The Literacy of Lyricism: For Swifties
I stand by my seat at The Eras Tour and eagerly await the arrival of one of my favorite artists as the clock on the screen counts down. The screams around me reach an unimaginable volume as we all hear “It’s been a long time coming.” I look out at the crowd and see so many faces. Almost every single one was screaming or crying, some were doing both. This singular person who was coming up on stage had created a mass fanbase of people who would cheer for her through thick and thin. In fact, Taylor Swift has created more than just a fanbase, she’s made a community. Communities can be defined simply as a group of people whose interactions create some kind of unity and commonality (Prior 26). However, the Swiftie community goes further than this by becoming a discourse community. It’s a discourse community through which people engage with each other on topics relating to Taylor. Where they have online chatrooms and in-person events to discuss and share their thoughts on Taylor and her music. Where dozens of fanfictions, parodies, blog posts, and even full-length college courses are created to spread the “word” of Blondie, a term of endearment by fans for Taylor. I make it sound like a cult, and although some people take it seriously enough to call it a religion, it’s just an accepting community that shares the goal of appreciating and sharing the music of Taylor Swift (Swales 12). Because of all these things, I find it fitting to define the Swiftie fanbase as a discourse community, according to John Swales's definition. The main mechanism through which Swifties appreciate and share Taylor’s music is through her lyrics. These lyrics enable Swifties to pursue writing and advocacy in some of the contexts that Taylor writes about. Through Taylor Swift’s lyricism, the literacy of Swifties is uplifted and encouraged in the contexts of emotional expression, feminism, and insecurity.
Writing and literacy can take many forms. It can be in the form of poetry, screenplays, non-fiction books, Tumblr blogs, or lyrics, among many others. Lyricism, especially, is one of the most popular ways that literacy can be learned and spread. Although I have heard my fair share of lyrics and songs with questionable messaging and imagery, I believe most artists value their lyrics. One such artist is Taylor Swift. About an hour into the concert, I stood by my seat eagerly anticipating the next song and saw one of her backup singers hand her a guitar. She strums casually, gives a little speech about love, and asks, “Do you have about 10 minutes to spare”. The crowd goes absolutely buck wild, all of us recognizing that she’s singing the 10-minute version of her Grammy award-winning song, All Too Well. For the many Swifties at the show and me, this song carries much meaning all because of the touching lyrics she wrote. As the bridge of the song builds, I take a deep breath and prep my vocal cords to scream out as loud as they can.
“And you call me up again just to break me like a promise. So casually cruel in the name of being honest. I’m a crumpled-up piece of paper lying here cause I remember it all too well.”
I look at my cousin next to me and she is brazenly sobbing while singing each lyric and screaming as she recalls that last time someone hurt her and made her feel the same feeling that Taylor was singing about. That’s one of the beauties of the lyricism of Taylor Swift, the relatability that allows people to feel comfortable sharing their feelings.
Blondie’s music has always been catered towards women, both young and old. So, the teenage girls within all of us that have been heartbroken a dozen times over because of our fresh, unexperienced hearts, really FEEL every word that she writes. This feeling is especially multiplied when I look online and see hundreds of blog posts, tweets, and images detailing how a stranger hundreds of miles away feels exactly the same way that I did. Knowing that someone else feels the same way I did, gives Swifties the confidence to share their stories and tell others of their ventures, both gleeful and sorrowful. In this way, the Swiftie community uplifts and encourages each other to write their feelings. The encouragement that is provided among the Swifties community and from Taylor Swift’s lyrics, empowers fans to engage in literacy that has to do with their own emotions and manner of expression. Even as someone who is studying to be a writer/editor, I still find it difficult to find the right words to express myself and my feelings. I often find it impossible to put pen to paper and write exactly how I feel in regard to what I felt at a specific moment; it’s why I have never been one for journaling. The masterful lyricism with which Taylor Swift writes is one that inspires me to find better ways of expressing myself. And this is something that is further fostered by the Swiftie community. Every cover, parody, inspired piece of poetry or art, is uplifted and celebrated by Swifties. They’ve even come together as a community and created fan chants to sing during some of Taylor’s songs and a slurry of inside jokes that only other Swifties would recognize. This scale of supportiveness and expression of the community is something that is second to none among the often-toxic fandoms that many recording artists have amassed.
Soon after the Red era of songs was over, the entire stage was emptied as just Taylor walked towards the end of the stage. At the end of the stage stood a wooden piano, decorated with painted flowers. The entire audience was abuzz with anticipation as we waited to see what song would come next. Taylor spoke, giving a relatively long speech about the love she has for her fans before introducing her special guest for the evening, Aaron Dessner, one of her co-songwriters. The crowd went wild once again, I stood in confusion but cheered and asked my cousin “Who’s that?”, “That’s one of her songwriters,” she said. I understood the cheers now, this was someone who had written some of Taylor’s most powerful and touching songs. He begins to play the piano, everyone sitting in silence trying to see what song it was. This was what was called “Surprise song time”, where Taylor would choose two songs from her discography to sing acoustically. It was different at every show so the fans never knew what surprise song was coming even if they knew the full setlist. In the midst of Aaron’s piano playing, “What did you think I'd say to that?” is sung, and as if they were commanded to do so, the crowd screams in unison and begins to sing along with Taylor. After the first verse, she almost angrily sings
“Good wives always know, she should be mad, should be scathing like me, but no one likes a mad woman. What a shame she went mad... And you'll poke that bear 'til her claws come out And you find something to wrap your noose around. And there's nothin' like a mad woman”
I feel anger well up from deep within me as I recall all the times, I have had to suppress my feelings for fear of being told I am “crazy”. This is an experience not unique only to me, but rather one that could be felt by every woman who exists in male-dominated spaces (which, let's be honest, is almost everywhere).
