The Taylor Swift Effect

(Google Images)

Taylor Swift blasted into the music scene as a teenager, connecting with young fans through her songs about teen crushes, love loss, and fairytale romances. While Taylor’s image and persona changed as she moved from teenager to adult, her fanbase remained stable and strong, following her growth, cheering her on, and buying up every album. This past summer Taylor sprung a surprise album on her fans—the haunting Folklore—which quickly rose to the top of the charts, despite the fact that Taylor has been in the music business for over fourteen years. So what is it about Taylor that keeps her fanbase so rabid, so strong after so many years? How does Taylor continue to connect with young fans and teenagers?

First and foremost, Taylor is a gifted writer. She excels at similes, metaphors, poetic imagery, and relatable stories. Her heart and soul is evident in everything she does, and she connects nearly every song to the truths and troubles in her own life, including her many rocky romances. Because her fanbase is mainly teenagers and young adults, at an age where romance and drama are spotlighted daily, her songs about romance are relevant and her fans are able to easily identify with her lyrics. Add in some of the fairytale romances, magical backdrops, and whimsical narratives, and you’re at the root of all teen and young adult hopes and dreams. 

Second, Taylor is a creative force and knows how to change up her persona while still maintaining her base personality. Like many successful females in the music business—Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Beyonce—Taylor started in one place and changed over time. While teenagers tend to shy away from older pop stars, Taylor keeps her persona modern and fresh, raising new political interests, helping the LGBTQ+ community, and in her last incarnation, going for an alternative, new age, natural look and sound. This change not only keeps her current fanbase interested, but also brings in new fans as teens might relate to any one of her many changing images. Teenagers in a new era understand and applaud diversity, so they gravitate toward Taylor and her messages. 

Finally, Taylor connects with her fans on many levels, including social media posts, giveaways, offering free albums to indie record stores, hiding “Easter eggs” in her songs and videos, surprising fans with visits, and dropping new albums. She is aware of the many ways to reach her fanbase through these avenues, using Twitter (she has a huge following and fan clubs there), Instagram, and even Facebook. She uses YouTube to her advantage by posting her music videos, and she also breaks down personal themes in her albums and posts songs related to those themes on Spotify and Apple Music. She is visible on all mediums that teens touch on a daily basis. 

As a writer of YA, it’s important to look at how Taylor connects to her teen fanbase and how she stays relevant in an ever-changing music industry. It’s a blend of many elements that writers and musicians alike should take note of, finding what interests her fans, writing toward those interests, writing honestly and from her heart, and writing about topics relevant to teens. This also gravitates outside of the creative realm, in finding ways to constantly keep in touch with fans and changing up images to stay fresh and interesting. Taylor connects the way we all should—with honesty, passion, and heart.