I feel the need to state this upfront: I am not a Taylor Swift apologist. But I would consider myself a fan. Her music has soundtracked many of the biggest moments in my life and my favourite night of 2024 to date is the one I spent at the Eras Tour.
Even with this all in mind, I’m a firm believer that no one is above critique. When it comes to Taylor Swift, I truthfully don’t have any firm opinions about who she is as a person. That said, this year alone, I’ve rolled my eyes with every re-release of The Tortured Poets Department, even though I know she isn’t the only artist to do it to stay at the top of the charts. And I’ve also been frustrated by her continued silence about the US election.
I’m not interested in debating whether celebrities owe us their opinions or are obligated to lend their voices to a cause or political moment. She might not. But she has done it before. In 2018, Swift endorsed a Democratic candidate for Senate in Tennessee in the midterm elections. In her 2020 documentary, Miss Americana, she referenced it, telling her dad that she needed “to be on the right side of history”, and shortly after she spoke out about Trump on Twitter.
We know that everything Swift does is thought out and considered, and if the booming sales of every The Tortured Poets Department re-release is anything to go by, the power she could wield over this particular election is, for better or worse, unmatched by any other celebrity or public figure. As such, the closer we get to the election, her fans have become increasingly eager to hear her stance and find out if it’s aligned with theirs.
I’m far from the only person to wonder whether she will wade into the US election discourse and I’ll personally gobble up any little morsels of debate over whether she should. In my opinion, it’s a worthy debate — not just concerning Swift but all public figures.
Unfortunately, this sound critique is so often drowned out by the barrage of speculation over other aspects of her life. As is typical for social media, conversations about Swift are often flattened entirely to revolve around her love life, style choices, or the friends she walks arm-in-arm with. People speculate about her body, her hair, and most recently, whether her relationship with Travis Kelce is even real at all. And even though she doesn’t need me coming to her defence, this is where I start to take issue.
“Swift and Kelce have been everywhere, successfully spinning a PR nightmare into a big, love-filled win.”
It is not a new conversation. When Swift first popped up at a Kansas City Chiefs football game in September 2023 to cheer on Kelce, rumours immediately swirled about their pairing being a mutually beneficial PR relationship. (A fair and fun thing to speculate on, in my opinion.) You would think those theories had been put to rest in the year since, with her flying around the world to watch him win the Super Bowl in January, and him flying to far-flung countries (including Australia) to bop around in the crowds at the Eras Tour.
But the PR relationship rumours have never abated. That was underscored last week with the apparently fake documents released on social media that claimed the expiry date of their relationship is set for September 28.
Ever since, Swift and Kelce have been everywhere, successfully spinning a PR nightmare into a big, love-filled win. They held hands as they walked in and out of restaurants in New York City (so, so many restaurants). Swift was spotted cheering on Kelce at yet another football game alongside his family. And over the weekend, they attended the US Open together, along with Kelce’s teammate Patrick Mahomes and his wife (who has reportedly become friendly with Swift in the past year) Brittany, where the pair sang along to The Darkness’ banger, I Believe In A Thing Called Love. They have been doing the most to convince us they’re still very much on, and I don’t blame them for it.
Amongst all the noise, it’s the last outing on that list that has garnered a particularly strong reaction from Swift’s fans and detractors alike.
First, Brittany Mahomes is believed to be a Trump supporter and has allegedly been liking and unliking Instagram posts relating to some of Trump’s most abhorrent policies (this is difficult to confirm), and has also apparently liked pro-Trump comments (according to reporting by Newsweek and The New York Post) on her own, unrelated Instagram posts. Donald Trump has now thanked Brittany for “so strongly defending me”.
Swift has plenty of reasons to personally dislike Trump. Even as recently as last month, he shared AI images of Swift as a faux endorsement for his presidential campaign.
With Swift attending the US Open with Mahomes after all this and appearing to be very close with her, Swift’s fans have quickly pointed to the friendship with a big, fat question mark. They want to know where her political views currently lay and whether they’re aligned with their own. We’re all for staying cordial with friends we disagree with, but when those disagreements relate to one’s belief that every person should have basic human rights, respect, and bodily autonomy, the decision to remain close feels particularly egregious.
All this is to say, it’s one example where critiquing Swift’s behaviour is, in my opinion, fair.
But as I explained above, people are simply unable to channel their frustration in the right direction, instead, going for the superficial. In the comment section under the aforementioned video of the pair belting out The Darkness, people did not hold back. “This is a little too fake for me”, “Taylor is closing in on 35 and still acts like [a] ridiculous teenager”, and “She always wants attention” are just three of thousands of comments calling her cringe and juvenile. I’d like to note that I couldn’t find any comments calling Kelce, who’s also 34, a child.
As a woman who is almost the same age as Swift, I see these comments and just think they are tired. Actually, I’m tired. Ageism has been an issue in our society forever, particularly affecting women. But when you enter your 30s as a woman, it’s like the weight of our society’s ageism hits you like a freight train. Suddenly, we’re expected to be civilised and appear polished at all times — and it’s considered a cardinal sin to present as anything other than “mature”.
“Ageism has been an issue in our society forever, particularly affecting women. But when you enter your 30s, it’s like the weight of our society’s ageism hits you like a freight train.”
Having fun and being silly in your 30s? Grow up. Singing along to music while you wait for a tennis match to start? That’s so embarrassing for you. Being a lover girl in a public space? Ew, pack it away.
As I’ve explained (and explained again) above, there are plenty of things we can critique Taylor Swift for. But coming at her for being performative in her own relationship and in a way that quite literally does not impact our lives is more embarrassing for us than it is for her. Feeling personally aggrieved over Taylor Swift being cringe and free in 2024 while enjoying her hot boyfriend at various sporting events and restaurants around the world isn’t a good reason to feel rage on a Monday.
And I’m going to hold your hands while I tell you this, but heading to the comment section to call her a loser for enjoying her life might actually make you cringe, not her.
Update, Wednesday, September 11: Following the presidential election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on Wednesday, Taylor Swift publicly endorsed the Harris campaign for the 2024 US election, urging her fans to do their own research and register to vote.
“I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election,” she wrote on Instagram. “I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos. I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.“