As a woman, I find it to be incredibly important to read, listen to, and watch material that empowers women and supports feminism. This applies to books, movies, academic texts, and music. Music is mostly the one that I surround myself with the most. Music is the media that reaches the widest audience, as it can be listened to, recognized, and appreciated beyond the barrier of language. The lyricism of songs like “Mad Woman” and some of Taylor’s other songs, allows Swifties to be empowered and embrace their femininity without fear of judgment. The song reminds me of the story The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a story about a woman who slowly goes mad as the men around her ignore her and her pleas for help. Although in this story the narrator actually does become a “mad woman” it is because of the lack of reception and mental help that her physician husband refused to give her. Both this story and Taylor’s song encompass the experiences that most women have. Experiences where men undermine the feelings of women and place them under this umbrella of being “crazy” rather than acknowledging their very real feelings and issues.
The lyrics behind “mad woman” encourage women to put their feelings into words, specifically their feelings about being a woman. Women are inspired to become feminists through songs like these. Although feminism has gotten a bad rap, it’s really just a different word for equality (Logsdon 5). In this constant struggle for equality, the sharing of female rage and despair actually uplifts women to continue the fight, rather than delving them into a depression from the lack of equal rights. The feminist lyrics behind some of Taylor’s songs, promote Swifties to engage more with feminist rhetoric and discourse. From this, the community gains a newfound courage to share and engage with feminist literacy. This form of literacy actually encourages abstract and conceptual language (Havelock 1). The metaphorical nature of her lyrics adds a visual component to her already descriptive and immersive audio. In this song, the lyrics give Swifties the image of a man pushing and pushing a woman till she reaches a point where she goes mad. The relatability of Taylor’s lyrics once again serves as the catalyst for why Swifties engage so much with her music and get inspired and empowered by it.
The crowd was still yelling, with screams getting more and more raspy as people lost their voices. The first surprise song had finished and left all the women in the crowd with a rush of adrenaline as they thought of all the times, they were told they were “mad”. These screams continued as Aaron left the stage. Screams still cheer out for Taylor as we see water being projected onto the stage. Taylor readies herself assumes a position similar to that of professional divers and literally jumps headfirst onto the stage. “What the, that was so cool!” I remember exclaiming to my cousin as we watched the interim visuals of Taylor Swift swimming inside the stage. Soon after this truly jarring moment, the final era of the tour, Midnights, was about to begin. I really wasn’t ready for it to be over, I felt what seemed to be every emotion possible throughout the last 2 and a half hours of this show. I probably screamed the loudest of everyone in my section, even with my already shredded vocal cords from the night of excess screaming. We eventually reached my favorite song from the era, Anti-Hero. It’s a song I, unfortunately, deeply relate to.
“It’s me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me. At teatime, everybody agrees. I'll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror”
My throat grew tight as I felt the emotions rush through me, it became almost painful as it combined with the soreness I already had. I knew exactly what it felt like to be insecure about the things you do and to have anxiety about what you could have done better. It’s a feeling I know isn’t unique, but one that still hits hard nonetheless.
It’s not often that I get emotional in a space with so many people around. I normally like to keep my emotions to myself. But something about the experience of seeing this person on stage singing about this feeling that I had had so many times before and that I see so many people around me sharing, had me close to tears. The song itself is upbeat and happy sounding, but the lyrics tell a story of anxiety and insecurity. As a student, I especially relate to the feelings in this song as I often question my abilities and wonder if my writing is good enough. And I know I’m not alone. In a letter to her students, Erica Dolson exclaims about how she so desperately wishes that she could allay the sentiments of stress and anxiety that her students express to her (1). Despite advice on breathing, healthy habits, and professional help, those emotions are still there. One thing that has really helped me with my anxieties and insecurities is knowing that I am not the only one who feels this way. Dolson explains that she also feels those same stresses and anxieties as her students do. Taylor Swift, this person who people have long been idolizing and claiming to be perfect, also feels that same way and she’s letting us fans know that through her lyrics. She’s insecure about her writing, her actions, and herself. Swifties feel these insecurities and anxieties too, and by opening up about these things, Taylor Swift is sponsoring the normalization of vulnerability and creating mental health literacy.
Through this normalization, the Swifties community becomes a supportive space where people can express their feelings and show their vulnerability with people who will try their best to uplift someone out of those negative thoughts. On Twitter (I know it’s X now, but that name is stupid so I still call it Twitter), I’ve seen dozens of posts from Taylor Swift update accounts who apologize for being inactive because of their mental health. Rather than attacking this person for being absent and being upset that they didn’t get their daily Taylor Swift news, the community supports that person and tells them to take their time and prioritize their own health. This isn’t really something hard to do as they're just being decent human beings, but such support among fans is uncommon in a lot of fanbases. By giving each other empathy, offering support, and encouraging open conversations about mental health, Swifties contribute to a broader understanding of emotional well-being within fanbases.
As I write this piece, still in my post-Eras Tour depression, I continue to think about all the lyrics of Taylor Swift and how they have touched the lives of so many people. Through her lyrics, Taylor Swift has sponsored the literacy of her fanbase and inspires them to be raw and creative. The Swifties community has been shaped by Taylor Swift's impactful lyrics and now serves as a vibrant discourse community that encourages emotional expression, feminism, and mental health. Through the shared experience of her lyricism, Swifties finds not only entertainment but also a source of empowerment, understanding, and connection with a broader community that extends beyond The Eras Tour. Taylor Swift's lyrical artistry, combined with the communal spirit of Swifties, has cultivated a space where literacy transcends traditional boundaries and embraces the human experience. So, just remember, when the crushing weight of the current state of the world and your own anxieties and emotions get you down, just do like Taylor Swift and “Shake It Off”.
