Two speakers explore why people root for Taylor Swift despite constant scrutiny and high-profile challenges. They note that wealth can magnify problems as easily as solve them, and that Swift's ability to reinvent herself after setbacks makes her story different from celebrity narratives that invite schadenfreude.
Staying resilient in the face of adversity. Oh, and she's had adversity.
She's had adversity. And it's so easy for me to glom over. I'm like, what adversity? You have no problem.
You're judged so harshly by so many.
By McCalloway. You're judged harshly by McCalloway. Yes, you're like, what problem can you have? Yeah. You know what she has? She's a human.
Yeah.
She has every effing problem every other one of us has.
That's right. On top of the big business problems.
And every eyeball on the planet staring at you.
Yeah.
So she has just as many problems. She has money that can do one of two things. It can help amplify a solution, get you there much quicker. It can also amplify problems. And we've seen major celebrities that have come into tons of money that have just blown that money, estates that just vanished. Like, what happened to that person? Right, right, right. So let's realize money is an extraordinary powerful tool, but it can be used in many ways. For good or for bad. Good or bad.
Good or bad.
What I admire about her is she seems to be very public, at least about portions of her challenges and resilience. At least for me, and maybe I'm wrong, I'd love for our listeners to give us feedback, is she seems to be one of the first celebrity brands I can think of that there isn't this almost pining, this hope for her collapse. You know, we build them up, we take them down. We love that. Like, oh, alcoholic? So-and-so knew it, knew it. Having an affair? Knew it. I don't know if we're waiting for that with her. Maybe we are. I'm blind to it.
It does feel like in general, even me as a fan, not fan, I'm no Swiftie. I don't own any of her music or anything, but I do appreciate her. And I think she's incredibly resourceful and I think she's incredibly strong. And I do agree that she's reemerged stronger after her setbacks. She's reinvented herself. So I do find like people like me rooting for her.
Yeah, it's funny. You're rooting for one of the most successful person in the US at least, or one of the top. Like you're still rooting for her. She's been able to position herself that way.
