Public Relations in the modern age: Taylor Swift addition

Taylor Swift is one of the most talented, commercially successful, and admirable musicians today. From her rise as a country star, to tackling controversies against much bigger names, to her upcoming release of Midnights Swift has become a household name with music that will last for decades. As a public relations student (and a super fan of Taylor Swift) I am amazed by her success. My favourite album, 1989, is my favourite example of this, so I wanted to look at the five singles from 1989 that hit number one on the Billboard charts and understand the PR work behind each success.

Shake it Off is the first single from 1989. The press was eating up Swift’s official transition to pop music. Along with this main course, the lyrics to Shake It Off are about critics’ comments on her life. Swift’s PR team presumably fed all this info to pop culture news forums through press releases or made the info obvious enough throughout Swift’s interviews. As well, Swift is known for her iconic music videos, and the video for Shake it Off featured some of her biggest fans, which was a unique way to communicate with the top-tier Swifties.

The next single, Blank Space, is so iconic. What I love most about this single is how it transformed Swift’s reputation. Prior, Swift had a good-hearted small-town vibe which critics loved to critique harshly, but the song shifted Swift’s rep in the direction of a mature, talented artist. Next, we cannot forget her ICONIC music video where she tortures men. A hero. From striking a car with a golf club to the punctured heart-shaped cake, the music video lives on in pop culture to this day. As well, Swift worked with American Express to create a 360 virtual reality walk-through of the music video.

Swift’s third single from 1989, Style, felt enchanted. Compared to Shake it Off and Blank Space, Style seemed to have received less promotion. Maybe Swift relied on the buzz from the earlier two singles to popularize this song as they save resources for the next single. To add, it was the first love song of the album to be single and had a pretty awesome music video. The music video was very artistic and expressionist, which likely was influenced by the song's name. The song’s name also supported rumours that the lyrics were about Harry Styles, an ex-lover of Swift.

I remember Swift’s fourth single, Bad Blood, all too well. Prior to the music video release, each day Swift revealed different celebrities featured in the music video. When I heard Zendaya and Selena Gomez would star in the music video I fangirled so hard. The featured celebrities’ fan bases are similar market as Taylor Swift’s fans, and therefore was a great tactic to grow Swift’s fan base and make the song a hit. The song was hot in the press not only for the epic music video but because it was rumoured to be a song about Swift’s feud with Perry.

Wildest Dreams is the fifth single from 1989. The music video, which was partly shot in Africa, donated all of the proceeds from the video to the African Parks Foundation of America. Call it what you want, but this is Swift’s best love song on the album, and I believe Swift’s team relied on that to promote the song.

After re-watching the music videos and travelling back in time to the 1989 era of Swift’s career, I am still amazed by the music but also the PR. Swift’s team generated lots of media attention by using what critics already knew and reinventing Swift’s image. It is interesting how they gave these critics what they want but crafted it to benefit Swift’s image. The music videos are each unique and gave Swift’s fans an extra special experience.