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Taylor Swift
| Name: | Taylor Alison Swift |
| Also Known As: | Nils Sjöberg |
| Pronouns: | |
| Occupation: | Musician |
| Medium: | Music |
| Works: | Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, reputation, Lover, folklore, evermore, Fearless (Taylor's Version), Red (Taylor's Version), Midnights |
| Official Website(s): | @taylorswift13 on Twitter; taylorswift on Tumblr |
| Fan Website(s): | The Swift Society; Taylor Nation Taylor Swift by Crusnik-O2 (2012) |
| On Fanlore: | Related pages |
Taylor Swift is a bestselling American singer-songwriter. Swift has a huge fan following, first as a country artist but then her popularity exploded after she turned to pop music.
Interactions with Fans
Taylor Swift has always been very engaged with her fans but when her first pop album, 1989, was released she started the Secret Sessions. The Secret Sessions are where she chooses a hand full of fans and invited them over to her house to hang out and listen to the upcoming album ahead of its release.
Due to Swift having multiple homes she has held secret sessions in Rhode Island, Nashville, London, as well as a few other places.
Those who go to the Secret Sessions understandably aren’t allowed to provide detailed information about the upcoming album that they just heard. Most commonly you’ll hear comments vaguely discussing what they think the song could be or casually commenting about the sound of the song. Which was especially true for her album Reputation as fans were unsure as to what the overall sound of the album was going to be.
A major way Swift connects with her fans is through Tumblr. When Swift starts reblogging, liking, and commenting the phrase “taylurking” starts to trend on the site as the fans are not only excited to potentially interact with the star but to let other Swifties know that she’s active on Tumblr. However, it seems as though since 2020 Swift has since switched to interacting more with her fans on Twitter in a similar manner than with her fans on Tumblr.
Easter Eggs
Taylor Swift has a long history of leaving clues for her fans, which are known as Swifties, to find. Most recently in the post announcing Fearless (Taylor's Version) she capitalized a few letters throughout a few paragraphs. Swift's fans were quick to deduce that it was the release date, April 9th. On April 2nd, Swift dropped a 30 second video that contained the names of the Vault Songs that would be featured on her version of fearless. Posting on all of her social media accounts Swift posted:
The vault door is about to be as unhinged as you’ll think I am after you watch this video.Level: Expert
Happy decoding!Taylor Swift.
Within an hour Swifties around the world had deciphered the code and “unlocked” the names and the featured artists on the vault songs.
On April 29th, 2019, Swift released a music video for the first single for her upcoming album and with the music video for Me! there were massive amounts of easter eggs and clues referencing unreleased music. This was challenging for her fans to figure out as they only had the one single and music video to figure out. However, while it was challenging some Swifties were correctly able to guess the title of the album and made assumptions about what the potential symbolism in the video meant. During an appearance on the Graham Norton Show Swift said,
Graham Norton: Some fans figured out what the album's called.
Taylor Swift': Oh definitely definitely and that's because when I was making the first music video, I was just like putting all kinds of references to unreleased music in the music video, so I'm sort of, it's definitely my fault that there are a lot of theories about it because I put a lot of clues in the video and so some fans have definitely guessed it because they're very smart.
Shipping
RPF Ships
Taylor Swift appears in many RPF works as both a supporting and main character. In real life, she has associated with many people who have their own significant RPF fandoms, such as Harry Styles, Tom Hiddleston, etc.
Despite having broken up years ago, Harry Styles and Taylor Swift’s relationship is still very much alive in a subsection of the community. The majority of the fans who still ship Harry and Taylor go by Haylors. While the majority still ship them romantically, many have changed gears and are starting to ship them platonically, with many just wanted them to collaborate on a project together.
TS!Reader
TS!Reader stories which are starting to pop up more and more. In TS!Reader fics, the reader “is” Taylor Swift. Many of the TS!Reader stories feature the theme of an album drop, the process of writing a song about the person they’re shipping the TS!Reader with, as well as dealing with fame while in a relationship.
Fan Theories
Gaylor Theory
- see the Gaylor artilce for more information
Among Taylor Swift fans, there is a notable sub-fandom of people who believe Taylor is bisexual or lesbian, known as "Gaylors." This theory has grown increasingly popular over time, especially in the mid to late 2010s. These fans generally believe that Taylor dated Karlie Kloss, who she was publicly close friends with - a pairing known as Kaylor. These fans also generally believe that Taylor previously dated Dianna Agron, who played Quinn Fabray on Glee. There is tension between gaylors and "hetlors" who believe Taylor is straight.[1] Taylor has identified herself as an ally of the LGBTQ community.[2] Fans who subscribe to the "gaylor" theory believe that she has chosen to "glass closet" herself for a variety of reasons.
Argylle Theory
Another instance of Swifties theorising on something, this time fully confirmed to be false, was the theory that Swift had written the tie-in book Argylle under the pseudonym 'Elly Conway' for the marketing of the film of the same name. Some folks have mentioned that the marketing for the film even seems to have intentionally played into this theorising.[3][4][5]
LegitTayUpdates
A Taylor Swift updates parody account (LegitTayUpdates) went offline for 2 months after the owner went to prison in Israel for refusing to join the IDF. Their tweet informing folks of this went viral. On the podcast Henry Kissinger is Pokemon Going to Die, she stated that someone had allegedly snuck Larry fanfic into the prison.[6]
Charity Fundraisers
Swifties have organized several charity fundraisers, sometimes in response to certain world events, or in connection with concert tours.
