Taylor Swift’s fans and detractors are likely to agree on one thing about her: There’s almost nothing the world’s most famous artist does that isn’t intentional and deliberate. That extends to her forays into political activism. She endorsed a Democratic candidate for Senate in Tennessee in the 2018 midterm elections; she framed her album “Lover” around well-intentioned, if confused, pro-LGBTQ sentiments in 2019; and she endorsed Joe Biden for president in 2020. The 2018 endorsement in particular was a turning point for Swift—the first time she spoke directly about electoral politics. The 2020 Netflix feature-length documentary about Swift, “Miss Americana,” builds on that decision; in it, she tells her father, who opposes her speech, “I need to be on the right side of history.”
Feeling the same need today? While there is plenty of time before the presidential election on November 5, Swift has so far remained silent. In an unusual way of protecting her image even by celebrity standards, Swift has allowed Donald Trump to use AI-generated images falsely suggesting she has endorsed him to go unnoticed; and in an unusual way of using high-profile friendships to show different sides of her personality, she is relaxing at the US Open tennis tournament with Brittany Mahomes, whom Trump thanked for her support.
On the other hand, Swift seems to have no more responsibility to speak out than any other prominent person—and she might argue that she has a responsibility to remain silent. In her only public comments addressing the failed plot to attack a planned concert in Vienna, Swift wrote on Instagram, “Let me be very clear: I will not speak out about anything if I believe that doing so might provoke those who want to hurt the fans who come to my shows.” Her Eras tour is scheduled to run through December, after the election; it’s not unreasonable to think that Swift would be taking some risk by speaking out about a hotly contested musical contest. (Indeed, this was one of the arguments made in favor of silence in her documentary.)
But let’s go back to the documentary to see why the idea of Swift remaining silent for the rest of the year seems so frankly bizarre. In the past, Swift’s political moves have come from a place of deep emotion; in “Miss America,” she cries on camera as she describes the Republican Party’s agenda. But then—this on camera, in a film Swift agreed to appear in at a midpoint in her career—and speaking frankly was risky—it also ultimately benefited the brand, at a time when that brand was in turmoil. “Lover,” which includes the supposed gay-rights anthem “You Need to Calm Down,” was Swift’s creative high point as she sought to move beyond the pure pop showmanship of “1989” and “Reputation.” Swift has righted the ship, even more so, with more consistent material in recent years. Having gone from being a major artist to one of the biggest artists in the history of recorded music, Swift is now at even greater risk.
Elements of 2024 look different from 2020 beyond Swift’s own career. While the 2020 election was more competitive than even Biden voters might have realized before Election Day, it was a turbulent moment in which Trump, the incumbent, was facing the winds of change. It may be easier and more palatable for an artist to be against the party in power than to have to defend it, especially given the unprecedented shift in candidates that was a response to Biden’s age and perceived abilities. It’s an open question how much celebrity endorsements help at all; there have been no more star-studded campaigns than Hillary Clinton’s in 2016, and if anything, they were counterproductive.
But Swift may be different: Her words—in part because she weighs them so carefully—move culture in a startling and profound way. (She is clearly aware of her influence, and used her Miss America appearance to suggest that she regretted not speaking in 2016, a decision for which she was widely criticized. That earlier comment may suggest that her endorsement may come closer to the election.) Her statement is likely to make Charli XCX’s “Kamala is a bad girl” tweet look like a random comment on Reddit; that reality may be why the fantasy that Swift will speak or perform at the Democratic National Convention is appealing to so many.
While that may yet happen—she announced her endorsement for 2020 in early October—her suggestion that silence is preferable, and her high-profile friendship with Mahomes, suggest at least two things, given that Swift rarely does anything by accident. But given the enormous benefit Swift has gained in the past from her decision to speak out about politics, the idea that she would remain silent could make a mockery of her past public speaking out, at a more appropriate time. It would be a shame if her political engagement were just another era in her life, one she was ready to move on from.
