#swift zeitgeist

[cleotalk]

Front rack painted & ready for adventure

[girl4pay]

the fact that joe jonas is the straw that breaks the camels back re misogynistic divorce smear campaigns is actually kind of fascinating to me i feel like the combination of sophie not being like particularly famous in like a superstar way but still young and recognizable and girl next door-y enough combined with the jonas brothers trying to make themselves the next kardashians but lacking any charisma or hatewatchability so pushing the wives to the front sank that ship

[itspileofgoodthings]

I replay my footsteps on each stepping stone / trying to find the one where I went wrong

[wavesoutbeingtossed]

Sometimes do you ever just remember what a gift folklore was in the depths of 2020

[tiktaalic]

Like she wants to be Relevant but she’s bad at it so her song names are slang that’s just shy of being relevant that have been ran thru the ringer and are in the process of getting spat out. But she also wants to be a Serious Artist so she throws in her serious Artist titles. But she’s bad at this as well. But she wants to merge this with being relevant. I have in the past thought I’ve been too harsh on her for my criticisms about how she has no backbone artistically and will change whatever she’s doing to trend with the zeitgeist. And I’ve thought I’ve been too harsh because she’s been famous since she was 17 obviously she’s not going to be the same person forever. But i mean the difference between midnights visuals and whatever this is. This isn’t an evolution of style this is the selling of an aesthetic. What was I trying to say. We must remember and Taylor swift will never let us forget. That she is cringe

[ravenousgf]

saying "get help" is so condescending (unless its funny. and even then it could be funny because of that not despite it and now im getting caught up in technicalities) but really truly actually taylor swift needs some help from someone who doesn't like her recent music. and doesn't think all her decisions are great. the problem is she dismisses all crit by fans (fair enough, We Don't Know You) and loses respect for anyone bigger if they have anything not as peachy to say about her as the cultural zeitgeist does. sad! at least we'll always have love story 2008

[woundjob]

my biggest hope for 2024 is that taylor swift makes a statement on gaylors with an obvious, unobstructed tone of deep disgust and i hope that disgust can't be read in any other way. i hope it's completely and utterly impossible for even the most delusional of blonde bisexual tiktok addicts to understand her comments as anything but condemnation. i hope she sounds like when ed helms found out about what they did to the once-ler. and most of all i hope that in that moment, all the people who banked everything on the straightest woman in history being some kind of secret queer look inward and realize that not only are they the belligerent, lobotomized jesters of the pop culture zeitgeist, clad finely in the most ridiculous, preposterous, parasocial relationship clown makeup, but also, most importantly, her music just isn't very good.

[duncebento]

dude i listened to some modern taylor swift today that shit was terroristic and not in the cool way i’ve been making fun of her for her music in 2015 but she’s gotten so much worse relative to the zeitgeist

[thealogie]

Okay where is the Andrew/paul gay element to Taylor swifts new album? (I mean like which tracks, I haven’t listened to most of it yet)

It’s not really in the album, it’s more in the zeitgeist. The loose chain of thought is this:

in “Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus” (a song on the new album) Taylor swift insinuates Joe Alwyn cheated on her with girls and/or guys -> Joe Alwyn bisexual confirmed -> Joe Alwyn used to hang out with Paul mescal a lot -> Joe Alwyn might have cheated on Taylor swift with Paul mescal -> Paul and Andrew seem like a thing and had a group chat with Joe -> Paul/andrew/joe love triangle?

I have to emphasize the earlier entries in the chain live somewhere in the realm of reality and by the end we’re living in a made up reality that’s just for fun. But it’s fun nonetheless

[zukoinmypocket]

rwrb is taylor swift’s london boy and YET it isn’t. there are so many great musical choices idk why that’s the song the fan base loves. yes, i know the lyrics are adjunct to the novel. yes, i am also a huge taylor swift fan. no, i still don’t understand. not when the music mentioned in the text is so fantastic in establishing both character and setting. these are the songs that need to be in movie!!

