Mediast10 Paper 2
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Uploaded by levinaval01
Teresa Viriya Tenggono
Media Studies 10
Professor Josh Jackson
November 17, 2023
Celebrities and Their Star Text
Popular culture, particularly American pop music, has recently emerged as a critical
factor shaping cultures worldwide when globalization has an ever-increasing impact. Singers and
songwriters, for example, are crucial cultural champions because they use music to convey
personal identities, sentiments, views, and bigger societal storylines. However, the widespread
availability of cultural goods highlights the complex ways individuals might understand artists
with opposing viewpoints. Taylor Swift's career in the music industry demonstrates how artists,
their artistic identity, and the various things that people do that influence how people react to
their work are all interconnected. This research aims to describe in detail how crowd actions
affect how celebrity identities evolve in American pop music. The thesis of this paper is that
Taylor Swift's response to her controversy with numerous musicians, particularly Kanye West,
was to release the tune "Look What You Make Me Do," which received mixed reactions from
fans; some considered her as independent and strong, while others saw her as manipulating and
childlike.
According to the
Celebrity
lecture, a celebrity can be defined as someone who draws so
much attention that their lives and traits are of public interest. It is also a form of text that the
public can analyze for meaning, and the accumulation of the concept or meaning behind a
particular celebrity is called the star text. There are four components of celebrities’ star text. The
first component is the body of their work; a singer’s body of work would be their singles and
albums, whereas an actor or actress’s bodywork would be their movies. The second is promotion,
which functions as authorized image construction of the celebrity; it could be press releases,
advertisements, posters, and social media outlets that are controlled directly by the celebrity. The
third component of star text is the celebrity’s publicity, generated by the press outside the
celebrity's control. Audience practice, the fourth component of star text, is the central concept
discussed in this paper. Audience practices are ways the general public, including fans and anti-
fans, perceive a celebrity. As Fiske elaborated, the ideological meaning behind a celebrity is
more important than the products they produce. However, in the context of singers or musicians,
it highlights the musical pleasures that are highly resistant to analysis and challenging to
communicate in the words and pictures that are vital in the flow of culture (Fiske, n.d.).
The first focus of this paper is to discuss Taylor Swift's initial star text before she was
involved in scandals. Taylor Alison Swift, also known as Taylor Swift, is a female American
singer and songwriter. She began by establishing a robust public presence as a genuine, likable
girl with a developing and maturing sense of self who was also a country star (Luu, 2020). She
started writing music lyrics at 14 and was famous for being a country musician for years. Taylor
Swift's debut single, "Tim McGraw," was titled after a country performer and began delineating
her identity at a time when the music business was keen to identify a fresh young talent in this
specific genre (Allan, 2019). During her debut, she confirmed to be in a romantic relationship
with Joe Jonas, depicting a teenage dream of falling in love and making her fictional music a
reality, attracting more fans as they can feel the relatedness with a teenager’s love life. Even
though she was known as a country singer before, as music and art keep evolving, she has
changed her songs into pop songs while maintaining her previous fans, creating a solid fandom
for her music career. Her
1989
album
marked the beginning of Swift's career as a global star.
1989 was her first "official" pop album, which peaked at the number-one position on the
Billboard chart. Swift’s first single from this album, "Shake It Off," also charted at the top, and
her 1989 World Tour earned more than USD 250 million (Allan, 2019). Swift's evolution as a
performer continued with the release of this album; even though some songs dealt with pertinent
relationship concerns, she still maintained the love themes that made her famous and identifiable
melodies. Throughout her music career of approximately 18 years, she has made many global-
worthy songs with a theme of love and heartbreak, such as “Wildest Dreams,” “Style,” “All Too
Well,” and “Speak Now.” Though her personal tales may appear to be far away from what many
people have gone through, there is something at the core of them that we can all identify with
(Luu, 2020).
Nevertheless, her album
Reputation
in 2017 was the hallmark of change.
Reputation
was
musically more electronic and darker in its synth-pop sounds than her earlier country or pop fare.
However, it was also lyrically more fan-oriented in places, allowing her to reconnect with her
fans (Allen, 2019). Her title track, “Look What You Made Me Do,” was her most significant
changing point throughout her career, as she created a solid song to insult her haters.
Her intense
and dark single was a response to a scandal that was accused of by no other than Kanye West and
his wife, Kim Kardashian.
