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A Brand of Adaptable Authenticity

Six days before the release of the original version of 1989, the highest charting song in Canada wasn't "Welcome To New York" (#2 on the Canadian iTunes chart), "Shake It Off" (#3), or "Out of the Woods" (#8), which were all out on iTunes in advance of the album drop. The coveted #1 spot was held by a cryptically titled "Track 3" that was in actuality eight seconds of white noise.1 In multitudes, music listeners discernibly gravitated toward the mystery song, despite their only given information being who the singer was.

The success of the accidental release of static was no accident. It was the product of a homegrown, perfected-over-the-years recipe for the brand of Taylor Swift. Fundamentally, Swift had long established herself as a potent songwriter. Singing was almost secondary to her, her voice simply a medium of conveying her words.2 Reflecting on the future in an interview with BBC Radio 1, she questioned whether she'd still be performing by the time she'd be 34 years old. Nevertheless, she emphasized her desire to still be writing songs, commenting that she'd even enjoy doing it for other artists.3 Much like the narrator of "Love Story," little did Swift know.that not only would she be on a stage at the age of 34, but she'd be on the stage of the most historic tour of her time, singing songs she'd released up until that year.

Beyond simply calling for songwriting, the recipe's secret ingredients were artistic adaptability and audacious authenticity. The indispensable step was carefully mixing in the right amounts of each. It was evident that Swift had developed her trademark in vulnerable storytelling; what solidified her longevity was that Swift had derived her value in versatile storytelling. These double features have made up the forefront of many of Swift's creative decisions, and they have never been quite as exemplified as when she was on the cusp of a genre switch. Returning to the metrics of pop music, a commercially successful song would typically be paraded on the radio and in live appearances as each listener did their part to hoist it up the charts. In the case of our dear "Track 3" on 1989, there were enough people who purchased the $1.29 track all at once to push it to #1, before the word could spread that it was an unintentional bait-and-switch.

This was Swift's brand working for her, in a show of power that every business-minded entity aspires to master. A well-positioned brand is key for a business to acquire and sustain customers, level up with competitors, and eventually market itself as it becomes widely and credibly recognizable. Membership-based warehouse retailer Costco understands this, keeping its famous hot dog priced at $1.50 in spite of inflation dictating that it would now be worth $4.40 (as of 2024).4 That lost monetary value is made up for by loyal Costco patrons for whom grabbing a hot dog is a nostalgic tradition. Assuredly, customers spend more time at Costco than at competitors Walmart and Target.5 On a more regional scale, before Boichik Bagels opened its flagship brick-and-mortar bakery in Berkeley, California, founder Emily Winston debuted her bagels at the 2017 Eat Real Festival in neighboring Oakland. When she started selling them from her home, she attracted a long line even before doors opened and ended up sold out in 12 minutes.6 Winston's brand of fresh West Coast takes on New York-style bagels earned her hundreds of mailing list customers, who turned into in-person customers waiting in line at Boichik Bagels locations around the Bay Area. And in the 20 years following its launch in 2003, Tesla maintained an anti-advertising campaign, instead opting to focus on its brand of innovation and sustainability, with sales being substantially spurred by media coverage.7

Here's when Tesla and Taylor Swift diverge. In 2023, Tesla began to dip its toes in advertising due to lessened demand. On the other hand, in 2024, The Tortured Poets Department, Swift's new album, became the most presaved album on Spotify leading up to its release.8 Where Tesla needed to combat claims that the company was not practical nor accessible to a large customer base, Swift was continuing to connect with her fan base. The fan base that once, knowing they'd receive a wonderfully blended dosage of comfort and change, made an eight-second nonsong the most purchased item on iTunes in Canada was still with her 10 years later and counting.

Essential to Swift's brand is consistency. Everyone is familiar with a plummeting sense of quality in certain product lines over time.9 Yet, Swift's proficient exercise of quality control has helped prevent her from falling into the trap of one-hit-wonder stardom. As a country artist, Swift boldly detailed her personal life through music. During the making of Red, co-writing sessions would begin with "girl talk."10 In fact, its lead single, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," was written after an unexpected run-in at the studio with a former flame's friend. Swift felt heated and went on chatting about the incident with collaborators Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster (known professionally as Shellback). Then and there, with her guitar and her girl talk, she scored her first #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.11

From a young age, her preferred form of rebellion was performing a song about a specific person who was in the audience-for instance, singing self-penned "I'd Lie" about a crush on a classmate at her high school talent show.12 In a high school setting, the identity of the song's subject was likely to be unmistakable, with lyrics dishing out information on the crush's family, birthday, and personality. While Swift's eponymous debut album left out "I'd Lie," its second single, "Teardrops On My Guitar,"13 elevated the technique by directly naming the subject of the song. Referencing Drew, presumably another (or the same?) high school crush, was a deliberate choice, as the original demo lyrics had the song's mentions of "Drew" replaced with "you."14 This decision set the scene for a future of weaving in names to mark people in Swift's life: from her English class best friend, Abigail Anderson, in Fearless's "Fifteen," to her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay, in evermore's "marjorie"; from the passing infatuation with Stephen Barker Liles in Fearless's "Hey Stephen" to the lasting wounds from John Mayer in Speak Now's "Dear John"; from the historic inspiration she found in Robert F. Kennedy in Red's "Starlight" to the generational predecessor she found in Rebekah Harkness in folklore's "the last great american dynasty."15

Nonetheless, it'd be incomplete to relegate Swift's discography to who the songs are about. More importantly, Swift's songs capture indelible experiences and the fleeting sentiments attached to them. The narrator of the crown jewel of Speak Now, "Enchanted," promises the addressee that she will "forever" reminisce on the possibilities of their serendipitous encounter. Perhaps the most quintessential instance from her time in the country genre is "All Too Well," a raw portrait of finding oneself stuck in a series of recurring moments, namely, a collection of memories that was no longer being added to. Lesser known is the related Red deluxe track "The Moment I Knew," which depicts the humiliation Swift went through at her twenty-first birthday celebration. Making up for that was what Swift had dubbed her favorite birthday, preserved in the Red favorite "22," a mini power play of its own that lends significance to a typically nonmilestone age.16 Through her writing, Swift tackles the crux of the human condition-that although emotions are temporary, we act as if they are permanent.17 It's no surprise that to Swift, music is the "closest sensation we have to traveling in time."18

Swift has kept that core component with her, ensuring that the quality of her work remained constant no matter how she bent. So when she transitioned to pop, while her fan base exploded,19 she did not alienate her country fans. On the Reputation Stadium Tour in 2018, Swift performed an acoustic version of "Dancing With Our Hands Tied," which appears on the Reputation album with a quick-paced, drum-laced beat. In the song's introductory speech, she outlined her priorities in songwriting: the lyrics, the feeling, and the melody, and letting those shine, irrespective of the production.20

Balancing the pressure to be a well-liked pop hitmaker and the responsibility to stay true to her songwriting philosophy raised the stakes, only for her to conquer them. Eloquently and impressively, Swift brought a natural feature of the country genre-stories-to her next phase. In an essay published in ELLE in 2019, Swift discussed the necessity to abandon generic pop writing for the purpose of creating timeless songs.21 She addressed her instinct of making pop unconventionally confessional:...