Who the heck is Taylor Swift?
Just the biggest thing in music. The biggest celebrity. The person with the most fans. The person who breaks records in music downloads and ticket sales.
The person who caused Congressional hearings on how Ticketmaster failed to plan for the deluge of sales. The person who caused Apple Music to start paying royalties for downloads. The person who caused Spotify to change its policies.
The person who endorsed Biden and Harris in 2020. The person who urged people to register to vote and 66,000 people did the next day. The person who supports abortion rights and LGBTQ rights and is upfront about it.
The person whose boyfriends become celebrities when she dates them, and then bigger celebrities when they break up and she sings about them. Taylor Swift writes songs about heartbreak and disappointment.
She started as a country singer, with a debut album recorded when she was 15.
She evolved into pop. She still sings about heartbreak and disappointment.
I realized my priorities and interests are unusual. Too much politics; not enough popular culture. Heck, I knew who Doug Burgum* is -- what he looks like, what he says -- but I wouldn't have recognized a photo of Taylor Swift until this morning, when I looked her up.
Here is a link to a song from her first album, about a boy with a pickup truck, and recent hit song, Anti-Hero, where she sings that her "depression works the graveyard shift" and "It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me."
* Doug Burgum is the governor of North Dakota and a Republican candidate for president.
Great column! You obviously don’t have a grand daughter. Mine is 15 and she has been in her life forever! She can sing every single song. Jeff Lowenfels
I hope Ms Swift continues to support progressive causes and gets even more younger people to vote.