On Feb. 24, singer Kanin Wren brought the Taylor Swift experience to Ferris. With 100 fans swaying to Wren’s covers, the conversation around Swift’s impact continues in Big Rapids.
Though Swift has been trending in the news for some time, negative opinions on her have resurfaced as she’s threatened to sue Jack Sweeney, a Florida college student who tracks private jet usage of celebrities.
According to CBS News, Sweeney found that between January and July 2022, Swift flew in her jet 170 times, which brought her to the top of the list. Digital marketing team Yard published a report that showed Swift was not touring during that time and her average flight was only 80 minutes long.
Despite the statistics, Swift still has one of the largest fan bases.
History professor Dr. Tracy Busch used to dislike Swift. After spending time analyzing the top-chart artist’s lyrics, Busch has become a hard-core Swiftie. She describes listening to Swift’s music as cathartic and relatable.
“Taylor Swift and her lyrics bring us together because she’s singing about the human experience,” Busch said. “She makes feminine anger possible. We can be angry [and] we can listen to mad women.”
Busch feels that Swift has made a positive impact on feminism in today’s society.
“Taylor has proven that it’s possible to be both feminine and a feminist,” Bush said. “We all want to believe that we’re moving forward as a society, and I’m always reluctant to believe in progress because I’m a historian and bad things continue to happen. I think that this is a breakthrough moment where male privilege might be starting to fade into the background and we might be moving towards a more equal society.”
Radiography freshman Ava Tieri grew up listening to Taylor Swift. She feels that even if someone didn’t like Taylor Swift when they were growing up, everyone still knew a song from her because of her popularity.
Aside from her music and performances, Tieri believes the star has become a role model for young girls to look up to.
“She does a good job with her music and going through all different genres show how one person, especially a young girl, can change her mind and try different things out,” Tieri said. “All of a sudden it’s becoming more of a trend to not like Taylor Swift than it is to like her, but I look up to her because I still think she is a good representation of how you can be so successful if you put your heart and soul into it.”
For some, critiquing Swift is more than just a trend. Social work junior Samara Tyus is president of Ferris’ Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance. She dislikes Swift because she feels that she doesn’t use her platform properly. While Swift has a large fan base and following on her social media, Tyus feels that she chooses not to talk about real-world issues.
Even though Tyus believes that Swift’s accomplishments are a big win for feminism, she feels that Swift is overall disingenuous when it comes to activism.
“A lot of the things she does speak on seem performative,” Tyus said. “It seems like she only speaks out when she knows it will benefit her career. I don’t like that she is seen as a face of feminism.”
Whether someone loves, critiques or is annoyed by Swift, her influence on campus and beyond in 2024 is undeniable.
