Songs studied at some university and psychologists who use their lyrics to enrich their therapies. And even more difficult: Taylor Swift has managed to bring together thousands of teenagers in a community – the Swifties – that support each other beyond sharing admiration for the same artist and that look through her to try to solve their personal problems. , usually linked to identity, belonging and the occasional broken heart. At the age of 34, the American singer has become a reference not only cultural and musical, but also personal for many young people.
Whatever the reason for your displeasure, Swift, who has won 12 Grammys and is the only woman to win album of the year four times, has a song somewhere in her endless repertoire that describes that precise feeling. Obviously, she is not going to solve your problem. But her songs, her voice, will be there to accompany you, like when you meet a friend and, after explaining your most recent drama, you notice that she understands you. Swift offers 'comfort songs' and the swiftie community creates a safe space for fans to exude understanding and share mutual empowerment.
Shouting Taylor's lyrics at the top of her lungs has become the equivalent of a therapy session for many of her fans. But why are those songs so therapeutic for Swifties? According to psychologist and psychoanalyst José Ramón Ubieto, Taylor Swift connects on such a deep level with her audience because she “does not hesitate to witness her pain; She is in no hurry to explain, in many of her songs, that she has been abandoned, that she has been used, that she has not been reciprocated in love… she speaks openly about her vulnerability.”
In the lyrics to Labyrinth, Taylor Swift whispers 'You know how scared I am of elevators. Never trust if it goes up fast, it can't last.'” “She knows that love is imperfect,” says Ubieto. “She is aware of the weakness of bonds and does not limit herself to a ‘Disneyfication’ of love.” That is, according to the psychologist, Swift's key to creating this bond with her fans: “teaching that she also has, like everyone else, her difficulties.” Showing herself openly is precisely what makes many girls and boys who are going through the same thing she talks about in her songs identify with her.
“Along with that – adds the psychologist – Swift also vindicates herself as a woman capable of overcoming trance; she expresses that on the one hand we can be vulnerable, but, on the other, we can be powerful.” For Ubieto, exhibiting this double face – vulnerability, but also the ability to get out of it and move forward – is the key to this very 'therapeutic' effect that some people find in his lyrics: “his fans see someone who has managed to survive all that and, in addition, has achieved very high goals.”
The work behind the lyrics of Taylor Swift's songs has caught the attention of the prestigious Harvard University, which has decided to create a course in 2024 titled 'Taylor Swift and her world'. According to what the teacher of this course told La Vanguardia, Stephanie Burt, this literary training delves into the music, lyrics and cultural impact of the artist.
“Taylor is a brilliant artist who knows how to make her songs aspirational (we want to imagine that we are like her) while, as Generation Z says, “relatable” (we imagine that she understands us, that she sees what we are up to). going)". According to Burt, achieving such a connection with the audience is not only rare, but “he also does it with melodies that are difficult to resist.”
Stephanie Burt, who is also a literary critic, explains that Taylor Swift's work goes beyond her music: “She connects with fans in other ways – through her presence on the Internet – so that we feel seen outside of the music as well. ”.
In addition, he adds that his songs give good advice about love: “Many of his songs say that it is very good to fall in love, but also that we should not design our life and sense of self-esteem around another person.” In fact, many of their love songs say "You Belong With Me," and not "You belong to me" or "I belong to you." These little girls Variations in language, according to Burt, “encourage romance along with self-care and mutual help.”
If music were therapy, Taylor Swift would be the therapist for many teenagers who find refuge in this artist's songs. So much so that, on social networks, people have started talking about “Taylor Swift’s Therapy” and some psychologists are relating psychological concepts with the lyrics of this artist's songs.
This is the case of psychologist Fernanda Durán, known on Instagram as @psicologaswiftie, where she relates psychological concepts with the figure of Taylor Swift and the lyrics of her songs. “Sometimes you feel in a way that you are not able to express, and I believe that many people have come to his lyrics and have precisely found that understanding of how they were feeling,” says Durán.