the music used to represent alex (and by extension america) is completely different to the music that represents henry (and england.) these specific choices are incredibly revealing. alex is hall and oates, johnny cash, fleetwood mac, dolly parton, selena, chente, gloria estefan—as well as— kid cudi, the fresh prince, and lil jon. henry is queen(!!), david bowie, elton john, and obviously romantic era music. i don’t think it’s unintentional that alex’s artists are all american and henry’s are historically queer, english artists. not when identity is such an important theme in the book.

knowing who you are and where you come from is intimately linked with music. geography has such a huge influence on music that you can usually tell the nationality of an artist from the opening chords and strumming pattern alone. a lot of this recognition is subconscious which is why it’s such a fantastic tool for establishing setting.

rwrb mentions a lot of songs and it name-drops even more artists. not all of them will be included in the film, i know. but it should be noted that they play an important function of establishing setting and character. ((it’s actually super typical of casey mcquiston novels. their books have very distinct, effective soundscapes because of this. you can really tell that cmq has considered the musical zeitgeist of the setting within their books. it’s sort of ironic that music plays such a prominent role in the text, considering that the nature of books is typically one without audio. but i digress))

tldr: i won’t care if london boy doesn’t feature in the rwrb movie. however, i will care if rich girl by hall and oates doesn’t open the film.

[jessaerys]

should i listen to the taylor swift album(s?). i think it's really funny to read posts uninformed but unfortunately i love keeping up with the cultural zeitgeist i'm like a golden retriever with fomo. which is apparently a line that taylor swift could have written

[9w1ft]

Taylor Alison Swift did not say “gay pride makes me, me”, release ME! on Lesbian Visibiltity Day, write Betty from a “male’s perspective”, sing like “Bet I could still melt your world argumentative, antithetical dream girl”, like Gaylor TikToks, “and you can want who you want, boys and boys and girls and girls”, wear a rainbow dress during Delicate, listen to girl in red, wear a proud bracelet, not show the third Polaroid, make the best best friend video, do a vogue cover with Karlie Kloss, sing “I want HER midnights”, drop folklore on a certain anniversary, have Calvin refer to a beard in tweets, have Jack say he likes working with gay women, all of riptide, kissgate, be called gay by rolling stone and then give them an exclusive, draw a daisy like the one Karlie tagged her in, get Dianna to remove her tattoo, wear you like a necklace, say “my publicist would get mad at me”, put Karlie’s eye on reputation, whatever the whole Lover era was, be the sheriff in the Gaylor trailer park, release a video about “weird rumors” about being married and having babies but never shut down Gaylor rumors to have the Gaylor theory be called BASELESS!

it’s become a part of the greater cultural zeitgeist

[septembersghost]

It was a last-minute impulse purchase. Two hours before showtime, I watched resale prices finally begin to fall for the extremely sold-out opening night of Taylor Swift's six-night "residency" at Los Angeles' SoFi stadium. Even as a non-Swiftie, it has been impossible not to follow the feverish local coverage of international pilgrimages, friendship bracelet-making, and traffic warnings. But that split-second pop culture purchase was, for me, pure irrationalism.

With no fringe or Eras-themed ensembles in my closet, I rushed to my single seat through a sea of sequined, screaming squads with trepidation and a dull white button-down. Would I, a fortysomething South Asian man with passing knowledge of Swfitism be identified as an unwelcome interloper? Instead, my very gracious neighbor schooled me on how to wear my allotted LED bracelet, and soon I was alight in the same neon pink as the sea of humanity around us, Swift finally emerging out of parallel technicolor hues. The big tent revival swept away any fears, differences, doubts.

For three and a half hours, I too was part of the zeitgeist – a final chapter in a summer of spectacular pop culture revival led by three women at the peak of their powers.

Greta Gerwig, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, and Taylor Swift have been the bona fide superstars of this American summer, transcending their own previous triumphs to reach unprecedented new heights.

#HotGirlSummer is now more specifically #BillionGirlSummer, with Barbie already the first woman-directed film to gross more than a billion dollars and Beyoncé and Swift's dual stadium tours estimated to gross similarly dizzying amounts, each pumping even more into fledgling local economies around the country.

