The authenticity of Taylor Swift is a masterclass in corporate branding, not relatability.  

We are not just fans or followers, we are all consumers and the biggest value exchange here is attention. The more attention we give to the songwriter and the performer, the more business their music does.  

Its a clear cut business strategy as Taylor Swift is portrayed as a relatable woman of the 21^st century. Relatable to her followers and relatable to her followers’ personalities and musical tastes.  

We get sold a huge lie as consumers, as this business strategy is so sharp that it connects with her followers on a deep and emotional level, making those followers’ frame the artist as honest and relatable. The more the relatable, the more the innocence in her character gets highlighted.  

We fall for the ‘Easter eggs’, the storytelling in her songs, and the whole friendship bracelet thing because it makes us feel like we have a real connection with her. To be honest, this isn’t friendship, this is a perfectly executed marketing strategy to get us to spend money on her re-recorded albums, merchandise, and concert tickets.  

Lets get real for a second. The woman that cries in her songs and tells a story in her songs is also a female billionaire who flies around the world on private jets. Her level of wealth and fame puts her in a completely different universe than the rest of us. We have chosen to believe the story she is telling.  

Not talking about her talent, how beautifully she has sung all those songs and how gifted she is as an artist, its about how business and marketing strategies have made us all think that we are all part of her life and share a part of her life.  

We have confused a person with a brand and now all of us defend a brand instead of a human being when something absurd happens or gets spoken about her personality or her songs.  

Its a massive corporate takeover of culture, we are all playing along.  

The relentless talk of her being a songwriter first and a celebrity second is a perfectly curated smokescreen. Its a narrative designed to make us all believe that her art relates directly to our souls and connects with it on an emotional level, but in reality its a multi-million dollar product from a global enterprise.  

We consume a personal brand and its storytelling, not just art. And its nearly impossible to separate the two as this has become a part of the celebrity.  

This isn’t a cultural moment, its a corporate takeover of our collective emotional intelligence.