“Did you hear my covert narcissism I disguise as altruism/Like some kind of congressman?” sings Taylor Swift in her hit song “Anti-Hero” from the “Midnights” album released last year.
Swift isn’t actually a member of Congress, but her cultural impact might extend to the upcoming 2024 presidential election, according to MSNBC’s Ari Melber.
He said Swift has already demonstrated her political influence, andhe only expects it to grow. Political strategist Chai Komanduri agreed with Melber that Swift is poised to have an impact on the upcoming election.
“Politicians, like artists, are storytellers,” he said, adding that, “Taylor Swift’s success comes from the fact that her fans – including me – as being a very good, if not outstanding, storyteller.”
“There are those who miss the ongoing, quite obvious impact of culture on democracy and politics. Now, that could be an odd take, seeing that music and culture were such critical drivers of some of our most powerful modern protest movements, from civil rights to Vietnam,” Melber said.
Protest music is woven into the fabric of American history, from Nina Simone’s “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” to Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War” and more. However, Melber noted that Swift has more power than these earlier artists due to the reach she has via streaming services and social media.
“Taylor Swift can actually do some things that earlier generation of artists, however impassioned they were, cannot. Because, of what I’m going to walk through with you – which is a shifting music and cultural, digital environment,” he said.
For example, Melber showed research that indicated Swift could reach around 100 million people each month, compared to the 10 million-person reach of cable news episodes. Numbers also show that Swift has already had a direct influence on American politics. Melber cited data that showed voter registration among people under 30 skyrocketed when she made a get-out-the-vote push.
This year has already been a big one for Swift. Her “Eras” concert tour is on track to be one of the biggest grossing of all time, her songs (even old ones that she has been re-recording) have dominated the Billboard charts, and just this week she won nine MTV Video Music Awards.
Her tour has gone international and it’s expected to be back stateside by next October. As of Friday, her last U.S. tour date is listed in Indianapolis, Ind., on Nov. 3, two days before the election.
Back in 2020, Swift publicly supported current President Joe Biden and his Vice President Kamala Harris. Biden is expected to be the Democratic candidate again, and the current GOP frontrunner is former President Donald Trump, who he beat in 2020.