In a city without a center and isolating car culture, for one week Taylor Swift transformed LA's stadium into a cathedral – an in-person congregation for hundreds of thousands. Soon Beyoncé will bring her roving "Renaissance" to the same stadium for three nights. Across Los Angeles, cinemas are still packed with squads of women and let's not deny it, many men – dressed in 50 shades of pink laughing and crying alongside Barbie's quest to become whole again.

[...]

It's been impossible to avoid the incessant social media coverage of this trinity of pink extravaganzas. Even my Pakistani immigrant father is texting me about how to join the Verified fans waitlist for Taylor's next dates. Despite the exorbitant prices for concert tickets, travel and even local movie theater outings – not to mention endless product tie-ins for all manner of merchandise — is this feverish demand simply consumer madness? Is it the cumulative decline of seriousness and taste that pretentious critics lament?

The answer is a resounding no. The hype surrounding Barbie, Beyoncé's Renaissance, and Taylor's Eras tour is commensurate with the sheer amount of resources, time and attention so many Americans of all races, genders and ages are devoting to being part of this moment. Critical acclaim has followed each of these works, layers of meaning are being made. They are an undeniable triumph of women's creativity and ownership. Nobody I know of is asking for refunds.

At a deeper level, the roaring return of big tent monoculture follows the ennui of lockdowns. It is pop at its collective and connective best – the very opposite of the culture that has defined the recent past – a splintered, atomized state of streaming individualism that seemed to be a permanent new state of affairs. The promise of streaming allowed for a kind of hyper-specificity that ensured incessant algorithm based devotion to the platform of delivery. Insularity, it turns out, has its limits. With at-home viewing no longer the only medium for entertainment, I'm certainly not alone in craving the very opposite.

[...] In the communal ecstasy of sold-out Barbie screenings and stadium séance of Beyhives and Swifties – the mood is strategic and intentional inclusion.

What Gerwig, Swift and Carter-Knowles have created in each of their new masterworks are gated dreamworlds. Swift in her moss-covered cottage of Americana folklore turns stadiums into fireside chats for any romantic, Beyoncé's House of Chrome is a black queer club as a spaceship of alien superstars soaring above the fray – and Barbieland is a pastry inversion of the real-world's patriarchy.

There are serious political undercurrents to all this, but the mood at the experiential level is buoyant, escapist and even comedic. Hovering on the distant horizon are Presidential elections and reminders of climate catastrophe but here is a ticketed invitation to get dressed, join the festivities and for the duration, release the wiggle, to quote the "Renaissance."

The closing note of each of these spectacles is a kind of transfer of energy, exuberance and American optimism that has been absent from public and cultural life for years.

Winter is of course coming. But in the interim, there has been a remarkable sense of sunshine this summer. Even those not in attendance have felt the afterglow of the women at its center. Not a cruel, but a communal, collective, and yes, glorious summer.

[herohimbowhore]

The One Direction to F1 Pipeline and Fan Culture

In contemporary fan spaces, we could make hundreds of connections between being a fan of X and becoming a fan of Y.

One Direction to Marvel (could also be 1D to MCU to F1)

Harry Potter to Game of Thrones

Disney to HBO

Gossip Girl to Marvel

The possibilities of making connections are endless.

However, to understand fan culture in spaces like Twitter (it will actually pain me to write X so it's Twitter) as we progress beyond just sports culture, we just need to look at the One Direction to F1 pipeline.

One Direction, despite only being a band for like five years and going on "hiatus" in January 2016, changed fandom forever and was a formative experience for so many current F1 fans under 30. Being a fan of One Direction has ingrained a fan culture within our zeitgeist.

While One Direction may not have a presence in fan spaces anymore, the behaviors that we learned from that period are still very much present.

So what behaviors of 1D fan culture are present in F1 fan culture?

Hacking security cameras and knowing things we probably shouldn't:

Now, am I in support of this? Not at all. I don't think you should be hacking and essentially stalking drivers or any celebrities, but that's a discussion for a different time.

