How did Taylor Swift become the biggest star in the universe?

There are some very interesting numbers. 〈Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour〉, a video of Taylor Swift's 'The Eras Tour', which was so huge that it was thought to be repeated in human history, was released in the US in October last year and also in Korea on November 3. there is.

Taylor Swift - Economics

This performance film, directed by Sam Wrench, earned $261.6 million (approximately 347.7 billion won) at the box office worldwide, breaking the box office record for performance films previously held by Michael Jackson's This Is It, released in 2009. It broke the record for first place. I thought that moment was something symbolic.

My generation started listening to pop around the same time that Michael Jackson and Madonna were releasing albums. But that's not what's fun. The most interesting thing is that the total audience in Korea was 30,000. Korea is a barren land for Taylor Swift. The reason is unknown. The important thing is that we cannot sense the vibrations of this huge global earthquake called 'Taylor Swift' at all.

Maybe it has something to do with domestic news sensitivity. About 10 years ago, I was picking up traffic by quickly publishing gossip articles on the American viral media outlet Huffington Post (now ‘HuffPost’). At that time, Taylor Swift was more important to me than anything else. When she wrote about her breakup with John Mayer, her fight with Kanye West, or her fight with Katy Perry, Google Analytics' pageview numbers would skyrocket.

When I was working hard to spread such news, the Huffington Post was doing extremely well. On days when there were a lot of posts, daily traffic soared to 4 million views. The reason is that readers were very interested in overseas news at the time. Exactly five years later, our traffic had dropped by one-fifth. At the time, we conducted a thorough investigation into the reasons for the drop in traffic, and concluded that readers were no longer interested in overseas news, and there was a clear tendency for traffic to focus on domestic news.

Taylor Swift also disappeared from our sight as interest in international news cooled. At least that was the case for me. So, when you hear that Taylor Swift is the biggest star in the universe, you might ask, 'What?' In a time when you and I were not very interested in foreign news, she went from being a girl who wrote lyrics about her ex-boyfriend behind her back to becoming a symbol and strongest supporter of all things inclusive, including gender diversity and feminism.

It's not just us. “Ten years ago, Taylor Swift was the one making fun of the Jonas Brothers for kicking her on the phone, but now her one word may decide the future of American democracy.” This is the first sentence that Carter Sherman, a political reporter for The Guardian, wrote in his article. Yes. The same goes for her perception overseas. ‘That Taylor? A space superstar?'

Defining her by money is boring. She earned over 1 trillion won in 2023 with her own sixth concert tour 'The Eras Tour', which is still ongoing. Naturally, it is the highest concert income of any musician of all time, combining her solo and group work. She also has a huge impact on the local economy.

A skating rink in Middletown, Ohio held a 'Swifty Skate' event on President's Day. It wasn't anything special, they just played Taylor Swift's songs while roller skating for 2 hours and 30 minutes. Of course, it would have taken some effort to decorate Taylor Swift's symbol. It was a huge hit that day. There was a traffic jam caused by women in their teens and twenties trying to enter this skating rink.

220,000 seats were released in Japan for this tour. Arena seats on the audience side of the arena, not the stadium area, start at 30,000 yen (about 270,000 won), but they are all sold out. Since most of the concert halls are in Tokyo, Japanese experts analyzed that Taylor Swift's economic effect would amount to 34.1 billion yen (about 305.5 billion won), including the incidental costs incurred by local visitors for travel to see Taylor Swift.

Taylor Swift - Politics

The real thing is politics. Taylor Swift has already shown what can happen when she uses her political influence.

During the 2018 Tennessee midterm elections, he said, “I have been sympathetic to female politicians, but I cannot support a woman named Marsha Blackburn who has raised an anti-women and anti-LGBTQ banner.

“I wish I didn’t vote for her,” she posted on her Instagram. It is really dangerous for artists to get involved in politics in the United States. In particular, she seemed to have nothing to gain from Taylor Swift, who began her career as a country singer in Nashville.

The ‘Dixie Chicks incident’, which appears in the Netflix documentary ‘Miss Americana’, is very famous. In 2003, the Dixie Chicks, who were as popular as Korea's SES in the American country industry at the time, were criticized for criticizing the troop dispatch policy of George W. Bush, the president we often refer to as Daddy George Bush, at a concert.

They were ridiculed by conservative critics as 'ungrateful bastards' and were almost buried in their hometown of Dixieland (a common name for the southern region of the United States) for a while. The level of Taylor Swift's remarks was stronger than that, not weak.

Marsha Blackburn, who had already secured her victory, entered the U.S. Senate. However, at the time, voting among young women significantly increased, proving that Taylor Swift's support was effective in politics as well. We must realize that the Taylor Swift of 2018 and the Taylor Swift of today are completely different people.

If Taylor Swift in 2018 was Son Goku, whose combat power did not exceed 1000 degrees before turning into a Super Saiyan, the current Taylor Swift is literally the strongest superstar in the universe, Son Goku in a Super Saiyan state. (I borrowed the space from Akira Toriyama's May your soul rest in peace.) Among them, there are some numbers that may be a little shocking.