Taylor Swift and Kanye West’s drama had occurred since 2009, hugely impacting Swift’s
career and star text. It all started when West cut Taylor’s speech when she won an award for Best
Female Video in MTV Video Music Award (VMA) in 2009. Several years later, Swift’s first
tested the public's patience at the 2016 Grammys when 1989 defeated Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp
a Butterfly for album of the year (Nevins, 2018). The dispute began to rise when Kanye West
released a new single called “Famous,” with lyrics that used Swift’s name and called her “a
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b*tch.” Hearing the songs, Swift felt uncomfortable and outrageous as she did not recall West
asking permission from Swift herself. She objected to a phrase that referred to her with a curse
word when the song was finally published (Savage, 2020). However, Kim Kardashian suddenly
leaked a phone call where West asked Swift’s permission to release these particular lyrics in his
new single, which Taylor approved. Later, Swift’s representative stated that Swift refused and
warned him against producing a song with such an overwhelming sexist message (Abad-Santos,
2016). The Kardashians also tweeted a snake emoticon on Snake International Day, which fans
saw as a satire of Taylor Swift as the villain in the music industry (Nevins, 2018).
As a response to the scandal, “Look What You Made Me Do” was released by Taylor
Swift. Swift doubles down on her spiteful streak in the video for LWYMMD, which aired at
Sunday night's VMAs, making theater of her scandal-riddled career in a bid to express a self-
awareness that generally escaped her (Nevins, 2018). Most of the scenes from the music video
described real-life events that had happened to Swift. Starting from the beginning, she dug her
own grave to convey the meaning that the old Taylor Swift was no longer there. One significant
scene from the music video that acted as her defense of the West and Kardashian scandal was
when Swift sat on a throne with snakes below her. Swift appears to be ready to accept the ‘snake’
label after one year, as she released mysterious reptile trailers for LWYMMD (Nevins, 2018).
As time passed, more people learned and searched about the dispute between West and
Swift. After Swift and West’s phone call was leaked and LWYMMD’s music video was released,
some fans accused her of ‘evil’ and gave hate comments. The hashtag #TaylorSwiftIsASnake
became a trend several years ago as a dig at the singer, who has a history of feuding with other
celebrities (France, 2017). Not only were people angry and disappointed by Swift, but they also
began to support the Kardashians by creating #KimExposedTaylorParty. Because of the
widespread hate, Swift acknowledged and stated that she had hit rock bottom and felt depressed.
However, she did not sit back; she voiced her opinion instead and attracted many empathies from
other people, especially her loyal fans. Swift's response to the issue demonstrates how she can
utilize challenges to create innovative ideas, a recurring theme in her work. Swift's life altered
dramatically during this period of turmoil, allowing her to become a more self-sufficient artist.
Rather than submitting to the negative connotations connected with serpent imagery, Swift
cleverly converted it into a symbol of empowerment and rebellion. She embraced the serpentine
comparison and incorporated the reptile concept into her 2017 "Reputation" album and
associated stadium tour (Saad, 2019).
In conclusion, this paper analyzes the complex relationships between artists, their
creative output, and audience practices in American pop music, focusing on how Taylor Swift’s
star text has changed over the years. The study focuses on the many aspects of a celebrity's star
text, highlighting the four main parts: the body of their work, promotion, marketing, and
audience practices. Swift's rise from a country singer to a worldwide pop star shows how hard
she manages her public image while staying true to who she is becoming. Swift's answer to the
Kanye West scandal through her song "Look What You Made Me Do" has been closely
examined. This shows how audience practices change over time and how they affect famous
stories. Swift's clever use of her music to express herself and regain control of her public image
adds to the conversation about how celebrities deal with scandals and how the public sees them.
The fact that Swift used the snake theme in her art, first used as an insult by her critics, shows
how strong she is and how she can turn hardship into creative strength. The story of Taylor
Swift's life is an interesting case study showing how famous identities can change over time and
how audience habits can change the story of a public figure.
Reference
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Kanye West and Taylor Swift’s latest fight explained
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https://www.vox.com/2016/2/12/10981946/kanye-taylor-fight
Allan, D. B., (2019). Taylor made: Swift branding. In Sage Business Cases. SAGE Publications,
Ltd.,
https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526470638
Cullen. (2016, March 1). The Innocent and the Runaway: Kanye West, Taylor Swift, and the
Cultural Politics of Racial Melodrama. Journal of Popular Music Studies, 28(1), 33–50.
https://doi.org/10.1111/jpms.12160
France, L. R. (2017, August 23).
Taylor Swift and snakes: The backstory
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November 14, 2023, from
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snakes/index.html
Luu, C. (2020, September 2).
The Linguistic Evolution of Taylor Swift
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https://daily.jstor.org/the-linguistic-evolution-of-taylor-swift/
Nevins, J. (2018, April 23).
Look what you made her do: decoding the disses of Taylor Swift’s
new video
. The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/aug/28/taylor-swift-
look-what-you-made-me-do-music-video
Saad, N. (2019, March 6).
Taylor Swift fires back at Kim Kardashian’s ‘snake’ diss — nearly
three years later - Los Angeles Times
. Los Angeles Times.
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-mg-taylor-swift-snake-kim-kardashian-elle-
20190306-story.html
Savage, B. M. (2020, March 23).
Taylor Swift and Kanye West’s phone call leaks
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https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-52003974
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