PRINCESS TAYLOR?
I am not a sports fan, but I couldn’t help but pay attention to the Super Bowl this year because of Taylor Swift, and she wasn’t even in the halftime show. She was just in the audience supporting her boyfriend, Travis Kelce with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Back on Nov 6., USA Today announces a new addition to its news team; Bryan West, making him the world’s first Taylor Swift reporter.
Of course, this news isn’t particularly surprising. Taylor Swift is one of, if not the, most famous persons in the Western world right now. There are thousands upon thousands of headlines that use her name and attribute her to all sorts of things. It’s as if she is one of the most powerful people alive.
CBC’s business division even claimed that her Era’s tour last summer helped sustain the Canadian economy.
Then there’s the ‘Swiftie Effect’. Last October, Swift and Kelce publicly announced their relationship and ever since, Kelce’s NFL team has experienced an unprecedented $331.5 million increase in brand value.
And it should be no surprise that in 2023 she was named ‘Time’s Person of the Year’ for the second time since 2017.
All of this seems… quite familiar.
In 1987, two years before America’s sweetheart walked the earth, it was Princess Diana who was on the cover of Time Magazine’s ‘Person of the Year’.
Just as there are journalists who are building their careers off reporting on Swift’s life, Princess Diana experienced that exact same thing. And just like Swift, Princess Diana was considered an ‘economic powerhouse.’
But as someone who jams out to “Anti-Hero” from time to time; this is where I become a bit concerned.
It’s common knowledge that British tabloids chased Princess Diana everywhere, which eventually led to her death in 1997. The press were incredibly nasty to Princess Diana.
And history has a tendency to repeat itself. Recently, Fox News has been gearing up its guns and opening fire on Swift. All because it’s likely Taylor Swift will endorse Joe Biden in the upcoming presidential election. But more than that, Swift has been a major celebrity since she was a teenager and experienced a large degree of misogyny from the press for the majority of her formative years.
According to polling, 18 per cent of the American voting public say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate that is endorsed by Swift. There are roughly 160 million registered voters in the United States — Swift’s endorsement could be worth up to roughly 29 million votes.
Just as there is speculation that Taylor Swift may help the Biden administration, Princess Diana was speculated to be helping former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair win the 1997 UK Election.
There are a lot of parallels between these two women – not because of their personalities, or their careers because in both respects they are vastly different. The parallels exist in their power and their media coverage.
But the biggest difference between these two is that Princess Diana, known as the “People’s Princess”, went out of her way for various causes. By shaking the hands and hugging patients with AIDS/HIV and speaking out she was a tremendous help for the fight of destigmatizing AIDS/HIV, and this is just one example of many.
And although Swift has spoken out for causes – at the same time she has emitted the most amount of CO² emissions than any other celebrity due to her frequent private jet usage. She has since sold one of her private planes and has claimed she offsets her carbon emissions.
Amid a time where the planet is dying, genocides are taking place, and fascism is on the rise, somebody like Swift has the chance to bring change, just as Princess Diana did.
As much as Swift is doing some things, she needs to do more because she is in the very rare position of cultural and economic power — and we know that because Princess Diana was able to do a whole lot.
I know this is a lot of pressure to put onto someone but I’m not just talking about anyone – I’m talking about one of the world’s most famous pop stars.
Swift has arguably more influence than Princess Diana ever did. She needs to use it more.
