You might have seen the headline of this piece and groaned. Another article about Taylor Swift? Haven’t we heard enough about her? I know., I’m sorry. And I agree. But please, allow me to take a few hundred words to be hypocritical. I am tired of us talking about Taylor Swift — and yes, I would like to talk about it.
Taylor Swift’s career is one of ups and downs, from holding the record for most number one solo albums of any woman in history to her years-long conflict with Kanye West. But never has her star shone as bright as it does now. The Eras Tour, the highest grossing concert tour of all time, cemented her place as one of the most influential celebrities of our generation. Love her or hate her, the vast majority of Americans know her name. In fact, an NBC poll showed that 94% of voters recognized Swift’s name when asked about her. Her stardom has only increased since it was revealed that Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce are dating. Her attendance at Chiefs games caused a marked increase in ticket and merchandise sales. But in my opinion, the coverage and media focus on her has gone too far.
I’m a huge fan of Swift; she was my number one artist on Spotify in 2023, and I spent days trying to get tickets to the Eras Tour in Indianapolis (no luck)! But I am so fatigued by all the media coverage, that even her announcement of a brand new album elicited little excitement.
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It is mildly infuriating to me when I log onto a major news site like CNN and see pieces with headlines like, "Why Donna Kelce doesn't think she'll be in a Super Bowl suite with Taylor Swift” or “Ticket prices for this year’s Super Bowl might even make a billionaire like Taylor Swift blush." These stories sometimes have little to do with Taylor Swift, but putting her name in the headline is a sure way for media companies to lure in engagement. Often, the stories feel more like paparazzi headlines than legitimate news. Does the suite location of Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl really warrant its own article on a respected site like CNN? I don’t think so.
But it’s not just CNN. I took a look at several major news sites on the Wednesday after Super Bowl Sunday. A search for Swift’s name on the main webpage of Fox News yielded three separate pieces, along with one article each on ABC and NBC News, and two articles on USA Today.
This focus on Swift is indicative of a greater push and pull of journalism. News organizations must make money somehow, and a huge part of that is drawing a wide audience. Taylor Swift is a prominent figure that evokes strong emotions from most viewers. As such, people are likely to engage with pieces mentioning her.
However, it is pure laziness for major media companies to toss Taylor Swift’s name into the headline of every football-related story. Yes, the piece gets more hits that way, but shouldn't journalism be about a bit more than that? Shouldn’t it be about the most pressing issues of the day and disseminating valuable information to the public? Why is Taylor Swift taking up so much valuable space on the digital front page?
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The media overexposure is more than just annoying. It’s an excuse for men to reveal their internalized misogyny. Many men have become self-proclaimed Taylor haters. They are vocal about their irritation with her appearance at NFL games and complain about the number of times she is shown on the big screen. It seems to me that much of these men’s anger is due to the “invasion” of a woman, with mainly female fans, into their male-dominated domain.
But women deserve to take up space in athletic areas. Further, many people are taking the wash of media exposure as an opportunity to complain about how untalented they feel Taylor Swift is. Just because Swift’s fan base is mainly women, especially younger girls and teenagers, doesn’t mean she is not a “real” artist. That doesn’t mean her artistic merit cannot be scrutinized in any way, but many are too quick to dismiss her solely based on stereotypes surrounding her fan base.
The more that media companies pick apart every aspect of Swift’s life and scrutinize her dating life, the more these people are emboldened to air their often misogynistic-based opinions. So please, I’d love it if the media would lay off on Taylor Swift for a while. The public does not need daily updates from major news organizations about the status of the Swift-Kelce relationship. We don’t need her to win Person of the Year and every award in the book. The fans just want her music.
Samantha Camire (she/her) is a freshman majoring in journalism with a minor in Spanish.
