Photo: Taylor Swift via @taylorswift on Instagram
It was 4:50 a.m. when I found out that Taylor Swift was endorsing Kamala Harris, and like most people, I saw her post on Instagram.
“I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice,” the singer-songwriter wrote in the caption of a photo of her holding her cat. “I’m voting for Kamala Harris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion.”
Everything was moving so quickly, but all I could think about was how surprised I was. Though, in hindsight, maybe I shouldn’t have been?
Taylor Swift has a complicated political history. After being subject to criticism for not speaking up during the 2016 election, being suspected of being a neo-Nazi and spreading alt-right dog whistles, she broke out of her apolitical stance and began speaking out the following year, eventually releasing the “Miss Americana” (2020) documentary where she elaborates on this decision and becoming a headliner for the rights of women, people of color, the LGBTQ+ community and more. She spoke of her political views in songs on her seventh album, “Lover,” with songs such as “You Need To Calm Down,” “Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince” and her post-album song, “Only the Young.”
Post-“Lover”, she spoke out against Trump and the murder of George Floyd, endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 election, spoke out in support of Roe v. Wade, continued to encourage people to vote, and attended a fundraiser for Palestine by Egyptian-American Ramy Youseff – but fans noted how increasingly silent she became regarding politics the more her fame grew.
After her embrace of one of Trump’s biggest supporters, Brittney Mahomes, at the US Open, many people, including myself, became skeptical of what she actually believed in, coinciding with the issue of Trump using her likeness to share AI images claiming that she endorsed his campaign. Taylor Swift and her spokesperson Tree Paine are incredibly protective of her likeness, so the fact that she wasn’t speaking out was concerning, at the very least.
“The fact that she didn’t contradict Trump when he claimed she endorsed him, and didn’t sue him for using her AI image, which would’ve set a legal precedent for all other artists, and her literal public embrace of Brittney Mahomes is so disappointing,” said New York comedian Orli Matlow in an Instagram reel.
With the increasing attacks towards women by politicians such as JD Vance, who recently deemed women who choose not to have children as “Childless Cat Ladies,” Swift is a perfect example of a “childless cat lady” who proves these sexists wrong: women without children are worth something, and women deserve to be more than just mothers and homemakers. If Swift can achieve all of these things, then other women can too. To not speak out about a direct attack on her and people like her would be a huge disservice and, frankly, a death of authenticity.
“And this is why I’m no longer a Swiftie,” commented a woman named Patricia G under the same Instagram reel by Matlow. “Even if she isn’t a Trump Supporter, she’s making the calculated choice to stay silent.”
Swift’s voice is powerful, and many people believe that she has the potential to heavily influence politics. With 283 million Instagram followers, 95.2 million X followers, and 93.8 million monthly listeners on Spotify, she has an outreach unlike most celebrities. Her Eras tour has bolstered the economies of every city she’s performed in, her songs have brought people together and her lyrics are taught in multiple college classes. When Swift even implies that a man has mistreated her in one of her songs, listeners will see her lyrics as law. So it’s no wonder that people would listen to her if she spoke out about politics. Considering the amount of people who responded, she definitely succeeded in that aspect.
“There are Swifties in swing states that think she actually endorsed him, and that is a problem,” continued Matlow, who eventually succumbed to the belief that Swift was a Trump supporter before correcting herself in later reels.
Personally, I remember how long it took her to speak about Roe v. Wade when I was 16, how she didn’t speak out about Israel and Palestine when I was 17 and how betrayed I was. I watched her grow more and more, watched the people tracking her private jet, watched her date men like Matty Healy, and stayed silent about all of it.
I know it’s unhealthy to have a parasocial relationship, but I think it often happens unintentionally, and before I knew it, she was my role model, and I didn’t know how to feel about it. Swift made me feel like I could do something, be someone, create something bigger than myself. She got me through so many tough times, and I know other women feel the same. That’s what made her become such a big pop star in the first place. So I’ve seen firsthand the debate in the fandom about how responsible she should be in politics as well as how betrayed we’re allowed to feel about it.
Some critics argued that speaking out about politics would be a safety issue, especially due to the amount of stalking the singer experiences on a daily basis and the recent danger posed to her fans, which people became more aware of after several young girls were murdered at a Taylor-Swift-themed event and the foiled terrorist attack at her now-canceled Vienna concert. But others argue that, due to her previously speaking out and her status as a woman whose rights would be threatened by Republican-authored Project 2025, she would be the perfect person to speak out about these issues.
“It’d be regrettable if her engagement with the world of politics were just another of her eras, and one from which she were willing to move on,” Daniel D’Addario writes in an article for Variety.
But luckily, Swift seized the opportunity to speak about these issues, seemingly waiting for the perfect moment, as right after her endorsement, friendship bracelets went up for sale on the Harris/Waltz campaign website.
Within 13 minutes, it garnered one million likes, and as of writing this, over nine million people have liked the post. Since this legendary endorsement, searches for voter registration have been on the rise, coinciding with the debate. According to NPR, tens of thousands of people registered to vote in the wake of her endorsement. It’s up to you to decide how much of a success this was, but I personally think it’s a no-brainer: Swift has swept in when we least expected it and when we wanted her to the most, regardless of how we feel about her politics and authenticity.
Emily Rutz is a first-year English major. ER1034711@wcupa.edu