Taylor Swift and Mythology
About the Project
“I was imagining a lot of stories around the songs, like giving them different interpretations,” says Lily, a Taylor Swift fan. She’s telling me about how she enjoys to write stories inspired by Taylor Swift’s songs, spinning new interpretations and new ideas from the initial inspiration point. “She writes about love,” she tells me later, “and love is universal.”
This is just one example of what it means to talk about the mythology of Taylor Swift. It’s not just about the songs as they stand on their own, but also the plethora of interpretations and meanings fans have attached to it. It’s about how Lily thinks about an ex-friend who turned her back on her when she listens to “the Black Dog”. It’s about how Briana thinks of her alcoholic father when she listens to “You’re Not Sorry”. Or how she thinks about her own polyamory relationship when she listens to “Lavender Haze”. And yet, all this is tied to the idea of Taylor Swift herself as a person, as a symbol, and as a celebrity. Fans talk about her as generous, intelligent, and authentic. And yet, as Lily describes to me, there is a difference between Taylor Swift and Taylor Allison Swift – the idol and the person – kept separate but also so intricately everlastingly enmeshed.
The research in this book uses social and cultural anthropology. The information comes from over 120 survey responses (and counting), and many one-to-one interviews where further information and details are elicited from participants who self-describe as people who are fans of Taylor Swift and/or her music. Therefore, this book is far more about the fans, and their stories, than about Taylor Swift herself. Though, these fans have built their own stories and ideas about her as a person, as a symbol, and as a mythic figure.
Essentially, the mythology this book studies is the complicated web of narratives which includes stories she writes, interpretations of these stories by both those who like her music and those who hate her, and the story of her as simultaneously a person and a symbol. The mythology is not just in the songs, but in the way these songs live for those who hear them, and the way others have come to understand Taylor Swift as an important and all-encompassing figure. It’s hard to talk about Taylor Swift’s stories without talking about her – not as a person, but as a story, or a myth.
How to Get Involved
Typically for my research, I do face-to-face interviews where I get detailed lengthy conversations and thoughts from my participants.
My primary mode of study for the Taylor Swift project will be a little different. I want to get as many stories as humanly possible, and so I’ve put together a survey. If you’re someone who loves Taylor Swift’s music - whether you consider yourself a Swiftie or not - then I would love for you to complete the survey.
There’s a question at the end of the survey for those who may be interested in partaking in a more lengthy sit down for the research. Not everyone will be contacted, if any at all.
The button below will take you to the survey, where there is also more information and data protection information before you start.
Blog Posts and Reflections
As much as we’re going to be talking about ghosts today, we’re going to be talking about Taylor Swift’s ghosts specifically. Monsters are context specific, so let’s look at the context. For Swift, her ghosts are representations of alterations in time. They represent the lingering presence of something that is already dead still clinging to life in the corners of the mind. Ghosts here are demonstrations of the way things can be present and not present simultaneously, alive and dead simultaneously. It’s the crossing of boundaries and categories which typically cannot be at the same time.
So, let’s talk about it.