Last year, I wrote on the developing Taylor Swift problem. I wrote that she'd gone full leftist, and that her endorsement might be a problem, but ultimately, there wasn't really much conservatives could do to counter it. In this case, the solution was, of course, to let the problem handle itself, as pretty much all these kinds of problems do.
Taylor Swift is primarily a creation of corporations and the media. While I can't say she doesn't have some talent and that she can be a fantastic lyricist in her best moments, I wouldn't say she's in the top tier of musicians in the least. While I disagree with newer artists like Chappell Roan (who reminds me relentlessly of Kate Bush) on many different levels, I can say that she and Swift compete in the same realm and Roan is miles above her in terms of musical talent.
(READ: The Conservative Solution to the Taylor Swift Problem)
Swift is where she is because she managed to master high-profile drama and storytelling, not because she's a top-tier musician.
But because this drama is so marketable, and she always managed to put herself at the center of it, the media attached onto her. They knew that if they plastered her face on their television screens, their articles, their magazine covers, and anything else that could display her, they would rake in the cash from a rabid, worldwide fan base that needed to know what else was going on in the drama-filled world that is Taylor Swift.
Swift's star rose at its peak when she was seen kissing Kansas City Chiefs tight-end Travis Kelce, whom she had a very public relationship with.
And then, from there, a shift happened. We were oversaturated with Swift. While her fans were as rabid as ever, everyone else was just tired of it. It especially didn't help that she was politically active, alienating a huge chunk of America by insulting half the country. This put her on a clock that was inevitably going to tick down, like I wrote last year:
There is no solution to stopping Taylor Swift's cultural influence with the exception of the passage of time. Perhaps Swift will somehow implode and self-destruct, causing a massive fallout between her and her fans, but you might as well hope you stumble upon a buried treasure chest during a casual walk on Galveston Beach.
That time is now up and Swift's star is beginning to descend. She was forced on us too much, and now we're sick of her and everything else she's attached to.
There are two solid examples out there.
Firstly, the Dallas Cowboys were once the most hated league in the nation. Now, that belongs to the Chiefs, and a lot of that is thanks to the fact that the Chiefs stopped being a football team and started being a Taylor Swift show that had some football in it. The camera kept constantly cutting to her during games, making actual fans of the game annoyed.
Taylor Swift went from destroying personal relationships to national ones. #ChiefsKingdom #DallasCowboys pic.twitter.com/dPdVdCVNBe
— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) September 9, 2024
The other example can be seen in the recent article by Mike Miller released on Saturday, which reported that Taylor Swift's post-debate endorsement of Kamala Harris actually did more damage to Harris than it did to help her.
Time did indeed harm Swift, but if we're really looking for a culprit, it was the media that ultimately harmed Swift through over-exposure and placing so much importance on her every move. Swift is hardly someone to look up to, at least on a personal level. She doesn't really do a lot to contribute to the growth of the human race. She's just a product.
And when your entire existence is a media creation, eventually you're going to lose your luster. People will get sick of you as the real you starts to come forward.
Now, I wonder who else that reminds me of.