This isn’t the first time I’ve worked on a survey, but is the first time in many years. Surveys are always a little more complicated than people think. You need to be direct, but not so direct that it’s leading. You have to ask a lot, but not demand too much of their time. You need to get numbers, but also specificity when you need. Saying, for example, twenty percent of people think this, that’s great - but why?

Essentially, Taylor Swift’s music exists as a form of contemporary folklore, and as such is not limited to Swifties alone. Her story, the stories she creates, and the stories spun from the original stories, all exist in a complicated weave of individual and communal storytelling which thrives on its context and its life outside of this context simultaneously.

Taylor Swift, therefore, is a Corn Wolf. She is human, and idol, and symbol all at once. She is the music and the performer. She is the writer and the topic, and even the theme. All of these are possible, and it is because all of these are possible that she is the figure she is.