Swift’s popularity is so deep and widespread that Harvard English professor Stephanie Burt has announced a new course, ‘Taylor Swift and Her World’, for the spring semester. The course would cover the 34-year-old musical phenomenon’s journey from her precursors, such as Dolly Parton and the Border Ballads, to works about her, such as the 2020 Netflix documentary, Miss Americana, named after her 2019 song Miss Americana & the Heartbreak Prince.
What’s ‘Taylor Swift’s World’ then? Her incredible fairytale journey towards becoming the world’s most popular singer, the most streamed artist on Spotify, yielding the most successful concert film in history – The Eras Tour — having an NFL celebrity boyfriend, and more, may have contributed to this complex combination. She is a singular amalgam of the achievements of numerous greats, as Time has described: a pop star like Elvis, Michael Jackson, or Madonna; a composer like Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, or Joni Mitchell; and a businesswoman who has amassed an estimated empire worth over $1 billion.
The Eras Tour was designed to describe her musical ‘eras’, covering an illustrious 17-year career. It’s now set to surpass all previous tours in history. Moreover, it’s Swift’s finest era yet. Through her ‘kaals’, Swift has evolved into a musical sensation and an economic barometer. Nearly $5 billion in consumer spending is anticipated from the Eras Tour in the US. According to one analyst, if Swift were an economy, she’d be bigger than 50 countries.
Typically, an estimated $300 in ancillary local spending is generated for every $100 spent on live performances. However, Swifties, as her admirers are tagged as, are estimated to spend $1,300-1,500 for the tour, generating hundreds of millions of dollars to boost local economies. Consider an interesting example. Swift referred to ‘friendship bracelets’ in her song, ‘You’re on Your Own, Kid’ from her 2022 album, Midnights. Fans now wear and exchange beaded bracelets at her concerts, generating revenue for local businesses and creating a scarcity of beads and sequins.
The extraordinary economic impact of the Taylor effect was also observed and acknowledged by the US Federal Reserve. Following the pandemic, due to pent-up demand and increased savings, people began to spend more on live entertainment, a phenomenon known as ‘funflation’. Swift, Beyonce, and Barbenheimer (the movies Barbie+Oppenheimer) could be the beginning of a long-lasting trend. Swift benefited from this post-pandemic trend. But she’s undoubtedly one of the principal architects behind funflation. She has even accomplished the seemingly unachievable feat of transcending America’s political divide by shining like a lighthouse. Swift sparks a mini-boom in local economies due to increased business for travel, purchases, hotels, and restaurants, courtesy the Swifties. Numerous foreign politicians pleaded with Swift to perform in their countries. Streets, stadiums, and cities were renamed for her. Minneapolis got temporarily renamed ‘Swiftie-apolis’, and the state sandwich of New Jersey was named after her. Besides major cricketing events, is there anything or anyone in India closely resembling the Taylor Swift effect?
A public sensation is created when a renowned artist-entertainer dates a professional athlete. Everywhere. But if Swift is involved, it’s bound to reach a new level. Swift dating American football player Travis Kelce of the two-time Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs even helped to increase the popularity of one of the most popular sports in the US: American football.
Beatlemania was an earthly endeavour. Jackson might very well have been a moonwalker. Swift, however, may be an alien on Planet Earth. She is creating music, singing, igniting economies, and transcending boundaries that any other artist wouldn’t even dare to dream of. Maybe she is the final vestige of monoculture in stratified American society. And yet, Swift would persistently ask, ‘Are you not entertained?’ as Russell Crowe as Maximus did in Gladiator. That’s the enduring legacy of Taylor Swift and Her World.
