the taylor swift questionnaire
I’m currently typing this out as I listen to brat by Charli xcx because I’m a brat and my parents didn’t raise me right. Since I gave James the final nudge to put out his Taylor Swift questionnaire/challenge, it’s only right I fill it out, especially since I used to be an obsessed fan. I blame my sustained obsession over the span of close to two years between the end of 2020 and end of 2022 (release of Midnights, I believe) in which I almost exclusively listened to Taylor Swift (yes, it was that bad) on my mass media enveloped self—a complicated way to say that I was chronically online on TikTok. Although I have an obsessive personality, I don’t usually remain that obsessed with any piece of media for long by nature. My obsession phase is capped at one month and a month long phase would be a long one. Anyway, I’ve long since outgrown her music, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t the occasional song or album that I listen to. I decided to include some thoughts about Taylor Swift in this post, fresh after revisiting some songs I thought I liked from her catalogue just yesterday, in hopes of adding more context to my answers below.
I began listening to her music when evermore came out and loved the fictional stories she was telling through songs. I dabbled into the rest of her discography and became a full-fledged „Swiftie,“ but only really enjoyed the two albums that were my intro to her. I believe the reason for that was that I was and am really drawn to simple acoustic instrumentation and arhythmic beats or occasional sound glitches as you’ll be able to tell by my music recommendations at the end. However, I don’t rank her music as highly as I used to. I’ve since discovered much more interesting artists and genres that satisfy my ears a bit better. There’s a lot of politics involved in my disliking her, ranging from her choice feminism that also only shines when it affects her to her rerecording her old catalogue which only benefits her instead of campaigning for institutional change that would benefit people other than her. And don’t get me started on her climate impact, specifically how her marketing incentivizes insane overconsumption in addition to her private jet usage.
I would like to talk a bit on her cultural impact. A common praise is that of her songwriting that is supposed to ameliorate the—I’m being nice here—laid back production (in half of her discography) and largely mid vocals (spanning her entire catalogue) and I used to buy into that. I must admit, though, that if you’ve ever listened to Sophie or any music created in her tradition, you will hardly find anything as stimulating. I was telling my best friend, who’s been there when I was really into her about this just yesterday, that I find her songwriting to be not as good as people say except for maybe folklore and mostly evermore. I find her appeal as an allegedly great songwriter to be largely a symptom of a literacy crisis, though I can’t back this up with anything but anecdotes, such as when the ten minute version of All Too Well dropped and people thought her use of the word „maim“ was some impressive thing. Sorry, what? If you read anything more than Wattpad smut in your free time, that word would be part of your vocabulary. I think her fans need to get a grip on reality and read something other than Colleen Hoover for a change, maybe then their standards for good writing would rise beyond taking mediocrity for greatness.
What Taylor Swift nailed in her career is her marketing. She is a genius businesswoman blessed with generational wealth who made it this big by keeping her fans hooked on her every move and fanatically building „theories“ about her „art“ and public behavior. She is someone who makes art as a commodity like any other and wants to sell. To her, it’s a matter of increasing her market share. There’s a reason why every single has 20 remixes and every album comes in 26 editions that each have a different tracklist (hyperbole to bring a point home). I think people underestimate the effort put into making this possible and that effort takes away from the space necessary for making (timeless) art, just like placing easter eggs and not disclosing it beforehand keeps her fans on their toes as if she was the center around which everything revolved instead of enjoying life and her music as it is. The lack of disclosure cannot be unintentional because it seems to drive up suspense for her projects that sell spectacularly well regardless critical acclaim.
