The Taylor Swift phenomenon is causing an earthquake

By Marianina Patsa

Taylor Swift is probably the biggest celebrity on the planet right now. Her fans (swifties, as they are called) watch her every move with an eagle eye, paying exorbitant amounts for a ticket even if it means working double shifts and eating spaghetti for a month (in Las Vegas some even paid $95,000! ), while anything she touches goes viral. Swift is now a driving force in the American economy, as in every city she appears, hotels, restaurants and transportation increase their receipts from the crowds that arrive for her concerts to a degree so outrageous that the phenomenon has now acquired the name ” Swiftonomics”. Airlines add extra flights to the places she plays and tour, shops sell out cocktails named after her songs and donuts with her face on them, while from California to Texas and from Massachusetts to Arizona, the artistic and commercial  hurricane named “Taylor Swift” is now taught as a subject in universities, either as a subject of social psychology, or literature, or in the light of entrepreneurship. Even Harvard offers its students a course that explores her life and career, as well as the culture of her fans, who are among the most devoted fans in the world, while researchers at the University of Melbourne organized a three-day “Swiftposium” international academic conference dedicated to its cultural influence.

Her fans, the majority of whom are women and young girls, cram huge stadiums and experience group frenzy as they scream her songs so loudly that she herself is often inaudible. The fans who dance at her shows make the earth shake. In fact, in Chicago, it is estimated that the vibrations on the floor were so strong that they corresponded to a 2.3 magnitude earthquake! Her lyrics mostly blast her lovers. And every wounded heart that identifies, finds a fertile ground, if not to heal, at least to vent.

This year Swift entered the Forbes World’s Billionaires List with $1.1 billion. This development is not accidental. Her mother, who worked in marketing, named her Taylor so that in the future no one would know from her resume whether it was a woman or a man. Born in 1989 and raised on a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania, the little girl began experimenting with music at a very young age. Already at the age of 11, she was giving record label demos with karaoke songs by Dolly Parton and the Dixie Chicks, while at the age of 14, the whole family moved to Nashville to help her break into the country music scene. She signed her first record deal in 2004 but found success in 2009 with the release of “Love Story”, from the album “Fearless”. From there began a career that would change the music scene forever.

To date, Swift has sold 114 million albums worldwide, is the woman with the most weeks at #1 on Billboard and has 14 Grammys. After 17 years of discography, she could easily enjoy her fortune, but that is probably not her wish. “For as long as I can remember I was only happy when I was praised. The acceptance filled me up so much that what I ended up being what everyone wanted me to be,” she explains in the autobiographical documentary “Miss Americana,” adding how two-edged it can become: “If you live for recognition from others, a simple disappointment can destroy your whole edifice.”, she continues and each of her albums is more and more successful than the previous one.

Taylor announced the release of her 11th album “The TorturedPoets Department” during her “Best Pop Vocal Album” award at the 66th Grammy Awards. Earthquakes are expected.

Photo: Mert & Marcus / Courtesy of Big Machine Records