According to a March 2023 survey, 53% of Americans said they were fans of Taylor Swift, with 16% saying they were 'big fans'. In particular, among those who call themselves her fans, 55% are Democrats, 23% are Republicans, and 22% are independent.

It is axiomatic that if she has a political influence on her Republican fans, she will act as a swing vote in this presidential election. Some see her support of Joe Biden in 2020 as one of the factors contributing to Biden's victory.

This is why Taylor Swift's fandom, 'Swifties,' is called 'the voting block that will decide the presidential election.' The most vivid of her political messages is her message of support for women and LGBTQ+ people.

She sang 'You Need to Come Down', a song that she officially revealed contained a message of support for sexual minorities at the Chicago concert of the 'The Era Tour' in 2013, and said, "You have support and encouragement for each other and beautiful I sing these words with a wish for acceptance, peace, and safety. And I want every place to be safe for everyone in the LGBTQ community,” she said.

How did Taylor Swift become the biggest star in the universe?

Taylor Swift - Psychology

Taylor Swift's influence on millennials and Gen.G is beyond imagination. Being able to enter someone else's world and become completely synchronized is a powerful experience that I have never experienced.

Especially if the world you assimilate into is a world that supports the values you need and desire. Professor Stephanie Burt, who recently opened an English literature and liberal arts course called 'Taylor Swift and Her World' at Harvard University, talks about 'the tears I shed while listening to Taylor Swift's song.' She says the songs felt like Taylor Swift's support for her own life as an MTF transgender person.

Also, these real-life events are incorporated into the lyrics, making her fans cry. On June 2, 2013, she attended her pre-show 'Meet-and-greet' held at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado as part of her third tour, 'The Red Tour'. A meet and greet is a kind of fan meeting-type event held only for a small group of VIPs before an arena-level concert.

David Muller, a DJ at a radio station, also attended the event with his then-girlfriend as a station employee. The two took pictures at a photo wall with Taylor Swift in the middle, and Mueller put his right hand inside Taylor's skirt - she was wearing a short black mini dress at the time - and grabbed her buttocks. The security team reported this to the broadcasting station, and Mueller was fired from the company.

Two years later, in 2015, Mueller filed a lawsuit against Taylor. “It makes no sense for Mueller to act like that in the presence of broadcast station sponsors, VIPs, photographers, and highly trained security guards,” Mueller’s lawyer argued. The gist of the lawsuit was that Taylor should pay $3 million in compensation because he falsely accused him, costing him his job and tarnishing his image as a professional.

Taylor countersued Mueller the following month, alleging misconduct and sexual harassment. This lawsuit took a long time to come to its conclusion. In August 2017, a Colorado district court ruled in favor of Taylor Swift. However, she had to go through a painful time in the process.

Taylor Swift was 24 years old at the time of her sexual assault.

A year later, in 2018, during her fifth tour, the 'Reputation Stadium Tour', Taylor Swift talked about the situation at the time and said this. “A year ago I wasn’t singing at Tampa Stadium. I was in a courtroom in Colorado. “It reminded me of people who are in situations where no one believes in them.” Taylor, who continued her story while accompanying chords on the piano, sang her song 'Clean'. 'It started to rain. When I was submerged, I was finally able to breathe.

When morning came, all traces of you were gone, and I was finally clean.' In the Netflix documentary Miss Americana, female audience members who appear to be teenagers shed tears while listening to Taylor's song. In the future, they will listen to Taylor Swift's 'Clean' when they find themselves in a dark situation where no one believes in them. Her life is a huge experiential movie for her fans, and her songs are background music that imitates all the scenes.

“The degree to which millennials and Gen.G are in sync with Taylor Swift’s life is truly beyond imagination. Her fans almost treat her life as if it were their own. Because we grew up together.” These are the words of Hyeyoung Son, a writer for Esquire who lives in Oregon, USA. It's not just Mueller's sexual harassment case.

Another example is ‘Look What You Made Me Do’. Kanye West sings in her 2016 song 'Famous', 'I think I could have sex with Taylor now.' Why? I wrote the lyrics, 'Because I made that bi**h famous.' After the lyrics were criticized, Kanye announced that she had 'already agreed upon the lyrics with Taylor.'

However, Taylor denied this, saying they never agreed on the entire lyrics. Afterwards, Kanye West released her audio file to the media, saying it was a recording that seemed to support this, and she, along with Kardashian, played a media game by calling Taylor Swift a 'snake'. In the end, looking at the entire phone call that was released through an unknown channel in 2020, it was revealed that Kanye West and Kim Kardashian had manipulated the recording.

A series of events that are difficult to describe can be seen as Kanye and Kim framing Swift in the image of a cunning snake. 'Look What You Made Me Do' is a song released by Taylor Swift in her comeback after going into hiding for nearly a year and a half due to a dispute with her close friend Katy Perry (see last page) and Kanye and Kim's 'Snake Battle'.

“I hate your perfect crime. I hate the way you smile when you lie. That's really bad. i hate you But I came back smarter and stronger,” he sings. Taylor Swift, who had to be scared in the prosecutor's interrogation room because of the lies of a shameless sexual harasser, lost all the 'reputation' she had built up after being caught up in a false battle between Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, and was consumed by depression, and her fandom It is almost impossible not to assimilate this feeling.

