Exploring Creativity and Restraint in Artistry: Lessons from Taylor Swift

A listener submitted a question earlier this week that was basically: Why are we talking about Taylor Swift again???? And I get it: if you’re not a fan, if her music is not for you, you too might be tired of the ongoing Taylor Swift Conversation. But I’m ultimately less interested in Taylor Swift herself and more interested in the shape of that conversation: what are we actually talking about when we talk about Taylor Swift? We’re talking about work and scarcity, we’re talking about aesthetics and whiteness, we’re talking about the performance of authenticity and narratives of romance… and we’re talking about all of those things today with Sarah Chapelle, the fashion journalist behind the enormously popular Instagram account Taylor Swift Style.

Show Notes:

• Follow Sarah on Instagram, and pre-order Taylor Swift Style (out October 8)!

• Read the NYT review one listener referenced: “On ‘The Tortured Poets Department,’ Taylor Swift Could Use an Editor”

• And as a counterpoint, how about this Bloomberg op ed: “Taylor Swift Is Proof That How We Critique Music Is Broken”

• As a reminder, here’s Taylor’s Grammy look the night she announced TTPD

• Revel in the aesthetic of the “Fortnight” music video

• Here’s the YouTube short of snippets from Taylor’s life in the past few months

• And of course, revisit our third ever episode

We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:

• How we talk about the royals today (especially looking for some questions from people outside of the U.S. here!)

• The State Of The Food Blog in 2024

• Your strong opinions on things that, in the grand scheme, don’t matter much

• For our continuing series on romance novels: QUEER ROMANCE and ROMANCE BOOKSTORES

• The future of reality TV

• What’s the deal with JEANS right now (alternate title = Jeans: Help)

• The Contemporary Jennifer Lopez

• Ben Affleck (specifically within the framework of Ambition)

• The cultural force that is nostalgia (especially interested in how it functions in different generations)

• Anything you need advice on!

• You can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here (and here’s the subscriber-only priority form)

For today’s discussion: What are your thoughts on The Tortured Poets Department? What’s your favorite/least favorite Taylor Swift aesthetic? Do you also think of your life in eras, and are your outfits a part of them?