Celebrity endorsements: Taylor Swift
By now, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard that Taylor Swift has endorsed Kamala Harris for president (if you say “who’s Taylor Swift?”, then you probably have been living under a rock). This news underwhelms me, as do all celebrity endorsements. I don’t understand why they would matter to anyone, including fervent Swift fans.
The realm of music – or any art – and the realm of politics don’t really intersect, unless one’s music or art is already of a political nature. Being a good singer or songwriter or painter or sculptor or actor or director or poet doesn’t convey any special knowledge of politics or history or anything else of that sort, and therefore the opinions of such people are no more of interest than the opinions of any random person.
That seems obvious, although I’m well aware that for some people it doesn’t work that way, and celebrities have an influence. But wouldn’t it already be among people inclined to the same point of view? Wouldn’t the majority of Swift’s adult fans be leaning Kamala anyway? And for those who aren’t – for the Trump supporters among them – would any of those people really change their political opinion because of Swift?
I can’t imagine that would be the case. And yet there’s been such a brouhaha about this.
What if the stratospherically popular Beatles had endorsed a candidate when at the height of their fame? Did they ever do anything of the sort? I don’t recall that they did, but maybe I’m forgetting something. They did write some political songs, but not about candidates: “Revolution” and Lennon wrote “Imagine” during his solo career. But an official endorsement of a specific candidate? That seems to be a more modern phenomenon.
In ‘Taxman’ Harrison refers to ‘Mr. Wilson’ (Labour PM Harold Wilson) and ‘Mr. Heath (Conservative leader and future PM Edward Heath) which was really brilliant and highlighted the system not one side. And George REALLY hated the tax structure in the UK at the time.
Hmmm…well, the Beatles were British, so they commented on British politics. When they were asked who they favored for Prime Minister, they said “We’ll vote for whoever will cut taxes the most.” And when George Harrison did his “The Taxman” song, he included a chorus singing “Ah ah, Mr. Wilson.” and “Ah ah Mr. Heath.” as Heath and Wilson were the leading contenders for PM at the time.
On the other hand, John Lennon was asked to write a campaign song, and he came up with “Come Together”, which doesn’t really work as a rally song. (though people keep playing it as political events for some reason) Lennon wrote a lot of songs for liberal causes: anti Vietnam war (“Give Peace A Chance”), feminism (”Woman Is The N word of The World”), etc. And Sir Paul McCartney was invited to the Obama White House, where he serenaded the First Lady with “Michelle”, thanked US voters for voting for Obama, and joked that it was “Great to have a President who knows what a library is.”
So…YMMV.
@Griffin,
During the 1996 campaign, Senator Dole said “Taxman” was his favorite Beatles song, while President Clinton said his favorite was “I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends”.
BJ,
‘Taxman’ holds up incredibly well as commentary almost 60 years later. And McCartney’s guitar work (it is McCartney not Harrison on that guitar riff) is awesome also.
I can’t recall who wrote “Shut Up and Sing” but that’s my opinion.
It’s sad that we live in a time where a larger number of people seem to feel that politics need to be injected into every facet of our culture.
I too wonder how many votes are truly swung one way or the other based on the endorsement of a celebrity. I would be surprised if it were a very large percentage, but then again it’s probably not zero. My suspicion is that most of these endorsments are just simple virtue signaling and announcing or confirming one’s group affiliation, and as such they probably don’t truly do much to change votes, just either piss people off or endear them.
Frank Sinatra was all in for JFK, and recruited friends to help raise money for him. JFK pushed him away when Sinatra’s mob connections became public. Sinatra was pretty bitter about that.
But back then you could endorse a candidate without calling the other guy a Nazi.
I have a feeling that at least a few Taylor Swift fans don’t vote for Democrats. She’s not worried about offending them.
This expands to her boyfriend’s endorsements, if any, and his teammates’ endorsements, with the Daily Mail labeling the kicker “controversial” for his conservative views, expressed on his own private time.
