In their most recent podcast episode, Rolling Stone writers Brittany Spanos, Rob Sheffield and Brian Hiatt discuss the resurgence of Taylor Swift into musical greatness, which they aptly called “Taylormania”.
LISTEN NOW: Taylormania! How Taylor Swift Got Bigger Than Ever - Rolling Stone Music Now
The pre-2019 narrative surrounding Taylor Swift was overwhelmed by one unoriginal joke: “she’ll write a song about you.” “There’s so much of the lore of the ex- boyfriends and ‘who’s the song about’ that sort of swallowed a lot of her albums,” co-host Brittany Spanos noted. When the pandemic hit, however, Swift released Folklore and Evermore and completely flipped those concepts.
Through their use of fictitious characters, acoustic intimate sounds and lowkey promotion, Swift emphasized her songwriting ability itself. “That really did shift a lot of narratives,” Spanos continued, “because again, people were sitting with her music in a way that they probably hadn’t before.” In the process, Folklore and Evermore also secured more indie music and singer-songwriter fans into her base, which was solidified by the 2023 Midnights release. “Midnights was her showing herself and showing the world that she still could be ‘bejeweled,’ she still could do the pop thing,” host Brian Hiatt punned.
As if to continue this sense of “reappreciation and renegotiation of her as an artist”, Swift’s re-recordings of her catalog became a huge factor in establishing this sense of “Taylormania” as well. According to the hosts, she sought out to, “not just re-release the albums, but add all these vault tracks and… promote them like new albums.” Revamping Fearless, Red, and the upcoming Speak Now versions under her new songwriting-focused notoriety gave those albums a second life, while also bringing on “Pandemic Swifties” and younger fans that weren’t around for the original releases. “It’s rare to have artists like that who are having their audience really grow with them, and then also really attracting super young kids who are going to continue growing with their music,” the hosts noted.
And rather than separate fans by originals versus newbies, the very format of her tour itself allows fans to pick their favorite version or "Era" of Taylor. This was the final key to “Taylormania,” the podcast theorized, as it acts as a way to secure and legitimize all fans. “The way she’s able to present it all as ‘these are eras,’ or as one of her kindred spirits Willie Nelson would say, they’re phases and stages, and that each one are part of her story, that’s really the way to do it,” writer Rob Sheffield explained.
And the others agreed. “You can exist in a very specific two to three albums or cycles of Taylor and be like, ‘this is everything to me and nothing else matters,'” Spanos added. The turnout and engagement with her tour is proof enough that her fans were massively receptive to the idea of Eras, the taylor’s version albums and her new (or reestablished) songwriting focus.
To listen to the complete conversation, which also dives into each podcaster’s experience seeing the tour, check out the full episode here on the free Audacy app.
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