Taylor Swift: Language and Representations

 Narrative


Go to our Media Magazine archive (issue MM79) and read the feature All Too Well on Taylor Swift and how she controls her own narrative. Answer the following questions: 

1) Why is Taylor Swift re-recording her earlier albums? 

Swift quickly announced her intentions to re-record her Big Machine albums, which would give her complete ownership of the records and nullify Braun’s involvement. Swift signed a deal with Republic Records(2018) after her deal with Big Machine records ended. Big Machine records still owned her masters to her first six studio albums, the former record company was purchased by American Businessman Scott Braun, subsequently he owned her masters. Which he sold to Disney’s Shamrock Holdings (a private investment firm run by the Disney family) in late 2020 on the condition that he would continue to financially profit from them.

2) Why did Taylor Swift choose to make the short film 'All Too Well'? 
 
With the re-release of her multi-award-winning album Red and its accompanying short film All Too Well, Swift has finally, triumphantly, broken free of the control of others, and cemented her image as one of the great musical artists of our times.

3) What other examples are provided in the article of Taylor Swift using media to construct her own image? 

Since the original release of Red all the way back in 2012, Swift has been forced to control virtually
every aspect of her public image. Many aspects of her follow-up album 1989 (2014) were a direct response to criticisms about her private life.

Taylor Swift textual analysis

Work through the following tasks to complete your textual analysis of Taylor Swift's website and social media. 

1) Go to Taylor Swift's website. What do you notice about the media language choices - text, font, images, page design, links?

Sans-Serif font, illustrating modernity, glitter("life of a showgirl") = femininity  
cassette, vinyl, CD and poster - consumerism, resurgence of culture  
main image - minimal clothing, sparkly beaded outfit, aligning with "showgirl" aesthetic, sex sells, Mulvey male gaze, van zoonen: woman want to be looked at, Butler: gender as a performance, promoting consumerism 

2) Now visit her Eras tour microsite. What do you notice about the construction of this site in terms of images and website conventions? 

- enigma/action codes: sensual imagery, state of sexual revelry, parted mouth; eyes half closed  
- colour scheme, variety, still overall aesthetic
- cropped images: recognisable icon - don't need to see all of her 
- fertilisation of women: being reduced to parts of her body, dehumanisation, 2nd wave feminism: Taylor reclaiming this  

3) Visit Taylor Swift's Twitter feed. Analyse her use of tweets/posts - are they promoting her music, her tour, or something else? Can you find any that are socially or politically oriented? 

"And, baby, that’s show business for you. New album The Life of a Showgirl. Out October 3 ❤️‍🔥" - promoting her music 

"white supremacy"- politically orientated

4) Look at Taylor Swift's Instagram account. What do you notice about the selection and construction of images, reels and posts?  

 - All professional photos or in professional settings 
 - a glimpse of her private life with a public announcement of her engagement 
- Almost everything about her career except one cat photo 
- one politically orientated post  

5) Research Taylor Swift across any other social media accounts - e.g. Facebook. Do you notice any differences in how she represents herself on different platforms? Comment on text, images or tone/content.  

She reinvents herself on every platform, although everything is relatively the same. 
A/A* extension tasks

Read this academic history of celebrity culture and social contexts. How much can we find that is relevant to the kind of celebrity persona Taylor Swift has created? 

Read Written and Directed by Taylor Swift in Media Magazine MM84 - a feature on Swift's music videos including how she is using her Instagram channel to position herself as an up-and-coming director as well as music star. You can find this in our Media Magazine archive here.

Finally, consider this question: How does the construction of Taylor Swift's online presence reflect the social and cultural changes of the last 10 years? 

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