On February 9, millions of Americans tuned into Fox to watch the Super Bowl: a coveted American tradition complete with football, beloved music performances, and celebrity appearances.
But for Taylor Swift, one of the most anticipated guests of the event, the night took an unexpected turn when she was met with loud boos from the crowd, an uncomfortable reminder of the negative narrative that has been building against her in the media. The events of February 9 clearly serve to reflect ongoing trends in the media’s treatment of Taylor Swift; ever since her popularity skyrocketed following her highly successful Eras Tour, which spanned over two years, and multiple NFL appearances, her public persona has been met with disdain, both from the media and general public.
Swift’s rise to fame, initially as a country singer and then as a pop star, was initially met with adoration. Assuming a ‘girl-next-door’ personality and taking on the role of America’s sweetheart, Swift generally enjoyed positive opinions from the public and media. She refrained from speaking about politics and stayed away from altercations, which, in the eyes of the media, made her an ideal role model for teenagers around the country.
Swift’s first taste of controversy occurred throughout the mid-2010’s. From online altercations with celebrities like Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry to the infamous 2009 Video Music Awards incident with Kanye West, Swift’s consistent admiration from the public seemed to be diminishing. Her coming of age as a female celebrity in her 20’s was met with increased scrutiny from the media, marking a clear transition from the fragility with which she was treated as a teenage girl.
Throughout much of the decade, however, Swift still held a positive view in the media’s eye. The real turning point came in 2016, when a highly publicized feud with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian would send her reputation into decline, reshaping both her career and personal life in ways she hadn’t experienced before.
Swift and West had seemingly reconciled following the 2009 VMA’s. The origins of the feud would come in early 2016 when West released the song Famous, which included degrading imagery and lyrics about Swift. Initially, West claimed Swift’s team greenlighted the song when she said otherwise. The conflict became much more complex, however, when West’s wife Kim Kardashian released edited phone calls to make it seem as though Swift had lied about the song, giving the media the reins to call her a liar and manipulative.
The onset of this feud was intensified by its spread online, when the hashtag “Taylor Swift Is Over Party” trended worldwide and became one of the biggest celebrity cancellations of the social media era. The fallout and media backlash was so severe that Swift disappeared from the public eye for nearly a year, rarely making appearances and erasing her social media posts. The conflict painted Swift as conniving and inauthentic, a persona she couldn’t shake off almost a decade later when, at the Super Bowl, she found herself at the hands of public scrutiny and hostility yet again.
The media held a pivotal role for Swift throughout her career, but the 2016 scandal proved just how powerful its influence could be. Sensationalized headlines and public discourse incited the idea that she was deceitful and fake, prioritizing controversy over the full truth. The release of the unedited phone call years later (which proved she had never lied) was largely ignored by the same media outlets that once villainized her.
The pattern isn’t just unique to Swift. Female celebrities are repeatedly scrutinized under a harsher lens than male counterparts, with their identities subject to an ever-changing narrative dictated by the media.
Despite the media’s attempts to control her narrative, Swift has attempted to find ways to reclaim it. Her 2017 album Reputation directly addressed the public shaming she endured, and her recent successes, from Midnights to the record-breaking Eras Tour, prove her resilience in the wake of media scrutiny; however, as the Super Bowl incident shows, no amount of success can fully shield her from the media’s proclivity to reuse old narratives, framing her as undeserving, overexposed, and insincere.
After nearly two decades in the public eye, Swift’s enduring polarizing status clearly demonstrates the media’s cyclical nature, one that thrives on tearing down the very people it once built up. Her every move is scrutinized, her every success is met with deception, and her public persona remains highly debated. As long as controversy sells, Swift, like many female celebrities before her, will continue to be a target.