- How Taylor Swift’s Chinese fans are helping fight the coronavirus, Archived version - raised funds to help purchase medical supplies for hospitals (February 2020)
- Taylor Swift dance parties are the benevolent alternative to clubbing you never knew you needed, Archived version (November 2022)
- Queer Swifties Raised Money for an LGBTQ+ Center to Out-Donate Matty Healy, Archived version (October 2023)
- How Taylor Swift inspired her 'generous' fans to raise over $10,000 for a good cause, Archived version (December 2023)
- LGBTQ+ Swifties raise money for trans community by throwing 'Tortured Poets'- themed listening party, Archived version (April 2024)
- Taylor Swift fans raise money for Florida bride who planned on selling autographed guitar to pay for wedding, Archived version (May 2024)
- Swifties Fundraiser for Alder Hey Children's Charity, Archived version - in response to the fatal stabbing attack in Southport, UK (Summer 2024)
- Canadian Swifties launch food bank fundraiser ahead of Toronto, Vancouver Eras Tour shows, Archived version - "Tay It Forward" project in connection with Taylor's Eras tour coming to Canada (Autumn 2024)
Use of Swift's Music in Fanworks
Songs for Vids
Swift's songs are popularly used for fanvids, for an example on Fanlore see Blank Space (Doctor Who vid). This multifandom YouTube playlist by hydesbride called "Fanvids to Taylor Swift songs" has over 180 vids on it, and it is probably just a fraction of the overall vids from a wide variety of fandoms. Similar style lists include a playlist by mimi adeleblaircassiedanser, good omens taylor swift cinematic universe, collecting all the Good Omens vids set to Swfit's songs, there are over 60 on the list, and the tswift untamed cinematic universe, a playlist by Ollie Ols that collects all the The Untamed vids that use Taylor Swift songs, there are over 120 vids on the list.
Graphics and Gif Sets
Some fans enjoy taking lyrics from Swift's songs and overlaying them over graphics or gif sets. These can include images of Swift herself[7], or they be more ambiguous, aesthetically pleasing images, like landscapes, individual objects, etc[8][9]. It is also popular to overlay them over images from other fandoms, connecting Swift's lyrics to that fandom's characters or ships[10][11].
Songfics
A popular theme within fanfiction is fic inspired by a particular song, also known as Songfic. This is especially popular with Taylor Swift's songs, and sometimes there will be multi-chapter fics inspired by an entire album. For an idea of the scope of this activity see the AO3 tag Based on a Taylor Swift Song, which, as of March 2025, has over 8000 works in it.
Example Fanworks
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Fanfiction
Fanart
- Taylor Swift 8 by Hong-Yu
- Taylor Swift by pencildrawn69
- Taylor Swift by x-elle-x92
- Taylor Swift by Catriinaa
Graphics and Gifsets
- TAYLOR SWIFT + HURTING OTHERS, Archived version gif set by cametotheshowinsd
- day one - favourite song cruel summer (lover), Archived version gif set by newrcmantlcs
- Typography, Archived version graphic by Charmi
- I never trust a narcissist, oh, but they love me..., Archived version gif set by folklorefest
- And he feels like home, Archived version graphic by sadbeautifutragic
- 3k Celebration Event: day two - favourite album ↳ Lover gif set by thegirlwhogotfrozen
Meta
- Gaylor Swift: An Introduction [2](archived) by afterhermidnights, a 70k word meta explaining the theory
Example Art Gallery
Taylor Swift-- Fearless Cover by SpiritedAway2 (2008)
Fanmade Album Cover Art by FellenBlue (2014) for Taylor Swift's song "Shake It Off"
Speak Now Moodboard by womanatwork23 (2024)
Links & Resources
- Taylor Swift (Musician) works on AO3 - fandom tag
- Taylor Swift works on Ao3 - character tag
- taylor swift on Tumblr
- Taylorswift13 twitter account
References
- ^ Cruz, Caitlin (March 25, 2022). "The Enduring Fervor of Gaylor Fan Theory". Jezebel. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
- ^ Taylor Swift on Sexism, Scrutiny, and Standing Up for Herself by Abby Aguirre at Vogue, 08 August 2019. Taylor Swift is quoted regarding her support for LGBTQ rights: "I didn’t realize until recently that I could advocate for a community that I’m not a part of."
- ^ Argylle: Why Fans Are Convinced That Taylor Swift Is Behind Matthew Vaughn's New Spy Movie (Oct 2023)
- ^ Taylor Swift Did Not Write the Argylle Book, So Why Do Swifties Think She Did?
- ^ People think Taylor Swift wrote a movie. It's SO BAD. (Feb 2024) by D'Angelo Wallace
- ^ The Taylor Swift Stan that went to Prison (November 2019)
- ^ "They say I did something bad, then why's it feel so good?". Archived from the original on 2025-03-27.
- ^ "folklore tracks + favorite lyrics". Archived from the original on 2025-03-27.
- ^ "favorite folklore words". Archived from the original on 2025-03-27.
- ^ "BUCKTOMMY + "Guilty as Sin?" by Taylor Swift". Archived from the original on 2025-03-27.
- ^ "My heart for Xadia". Archived from the original on 2025-03-27.