OSP: Taylor Swift CSP - Language and Representations

 Taylor Swift: Language and Representations blog tasks

Narrative

Go to our Media Magazine archive (issue MM79) and read the feature All Too Well on Taylor Swift and how she controls her own narrative. Answer the following questions: 

1) Why is Taylor Swift re-recording her earlier albums? 

Swift quickly announced her intentions to re-record her Big Machine albums, which would give her complete ownership of the records and nullify Braun’s involvement.

2) Why did Taylor Swift choose to make the short film 'All Too Well'? 

‘All Too Well,’ a song that aches from heartbreak and longing. In choosing to make the song into a short film, rather than just a music video, Swift has consciously chosen to push her professional creative boundaries for the sake of her art and her storytelling – and that’s something we can only admire her for.

3) What other examples are provided in the article of Taylor Swift using media to construct her own image? 

She’s become an author, and her debut novel is titled (you guessed it) All Too Well. At a signing of the book she reads an excerpt, and the film ends with a shot of Him looking through the shop window, still wearing that scarf left by Her all those years ago.

By the end of the film, Her is a deliberate mirror of Swift herself: not only is the song ‘All Too Well’ autobiographical, but in the world of the film Her takes control of the narrative herself – the same way that Swift does by writing the song and making the film. For both Swift and Her, art comes out of grief, and that art is not only a way of dealing with their grief, but of choosing to tell their own stories themselves, rather than waiting for other people to tell them first. This is important for both artists, because narrative dictates public image, and public image dictates all.

Taylor Swift textual analysis

Work through the following tasks to complete your textual analysis of Taylor Swift's website and social media. 

1) Go to Taylor Swift's website. What do you notice about the media language choices - text, font, images, page design, links?

- Colour scheme: black/white/grey, gives a classic & sophisticated look

- Typography: Serif, fits with colour scheme

- Logo, brand identity

- Top menu: website convention

- Image analysis: quite revealing, Mulvey's male gaze, van Zoonen seen as spectacle, sex role stereotypes --> does the image dehumanize TS by cutting off her face?

- Front page of store: Physical media, cassette, CD, vinyl, Chances for fans to collect physical items, build on nostalgic 80s/90s feel, references senior swifties (older gen) 

- Branding similar to Nirvana: reflects nostalgic aspects of modern culture. Culture reboots or reuses previous texts --> intertextuality or textual poaching- Jenkins

- Disney+ massive media conglomerate and mainstream brand is arguably perfect fit for TS

- Directed projects section reflects swifts status in contemporary culture, power to direct her own music videos

2) Now visit her Eras tour microsite. What do you notice about the construction of this site in terms of images and website conventions? 

 -Top menu reinforces opportunities to either spend money or interact with fans

- Design + colour- grainy, nostalgic feel to the design and colour grading --> reflects TSs ability to reinvent herself as an artist + celebrity: Neale, repetition and difference 

- Social media links, fan interaction

- Representations- photography arguably still contains elements of male gaze

- Can also represent all her different 'eras' 

3) Visit Taylor Swift's Twitter feed. Analyse her use of tweets/posts - are they promoting her music, her tour, or something else? Can you find any that are socially or politically oriented? 

- Banner image shows consistency or brand across different platforms

- Bio promoting her album

- 95.2M following emphasises her power + influence

- Kelly Clarkson tweet: origin of Taylor's version re-recording project which shows her power as an artist

- Political influence: she has since endorsed Kamala Harris in presidential race

- Tweet reflects TSs feminist credentials and support for female artists- US culture wars, TS would be considered 'woke' or liberal in the debate

4) Look at Taylor Swift's Instagram account. What do you notice about the selection and construction of images, reels and posts?  

- 283M following also emphasises her power + influence

- 0 following shows Instagram account is just used as a promotional device

- Pinned post to promote album: rest of feed promotes her tour

- Royal post from Wembley reflects her incredible reach and mainstream influence --> mutually beneficial photo OP

5) Research Taylor Swift across any other social media accounts - e.g. Facebook. Do you notice any differences in how she represents herself on different platforms? Comment on text, images or tone/content.  

Reflects her Instagram account as she has 0 followings on Tiktok and 32.8 million followers this reflects her power. Her views are relatively high on Tiktok as its a global social media platforms and the way that Tiktok is designed easily allows for higher engagement numbers and views on each post even thought they don't relate to the tiktok or usual tiktok genres and videos that are relatable and dancing trends. Its mostly repeated videos of her "eras" tours and from her other social media platforms. This reinforces Steve Neal's theory.