Where Has My (Para)Gone?

Taylor Swift is an excellent paragon of reputation. She is the queen of rebranding herself, which is something to be admired. From her debut album, Taylor Swift (2006), to her latest album Lover (2019), she has crossed many genres from rock (collaboration with Def Leppard in 2008), to country, to pop, as demonstrated with 1989.

When she first stepped onto the musical stages, she was a gentle acoustic voice accompanied by her own playing. Her music has soft tones of country roots with soul-searching lyrics that many teenaged girls resonated with. I played her albums nonstop and found them to be deeply relatable. Since 2006, she has been represented by Big Machine Records. She was born in Pennsylvania on December 13, 1989 and began writing her own songs at the age of 12. She co-wrote a few songs and hit the streets of Nashville, Tennessee to make a place in this world and her family moved to Hendersonville, Tennessee for her to pursue her passion.

Her reputation grew overnight, and tickets to her concerts sold out in a matter of minutes. In regard to her album reputation (2017), Swift began to play with her persona. She transformed herself from someone who is reactive to someone who is practice. This album called out those who credited her success and made her a front-runner as an icon of female empowerment. In her Grammy acceptance speech for , “I wanna say to all the young women out there, there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame," she said. "But if you just focus on the work, and you don't let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you're going, you’ll look around and you will know that it was you and the people who loved you who put you there. And that will be the greatest feeling in the world.” Coming from the first woman to win the Album of the Year award twice, her words gave young women the motivation to become empowered, confident young women.

After reputation (2017), Swift released an album that attacked many issues of the LGBTQ+ community and accepting yourself. Her anthem “ME!” featured Brendon Urie of Panic at the Disco and was paired with the hit “You Need to Calm Down.”

Her performances as a paragon have been authentic and true to herself. Regardless of whether it's her with her guitar, like her older melodies, or the hard hitting beats of reputation, or her varying genre-hopping albums like Red, Fearless, and 1989, Swift has demonstrated that she is truly her music, not one particular personality that is portrayed by the music. Just as music can define a mood, she can switch it up. These performances are what make her authentic and true to herself.

Based off her behavior, I would say that Swift is a classic Type Three: the Achiever. She is ambitious and energetic, while being status conscious. Her lack of confrontation until much after the fact demonstrates shunting towards the Nine (Peacemaker) type. She is diplomatic and strategic in her media-related decisions, which demonstrates an overly conscious view of her image and what others think. However, she has the desire for her loyal fanbase to know the truth. At her best, she is a self-accepting role model for aspiring young women. They look up to her because she is driven and knows her worth, which may have been $1.

In 2012, she was ranked the highest paid celebrity in Forbes “30 under 30” and became the youngest artist to win a Grammy for Album of the Year with her album Fearless in 2010. She donated $4 million to build the Taylor Swift Education Center for children, saying that “music education is really such an important part of my life. My life changed so completely when I discovered writing my own songs and playing guitar, and that can't necessarily all be taught to you in school because there aren't enough hours in the day.” The center had three classrooms, a learning lab, and exhibits dedicated to children.

Swift has never failed to communicate her moves through her social medias. For example, when her track list for reputation got released, she posted it on her Instagram to let her fans know the truth of the list straight from her own sources instead of hearing about it from Kanye West, who called her a snake and took credit for her success despite being a self-made and driven woman, or Katy Perry who tried to hire people out from under her in the epic feud which resulted in “Bad Blood,” which ended up winning the Grammy award for Best Music Video and MTV Music Award for Best Video of the Year. On her feud with Perry, Swift said, “I'm surprisingly non-confrontational — you would not believe how much I hate conflict. So now I have to avoid her. It's awkward, and I don't like it.” This displays her tendencies toward the Peacemaking personality of the Enneagram.

Through her words and her actions, Swift has proved to be an authentic role model. Her actions of the lawsuit and making amends with those who allegedly wronged her were hidden through captivating lyrics and hypnotizing melodies. Her rebranding from the girl who got famous from singing about silly boys to a fearless woman finally became known to the public. Since she has follow-through and carrying out of her promises to donate to charities, she proves to be an authentic paragon of reputation.

Swift is an excellent paragon of reputation also because of her $1 lawsuit against the radio DJ who allegedly groped her in 2013. This lawsuit was for $1, a symbolic gesture that inspired women to stand up for themselves in 2017 Me Too Movement against sexual assault. In response to the verdict, she said, “I acknowledge the privilege that I benefit from in life, in society and in my ability to shoulder the enormous cost of defending myself in a trial like this. My hope is to help those whose voices should also be heard. Therefore, I will be making donations in the near future to multiple organizations that help sexual assault victims defend themselves.”

Through my research on Taylor Swift, I learned more about her work ethic and dove deep into the Enneagram. In her feud with Katy Perry, I was able to see how being a nine can hinder your reputation because of the avoidance aspect. Although she didn’t directly address the feud until it was too late, Perry actually extended a literal olive branch to mend their relationship.

Additionally, I learned that confrontation can be a good thing. Through her battle with Kanye West, it was shown that Swift could stand up for herself. There was also an aspect of confrontation that I didn’t truly understand until I read about the sexual assault case with the radio DJ. By suing for damages, Taylor Swift was able to make a statement and prove that it isn’t always about the money, but rather about standing up for yourself.

Through her constant rebranding, Swift made me realize that people are capable of chagning while staying true to their values and character. Despite being unrecognizable in between hair cuts and behavior, Swift has kept her core values strong and her beliefs in family, right and wrong, and her fanbase.

References

(n.d.). photograph. Retrieved from https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/imagesq=tbn:ANd9GcT7pyLB7LDdOny2cCKJWxNZZHAKy05W2SuIaaDPmWxBKpj0Mo4

Taylor Swift. (2020, February 28). Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/musician/taylor-swift

Taylor Swift. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.discogs.com/artist/1124645-Taylor-Sw

Type Three. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-3