Key Points
- Experts cite a prolific back catalogue and appealing PR strategy as reasons for Taylor Swift’s popularity.
- Some also think her “pop star” status may have prevented her from getting the level of respect she truly deserves.
- A fresh round of tickets for Taylor Swift’s Australian Eras tour are set to go on sale on Friday.
A handful of social media posts and a subtle update to the information on Ticketek’s Australian website made national headlines on Thursday, as one of modern music’s biggest and most passionate fan bases was offered a fresh chance to see their idol perform live.
Taylor Swift, who one of The Beatles recently described as “the biggest star in the world”, has announced a fresh batch of tickets for her Melbourne and Sydney shows.
Concert promoter Frontier Touring posted that additional tickets, including seats with a partially obstructed view, would be released on Friday, while Ticketek announced that a hotly anticipated resale service, allowing fans to sell unwanted tickets, would be available two weeks later, on Friday 24 November.
This is, evidently, a big deal. Back in June, Swift’s Eras tour broke Australian records when more than four million people tried to get their hands on about 450,000 tickets across five shows (two ).
, and the additional money that vast throngs of attendees spend at restaurants and hotels in cities across the world, is so extreme that it’s been cited as a contributing factor to inflation.
Swift recently became the first female artist in Spotify history to reach 100 million monthly listeners. She’s also the only female solo artist to win the Album of the Year Grammy three times, and in 2019 she became the first-ever recipient of Billboard’s Woman of the Decade Award.
The case for Swift being the single biggest musical artist of this generation appears to be gaining traction by the day. So what’s going on? How has Swift, at just 33 years of age, managed to so convincingly dominate the cultural zeitgeist?
Understanding the hype
“First and foremost, she’s consistently released a lot of music,” said Kate Pattison, a PhD candidate at Melbourne’s RMIT University who specialises in the music industry and fan studies.
“While each song has Taylor’s signature songwriting, the albums cross different genres, from pop to country to folk, and she’s gained fans with each release.”
“Aside from the music itself,” she added, “Taylor is known for her relationship with her fans, and her marketing strategies.”
Swift’s relationship with her fans has been cited as one of the reasons behind her enormous popularity. Source: Getty / John Shearer
These marketing strategies have been so successful that some academics consider Swift to be the “ultimate PR celebrity”, according to Hannah McCann, senior lecturer in cultural studies at the University of Melbourne.
Part of that, McCann noted, is Swift’s ability to manage her image in a way that makes her a safe bet: appealing to many, divisive to few, and – for the most part – apolitical.
“She dips her toe into the political, but she also constantly wants to have mass appeal,” McCann told SBS News.
“It’s very much part of her PR strategy to not really put anyone offside.”
McCann and Pattison aren’t the only academics who believe Swift is worthy of serious intellectual discussion.
In February 2024, shortly after her Australian run of Eras tour dates winds up, Melbourne University will host a three-day ‘Swiftposium’: an international conference where people from a range of academic disciplines will present papers on the singer.
McCann, who first planted the seed of the Swiftposium concept via a casual tweet back in July, says the recognition is long overdue.
Still underrated?
“There hasn’t, up until very recently, been much academic attention on Taylor, considering that she has had a 17-year career,” McCann said.
“She hasn’t really had the attention that she deserves compared to other celebrities.”
McCann, who specialises in the study of “fandom”, said that’s now changed, as Swift’s fame, influence and body of work became increasingly undeniable – not just among academics, but also serious-minded members of the music press.
“What’s happened now is that her level of celebrity basically is so astronomical that she can’t be ignored. So people are like, ‘Okay, well we’ve got to really pay attention to this.’ And that’s basically what’s been happening since about 2021,” she said.
Swift broke records when tickets to the Australian leg of her Eras world tour first went on sale earlier this year. Source: Getty / John Shearer
McCann noted that, ironically, that same astronomical celebrity status may have played a role in deterring critics and commentators from regarding her with the gravity she deserves.
“She is such an amazing songwriter, she’s so skilled, but because of that mass popularity people don’t easily compare her to Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen or something,” she said.
“[With the] hindsight of history, and looking back on Taylor, I’m absolutely certain she’ll be seen as this poet, but right now she’s seen as this [figure of] mass culture. Every fish and chip shop you go into is playing Taylor Swift. She’s not seen as anything particularly artful.”
Pattison echoed this sentiment and suggested that despite Swift’s penchant for genre-hopping, her enduring reputation as a “pop star” may have put off some from taking her as seriously as other popular musicians.
“Despite all her success and accolades, I think some people are unwilling to discuss a contemporary pop artist like Taylor Swift in the same regard as other ‘iconic’ or ‘legendary’ artists,” she said.
“Pop music can still be seen as inauthentic, or not worthy of the same acclaim as rock or other genres of music.”
There are, of course, people who still just don’t get the hype. But both McCann and Pattison have messages even for that rapidly shrinking demographic.
“I think anyone that’s not a fan of Taylor Swift hasn’t listened to enough Taylor Swift yet,” McCann said.
“She’s such an amazing songwriter, has such a diversity and a large number of songs, that I just feel like pretty much anyone can get into it.”
“I think you’re missing out!” Pattison added.
“Being a Taylor Swift fan is a lot of fun, and brings a lot of joy to many people.”
How to buy Taylor Swift tickets
New tickets for Taylor Swift’s Sydney shows will go on sale at 10am AEDT on Friday 10 November, while new tickets for the Melbourne shows will go on sale at 4pm AEDT that same day.
Fans who have already applied for accessible tickets will not have to apply for the newly available accessible seats, with Ticketek set to contact applicants in the order they submitted their forms until allocations are exhausted.
Ticketek’s resale service will be available from 10am AEDT on Friday 24 November.
