It happened last Sunday in Las Vegas: the American football player Travis Kelce, who lined up with the Kansas City Chiefs just won the Super Bowl, received on the field the passionate kiss of Taylor Swift, the queen of global pop and current mistress from his heart It was a kiss that transcended the aforementioned courtship and had a huge social impact.
In fact, everything related to Taylor Swift is huge. 53% of Americans declare themselves fans. An academic symposium on it has just been held in Australia, with the complicity of seven universities. His fortune exceeds one billion dollars and keeps growing. The Eras world tour, which began in March 2023 and will end in December, fills stadiums with a capacity of up to 73,000 spectators and will bill another billion dollars. In 2023, Swift occupied the cover of Time magazine as "person of the year", and was considered one of the most powerful women in the world...
How is all this achieved? From her beginnings in country music at the age of 14 – she is now 34 – to her conversion into the queen of pop, Swift has composed and sung songs that recount her personal growth and a happy romantic life. And that they are, for many young women, a mirror of their own intimacy, with parallel experiences: the bad but irresistible boy, the tendency to trip over the same stone twice, the desire to get back someone lost... Add to all this a special empathy with fans – "I don't distinguish them from my friends", says Swift (something that perhaps does not excite her friendships) – a shrewd handling of social networks and a machinery of well-oiled public relations and we will have the recipe for an enormous success, which goes beyond music and has an impact on politics.
Taylor Swift does not hide her sympathies for the Democrats and has presented herself as a feminist, a defender of LGBTI rights and a philanthropist willing to contribute with donations to alleviate some natural disasters. Joe Biden's rancid pre-campaign for the November elections would benefit from the explicit support of the singer. For the same reason, many Republicans would be very upset by such support. From this party, they recommend him not to get involved in politics. And the most conspiratorial wing of Trumpism raves that Swift and Kelce are pretending to maintain a romantic relationship with the sole purpose of adding media forces and putting them at the service of the Biden campaign. In other words, in Trump's ranks they fear that Swift's fame and taking a clear position can decide the outcome of the presidential elections next fall.
Is this possible? It will have to be seen. But some believe it, convinced that such an empathetic singer can influence the popular vote in this uncertain situation. It is understandable that the electorate is not attracted to the Democratic candidate Biden or the Republican candidate Trump, if in the end they are the contenders. Because Biden's talents are hidden by the chakras he has. And, with more reason, because Trump is mired in a hundred court cases, for political, economic or sexual cheating, and because his narcissism, his arrogance and his erratic behavior are a guarantee of trouble for the world.
However, none of this would justify choosing one candidate or another in the United States out of mere sympathy for the queen of pop.
Which reminds us of the disproportionate power that fame and celebrity have achieved in our society, whatever their origin. It is enough for a singer to be liked by the social majority for them to see her as a potential prescriber for presidential candidates. It would be preferable if the people most listened to in this matter were, above the figures of the show, those with a more solid political culture and more discernment about what suits them best in the United States and the planet. But when a psychopath with Trump's record has already occupied the White House, the theoretical beacon of global democracy, ready to silence the voice of the polls and incite his hordes to storm the Capitol, collective political reason it carries the effects of a blow from which it is difficult to recover. This is where we are.
