In the first part of our Taylor Swift’s album analysis as Political Fashion eras, we talked about the singer’s early country beginnings all the way to her official transition to pop music with 1989. (Revisit here) But the journey continues, and there are so many outfits, political fashion statements, and deep meanings and stories behind the clothing of one of the most important artists in the music industry today. In the last couple of years, Swift has been more diligent in every detail of her music videos, her clothing, and the messages she communicates with her work.
It was during the 1989 era that Swift received her second Album of the Year Grammy Award for the second consecutive year. Her huge success with her major hits Shake it Off, Blank Space, Bad Blood, Out of the Woods, Style, and Wildest Dreams made the 1989 World Tour a very successful one.
But it was around that time that the controversial feud with Kanye (Ye) West reached its peak. The rapper released a song using derogatory language when referring to Swift. She stated that she never approved of the lyrics, and as if there wasn’t enough tension, West’s wife at the time, Kim Kardashian posted on Snapchat an illegal recording of a call between Ye and Swift. The recording doesn’t state that Swift approved of the lyrics; it’s simply the rapper letting her know that the song would come out.
This feud became very public. The hashtag #TaylorSwiftIsOver was trending on Twitter globally. Kim K. leveraged this drama to create content for Keeping Up With the Kardashians and referred to Swift as a snake, motivating social media users to spam Swift’s profile with snake emojis.
Swift was attacked by users and by the media, with the narrative that she had been playing the victim throughout her career, writing songs like All too Well to Jake Gyllenhaal or Back to December to Taylor Lautner. Was she pretending to be a naive sweetheart while she was behaving like a mean girl? It almost seemed as if there were many people who wanted Swift’s career to end. People who didn’t see Swift’s songs and stories to make connections with each other. Instead, they saw them as dramatic memories from someone’s private life. After so much attention, media coverage, drama, and attacks. Swift thought it was a good moment to take a break and disappear from the public eye for a while.
Reputation
For about a year, Swift disappeared. She didn’t do concerts, and she rarely attended public events. By the end of the summer of 2017, Taylor Swift cleared her Instagram grid and started posting photos and videos of snakes. Later, she announced a new album that would be called Reputation. The Reputation era was all about her response to all these critics. Was she playing the victim, or was she simply using her experiences as a source of inspiration to create more music? Why were people so insisting on making this a bad thing? Were there still remains of “the old Taylor” who sang country? It seems like these questions are answered with her first music video of the Reputation era, “Look What You Made Me Do.” A video that seems to address the scandal with Kanye and the bullying that Kim triggered. Taylor appeared in the music video sitting on a throne surrounded by gold snakes, interpreting the snake as a symbol of empowerment instead of the insult that it was intended to be. She also seems to address her feud with Katy Perry, her Apple Music controversy, and the portrayal of her as a victim.
During the Reputation tour, Swift confirmed that the snakes were a reference to this feud. “A couple of years ago, someone called me a snake on social media. Swift stated, according to The Washington Post.” And then a lot of people were calling me a lot of things on social media. And I went through some really low times for a while because of it. I went through some times when I didn’t know if I was going to get to do this anymore.
In Political Fashion, we’ve talked about the power of symbols to communicate messages without words. We’ve mentioned how uniforms, or flags, can create a sense of union and belonging. The meaning of symbols can change with time because our perception of them might change. The snake was an insult that triggered a wave of hate for Swift for a very long time. But she decided to own it and create music and visual art with it. When she used the snakes as a symbol of the Reputation era with visuals in the show and in the music videos, the snakes that were once in her Instagram profile as an attack seemed to have lost relevance.
The Reputation era is dark, not necessarily gothic, but there are obscure elements like dark lips, entirely black clothing, very light hair, and leather accessories. The rhythms are experimental and edgy, with electro-pop elements that some people liked while others truly disliked. It may not be the most commercial album by Taylor Swift, but it is one where she proves how versatile she can be as an artist. This is also a pivotal point between who she used to be and who she wanted to become. There are fewer soft and feminine elements and more bold statement fashion choices in her music videos and outfits worn throughout the Reputation tour.
There I was giving you a second chance
But you stabbed me in the back while shaking my hand
And therein lies the issue, friends don’t try to trick you –This is Why we Can’t Have Nice Things T.S.
Lover
Every era seems to be an opportunity for growth for Swift. In Lover, we see an artist who is embracing her authentic style and finding music, clothing, and concepts that make her happy.
