Emma Smith – Core Post #5

 In Myles McNutt’s article about Taylor Swift’s transition from country to pop and the questions that have arisen concerning her authorship, he examines the Voice Memos from her 1989 album as a self-produced paratext that combats these criticism but also has an post-feminism neoliberalistic interpretation that Swift utilizes to navigate music industry under a very mediated and arguably passive/reserved manner, crafting her very approachable and non-polarizing star image.  

I am a big Taylor Swift fan (I went to 2 Eras Tour dates) but I will say that she is not above the criticism that receives, whether it be about her lyricism or her “activism.” Swift as a woman in the music industry is correct in that there is a double standard between male artists and female artists in both the perception of their attitudes and their music as she describes in her CBS Sunday Morning interview.  However, another aspect of her identity, her whiteness, is ignored when her success is analyzed and explored.  I believe it to be deserving of criticism in that she promotes a white feminism to wrongly deflect from all criticism she encounters.  White feminism is a form of feminism defined by bell hooks that primarily focuses on the issues and concerns of white women, often neglecting the experiences of women of color and those from other marginalized groups. White feminism fails to recognize the interconnectedness of various social identities and privileges of white, middle and upper-class women.

In a similar vein, Taylor Swift is beyond rich, and she caters to an audience that contributes to her profit by her merchandise and continuous release of albums and re-recordings––since McNutt’s article was published Swift has released Lover, folklore, evermore, Fearless TV, Red TV, Midnights, Speak Now TV, 1989 TV, and is gearing up for the release of her 11th album The Tortured Poets Department, each with their own line of album specific merch and marketing schemes.  It feels like a similar situation to Michael Jordan declining to take a stance politically because “republicans buy Jordans too” –– part of Taylor’s audience are probably individuals who hold more right-leaning views. If she were to speak out about Trump or post something in support of a more left-leaning political topic, it would dox her income from her fans that oppose those ideologies.

Ultimately Taylor Swift is an incredibly rich white woman who has used the neoliberal values of post-feminism to her advantage in her releasing of music and thus her interactions with the public–crafting a selective star image.  She shows little interest in exploring the intersectional side to her feminism, like acknowledging her white privilege or uplifting artists of color, because she has decided to only operate within her privilege, only really commenting on the issues that have affected her.