Taylor Swift, political power, and the challenge of affect in popular music fandom

Abstract

When Taylor Swift came out politically via Instagram in 2018, her fans, the Swifties, reacted to their object of affection and her political position. An analysis of the online fan response provides a snapshot of how politics is empirically manifest in mainstream pop music fandoms—a genre and space often overlooked when it comes to discussing politics.

Keywords

• celebrity politician
• fan comments
• polarization
• swifties
• vigilantism