Taylor Swift won the Grammy Award for best album of the year on Sunday evening for the fourth time in her career. A record in the history of the ceremony. At 34, she surpasses American music legends like Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon. The singer further establishes her status as a pop icon. His influence is such that it goes well beyond the musical sphere.
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In recent years, Taylor Swift has become a political idol, followed by ever more numerous and loyal “Swifties”. In the United States, people go so far as to think that it would be capable of swinging the elections.
Taylor Swift’s September appeal on social media to encourage her compatriots to register to vote caused a spike in traffic on the Vote.org site in the hour that followed, according to NPR . Some believe that his political opinions would have the power to change the course of the American presidential election on November 5, like the governor of California, Gavin Newsom.
That may well be the case, according to a Newsweek magazine poll. We learn that 18% of American voters say they are “more likely” or “significantly more likely” to vote for a candidate to whom Taylor Swift would have given her support. Unsurprisingly, young people would be particularly inclined to follow the singer’s voting instructions.
But she still has to give some. For a long time, Taylor Swift avoided making any political comments. His silence was criticized during the 2016 American presidential election which pitted Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump. On election day, the American singer simply posted a photo on Instagram, in which she was seen waiting for her turn in the line of voters. “Today is the big day. Get out and go VOTE,” she wrote in the caption.
- Listen to Alexandre Dubé’s discussion with journalist Annabelle Blais via QUB :
Biden’s hope
The “Blank Space” singer, however, came out of her neutrality during the 2018 US mid-term elections. She then declared on Instagram that she intended to vote for Democratic candidates in Tennessee, the state in which she grew up. Two years later, the singer announced her official support for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. “Under their leadership, I am convinced that America has a chance to begin the healing process that it so badly needs,” she explained in the columns of V magazine.
In itself, this position was nothing extraordinary. Other very influential American personalities then publicly supported Joe Biden. But it marks a turning point in the career of an artist who has long maintained a certain distance from the political sphere in order not to lose part of her audience.
From now on, the one nicknamed “Taytay” no longer seems afraid of expressing certain political affinities, especially when it comes to defending sexual and racial minorities and protecting the right to abortion. Joe Biden’s entourage hopes that the singer will be sensitive to the fact that the current occupant of the White House has placed sexual and reproductive rights at the heart of his re-election campaign. And, who knows, she officially supports him.
Because the obvious influence that Taylor Swift exercises on her young compatriots could push them to get more involved in the November elections. The Democratic camp dreams of it, as this segment of the population can swing the vote in favor of one or the other candidate. As a reminder, only 48% of 18-29 year olds went to the polls in 2020. It therefore seems essential to mobilize them a few months before the election. To do this, the Biden clan would toy with the idea that the president could make an appearance on stage during a stage of Taylor Swift’s major world tour, the Eras Tour, according to the New York Times.
Between criticism and political recovery
If the singer’s notoriety is coveted, she is also strongly criticized. Presenters from the conservative Fox News channel like Jeanine Pirro and Charly Arnolt warn him, on the air, not to get involved in politics, while others question his real motivations. Presenter Jesse Watters even wondered if Taylor Swift was not “a Pentagon psychological operation”, as American conspiracy theorists claim.
Her relationship with Travis Kelce, the star player of the Kansas City Chiefs American football team, is also the subject of much speculation in the press and on the Internet. Vivek Ramaswamy, former Republican primary candidate, speculated on “I wonder who’s going to win the Super Bowl next month. And I wonder if we’re approaching a major presidential endorsement this fall from an artificially and culturally inflated couple. This is wild speculation. Let’s see how this evolves in the next eight months,” he wrote on the social network.
While it is undeniable that Taylor Swift is more powerful than ever in the United States, she is just as powerful outside the borders of her native country. In Mexico, some politicians pride themselves on being “Swifties” to give themselves a more youthful and accessible image. Arturo Zaldívar, former president of the Supreme Court of Mexico, regularly posts content related to the American superstar on his TikTok account. He even shared a video in which he is seen at one of her concerts, wiggling and exchanging friendship bracelets with fans of the singer. His pro-Taylor publications earned him the nickname “Minister Swiftie” in the Mexican press. But it remains to be seen whether they will breathe new life into his career.
