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. So far two re-recordings have been released, to both huge critical and commercial success – Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version). The latter album mis Swift’s most successful in her entire discography to date, and is a mark of her continued resurgence against those who would dictate her career.

2) Why did Taylor Swift choose to make the short film 'All Too Well'? 

Swift has consciously chosen to push her professional creative boundaries for the sake of her art and her storytelling – and that’s something we can only admire her for.  Swift has largely led a very public romantic life, and that has historically been the source of much of the criticism levelled at her: that she ‘goes on too many dates’, and ‘can’t make ‘em stay’.

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

Whereas Swift’s former changes in image (which included forays into cottagecore aesthetics with Folklore and Evermore, both 2020) came from a place of artistic experimentation, the re-recording of her old albums comes from a place of necessity and artistic control.

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?

The page advertises her products such as merchandise and the tour itself making people more inclined to pay for it. It has her music videos at the bottom for people to look and listen to.

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

It is advertising the tour and the merchandise Taylor swift is offering to her fans. It also shows a trailer of the tour itself to her audience to give them an insight to her music and events.

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? 

Taylor swift is talking about her personal experience and how to overcome it. 

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

Taylor swift has her successes pin such as albums and her recent concerts/achievements she wants this to stand out and show her fans that she has made it. 

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.

Taylor swift seems to maintain the same representation of herself throughout her platforms