Already and this is this is the Daily Off. This is the Daily ohs oh, now it makes sense. Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Tuesday, the twenty fourth of December. Happy Christmas Eve. I'm Billy and we are back for another episode of tda's summer series. We're here to keep your company over the summer break with the best of tda's deep dives from the year that was. Today, we're talking about Taylor Swift's rise and
Rise and Rise. Earlier this month, as I'm sure you'll know, she finished her Ears tour, which lasted twenty one months. It was the highest grossing tour in history, with more than two billion dollars sold just in tickets alone, So that's not even including the merch that was sold, and it's double the gross ticket sales of any other concert tour in history. So we have just one question, how
exactly did Taylor Swift become so popular? Earlier this year I spoke to Kate Patterson, who is a fan studies PhD candidate at r MIT in Melbourne, about just that. Here is that chat. Kate Patterson, thank you so much for joining the Daily OZ.
Thank you so much for having me.
I want to start by acknowledging that there are people who would have seen today's pod title and rolled their eyes because they're tired of seeing Taylor Swift's name literally everywhere at the moment. So why should people who aren't fans care about Taylor Swift and the impact that she has.
I mean, I think if.
You're somebody who's interested in culture and the things that people are talking about, you really can't ignore Taylor Swift. I think we're at a point where, even if you might not like the music, you really can't deny that she's really just infiltrated all different parts of culture, whether it's the impact she's going to have on the economy with the Ears Tour, whether it's winning the fourth album of the Grammy, which obviously, as we know, was record
breaking last week. I really just think it would be remiss of us to not talk about Taylor.
Swift right now.
Certainly in my lifetime, I can't remember hype anywhere near this surrounding an artist coming to Australia. Has this kind of obsession ever happened before?
It's interesting.
I feel like this week a lot of people have been comparing her to Beatlemania back in you know, the sixties when the Beatles came here. But I think it's really hard to compare different artists from different sort of eras, just given that right now, with social media and the Internet,
it's such a different time to back then. I mean, I think fan communities are definitely not a new phenomenon, but I think what's unique with Taylor right now is we do have so much choice at the moment with what we listen to, what we watch, what we want to sort of talk about. And I think for an artist to have had that kind of widespread appeal and
hype that Taylor has right now is pretty significant. I mean, Beyonce, i'd say, has had a similar kind of a legacy that she's building in terms of what she's doing and the hype around what you know, she just announced her new music.
This week as well. But yeah, I think that's what kind of makes Taylor unique.
And I think also as somebody who's studying fan studies, I think her fandom is so engaged and they are so you know, loyal to her and involved in so many different ways. And I think that's another aspect of why we've seen this kind of hype that we perhaps haven't seen in a little while when it comes to an artist coming to Australia.
I was going to say, I feel like, growing up, I always heard about Beatlemania and it feels like Taylor Swift coming is our generation's equivalent of that, or is she even bigger than that? I don't know. It's so hard to understand what it was like back then compared to what it's like now.
Yeah, I think that's the thing.
I think it's hard to compare one for the other, and there are definitely some similarities and definitely some differences. I think with Taylor to being a female artist coming here as well, that's been really interesting. She often sort of gets compared to these other sort of legacy acts and people aren't sure whether we should be talking about her in the same category as the Beatles, for example, and I think that's due to some kind of broader gendered things we have with the music industry.
I really want to understand why Taylor Swift is so unique, because it feels like there are pop stars, then there are superstars, and then it feels like there's Taylor Swift who is just completely in her own field. And I want to understand what is it about Taylor Swift and what she has done that has meant that she has managed to break through in the way that she has.
I mean, it's an interesting question. I think that's what everybody's trying to figure out right now. I think the start is she has released a lot of music. I mean, since the last time she was in Australia, we had Lover, We've had Folklore Evermore, Midnights, We've.
Had all the re recordings.
Like, there's just such a volume of work for people to engage with across different genres too. I know a lot of people who maybe aren't big country music fans or aren't big pop music fans, really came on board with Folklore and Evermore and sort of realize all of a sudden that perhaps they, you know, we're a Taylor Swift fan, or that they liked some of the music that she had And so I think from that point of view, she's managed to accumulate a sort of broader fan base than she had originally.
And I think also she has been doing a.
Lot of things outside of music that have had an impact. As I mentioned the re recording, a lot of people have been interested in that sort of story of her going back and re recording these albums, and while she's not the first artist to do it, I think the way that she's done it, and the way that the fans have gotten behind her as well, and the way that I guess she's advocating for other musicians in the industry and trying to make things better with the power
that she has. I think in the documentary Miss Americana, somebody says, you know, Taylor Swift is the music industry, and it's really hard to talk about any kind of aspect of the music industry right now that hasn't had, you know, some conversation about Taylor Swift.
I also really want to understand what the role of social media is in her success and how has she used that differently to other people, because all artists have social media, But what is it about how she has used it that has meant she has been able to cultivate this fan base.
I think with.