Sing, and play football, and let the rest of us enjoy those if we want to, and leave us alone otherwise.
How to go from 30,000 visitors per day – to 405,999 visitors in 1-day (24 hours)
Taylor Swift’s call to action brought nearly a half million visitors to vote.gov in 24 hours
Don’t recall ever hearing one of her songs. No disputing her popularity tho. Believe first time I saw or heard of her, was at some award show, and Kanye West had gone up and took her award…seems that was her.
Meanwhile, whilst Republicans complain about her and the Debate, the Democrats do this:
Taylor Swift-inspired billboards for Kamala Harris pop up across New York City and Las Vegas
@Griffin,
True that. As George said “When I’d ask Paul to do one of my songs, he’d always do a terrific job on it. The problem was, I’d have to do ten of his songs for every one he’d do of mine.”
Fun fact: there’s a candle shop here in town called “Waxman Candles”. The owner was dipping wicks (not THAT way, you perves 😉 when he heard a neighbor’s stereo blasting out “Taxman”. He thought “Well, if there’s a Taxman, I’m the Waxman.” and he named his shop that way.
If one did not know any better, one could believe that Karl Marx wrote the lyrics to John Lennon’s “Imagine.”
Re: Taylor Swift and Kamala The Cackler;
just another example of how the media creates the news by publishing / desseminating / announcing Swifts endorsement.
Aside from her fans that follow her on social media, how many others would even know about this??
Unfortunately, many of her voting age fans will decide that if Taylor will vote for the Cackler, then by god, so will they. Yep, that will be the extent of the thought process they utilize to determine how they will vote.
I must live under a rock; I cannot cite or identify any of Swift’s songs; NOT EVEN ONE song.
I am aware of Taylor Swift – my kids liked her when they were in middle school (we will all still sing along to those oldies, but none of my three is the least bit interested in her now). A friend’s 6yo daughter is a huge Swiftie (or as huge a Swiftie as a 6yo can be). I’m wondering about her appeal among, you know, people of voting age, and especially those who will actually go the distance and vote.
Pretty much all if “Animals” is a political statement: Wealthy rockers b***hing about and ragging on capitalism. Of course, Pink Floyd was likely banned in the USSR when the album came out. But, oh, no! It’s CAPITALISM that’s evil!
Supposedly Swift’s fan base is majority female. At least that is the impression I get.
She is backing the side that thinks males should be able to declare themselves female and then move into female spaces.
Civilized words escape me to explain this kind of mentality.
John, I’m under the same Rock.
I must live under a rock; I cannot cite or identify any of Swift’s songs; NOT EVEN ONE song.
Same here. But so I hear, most of her songs are about women making bad choices.
Unfortunately we live in a world where people who are well-known for things unrelated to politics try to use their fame to promote some political agenda. I doubt it has much impact, especially if they don’t really make the case, or accompany it with a lot of foolishness (see DeNiro, Robert). On the other hand, I’m happy when some celeb comes out for Trump, but especially when, like James Woods or Kelsey Grammer, they make strong arguments.
I don’t know any Taylor Swift songs either. I’m more of a Martha Spencer fan. I don’t know if Ms. Spencer has made any political endorsements.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P2SwfI9QvI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbXsJ7y6FGg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiZOKED0QlI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtfwgkXOBTE
“I don’t understand why they would matter to anyone, including fervent Swift fans.” neo
“But there seems to have been an actual decline in rational thinking. The United States had become a place where entertainers and professional athletes were mistaken for people of importance. They were idolized and treated as leaders; their opinions were sought on everything and they took themselves just as seriously — after all, if an athlete is paid a million or more a year, he knows he is important … so his opinions of foreign affairs and domestic policies must be important, too, even though he proves himself to be both ignorant and subliterate every time he opens his mouth. (Most of his fans were just as ignorant and unlettered; the disease was spreading.)” Robert A. Heinlein, To Sail Beyond the Sunset, pub. 1987
Among so many others, Robert De Niro and LeBron James come to mind.
