Fr Liam Power: Taylor Swift - a new religion?

I was fascinated by the impact of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concerts in the Aviva Stadium. One headline banner summed it up. “The Young people of Ireland reach religious ecstasy at the Aviva.”

Another claimed that whereas Ireland had traditionally been a Catholic country, “at the concert in the Aviva stadium, a new faith emerged; belief in Taylor Swift.“ 

I will admit that it was only after some tween children of friends of mine shared their experience of the Taylor Swift magic that I realised that the Swiftie phenomenon must be taken seriously. 

She is the 12-time Grammy award winner, the 2023 Time Person of the Year, the most streamed artist on Spotify of all time; the current Eras Tour is likely to be the highest-grossing concert tour in history.

Sharing their experience of the concert, fans told me they were on their feet for over three hours in the Aviva, singing along word for word with all songs in the repertoire. Furthermore, they all wore costumes they spent months planning (determined by their favourite Swift musical era) and friendship bracelets adorned their wrists.

Maya Jean is one such fan. She is 11 years old, who in 2021 was diagnosed with a brain tumour. She underwent two brain surgeries and had to spend two months in Germany to receive specialised radiation treatment. This was followed by gruelling sessions of chemotherapy in Crumlin Children’s Hospital over the course of a year. She missed most of her third class in school.

Maya Jean has made a great recovery. She loves Taylor Swift, her music, her songs and the lyrics about love and life. She sings them all the time! 

She was devastated when at first she was unable to get a ticket for the Aviva concert. But very special friends presented her with a ticket and organised for her to attend with their family. Preparing for the concert was serious business, making lots of ‘friendship’ bracelets (seemingly fans arrive at a Taylor Sift concert armed with lots of ‘friendship’ bracelets and then swap and exchange them, thereby building a sense of community amongst the fans) and deciding on outfits.

Like all Swifties, Maya Jean sang along with all the Taylor Swift songs for over three hours and could feel a real connection with the artist. I confess that I am not a Swifty but I did listen to a few tracks from her albums. The lyrics certainly express a wide range of emotions and express concerns and experiences that resonate with fans like Maya Jean. 

Her lyrics encapsulate concerns like illness, heartache, romantic love, break-up of relationships. The vivid, powerful, expressions of emotion that she captures in her songs would help young teeny boppers feel that they are not alone but are part of a larger community who share a similar narrative or story to them, especially young women.

The Taylor Swift Phenomenon: A new religion?

Swift shares with great candour the emotional pain and struggles she endured. Such authenticity resonates deeply with tweens and teenagers. I have watched some videos in which fans who have had the opportunity to meet with Swift told her that she made them feel like they mattered and that she helped them get through difficult periods in their life. As Taylor sang in the Aviva, “tonite I’m going to dance for all we’ve been through.” 

Swifties react to their idol with a fervour akin to religious ecstasy. 

In many ways, Taylor Swift is a religious phenomenon. According to anthropologist Clifford Geertz, religion depicts the juxtaposition of beliefs about how the world is and how it ought to be. These models or beliefs influence how we view and respond to life and seek to motivate and inspire as; for example, Jesus’ vision of Kingdom in the Christian faith. Swift’s songs certainly model the world as it is but there is also an imaginative romantic element to her songs suggesting another world of harmony and everlasting love where society is not plagued by sexism and hate. Just listen to Man.

Rituals and myth are also intrinsic components of religion. I have elaborated on the rituals of bracelets and outfits and learning of lyrics in the spiritual world of Swift.

The spiritual influences on Taylor’s performance are varied; they include an eclectic mix of Christianity, paganism, new age beliefs, divination, hints at tarot cards and allusions to witchcraft. I have listened to the song ‘Willow’ and watched the video. Here Swift follows a magical thread through a dark, wintry forest. In one scene, she joins a group of cloaked figures (witches?) dancing in a circle around a swirl of glowing orbs. I don’t know if the allusions are metaphorical or real, whether or not she is endorsing witchcraft.

I will elaborate further on this syncretistic spiritual influence in a later article and its implications for Christians. But in the meantime, I think I would endorse the sentiments of one Christian reviewer. Advising us to rise above the criticism of Taylor Swift, he argues: “Sometimes it’s enough just to sit back and enjoy the wonder of a glorious, God-given talent, and to allow them to bring some much-needed light to a darkened world.” 

 I think Maya Jean would agree.