The frenzy around her is only matched by K-Pop idol groups and that should say something. I’m almost scared of posting this because people have been doxxed for less. I remember when her show in Vienna was cancelled because of a suspected terror attack in 2024 and we saw on the news how they congregated in the city center around Stephansdom, filling up streets, and singing her songs while jumping. That looked terrifying, almost as terrifying as the news of a possible terror attack. A lot of this is not necessarily unique to her or her fanbase, but she is the biggest artist I can think of that does all that she does with a fanbase like hers. It makes me sad that so many people lead such empty lives that the only thing keeping them going is being some big name’s stan (portmanteau of stalker and fan) and sharing in this weird group identity. But that’s enough upwards-pissing, I’ll start answering the questionnaire now.
finally the yappathon’s over, now the questionnaire
- What is the first Taylor Swift song you can remember listening to? I’m pretty sure it was I Knew You Were Trouble that I first heard and knew it was her. Though after getting into her, I learned that Blank Space, Bad Blood, and Shake It Off were all hers. I have this thing where I may vaguely know someone exists, but don’t really register their existence as being an actually real thing until they gain some relevance in my life and then become threaded into new and old, unknown knowledge in my brain. What an oxymoron, that last one.
- What is/are your favorite Taylor Swift song(s)? It’s gotta be the lakes, tolerate it and/or marjorie. the lakes is just aesthetic while tolerate it is very relatable unfortunately. We all have that one very ungrateful person in our lives that we know don’t do us good, but we keep around out of politeness or lack of resources for an alternative. I used to hate-listen to marjorie because doing so was painful. I haven’t seen my grandma who I dearly miss in 11 years and won’t see her for a while longer, so while the song hit a nerve, I don’t really like listening to it because it resurfaces something tucked deep under the surface.
- What is/are your favorite Taylor Swift album(s)? 1989 is the only one that I find good front to back. It’s being real about what it is: a bubblegum pop album by a rich, white girl in New York. The others are very pretentious to me, even more than me.
- What is your favorite Taylor Swift song that she performed with someone else? That one’s easy: coney island.
- What lyric stays with you more than any other? It doesn’t really stay with me as I rarely listen to her or think of her these days, but one of my favorites that always strikes me as so well-written and from the heart is this part of tolerate it (or actually the whole song, but I can’t paste the entire song here, can I?):
I sit and watch you reading with your head low
I wake and watch you breathing with your eyes closed
I sit and watch you
I notice everything you do or don't do
You're so much older and wiser and I
I wait by the door like I'm just a kid
Use my best colors for your portrait
Lay the table with the fancy shit
And watch you tolerate it
If it's all in my head, tell me now
Tell me I've got it wrong somehow
I know my love should be celebrated
But you tolerate it. And also this part of the bridge: Drawing hearts in the byline
Always taking up too much space or time
You assume I'm fine, but what would you do if I
Break free and leave us in ruins
Took this dagger in me and removed it
Gain the weight of you then lose it
Believe me, I could do it
So fucking relatable, oh my god.
- What Era are you in right now? I’m in my living my life era. Jokes aside, I forgot what each album meant to be able to assign myself to an era. And it’s also so limiting! I’m me and my life stages have no names.
- Which Eras Tour mashup do you like the most? Frankly, I dropped out when Midnights dropped because I hated it, so I didn’t pay any attention to her tour.
- If you went to the Eras Tour, what night did you go? I didn’t go. Even if I had bought tickets, the show in my city got cancelled because a terror attack threat. So glad that shit got busted in time.
- What other musicians do you like and hope people check out? For people who find her songwriting good, I bet Kate Bush, Fiona Apple, Ethel Cain could easily best it. But those artists may be a bit too expressive for her predominantly suburban fanbase, so I’m not sure it foots the bill. If you’re reading this, whoever you are, and are out for good songwriting, I can’t recommend those three enough. Other than that, I recommend you venture into more experimental sounds that show all that’s possible with digital production. I’ve already mentioned Sophie, but she’s by no means the only one, even if she’s Mother. A.G. Cook, Arca, Björk, Grimes, FKA twigs, Charli xcx, COBRAH, Caroline Polachek, ROSALÍA, and so many more I can’t think of are my guiding lights these days.