Open AccessTaylor Swift, political power, and the challenge of affect in popular music fandom
Author(s) -
Simone Driessen
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
transformative works and cultures
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1941-2258
DOI - 10.3983/twc.2020.1843
Subject(s) - fandom , politics , swift , affection , mainstream , popular music , sociology , media studies , snapshot (computer storage) , art , visual arts , political science , psychology , law , computer science , social psychology , programming language , operating system
When Taylor Swift came out politically via Instagram in 2018, her fans, the Swifties, reacted to their object of affection and her political position. An analysis of the online fan response provides a snapshot of how politics is empirically manifest in mainstream pop music fandoms—a genre and space often overlooked when it comes to discussing politics.