Gabe Martinez ’24
Taylor Swift is one of the most popular artists in recent years, with tickets to her Eras Tour concert selling for 500-7000 dollars, and her newest single “Cruel Summer” reaching number three on the Billboard 100. But these past few months, our nation has been gripped by a ravaging disease. Swiftie-Fever. I spoke with a few students to try to understand the disease. One student who I spoke to is an ardent fan of Swift, and likes her because of her lyrics. “…I appreciate good lyricism, and she has been critically acclaimed for her lyricism alone…”
Turning our attention nationally, this Swiftie-Fever seems to have begun when the Eras tour started March 15th of last year. Tens of thousands of fans poured into the venues, with demand for tickets in the US being so high that the website Ticketmaster crashed multiple times due to the traffic. On Tiktok, hundreds of videos of Swifties popped up, sobbing in front of their computers after waiting for hours in a virtual queue only for the site they were waiting on to crash. And once the Eras Tour was released in theaters, under the title “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour: Extended Version” fans flocked to the theaters.
Now that’s to be expected, but what everyone didn’t expect was what happened when the movie started.
It seemed that once the movie began, some moviegoers treated the theater like an actual concert venue, jumping out of their seats, dancing and singing along to Shake It Off. It’s important to note, Taylor Swift herself actually encouraged this behavior, with her posting to Twitter, “Eras attire, friendship bracelets, singing and dancing encouraged…” Theater owners however, are not as supportive. AMC released a statement regarding the Eras shows, stating that while dancing and bringing Eras attire was encouraged, Swifties could not, “…dance on our seats or block other guests from viewing, safely walking or exiting the auditorium.”
Online as well, Swifties have been polluting the online ecosystem with all sorts of swiftisms, and even being extremely toxic towards anyone who posts criticisms about their benevolent and infallible god. Popular youtube Meatcanyon posted an animation a couple months ago which poked fun at Taylor Swift being at the Superbowl, which garnered 7.5 million views. And only a day after he uploaded the video, he started getting hundreds of angry tweets and messages from Swifties across multiple platforms. Most of the tweets weren’t even criticisms of the video, simply insults at his appearance and him for daring to criticize their God. One that was especially mean-spirited reads like so, “…worry about being an ungroomed fat piece of lard with dried up burger grease in that forest of a beard of yours while looking like […] one burger and a diet coke away from a heart attack.” Other fans weren’t as mean-spirited, simply stating “Tayvoodo always gets them.”
Now for those unaware (as I sadly am) Tayvoodo is a belief among fervent fans of Taylor Swift that if someone were to have wronged Taylor Swift, that they will receive swift and karmic justice in one way or another. “Tayvoodo” can be aided using “hexes” by sending spooky gifs and creepy messages.
To end off this article, I’d like to say one thing, I don’t hate Taylor Swift. I’m sure she’s a wonderful person and her songs aren’t too bad. She’s a popular artist for a reason and she sells out all over the world because people resonate with her songs. But the issue with her is that the people who she attracts to her fanbase are people who practically worship her and will do anything to show that worship. They attack anyone who dares to criticize Taylor Swift, straight up bullying someone who makes a funny video about her popularity. The Swiftie Fever is infecting the nation, and maybe the only antidote is patient zero giving her audience a dose of chill.
Photograph via the Harvard Gazette