Hiring 'Taylor Swift Reporter'; listening to Taylor Swift in jail: How the pop-icon is leaving behind a formidable legacy

Taylor Swift performs onstage during Taylor Swift The Eras Tour at SoFi Stadium in California.

“Taylor Swift is the new William Shakespeare,” wrote Sir Jonathan Bate, a former Shakespeare professor at Warwick University, in Sunday Times. Why, you ask? A university in Belgium is now offering a course on Literature inspired by Swift’s lyrics. The course is titled Literature (Taylor’s version) — “Taylor’s version” in brackets is a reference to Taylor Swift re-recording her original albums, for which she no longer possesses rights, following a legal dispute with former music manager Scooter Braun.

Taylor Swift's Eras tour is now competing with movie franchises, boosting America's economy and reviving the hospitality industry.

She calls herself the anti-hero; her mega-successful Eras tour, according to some experts, has saved the US economy by generating $4 billion, generated big bucks for the hospitality industry (the weekend she performed in Chicago saw 97 per cent hotel occupancy, with over 45,000 rooms booked). Her performance in Houston got the city the highest hotel revenue for the year. Taylor Swift is a force to be reckoned with in the music industry.

On realising that the theatres are closing down due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, Taylor brought her Eras tour movie to theatres. In no time, AMC’s (American movie theatre chain) stock rose by 6 per cent, their website crashed — the 24 hour pre-sales of Swift’s shows surpassed those of Spiderman and Avengers. A major film studio had to shift the release date of their film to avoid clashing with Swift’s tour (with the producer of Exorcist tweeting “Look what you made me do. Taylor wins, Exorcist moves to 10/6/23.” Such is the power of Love Story hitmaker.

Beyond the massive ticket sales, stock market boom and revival of small businesses, Swift’s emotional impact on her fanbase has been unprecedented. Most of her pre-teen fans grew up listening to her albums— Speak Now, 22, Red, Reputation, Midnights, and now with Eras, Swifties have finally come of age — and so has their idol. While there are many testimonies and write-ups on how Swift has changed the lives of her fans — one of them, published in The New Yorker, struck a raw nerve with the users of platform X (formerly Twitter). The essay made even the non-Swifties, who aren’t particularly fond of the artist, tear up.

The essay, written by Joe Garcia, a convict currently incarcerated in California prison, is gut-wrenching. He documents his prison journey (he was sentenced to life in prison in 2009) and compares the ups and downs in his life to Swift’s albums — from Speak Now to Eras era.

In Karma, Swift sings, “Ask me what I learned from all those years / Ask me what I earned from all those tears.” Joe writes in the essay “A few months from now, California’s Board of Parole Hearings will ask me questions like that. What have I learned? What do I have to show for my twenty years of incarceration? In the months ahead, when these questions keep me up at night, I will listen to Midnights”. They say music knows no boundaries and the moving tale of a male prisoner jamming to Taylor’s Shake it Off in his prison cell is proof.

Documented parallel to a man’s prison life, Taylor Swift’s artistic revolution over the years and its impact on convicts is reaffirming that artists like Swift come once in a lifetime. Her music has the power to unify, despite the very obvious stylistic differences over the years (Swift went from country to pop to indie pop).

Taylor Swift's Eras Tour is over three-hours long and has a 44-song set.

Last week, USA Today, an American newspaper, posted a job opening for a “Taylor Swift” reporter — a dream job for Swifties. The full-time Taylor Swift reporter “will be tasked with producing content that resonates with fans and the broader audience.” In addition to covering Taylor Swift's journey, the reporter will have the “exciting” opportunity to "chronicle the biggest moments on the next portions of Taylor Swift’s tour" and will even involve international travel.

The position is rather unprecedented. Not a single artist living or dead has had a dedicated reporter — including the likes of The Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, Prince and The Beatles. Music critic Carl Wilson pointed out the unusual nature of the job, raising the question of whether there has ever been a single-artist reporter role before. That didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of Swifties though, who were keen on applying for the role. After all, who wouldn’t want to travel around the world and witness Eras tour firsthand? After all, Swift knows how to put on a show for her fans.

At one point in her show, Taylor Swift dives into the stage and disappears under the floor as special effects show her swimming across to the main stage.

At one point in her Eras tour, Taylor Swift dives into the stage and disappears under the floor as special effects show her swimming through a river and making her way to the main stage. When the waves reach the main stage, Taylor magically appears in a new outfit as she climbs off of a ladder, making her way to the clouds.

The moment has been described by many as “visual effects genius”. Swift’s Eras tour concerts are over three-hours long. When concerned fans raised questions about how Taylor uses the restroom, it was revealed by a concert goer that the solution involved a strategically placed pee bucket. The fans, too, started wearing diapers to Taylor’s concerts because they didn't want to miss out on her performance.

Taylor Swift wearing a T-shirt that reads 'Who is Taylor Swift anyway, ew'.

Some of Swift’s fans have called her “the second coming of Christ”. Taylor is self-aware — her song Anti-Hero (It’s me/Hi/I’m the problem, it’s me) is a sly dig at the tabloids that always make every controversy — from her ex-boyfriends to a public fallout with Kanye West — Taylor’s fault. This isn’t the first (and certainly not the last) time Swift has acknowledged a controversy through her songs. Swift, as an artist, is aware of the power of the written medium and is using the lyrics of her song to control the narrative around her legacy and album releases, tabloids be damned!

After her very public fallout with Kim Kardashian-Kanye West in 2016 (which subsequently got her labeled a “snake”), Swift dropped her album Reputation next year, replete with snake imagery. In the album, Swift acknowledged all the barbs the media threw at her over the years (I don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me/I'll be the actress starring in your bad dreams). The singer has used her albums to not only acknowledge some of the criticism that comes her way but to also engage, and at times, even hit back at her critics.

Indian Swifties have, since time immemorial, waited for the singer to visit India. Unfortunately, the Eras tour didn’t make its way to India. Swift is known for due diligence. She recognises she cannot put on a show alone. Swift reportedly gave bonuses totaling more than $55 million to those working on her show this year. That money was distributed to her dancers, riggers, sound technicians, catering — and truckers.

Given the massive scale of production of her concert, it is, perhaps, understandable why Swift isn’t ready to bring her show to India yet (especially in light of the recent AR Rahman concert chaos). According to a report in The Times of India, Indian swifties are now booking tickets for Eras tour in Singapore and London, depending upon the economic feasibility. Swift’s India fan account on Twitter has over 26,400 followers, however, many of her fans are not active on social media platforms.

Swiftie Night, a small business based in Delhi, organises meet-ups for Taylor Swift fans across the country which includes, singing, dancing and partying to Tay Tay’s songs.

It isn’t known for sure if and when Taylor will tour India but given a strong presence of her fanbase in the country, it shouldn’t be too far. Needless to say, with literature courses dedicated to her and prison inmates jamming to her songs, Swift is leaving behind a formidable legacy as a music icon; one that will be talked about for generations to come.