For this Swiftie psychologist, all artists give us the possibility of identifying ourselves through the lyrics of their songs, but the key to Swift's work is the complexity of the emotions she narrates: “For example, in Anti-Hero it allows us to understand that situation in which one feels like one's own enemy; when you feel like you are attacking yourself, that you are self-sabotaging.” According to the psychologist, these concepts and emotions are difficult to detect, “and when you listen to a song that transmits precisely that emotion or sensation, it is much easier to understand yourself and also be able to express what is happening to others. people".
“That is what feels like therapy for many of his fans,” Durán clarifies, “the fact of giving names to things that are difficult to give a name to.” Furthermore, for this swiftie psychologist, something admirable about the artist is the fact that she shows her own toxic behaviors in her lyrics: “Having that space to say 'I'm also the problem' helps us understand that people can also make mistakes, But it is not enough to realize it, but to solve it.”
“For me, Taylor is like 'therapy' because she knows how to put words to what you feel but don't know how to express and creates a safe space where someone is understanding and helping you,” explains Cristina Purroy, a Taylor Swift fan. For her, this artist is like a friend who accompanies you in all your stages. The fact that the artist opens up in so many songs helps her understand many of the emotions she is going through, because she sees herself reflected in them. “Among fans we say that it often feels like Taylor has read your secret diary,” adds Purroy.
For this swiftie, Only The Young, Soon You'll Get Better and Anti-Hero are some of the most 'therapeutic' songs for when she needs to feel less alone or hear that everything is going to be okay. “It seems like nowadays people can't be bad, and sometimes you need someone to tell you 'it's normal that you feel that way' and 'it's normal that if someone has betrayed you you're angry' – adds the fan – and if she has He has been through the same thing as you and you see that it goes from a melancholic song to a super festive song that shows you that he has been able to overcome it, it gives you the strength to think that you can do it too.
The Swiftie fandom – that is the name of Taylor Swift's fan community – follows the artist in everything she does. According to psychologist José Ramón Ubieto, Swift “has perfectly understood that culture is always a mediation between identifications and the feeling of belonging that we create through artists” and that “for your music to be accepted, you have to create “A community first, we have to work collectively.” An example of this is the fact that the artist offered several meetups for many years.
“A very nice bond is created when you meet other Swifties, because there is a kind of understanding in which I think that that person is in the same safe space as me and the friendship that is forged as a result of that is very healthy,” he explains. Christina Purroy. “Being part of that community gives people a feeling of belonging and that makes their music and art have much more value,” says Ubieto.
“In fact, Swifties parties are held, where only Taylor Swift music plays and the safe space that is created there is incredible. I had never been to a club with an atmosphere like that,” says Purroy, who explains that they are organized by people from the Swiftie community itself and that, once there, “you know that you are going to be friends with people without knowing them.” “I don't know how to explain it but it feels like that,” adds this fan.
Furthermore, according to Ubieto, communities like this one make people empower themselves and dare to do things that perhaps they would not do if it were not for the strength that the community gives them: “By acquiring social and artistic value, they make one "You may feel entitled to express things that, perhaps, individually you would not have felt entitled to express, such as throwing out of your life a person who is harming you."
José Ramón Ubieto explains that “if a person who is a reference for you, like Taylor Swift can be for many of her fans, gives you strength to do what is so difficult for you to do – like setting limits with those who harm you – , gives you strength, legitimizes you and authorizes you to take action. In the same way that Vox's speeches legitimize misogyny or racism for many, which would be a negative consequence of the strength of the community, in the case of Taylor, the effect is much more positive.
Taylor Swift's latest success has come with 'The Eras Tour', a tour where the American artist unites the repertoire of all her albums in the same concert. As a result of this tour, much talked about and followed by the Swiftie fandom, multiple messages have appeared on the internet where fans comment on how their favorite artist has changed, but that also leads them to do introspection work and ask themselves "What era was it?" I am now? Who was I last year? I am who I want to be?". For Fernanda Durán, the concept of 'eras' allows, psychologically speaking, that one, as a listener, can move between different emotions such as pain, joy, love, fear... which are treated differently in each album, With the unique stamp of Taylor Swift.
