Somebody Stop Swift
Sociocultural
Sigh.
I want to be spending my time writing about literally anything else, but I am so annoyed, and I think this will be a good way to organize my thoughts. As most of us know, Taylor Swift released her twelfth studio album The Life of a Showgirl on October 3rd. That’s fine! I have a lot of thoughts on the album, but for now, all I’ll say is I am having a hard time understanding how this is the same artist that released Folklore and Evermore. Moving on! Swift announced that a tie-in film event would be released alongside the album. The Official Release Party of a Showgirl was marketed as an album release party, while also being called a special event.
I had no intentions of watching the supposed film in theatres. However, I did assume that it would be some sort of visual album, similar to the one released by Turnstile earlier this year for their album Never Enough. I had the privilege of watching this visual album in theatres and was excited that Swifties were going to have the opportunity to experience something like this for an artist that they love. Well, this is entirely on me for assuming that Taylor Swift cares about quality or anything besides making a profit. Instead, what fans got was the music video for “The Fate of Ophelia,” footage of the video’s production, commentary from Taylor Swift, and lyric videos of the album’s tracks. What the hell, sure.
I should clarify that it was never marketed as a visual album, but I have to ask... What else would I expect it to be? What else would an artist release in theatres around the time of their album release? I certainly wouldn’t assume it to be a single music video (which was shot by Rodrigo Prieto, so at least that is something) and a bunch of shoddily made, repetitive lyric videos. After the short theatrical run for The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, the music video and lyric videos were released on YouTube. You know, like they should have been from the beginning.
Why would anyone release something like this in theatres? The simple answer is to scam loyal fans into giving you money for anything they are willing to. Underneath this answer lies the obvious: Swift does not care about her fans. At least, not really. This goes for a lot of big, mainstream artists. Capitalism is the game and Swift is winning. From her album rollouts to the release of her concert film in 2023 to whatever this thing was, Swift knows exactly how to manipulate her fans.
It feels quite insidious that Swift would make her fans pay to watch something she would later release for free on YouTube, specifically when she KNOWS they would pay for something as stupid as this. Of course, she was not forcing her fans to pay to watch this in theatres. However, her even making this an option says a lot. This feels reminiscent to how she releases her music too, at least recently. To me, she feels obsessed with charting and financial success, releasing dozens of variants and versions of vinyls, cds, and more. During The Tortured Poets Department release, I remember the countless memes on Twitter that gave me a good laugh about Swift trying to block artists and hold on to that number one Billboard spot. Yet, there is something quite dark about this.
With the release of The Official Release Party of a Showgirl, Swift worked with theatres directly for distribution instead of studios. Sure, this helps theatres in a way and the film did make over $50 million at the box office. However, this idiotic “event” took up space at these very theatres. Again, A BUNCH OF POORLY MADE AND EDITED LYRIC VIDEOS took the place of films that were specifically made to be seen on theatre screens. This all feels very offensive to me. The intentions here are purely about profits. The theatregoing experience is already a mess, so to know that films were pushed out of theatres for whatever the hell this event was concerns me deeply. I think of a film like The History of Sound, which played in a total of two theatres in my city. I’m not blaming Taylor Swift for this, and this is purely an example of one film that deserved more life in theatres, but it does leave me angry and feeling hopeless that cinema is being replaced with capitalist, anti-art slop. Half-assed commentary on the album’s songs was given space at theatres instead of... I don’t know... Real films.
The release of this *gestures vaguely* compilation of videos points to something incredibly rotten about culture. Why are you going to watch a bunch of lyric videos with your hard-earned cash? Audiences have every right to watch whatever they want in theatres, but I also have every right to judge these choices. In a world where there is a new Paul Thomas Anderson film in theatres, I expect people to go support something like the masterpiece that is One Battle After Another. Instead, people are flocking to see *checks notes* iPhone footage and helping it make millions at the box office. Got it.
Hence, I am not just blaming Swift here. I am annoyed that people think this is a normal thing for artists to do. I am annoyed that so many Swifties walked out of theatres thinking Swift is an artistic genius instead of a businesswoman. I am annoyed that people continuously give artists like Swift money for a product (yes, a product) this fucking stupid and bad. I am not entirely sure how I feel making this comparison, but Taylor Swift is the MCU of the music industry, with Swifties being synonymous to MCU fans. Do with this comparison what you will.
Swift is a businesswoman, and a damn ruthless and successful one at that. However, I am waiting for the day that real journalists – not just some random like me on the internet – call Swift out for her weirdo behaviour, especially when it comes to her obsession with charting, sales, and making money off fans in the strangest ways possible. This article may read as unfair to Swift, but I think we need to start critiquing artists who sacrifice quality for profits and eat up sacred theatre screens, especially the billionaire ones.
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