Taylor, right from the beginning, she's always made a point of engaging with the fans and keeping them in the loop and really making them a part of her success in a way that has meant that a they've come along for the journey with her. But now that she's at this point where she's so huge, she doesn't really need the media in the same way that a lot of other artists do, just given how famous and popular
she is right now. And so she's got that kind of direct relationship with her fans where often she'll announce things to them for the first time, whether it's on Instagram,
you know, TikTok, whatever it might be. And I think having that ability to sort of shape the messaging and engage directly with the people that are engaging with her music, I think has been really important, and for things like when she was having that is she with Scooter Born and the Masters, is being able to just literally directly say to the fans like, this is what's happening, this is where I kind of need your support. And I think she's always been very good at mobilizing her fans
that way. And so while other artists definitely use social media, I think for some people it's used as more of kind of like a broadcast channel where they just sort of update people. Think about somebody like Harry Styles, who you know, has a great relationship with his fans, but
he doesn't really engage online. He kind of just posts updates of what he's doing, and so I think it takes a long time to cultivate that, and I think for Taylor, she's done that right from the beginning, and that's why it's working so well for her.
Now, Yeah, you're saying that makes me think about how I follow Taylor Swift on Instagram, and it feels like she's talking directly at me somehow, even though she's speaking to hundreds of billions, if not billions, But it genuinely feels like the communication style makes her feel like a close friend almost, whereas everyone else I follow on social media, I don't really feel that close or direct communication for me.
I think that's what Taylor Swift's strength is, whether it's through her music and through her songwriting or through the way that she engages with fans online and offline. For me, Taylor Swift is just so good at connecting with people. She's able to relate to people. You know, you listen to a Tailor'swift song and there's always somebody who's like, oh my god, I feel like this was written about me. Or as you said, I think in the way that she does talk to her fans. She talks to them
like friends. She doesn't talk to them as I'm this big celebrity.
Yeah. I think that's what's so interesting is that she feels relatable even though she could not be less relatable. I want to move to fan culture more broadly. It feels like it is predominantly led by young women and girls. Why is that.
I think a lot of Taylor Swift fans and other pop music fans are seen or perceived to be, you know, predominantly female, and while there.
Is obviously diversity.
There within any fan community, I think those overarching perceptions have over the years often sometimes had a negative impact because they're seen as hysterical or delusional, or their fandom is like really trivial, because that's just kind of the way that we treat women's interests unfortunately in society, is that, you know, we just kind of dismissed them compared to
other things. And I think that's definitely shifted over the last couple of years with Barbie and with Taylor's Swift, and I guess with young women sort of coming into their own around really celebrating the things that they like
and celebrating the things that they're interested in. But I always find it interesting, obviously when we compare to something like sports fandom, where we don't have those same kind of conversations over their fandom being too much or their expressions of passion being seen as you know, overly emotional, for example, in the same way.
That we might do for pop fans.
And so yeah, with my research, I'm really interested in looking at the ways that fans participate in these communities, and particularly for young women, how being part of a fan community can be quite beneficial in terms of that connection, in terms of building a sense of self and also even sort of learning particular skills that then they can go on to use in you know, the creative industries or other sort of male dominie industries down the track.
That comparison between you know, young men or men who are obsessed with sport for example, and how we treat that compared to how we treat the fans artists like Tailor Swift is super interesting. I don't think I've ever fully thought about that.
Yeah, and I think definitely it's sort of changing, but I think it's important, you know, particularly as Taylor Swift gets to Australia, I have seen already. A lot of people say, oh, it's already too much. I'm sick of seeing all these fans. I'm sick of seeing you know,
all of this behavior. And I think, you know, unless you're doing the same thing for people at the football or at the super Bowl or anything like that, I think it's just important to just think about the ways that perhaps we have a double standard when it comes to the ways that people are passionate about things.
Just lastly, I've been hearing a lot about how it feels like Tailorswift is at the peak of her career and how long can this kind of success go on for? Do you think that this level of fame can be sustained for long periods of time?
I mean, I think in terms of Australia, obviously, the fact that she's coming here this month means that there's a real heightened interest in her that I think will drop off once she's left from the broader society, obviously, not for the fans. It's interesting because I think when we think back to nineteen eighty nine, and you know that sort of twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen time, a lot of people thought that was the peak of Taylor Swift's fame.
You know, she really was everywhere as well. She'd just won the Grammy again, and you know, she was just infiltrating the culture in so many ways, and she's really eclipsed that over the last year, which I think is really interesting. So I think we could never say is this the peak, But I think she just has reached a level that I think will definitely be hard to top, both for her and for other people over the next few years.
But she's still producing so much music.
She's still wanting to be a creative person and keeping producing things. So who knows where the next few years will take her and if this is something we'll see more of over the next few years.
Okay, thank you so much for joining us on the daily ons.
Thanks so much for having me.
That's it for today. Thank you so much for listening to tda's summer series. If you're on break, we hope that you are having a relaxing time, and if you're still at work, we also hope that you are having a great day. We'll be back again tomorrow with another episode from our summer series. Until then, have a great day. My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda
Bunjelung Calcuttin woman from Gadighl country. The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and torrest Rate island and nations. We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both past and present.