fandom blog

         Fandom Blog- Taylor Swift

November 29, 2021

Figure 1:Taylor Swift

             Taylor Swift is a young pop artist whose success and popularity has grown over the last 15 years. Her career first took off when she released her first album at 16 which reached 39, 000 sales in just one week. Her fanbase has skyrocketed since then as her more recent albums have sold over 180 million copies. The fandom for Swift does not only reside in the United States but all over the world.

                                        Swift's Fanbase             

      The fans of Swift refer to themselves as Swifties. To be a Swiftie you of course have to be a fan, own merchandise, follow social media supporting her and other things of that nature. The majority of this social group's support is exhibited through social media with facebook groups and fan pages like https://www.taylorswiftweb.net/ and https://taylorswiftfanclubofficial.webs.com/. They post her new music videos and talk about the latest news revolving Swift. Swifties communicate through other online networks as well like twitter, facebook ect. There are even some known rules that these fans follow like not doing Swift impersonations. Overall, everyone in the fandom really loves her and will do anything to defend her name.

               One way in which fans show their admiration for Swift is through buying, selling and wearing her merchandise. Online shopping sites like Etsy have collections of Taylor Swift products all over their website. They sell materials like shirts with her face and song lyrics on it, mugs that show appreciation for her music, inspired bookmarks and candles. A lot of this merchandise is fan made and sold on their private websites as well. Pinterest is another well known page that promotes the same type of goods from websites that sell related merchandise like redbubble.com. It consists of custom shoes, pillow cases and sweatshirts. Swift's personal merchandise site is very different from what her fans produce. She has a clothing line that doesn't promote her singing but just focuses on the clothes themselves.

               

Figure 2:Fan merchandise
Figure 3:Fan merchandise

https://resinrina.com/collections/jewelry           https://www.pinterest.com/pin/98023729379566274/

             Over the years, Swift style has certainly evolved to which people have followed. She's responsible for trends like colored caps and high knee boots. Once her fans see her in something new, they feel the need to try out the look too because they look up to her and want to be like her. Her songs have sparked trends recently too. Swift had re- recorded her old song from 2014, "Wildest Dreams", which has become popular on an app called Tiktok where people can be seen lip syncing the chorus to her song. People from the app have even convinced her to release the newer version of the song after hearing a short clip of it.

                   Fans have even went on to make accounts that update other fans on the newest Swift news. One popular account on Instagram with almost 50, 000 followers, taylorswiftupdates.13; posts the latests billboard songs, videos of Swift recording new music, award acceptances and speeches. Other accounts display outfits that she has worn and even show how to find similar clothing to dress like her. People have even been inspired to sing Taylor Swift songs in auditions for shows like The Voice. Songs like "Blank Space", "Safe and Sound", "I Don't Wanna Live Forever", ect have been performed several times as her music continues to be used for voice competitions. Fans even go on to make parodies of Swift's official music videos that have gone viral. One parody of her song, "Look What You Made Me Do" from 4 years ago has 123 million views.


Figure 4: Parody of "Look What You Made Me Do"

 Another way fans show appreciation for Swift is through fan art which they display on platforms like tumblr and Pinterest. Most of this art is digital but also consists of cartoons and hand made drawings. There is full head shots of her and other drawings based off of her albums. However, these gestures do not always go unnoticed. Swift is very active in her fan base and has reached out to them on several occasions. She may repost her followers posts, speak to them in the comments and has even invited people to her house. One of those fans was Gabby Hoefer who was invited to Swift's house to preview her new album in 2017. Hoefer explained that "Taylor always goes the extra mile for her fans"(Collins, 2018). Due to Swift's friendly and caring demeanor, this has allowed her to interact and form relationships with her fans. It also allows those fans to appreciate and respect her that much more which has made her fandom grow over the years. Her kind reputation has only helped her popularity and support blossom.

Figure 5:Fan art via Tumblr













References

Figure 1. 2019. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift

Figure 2. Rina, R. 2021. Resin Rena. https://resinrina.com/collections/jewelry

Figure 3.  2021. https://www.redbubble.com/shop/taylor+swift+pillows?epik=dj0y

Figure 4. The Ohana Adventure. 2017, September 9. Youtube. Taylor Swift- Look What You Made Me Do PARODY- TEEN CRUSH. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvpt

Figure 5. Michelle, Lisa. 2021. Tumblr. https://www.tumblr.com/search/taylor+swift+red+fan+art

Taylor Swift Fan Club Official. https://taylorswiftfanclubofficial.webs.com/

Collins, Kate. 2018, June 8. How Taylor Swift Flipped Online Fandom on its Head for the 

Better. https://www.cnet.com/news/how-taylor-swift-flipped-online-fandom-on-its-head-for-the-better/

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