Talking About Taylor Swift is Fine, Actually.

Kat Rutschilling ‘25

It’s me, hi. If you’re the kind of person who hates Taylor Swift so much that you also dislike her fans or the discussion that surrounds her, I am likely not your favorite person. I am Kat, the founder and co-president of Taylor Swift Society of SLC. I know that everybody is tired of hearing about Miss Swift, but I think there is an inherent problem with vocalizing this annoyance. You know when someone’s trying to get a dog to stop barking by yelling at it? Now there’s double the noise and nobody’s stopping, which is a lot like what people are achieving when they tell Swifties to keep quiet.

Taylor is not without flaws, and I’m the first to admit it. I try to distance myself from the blind fanaticism that leads to stalking, harassment, and making an idiot of yourself on the internet. I cringe along with everyone else when Swifties act the way they historically do: en masse, quickly, violently, and often with prejudice. There is plenty to say to critique Taylor’s silence on these things, but there it’s also worth considering what happens when she does speak up: Swift’s plea to her fans during the Eras Tour to leave an unnamed ex-boyfriend alone during the release of Speak Now did not spare John Mayer from the onslaught, if anything it just started the witch hunt a few weeks early. 

The entity that is “Swifties” is a large, uncontrollable mass that is so fiercely loyal to the person it worships that sometimes it forgets who she even is. Fans have picked up a habit of overanalyzing and diagnosing situations that are not for us to fully understand, especially since Taylor has become more tightlipped over the years, for example: “Joe Alwyn was keeping her locked away, but Travis lets her be herself!”. And maybe it’s a bit of her own fault, having based her promotional strategies around “easter eggs” –the clues she scatters throughout her work and social media and even outfits in order to hint towards what’s coming next. So when part of your loyal fanbase is built on the power and shared joy of speculation, you end up with a lot of…conversation. 

Maybe I am a biased source, but I am here to tell you that it is okay to indulge in that conversation. As I have established, there is a line where appreciation turns to obsession, and community becomes cultish, but there is nothing more sinister about being a Taylor Swift fan than any other hobby there is in life. If the issue is rooted in a belief that people should be having more enlightened conversations about things that matter more, maybe consider that it is also okay to engage with things that are silly. I can confidently say that no member of Taylor Swift Society of SLC thinks of it as their most important activity on campus. People who post about Taylor Swift on social media are also going on to have nuanced, educated conversations in their day to day life, and these facts don’t have to negate each other. 

Taylor Swift has become the figurehead of the annoying white girl, and what can I say? I check all the boxes. It’s worth analyzing, however, what about Taylor Swift makes people so reactive. People think she does not deserve her success, that she is annoying, that she is irresponsible with her platform and keeps all the wrong company. These are all things that anyone is entitled to believe about her and are in many cases true, but it is also true of most people in the industry. So why Taylor? A bit of misogyny is probably to blame, along with the fact that she is incredibly corny. She dances at awards shows, she shows up to all her boyfriend’s football games very early in the relationship, she wrote the line “draw the cat eye sharp enough to kill a man” in the year 2022. Not everyone can stand that sickly-sweetness, or the 2012 Tumblr-ness that she is made up of. Coupled with the inescapable Swiftie News Cycle, it’s understandable that people might feel frustrated having to constantly fight off those piercing blue eyes and blonde bangs. 

But what I ask you is this: Do you feel a fury in your veins when people talk about football? When someone mentions the television show they’re watching, do you wish they would stop? How do you feel about food blogs? If you’re a person who doesn’t want to know about Taylor Swift, or engage with Taylor Swift, why are you letting her get to you any more than you would a pumpkin risotto recipe you find uninteresting? Is this instinct something that always happens when you’re annoyed by something, or only when that something is singing “Shake it Off?”

Basically, nobody can control how many people in the world want to talk about Taylor Swift, including the lady herself. As a committed fan, my appreciation for her music has manifested itself in this little club and in the discussions and events I hold within it. I am allowed to like things, just as you are allowed to dislike the things I enjoy. I just don’t see the point of flooding the airways with complaints about the harmless things that we don’t like. But if you want to change my mind, please stop by the next Taylor Swift Society event; all are welcome!