Good morning. Readers, I have a confession: like millions of romantics across the world, I am a Swiftie.
The multiplatinum pop singer-songwriter speaks to me. It started when I was 16. Taylor Swift’s second studio album, Fearless, dropped in the UK in March 2009. That summer, much to my younger brother’s despair, I blasted Fifteen, Love Story, You Belong With Me and The Way I Loved You (the best song on the album – argue with the wall!) on repeat.
I entered my 20s singing, badly, to 22 (and promptly stopped when a neighbour rightfully told me to shut up at 2am). I followed the ups and downs of her romantic entanglements, her REALLY cringey girl-gang era, watched in horror as she became a punchline and the target of mass contempt, and then smiled at her triumphant return during the pandemic with Folklore and Evermore. While I haven’t loved every album, and she’s been so prolific some have passed me by, I love that her music can transport me instantly back to being 15, 22, and now, gasp, 33.
So yes, I was pleased to learn that American football superstar Travis Kelce and Swift, self-styled “your English teacher and your gym teacher”, announced their engagement this week. The news broke the internet, prompting push notifications from major news organisations (including the Guardian), sparking the BBC to even launch a specific liveblog, and lit up group chats, including mine.
Is that embarrassing and corny? Probably. But I like that despite her very public breakups, she kept singing about love, and kept believing in it (alright, I’ll stop now).
How has she managed to remain this successful, this adored, for nearly two decades? Why does Swift have such a hold on several different generations? To dig into this very important question, I spoke to Dr Lucy Bennett, an academic at Cardiff University’s school of journalism, media and culture. That’s after the headlines.
Five big stories
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UK news | The fertility rate for England and Wales has fallen for the third year in a row to reach a record low, figures show. Last year’s total fertility rate of 1.41 was the lowest since comparable data was first collected in 1938.
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Gaza | Children under 15 years old made up almost a third of outpatients treated for wounds in field hospitals run by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Gaza last year, statistics published in the Lancet reveal.
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US news | Two children were killed and 17 injured in a mass shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
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ChatGPT | Open AI is changing the way it responds to users who show emotional distress after legal action from the family of 16-year-old Adam Raine, who killed himself after months of conversations with the chatbot.
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Ukraine| Russian strikes killed at least four people in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and wounded at least 24 others, city officials said on Thursday morning. Casualty numbers were expected to rise.
In depth: Songs that resonate
Taylor Swift is quite possibly the most successful pop artist of her generation. She has reached this position, and a net worth of $1.6bn, thanks in large part to her devoted fans, who range from “oldies” like me to Gen Alpha tweens.
But how has she been able to connect to girls and women of all ages? Dr Lucy Bennett told me it’s down to her impressive lyricism. “I think that Swift resonates so strongly with women across generations because her songwriting often captures universal experiences, such as love, heartbreak, friendship, and self discovery, in a way that feels both deeply personal and widely relatable.”
Bennett added that many women, like myself, feel as though we have grown up alongside her. Our own personal milestones – first love, first heartbreak, moving out, being thrust from our childhood bedrooms into the adult world and the identity crisis we all seem to go through before turning 30 – seem to echo through her songs.
“At the same time, her openness about vulnerability and resilience, and her willingness to challenge cultural double standards against women, makes her a powerful figure of identification not just for younger fans but also for older generations who recognise their own stories in her work,” Bennett said.
Swift and her fans
Swift’s relationship with her fans can be intense, with some corners of the so-called “Swiftie fandom” veering into toxicity.
Bennett described it as one of deep connection, pointing to Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour, which “worked so well to enhance these connections, being particularly meaningful in the way it shifts through time, through Swift’s different personal situations, also allowing fans then to reflect on their own stories and experiences.”
The announcement of her engagement sparked a flood of videos of fans weeping on camera. Many said it felt as though a close friend had just announced they were getting married.
“I think Swift inspires such intense feelings in her fans due to the connection that people have with her and her music. Many have grown up with her, linking the music to their specific memories and different things they have gone through in life, and so feel an emotional bond with her,” Bennett said.
For many fans, this is a parasocial relationship – where one person feels a sense of intimacy with someone they’ve never actually met. Which is, advantageously, a good way to build an empire.
A savvy businesswoman
Swift is a savvy businesswoman who has been successful largely in her ability to leverage personal life stories into these juggernauts of financially lucrative events.
“The engagement has been announced in the lead up to the new album, so the focus and media frenzy around this may work to promote the album even further… In this way, her private life becomes not only a source of artistic inspiration but also a powerful driver of wider cultural conversation and commercial success,” Bennett said.