Kim Ye-ju (30), who has lived as Swiftie for more than half of her life since childhood, told Esquire, “We grew up watching Taylor Sweetie since she was 15 years old. She had a family-like bond that truly supported her throughout her life.

“In particular, when she saw the series of events that happened to Swift, she felt a sense of identification and a feeling of wanting to protect her, not only because she was a fan of Swift, but also as a woman living in a male-dominated world,” she said.

Taylor Swift - Business Administration

Another important aspect to look at is Taylor Swift's marketing. Taylor's 10th studio album, "Midnights," was also released on vinyl, with a total of four versions. If you collect all four versions, each with a different color, and attach the backs, the shape of a large watch is completed. So, if you are a true fan of Taylor Swift, there is no way not to buy all four LPs.

“This is a method that only artists with extremely high fan loyalty can do, and this method is usually used in the K-pop fandom.

“We are familiar with it, but it is not a common marketing method for American artists.” Music critic Kim Do-heon said: My American friend Matt Williamson (33), an engineering student, has been a fan of Taylor Swift for over 10 years.

“It’s been a while since we released different versions of the same album like that. In the case of the album 〈The Tortured Poets Department〉, which will be released on April 19th, notices are posted almost every week asking people to pre-order because a new 'version' has been released, and they are pressuring that there is a 'time limit'.

As a fan who wants everything that belongs to Taylor, I sometimes feel it's a bit harsh. “In particular, it is not released all at once, but the system accepts pre-orders a week or two apart, so if you buy four copies, you have to pay shipping costs four times, which makes you feel like you are being caught off guard.”

Matt says: Taylor Swift's fandom is different from that of American pop stars we generally know.

〈The Tortured Poets Department〉 contains the same number up to number 16, but in number 17 there are four versions containing four different songs. “We also stream what K-pop fans do. “I’m not the type of person who works very hard, but when a new album comes out, I find myself letting it stream.”

Matt says: It is also true that there is a Taylor Swift loyalty card that allows you to receive a 40% discount when booking tickets to Taylor Swift's concerts and a 30% discount when purchasing merchandise. Taylor Swift's limited t-shirt given when you apply for this card is a symbol of a true fan. Taylor Swift fans swapping bracelets at concerts is as common as football players swapping t-shirts.

These are called 'love bracelets', and some of the girls at the concert are wearing about 20 bracelets with Taylor's name engraved on them. But what's really important is that no one forces you to do any of this. So no one told Matt he had to buy 4 albums, and no one threatened him to stream the new album. K-pop fandom often has levels managed by agencies or agencies and affiliates.

In order to be promoted to a regular member, you must prove the 8 album package or certain streaming time with a photo. So, the statement that ‘Taylor Swift introduced K-pop style marketing’ is both right and wrong.

I think the most powerful of Taylor's marketing efforts was the re-release of the 'Taylor's version'. At the age of 15, she signed a 13-year contract with Big Machine Records, agreeing that the company would own the master rights released during this period.

Swift attempted to regain her master rights ahead of the expiration of her contract in 2018, but negotiations fell apart. The problem is that Big Machine Records sold the master rights to Scooter Braun. Scooter Braun is a famous producer who discovered Justin Bieber and once managed Kanye West.

When Kanye West fought with Swift, she took West's side. Taylor Swift's decision to become enraged by this was to re-record the albums for which she did not have the master rights and release them as 'Taylor's versions'. She has so far re-recorded four of her early albums, starting with "Fearless" (Taylor's Version), released in April 2021, and the streaming numbers for these albums have surpassed those of the original albums.

I believe that this strategy ultimately had the effect of allowing the songs written during the songwriter's most brilliant period to be passed on from one generation to another. In other words, Taylor has the opportunity to release the same famous songs twice.

Time magazine, which selects the person of the year at the end of every year, selected Taylor Swift as the person of 2023 last year. In this annual event, which began in 1927, the people selected as Person of the Year were mainly men.

Fourteen American presidents, five Soviet or Russian leaders, and three popes were chosen, all of whom were, of course, men. Excluding group awards (e.g. 'American Women'), she is only the second woman (after Greta Thunberg) to be selected in a non-political category and the only woman to be selected in the cultural category. Nevertheless, her evaluation of her is divided.

“Taylor Swift is the Bob Dylan of millennials, but many men in their 40s never understand why she is so popular.”

Editor Hyeyoung Son said. She said, “Some people disparage her by saying that she is so popular because she is white and blonde, but on the other hand, if Taylor Swift were a man, she would have surpassed Michael Jackson’s stature by now.”

She even says it might be. I really don't know. “I feel like both interpretations are correct.” She continued. Meanwhile, I sometimes play the chords of pop songs on the keyboard, and one day I tried to sing along to her songs from 'Love Story', 'You Belong with Me' to 'Anti-Hero', and realized that almost all of those songs were made up of four basic chords.

I realized once again that it was there, and a shiver ran down my spine. Creating such incredible songs with just four basic chords is even more amazing in many ways.