But if anyone was even slightly aware of One Direction at their prime in the early 2010s, then you know that there was little that Directioners were not able to hack. (cough birth certificates and hospital records cough).

We can see that same behavior, especially when it comes to Charles Leclerc. Footage of him purchasing a suitcase was leaked. His address was leaked and fans showed up at his doorstep.

Which just reminds me of a story Louis once told where he tweeted about not having milk and some fan dropped off milk at his doorstep.

You can't have a favorite/You can't hate someone:

In hindsight, I think we can all agree that this idea was mostly promoted due to purchasing power.

There were five dolls for the five members. If you were a Harry girlie, you'd buy the Harry doll. If you were a Zayn girlie, you'd buy the Zayn doll and so on. However, the issue with this was that the Harry and Zayn dolls were flying off the shelf, you'd be hard-pressed to find them. The Niall and Louis girlies, while less than the Harry and Zayn girlies, were dedicated to Niall and Louis. Leaving the Liam dolls all alone on the shelves...

So, the you can't hate one member and be a true Directioner narrative was created.

And if you've spent even a few moments on f1twt, you'll be able to see a similar narrative in F1.

If you hate a driver or criticize them, then there's a high chance that at least a few people will call you a fake fan. Or you can't be a Ferrari fan if you like Charles and hate Carlos (or vice versa). Or how are you going to the paddock when you criticized one driver the previous year when they weren't on the team (iykyk).

But, I find this a bit disingenuous. Unlike One Direction, which was a band, F1 is a sport. You can have a favorite and dislike someone else. Criticism is actually a good thing (as long as you're not being hateful for no reason).

Fan Projects and Involvement/Analysis:

One Direction fans were known for the projects they had and for getting involved.

Wearing orange when they performed in the Netherlands during the Take Me Home tour

The "We Are 1D Family" signs from the 2014 San Siro concert

Lighting up the stadium with different colored lights

The No Control project

With F1, especially this year, there were the friendship bracelets. While popularized this year by Taylor Swift, is like the fan projects that we would see in the One Direction era.

Other aspects of this include looking at the driver onboards and making sure that information is shared online with others and analyzed.

Commentary and race direction don't focus on every single driver's race and often times things are missed or ignored. Fans looking through the data, videos, and everything else help shed light on how individual races went and correct public narratives. It's double checking if there was damage, impeding, driver error, car problems, etc.

Daniel's onboards and data from Austin and Brazil come to mind. Without that information, those wouldn't be considered great races for him. He was finishing behind his teammate. But onboards from Austin revealed that he had debris stuck in his front wing, which hadn't been mentioned by race commentators. In Brazil, while a lap down, he spent most of the race right behind Yuki playing the team game. If you didn't see the data, then you wouldn't know that's where he was on track or that he was 3rd fastest.

I would relate this to the fan projects centered around Louis, Niall, and Liam. Those were always about correctly attributing credit and giving attention to them when the media was focused on Harry and Zayn.

Making It Your Own:

There's no question that if you're a fan, you're going to want merch to support your favorites.

However, it's usually not so great.

One Direction fans were creating their own shirts and other items because not everyone wanted to walk around wearing a "Mrs. Styles" t-shirt or one with the album cover. Fan-created merch was filled with cool designs for clothing, custom shot glasses, posters, etc.

In F1, not only is most of the team merch filled with sponsors, but it's also insanely expensive. (I might love it, but I'm not spending $200 for a cardigan.)

Fans create a diverse and creative range of merch that is affordable. Fun t-shirts, stickers, jackets, posters, etc.

At the core essence of being a fan, is taking something and making it your own. Especially when it comes to bad, expensive merch (what was that 10 in a row shirt for Max???? or just about any team shirt with the hundred sponsors they have) and good, expensive merch (Daniel needs to stop putting out enchante collections. I am a grad student, I cannot keep affording them.)

[dhaaruni]

Similar to how Reylo/Adam Driver inspired a whole crop of romance novels, I predict that Trayvis (Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce) will set off the next genre zeitgeist. At least this time, Taylor and Travis are already accustomed to their faces on covers!