This is perhaps what makes Swift stand out from her contemporaries. When she released her first album in the mid 2000s, she utilised Myspace heavily to tease out clues of her next move, jumping on Tumblr, X, and now YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
“One of the things that makes Swift stand out compared to other pop stars is her intricate use of Easter eggs and coded messages for fans to decipher. While other artists have adopted similar practices, Swift has strongly elevated it, embedding hidden meanings, symbols, and narrative threads across her albums, videos and social media,” Bennet said.
“This invites a kind of forensic engagement from fans, who search for clues in even the smallest details. The result is not just passive listening but an active, almost collaborative relationship, where fans feel drawn deeper into her world through the thrill of solving something.”
Singing into the sunset
Swift has released so much music over the past two decades – 11 original studio albums and counting – that fans who have connected with heartbreak and triumph always seem to have something new to return to.
But will her engagement, and what many hope will be a blissful marital happily ever after, change her relationship with fans? Bennett doesn’t think so.
“For some fans they may now feel even more invested in her future. The announcement provoked such an emotional response from some, and this is because we have lived the rollercoaster of her love life alongside her. For some, they feel a core part of her journey due to her music being so deeply personal. We have her songs about the heartbreaks, the disappointments in love, with many fans then using the music to reflect on their own situations,” Bennet told me.
While some are worried her songs won’t have the same emotional intensity if she’s not singing about heartbreak, Bennet added that for many, this announcement is “the culmination of a journey they’ve been part of.”
Either way, as Swift once sang, “long live all the magic we made”.
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What else we’ve been reading
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A beautiful piece from Amy Fleming about repurposing her dad’s old clothes, which also struck me as also a lament on time passing, and how hard it can be to let some things go. Phoebe
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As a people pleaser, I really enjoyed reading this account by Adele Parks on how the strong reactions to her decision to become a vegetarian taught her how to establish boundaries. Aamna
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I love seeing old petrol stations and this picture essay celebrates the best and most characterful of UK garages, including one mock-Tudor one from the 1920s and one in Devon that is now a tearoom. Phoebe
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There’s been lots of think pieces on the dangers of ChatGPT, but Imogen West-Knights says it best when she writes of her fear that the upcoming AI revolution will stop our ability to use our brains and, well, think. Aamna
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Marina Hyde was funny on a day in the life of Robert Jenrick, which involves driving around in a Range Rover while mulling over flag photo opportunities and what gags he could text to JD Vance. Phoebe
Sport
Football | League Two Grimsby stunned Manchester United with a 12-11 penalty shootout win after a 2-2 draw in the second round of the Carabao Cup.
US Open | Emma Raducanu rapidly dispatched Janice Tjen 6-2, 6-1 while Jack Draper has pulled out before the second round with arm injury. Cameron Norrie won a bruising battle with Francisco Comesaña 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-7 (0) 7-6 (4) and set up a third‑round match with Novak Djokovic.
Cricket | The Hundred will adopt a new system of player recruitment next season, with the draft to be dropped in favour of an open auction that gives franchises the chance to make direct signings on multi-year deals.
The front pages
“One-third of wounded in Gaza are children” reports the Guardian. The i paper runs with “New Brexit energy tax set to hit UK on 1 January in blow to Reeves trade hopes” while the Times has “Reeves eyes tax raid on landlords to raise £2bn”. “Wind farms hike your energy bill” – that’s the Mail and “OAPs pay price for to wind farms” complains the Express. Top story in the Telegraph is “Weight-loss jabs pulled ahead of price surge”. The Financial Times splashes on “China pushes to triple high-end chip output as AI race with US intensifies”. “From hero to Keir low” – poll blues for Labour in the Metro. “Flip flop Farage” – the Mirror says the Reform UK leader backtracked on his deportation threats within a day.
Today in Focus
Missing in the Amazon: the ambush – episode four
Revisited: The Guardian’s Latin America correspondent, Tom Phillips, recalls the moment he and others on the search team found Dom and Bruno’s belongings in a hidden area of flooded forest. The team finally discover what has happened to the men
Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
The Guinness World Records is celebrating its 70th anniversary by looking back at some of the wacky and completely pointless things humans have achieved.
Included in the round-up is a woman from Wisconsin who has the largest Winnie-the-Pooh and Friends memorabilia collection, made up of 23,623 items. A woman from London who broke 1,000 roof tiles with her bare hands in 84 seconds, and an Italian ice-cream enthusiast who can balance 125 ice-cream scoops on one cone.
There appears to be no end to people’s enthusiasm for setting records – each year, Guinness World Records fields about 50,000 applications (nearly 1,000 every week).
Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday
Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.