Popology Lessons by Kris Fisher: Be Swift, be true
My daughter’s first concert was an outing to see Taylor Swift on her 1989 tour. Going in, she did not count herself a fan – familiar, but not one of the bracelet-rocking masses that have made Swift an icon.
After the show was a different matter. She was more than a fan. She was smitten. She left that show a full-on Swiftie, professing to me how much she wanted to be a singer when she grew up for the entire two-hour ride home from Charlotte.
The way I see it, there are two kinds of people in the world: Swifties and non-Swifties. Taylor Swift is unique in that way. You don’t find many casual fans of her music. Generally, people either love or hate it.
I count myself among the Swifties.
I’ve been lucky enough to meet Taylor on four separate occasions. You are correct, that is a bit of a humblebrag. Taylor Swift, however, has been far more appreciative of radio than pretty much any artist in my lifetime and our meetings have been a product of that. I’m always excited to meet an artist and with Taylor, I feel like I got to witness her rise to living legend status first-hand. The first (and second) time I met her was when she released the “Red”album. She invited a bunch of radio stations to Nashville, where she hosted interview opportunities in a downtown high-rise. The third time I met her was with my daughter at that fateful 1989 show. The last time was backstage at her Reputation tour stop at Mercedez-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. She performed in front of a sold-out crowd of 70,000 – an exponentially bigger star than the first time we met. Yet, she remained just as personable and down-to-Earth. Had she been dismissive and impersonal, I would have understood. She was a global superstar. That was not the case.
I’ve always wondered what it might have been like to live through Beatlemania or to see an Elvis crowd up close. Now, I think I know. Taylor Swift is a generational act. Look at the records she has broken: Most number one albums by a woman; Highest-earning female musician in history; Most American Music Awards in history (40… and it ain’t even close! Michael Jackson is second with 26.) She was the first woman with four albums simultaneously in the Billboard Top 10, the first woman with new number one albums in five consecutive years, and the only artist to win an Album of the Year Grammy four times. The hits, quite literally, keep coming.
What Taylor has done in the music industry is unbelievable, undeniable and it doesn’t appear she’s anywhere close to done. That’s fine. To be honest, I’m completely here for it. I feel lucky to have witnessed some of the greats, people that will be talked about for years. We live in a world that produced Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Tom Brady.
We also live in Taylor’s world. Swiftie or not, we are all witnessing history being made. I hope my kids understand what kind of moment this is and remember to take it all in. I hope they understand that her success is the product of hard work and focus. I hope they see that if success has changed the way Taylor Swift approached the world, it is probably for the better. I hope they see the positive things that Taylor has done with her success, her influence, and her generosity. And, if and when my daughter has kids, and those kids that ask about the days when the Swift star was ascending, I hope she will tell them all these things and about that one night in Charlotte when Taylor Swift changed her life.