This is also the first time that we see Swift taking political stands. It is often said that even when you are not saying anything, you are still saying something. For Swift, it took her a very long time to feel confident in speaking out about issues she cared about since her team advised her to avoid controversial statements that would hurt her career and, ultimately, the support she could provide for the issues she cared about.
In 2003, the American country band Dixie Chicks spoke against President George W. Bush and the invasion of Iraq. The backlash from radio stations, TV channels, and mainstream media hurt their career drastically and irreversibly.
But the social context was different. Several figures from the entertainment industry were very active during the last couple of Elections. Katy Perry rallied with Hillary Clinton in 2016. Pharrell Williams, Jennifer Lopez, Robert De Niro, Cher, and so many other celebrities used their social media platforms, interview spaces, and influence to talk about elections and where they stand on political issues.
Swift explained in her documentary Miss Americana, that she was particularly upset and concerned about Republican Marsha Backburn’s candidacy, who voted against the Violence Against Women Act. So she endorsed Democratic candidate Phil Bredesen.
Swift’s political silence was broken in the Lover era, not just by endorsing candidates but by making music about her values. With You Need to Calm Down, Swift explicitly shows her support for the LGBTQ+ community, encouraging people to support the Equality Act. In The Man, Swift speaks about male supremacy with no filters. She expresses the way she perceives this factor in the world around her and how she has experienced it firsthand.
I’m so sick of running as fast as I can
Wondering if I’d get there quicker
If I was a man – The Man T.S.
The colors of Lover’s era illustrate the wholesomeness of Taylor Swift as an artist expressing these ideas that for so long she was suggested to keep to herself. It was during this era that Swift called out the 45th President for one of his many aggressive tweets that portrayed hate speech. During this Taylor Swift album era, she stated that due to the social context, she felt the need to speak out about politics and not be silent again.
In art, we see movements that are essentially contrasting one after the other. We see minimalism after years of excessive decorations and colors. We see very realistic portrayals after an art movement where the abstract aesthetic was prevalent. For Swift, the Lover era was in many ways a countermovement to Reputation. The songs were not so much about remorse and anger. They were about love and friendship. To express this vision, she had Katy Perry join her in a music video where they wear fast food costumes and hug each other. (After a whole feud of Perry hiring Swift’s artists for one of her tours, then Swift singing Bad Blood to her, then Perry responding with Swish, Swish).
Midnights
The MTV Video Music Awards have become a particularly meaningful event for Taylor Swift. During the 2022 edition, when she won Video of the Year with her All too Well 10-minute version short film which she directed, the singer announced that she would release a new album in October.
The new album is called Midnights, and it was released on October 21st at Midnight. At that point, fans were actively looking for a hidden meaning behind every aspect of Swift’s work. Why October 21st? Is it because it was Kim Kardashian’s birthday, and it was a strategy to take away attention from her? Those dates just happened to be a coincidence. On October 21st, 2022, Taylor Swift was exactly 12,000 days old, like a clock has twelve numbers. At this point, Swift has embraced that her distinctive characteristic as an artist is her capability for storytelling with descriptions and narrations that make her audience engage with her stories and experiences.
For over ten years, Swift has been labeled as a dramatic, broken-hearted, heartbreaker, manipulative calculator, snake, mean girl, and so much more. Maybe in the first years of her career, she paid close attention to what the media was saying about her. Because in the end, in politics, fashion, and entertainment, perception is bigger than the truth because we can do something to change it. But in Midnights, we hear stories that remind us of her early years with a cute innocence in “You’re on Your Own Kid.” But we also see a different kind of storytelling with wide-open vulnerability in her hit Anti-Hero.
Now, Swift’s music style has evolved throughout her eras. But her fashion has changed a lot throughout the years as well. During this Midnight’s era, we see her with tailored pieces, classic silhouettes, and subtle hints that reference the work of this album. And after over a decade of worldwide success and record-breaking albums, tours, and music videos, we see that Swift is a full artist able to adapt, change, and grow. Her personal life might still be the subject of many headlines with the sole purpose of getting to sell newspapers, tabloids, or magazines. But the currency of her work prevails; the Taylor Swift Version re-recordings bring back old favorites to restate them as permanent hits. The albums, the symbols, the Eastern eggs, and the clothes are all Political Fashion. We are looking forward to more Taylor Swift albums and Taylor Swift eras to come.
I picked the petals. He loves me not
Something different bloomed
Writing in my room
I play my songs in the parking lot. -You’re on your own kid. T.S.
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