Why, in God’s name, should listen to, and treat seriously, the opinion of any likely very un-or ill-educated “entertainer” about serious issues of public policy, and who I should vote for?
And George REALLY hated the tax structure in the UK at the time.
==
There was a time when the top rate on investment income was 98%.
Art Deco,
Yep, hence the line in the song ‘one for you, nineteen for me’ (this was the Taxman speaking).
Swift’s endorsement probably won’t make anyone switch sides, but is obviously motivating people who already leaned Democratic but may not have been much interested in voting, to decide to vote. Hence all the new voter registrations she triggered.
Bill Ackman tweets:
https://x.com/BillAckman/status/1834749353489007054
Video of HaukTuah2024 latest interview at link.
Alexander von Rims:
Visitors to the website, not necessarily registrations. See this. Also, for everyone who did register after she spoke, will they all vote? Will they all vote for Kamala? Were they going to register anyway?
Keep in mind that Taylor Swift started as a country pop singer/songwriter and a considerable talent.
Here’s the first song from her breakout debut album. It’s about a failed summer romance. True to form for Swift, I guess, but failed romance is a standard across all genres. I find the song beautiful.
________________________________
He said the way my blue eyes shined
Put those Georgia stars to shame that night
I said, “That’s a lie”
Just a boy in a Chevy truck
That had a tendency of gettin’ stuck
On backroads at night
And I was right there beside him all summer long
And then the time we woke up to find that summer gone
But when you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think my favorite song
The one we danced to all night long
The moon like a spotlight on the lake
–Taylor Swift, “Tim McGraw” (2006)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkD20ajVxnY
________________________________
Tim McGraw is a real country music artist.
I suspect her endorsement will be a wash. She will lose some old fans.
The new voter registrations could be more fakery, more gaslighting to cover for election fraud. Potemkin candidate.
I’ve probably heard at least one of Ms. Swift’s songs somewhere, but I couldn’t identify it. She is pro-abortion, pro-homosexuality. To her credit, she said she wasn’t telling her fans whom to vote for, and that they should do their own research.
She signed her endorsement tweet “Childless Cat Lady” (a swipe at J. D. Vance), and Elon Musk tweeted back that he would give her a child. 🙂
Thus ends my Swift Report, except that I think it’s odd that one of her stage outfits looks like a lady trapeze artist’s. But who cares what I think? 🙂
If you look up movie performers of the Forties and Fifties on Wikipedia you may find it mentioned that they endorsed Roosevelt or Dewey, Stevenson or Eisenhower. Among actors further back, such endorsements were rare. No showbiz endorsement carried much weight 70 years ago, but even back then, some actors felt that they had to be political.
Taylor Swift follows the time honored trajectory of female singers going back at least as far as Olivia Newton-John. She started out as the girl next door, and even gawkier and geekier than the girl next door. As her fame grew, she was told or realized that she had to “sex up her act.” That’s where she is now. She seemed like a rare talent in the beginning, but with time one wonders just how much showbiz professionals have worked over her her material in an effort to shape it into something marketable.
She signed her endorsement tweet “Childless Cat Lady” (a swipe at J. D. Vance), and Elon Musk tweeted back that he would give her a child.
==
She’s 34 years old, unmarried and childless. That’s a state in life to which some people have to reconcile themselves and a state in life in which a different bloc of people would be prudent to remain. That is not a state in life to which to aspire. Her chum Travis Kelce is also unmarried and childless.
She has “284M Followers” on Instagram – only some 400,000++ even clicked on the Vote.gov link…
Heres the problem she wants everyone else to sacrifice re climate jet but she has two jets she doesnt care about the crime the inflation the invasion
Megan Kelly goes off on Tay-Tay. Spicy! video at link:
https://x.com/Mappy6984/status/1834786582965981556
Surprise surprise surprise…
Taylor Swift endorsement may turn more voters from Harris than it attracts