The phenomenon that is Taylor Swift traveled with my daughter and me on our 45-minute drive to a baby shower a few weeks ago.
My kid was at the wheel; her kids were in the back seat, buckled tightly into their car seats, as befits a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old.
Trussed up as they were, you wouldn’t think they could manage to bug each other, but, oh, they could – pinching, poking, pestering.
“That’s it!” Mom announced firmly. “Touch each other again, and SHE goes off.”
Complete silence; hands in laps; tranquility – as Taylor Swift kept doing her thing on the car stereo.
All my close female relatives are Swift fans: daughter, daughters-in-law; granddaughters (except for the 2-year-old; check back in a year).
After three of them spent beaucoup bucks in July to attend Swift’s Eras tour in Kansas City, I decided to do a deeper dive into her work. I’d never been too impressed, but was I missing something?
My first click on YouTube was probably the worst choice for a newcomer: A 10-minute version of “All Too Well,” Swift’s repetitive ode to a doomed love affair with an older man (reportedly, Jake Gyllenhaal) released in 2012.
Seven minutes in, I’d had all I could take. I figured I’d done my duty and could say with assurance I was not going to catch the Swift infection.
This is unlike a bazillion other people worldwide who are paying whatever it takes to be in Swift’s presence for her 44-song, three-and-a-half hour Eras spectacle, which started in March 2023 and will conclude in December.
Meanwhile, the hard-working Swift, 34, was selected as “Time” magazine’s Person of the Year for 2023, lauded in the accompanying story for her talent, her business acumen and her appeal across a wide demographic.
And if more attention is even possible, every sigh and swoon of Swift’s love affair with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is being breathlessly documented, as if no celebrity in history ever dated anyone before.
Great power can lead to great fallout, and I guess that’s what you could call the latest bizarro news about Swift.
Far-right talking heads are accusing her of being a “psyop” for the Democratic Party.
I had to look up the word. It stands for “psychological operation,” a term normally used in a military sense for ploys aimed at influencing public opinion toward a desired outcome.
The Swift conspiracy theory has the Chiefs somehow corruptly ascending to the Super Bowl, although it seems this typically happens when you win your league championship, which the Chiefs did Jan. 28 over the Baltimore Ravens.
Next, those oh-so-wise pundits predict, the Chiefs will defeat the San Francisco 49ers in Sunday’s big game, just so Swift/Kelce can have a ginormous platform to endorse Joe Biden over Donald Trump for the presidency.
And here I thought Kansas City was aiming to win its third Super Bowl in five years for fame, glory and a cool ring.
For the record, Swift did endorse Biden over Trump in 2020, but has made no endorsements since then and has not publicly discussed the 2024 campaign. Rather, she’s been partnering with the nonpartisan, nonprofit Vote.org to encourage voter registration.
Pretty successfully, apparently. The organization reported 35,252 new registrations after Swift posted a short Instagram message on Sept. 19, 2023 (National Voter Registration Day) urging registration and providing a link to sign up.
An NPR story said Vote.org reported a 23 percent bump in registrations for the day and double the number of 18-year-olds, compared with 2022.
That might be scary news if you’re campaigning for Trump and fearful of young voters. A preemptive strike against Swift’s power might look to make sense.
If it weren’t just so nonsensical. Lots of people are laughing, you guys.
Maybe Swift will get on a stage with Biden, clasping hands and pumping for the sky, but I’m not sure it would be good for her or him. I’ve never thought Democrats served themselves well by trying to pull in celebrity endorsements. It only convinces voters, “Those folks are not my folks.”
Does anybody else remember Hillary Clinton joyously partying with Beyonce in front of the television cameras on Election Day in 2016? How’d that work out?
Maybe Swift will just stay on message and keep encouraging every individual to sign up and vote. Right, left or middle, that’s what we should all want and work for.
We’ll find out before long.
In the meantime, lay off the girl, you talking heads. There are lunatics out there who sometimes act when inspired by your craziness.
Since July, I’ve done some more sampling of Swift songs and found some I thought OK, some I thought were good, and some I thought were darn good.
Before I started this column, I even gave “All Too Well” another chance.
And you know what, I made it to the end. I even kind of liked it.
Oh, my gosh, Taylor, I’m changing my tune.
