each Instagram post serves as a place for public discourse to occur. In the picture above, the comment section on this post from ‘taylorswift.updates13’ has members of the fandom discussing their opinions on whether or not they believe Swift was going to win an award for best album. The risk with the comment sections on platforms such as Instagram is there is a severe lack of policing that can be done.

Instagram accounts cannot block words from being said, they can only block accounts or delete comments. This creates an opportunity for members who are not a part of the fandom to comment anything negative. For example, the person with the handle ‘cassaundra.wolf’’s comment would usually not be allowed on fandom sites. Her comment on how she hoped SOUR won would be viewed as negative content on most fandom sites and therefore would be deleted or blocked. It is up to the fellow followers or account user to ensure comments as such are not kept on a post. The evolution of online public platforms has created more risk for negative influences to infiltrate fandoms. The Swiftie fandom has some of the strictest rules because they value their tight knit community and the peace within it. Swifties will stop at seemingly no cost to protect their fanbase and Taylor Swift.

Sources

• Brown, A. “‘She isn’t Whoring Herself Out Like a Lot of Other Girls We see’: Identification and ‘Authentic’ American Girlhood on Taylor Swift Fan Forums”. Networking Knowledge: Journal of the MeCCSA Postgraduate Network, vol. 5, no. 1, Feb. 2012, doi:10.31165/nk.2012.51.252.

• Fogarty, Mary & Arnold, Gina (2021) Are You Ready for It? Re-Evaluating Taylor Swift, Contemporary Music Review, 40:1, 1-10, DOI: 10.1080/07494467.2021.1976586

• Jenkins, Henry. “Star Trekrerun, Reread, Rewritten: Fan Writing as Textual Poaching.” Critical Studies in Mass Communication, vol. 5, no. 2, 1988, pp. 85–107., https://doi.org/10.1080/15295038809366691.

• McIntyre, Hugh. “Taylor Swift's Fans Have Always Loved Her, but Their Support of Her New No. 1 Album Feels Special.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 29 Apr. 2021, https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2021/04/29/taylor-swifts-fans-have-always-loved-her-but-their-support-of-her-new-no-1-album-feels-special/?sh=6f5813e36818.

• Wilkinson, Maryn (2019) ‘Taylor Swift: the hardest working, zaniest girl in show business…’,Celebrity Studies, 10:3, 441-444, DOI: 10.1080/19392397.2019.1630160.