Cultural impact of Taylor Swift

From the end of the album era to the rise of the Internet, Swift drove the evolution of music distribution, perception, and consumption across the 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s, and has used social media to spotlight issues within the industry and society at large.

Wielding a strong economic and political leverage, she prompted reforms to recording, streaming, and distribution structures for greater artists' rights, increased awareness of creative ownership in terms of masters and intellectual property, and has led the vinyl revival.

Scholars have variably attributed Swift's dominant cultural presence to her musical sensibility, artistic integrity, global engagement, intergenerational appeal, public image, and marketing acumen.

[27][28][29] The New York Times author Ben Sisario felt Swift's cultural dominance competes with Jackson and Madonna in the 1980s, calling it something the "entertainment business had largely accepted as impossible to replicate in the fragmented 21st century.

"[51][33][11] Describing a critical consensus, writer Jeff Yang said Swift is "increasingly being spoken about as an economic force of nature, a transformative creator advocate, organizer and innovator and arguably the most influential and even the most powerful figure in the music industry.

[38] Rosen described Swift as the first country act whose fame extended beyond the U.S. and marked internationally, as she offered "modernity, cosmopolitanism, youth" in a genre traditionally representing conservatism, parochialism and older adults.

Frere-Jones wrote, as the opening act for Rascal Flatts, Swift "[strutted] across stage platforms, performing a percussion duet on garbage cans, and switching gears without pause—her voice, all the while, light and breathy and without affectation—she returned the crowd's energy with the professionalism she has shown since the age of fourteen.

In 2013, Rosen described the Red-era Swift as a prim figure—"a rock critic's darling who hasn't the faintest whiff of countercultural cool about her", setting her apart from pop stars that followed the "raunchiness" trend of the period.

[136] American singer-songwriter Noah Kahan said that Folklore and Evermore helped reignite popular interest in folk music,[137] and Billboard credited Swift with the power "to pull any sound she wants into mainstream orbit".

[138][139] Swift has a capacity for writing songs and lyrics that are very immediate, that tap into universal emotions and experiences, and that also play with her own public image, in a way that creates this self-perpetuating loop of interest and analysis of her music.

[142] In being personal and vulnerable in her lyrics, music journalist Nick Catucci felt Swift helped make space for other singers like Ariana Grande, Halsey, and Billie Eilish to do the same.

[144] According to Raza-Sheikh, Fearless and Speak Now (2010) depicted Swift's adolescent innocence that resonated with a large audience, followed by her matured records Red and 1989, which exhibited her confidence in defining her narrative, becoming "unafraid of upsetting the status quo and critics".

[155][156] British scholar Jonathan Bate dubbed Swift a "real poet" with a "literary sensibility" evoking the likes of Emily Dickinson and Charlotte Brontë that was rare in pop music.

"[158] American record producer Ryan Tedder described Swift as "the most talented top liner I've ever been in a room with" and praised her ability to write lyrics and melody in a "more adept [...] focused, efficient" manner.

[167] Financial Times and I-D called Swift "the last pop superstar", given her ability to generate sales figures unseen since the "1990s boy bands" era, which was regarded as the commercial peak of the U.S. music business.

[228] Initially lesser-known artists have been propelled to mainstream fame after Swift invited them on her tours as opening acts, such as Ed Sheeran, Charli XCX, Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello,[229] Sabrina Carpenter,[230] and Gracie Abrams.

[240] Economist Paul Krugman argued, "Being a congenital cynic, I'd like to attribute her fame to marketing hype, but the sad truth is that she's a highly talented songwriter and musician with remarkable stage presence.

[251] Per Professor R. Polk Wagner at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Swift associating her lyrics with a range of goods and services through trademark applications represents her understanding that "she is bigger than the music".

[20] According to journalist Ashley Lutz, her marketing style is "an ever-changing burlesque act of selectively revealing details while maintaining an aura of mystery and excitement"—a strategy that goes beyond the music and entertainment industries.

[62] Analyses of her economic impact includes studying the "booming" economy around her concert tours, which escalates travel, lodging, cosmetic, fashion, and food businesses,[297] and tourism revenues of cities by millions of dollars.

Journalists praise her ability to question industry practices, noting how her moves changed streaming platform policies, prompted awareness of intellectual property among upcoming musicians, reshaped the concert ticket model,[14][303] and negotiated better financial compensations from labels for all music artists.

[337] Dominic Rushe of The Guardian said Swift's battle marked a change in the digital music era, with artists more aware of their rights without the need to rely on record labels anymore.

[335] Pitchfork critic Sam Sodomsky recognized the visibility she brought, saying Swift "can enact change by wielding the leverage of the reliability of her success" and that it is "financially lucrative for the industry to listen" when she speaks.

This meant higher ticket prices in the beginning and a gradual drop as the concert date approached, replacing "momentum with consumer choice and experience" and bypassing scalpers, according to David Marcus of Ticketmaster.

Swift's comments on artists' rights influenced Bryan Adams,[447] Ashanti,[448] the Departed,[449] Snoop Dogg,[450] Paris Hilton,[451] Joe Jonas,[452] Zara Larsson,[453] Niki,[454] Offset,[455] Rita Ora,[456] Rodrigo,[457] and SZA.

If Taylor were to leave us, everything would fall apart.Outside the music industry, Swift has inspired authors, novelists,[478] film directors, and screenwriters, including Sina Grace (Superman: The Harvests of Youth),[479] Jenny Han (The Summer I Turned Pretty),[480] Abby McDonald (Bridgerton),[481] Jac Schaeffer (WandaVision and Agatha All Along),[482] and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Someone Great and Do Revenge).

[273] In The Guardian, Adrian Horton said "Swiftverse" is a subculture of mass media cultivated by "years of worldbuilding and Swiftian mythology",[275] while Alim Kheraj and Billboard wrote that Swift turned pop music into a "multiplayer puzzle" with a fanbase commitment that other artists have subsequently attempted to reproduce.

Chayka opined that Swiftularity is a media funnel, "siphoning [the public] toward an increasingly narrow set of subjects", wherein contemporaneous objects or topics in popular culture become part of Swift's influence one by one, ranging from politics and sports to technology like artificial intelligence (AI).

[42] Hao Xu and Yuzheng Li, academics in the areas of communication and marketing, opined that "it's hard to think of a single artist that has had more profound implications on so many facets of contemporary life—from gender and fandom to economics, popular culture to politics" than Swift.

[1] Fellow academic Green opined, studying Swift combines critique with feminist biography, and that her discography is "very bit as profound, significant and foundational" as the works of novelists Ann Radcliffe, Mary Shelley, and Bram Stroker, posing the public with "deep questions about selfhood and culture".