The Evolution of Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift is a mainstream female pop artist with music that is extremely well-known and usually at the top of the charts. At the start of her career, her brand and who she was—and would grow to be—as an artist centered around songs of love, heartbreak, and boys. From her self-titled debut album, the hit single “Teardrops On My Guitar” name-dropped a boy named Drew and directed her yearning for him throughout the song with he/him pronouns. Her second album, Fearless, had themes surrounding a “prince charming,” as depicted in songs like “Love Story” and “White Horse.” In Speak Now, she had another song that directly name-dropped a boy in the title, “Dear John.” While the list goes on and on, the biggest takeaway from these examples is how her music, for most of her career, has carried heteronormative narratives. When you think Taylor Swift, you often think white straight woman who dates men and writes songs about those experiences. You don’t necessarily think that her music is queer or about queer people.

Up until her album Lover, the world didn’t know Taylor’s stance on the LGBTQIA+ community. Was she supportive? Did she believe in gay rights? These are questions that had often come up, especially considering that she was known for being a very apolitical pop star. The first surprise towards her support came from an Instagram post back in 2019, in which she addressed Republican senator of Tennessee, Lamar Alexander, asking him to support the House Equality Act. This act was meant to protect LGBTQIA+ people from discrimination in workplaces, schools, and other public areas. Swift’s post came as a shocking but bold move.

In a Vogue article written about two weeks before the release of Lover, Taylor Swift directly addressed her stance on the LGBTQIA+ community, which also indirectly confirmed her sexuality: “I didn’t realize until recently that I could advocate for a community that I’m not a part of. It’s hard to know how to do that without being so fearful of making a mistake that you just freeze.” This direct acknowledgement comes from a realization that happened in conversation with her friend, Todrick Hall of Kinky Boots and RuPaul’s Drag Race, in which he asked her what she would do if her son was gay. Her answer to the question: “If my son was gay, he’d be gay. I don’t understand the question.” As mentioned in the article, it had shocked her and made her realize that she hadn’t made her position about LGBTQIA+ rights “clear enough or loud enough.”

“You Need To Calm Down” as a single from the album Lover was meant to signal her allyship to the queer community and dispel haters, or specifically in this case, the homophobes. While it definitely seems that there was true intention for that, the music video that came along with it had went a bit over the top, inevitably facing backlash for its commercialization of the queer community. In a USA Today article, many arguments were made as to why this video could be deemed as problematic. One of these arguments talked about how the ending of the video showed her and Katy Perry making up from an ongoing feud, essentially distracting us from the video’s entire “LGBTQ-centric point.” Another article from Mother Jones criticizes the “can you just stop?” attitude of the lyrics, emphasizing how it falls short and leaves room to suggest that homophobia is “nothing more than a character flaw.” While this song was definitely a notable turning point for Swift’s political stance in supporting gay rights, it ultimately fell kind of flat in delivery.

Despite a bit of the turbulent release surrounding Lover, it did result in better knowledge about Swift’s political views and began a slight shift in her music. It also gave the confirmation of her sexuality, which had often been speculated about due to rumors involving her and former best-friend Karlie Kloss (that we will not get into since it’s a long-running theory with no actual confirmation and beside the point). However, this revelation drives the bulk of this project in which we make it a point to still be able to queer an artist’s music, even if they aren’t necessarily queer themselves.

It really wasn't until her two most recent albums—not including the re-recordings of previous albums happening at the moment—that we can better gauge more queer themes within her music. Released during the pandemic, folklore and evermore come as a surprise to both Swifties and the rest of world. The growth and shifting of her music to be a bit more inclusive is very much evident in these two albums. Whether she intentioned it to be this way or not, although Taylor definitely is known for her love of symbols and hints, the two albums were really well-received by queer audiences.