Representation

Taylor Swift is a pop sensation who changed the music industry with her music that is typically associated with her life and her romantic relationships with other well known celebrities (most notoriously, Jake Gyllenhaal.) Her representation throughout the media has evolved and been shaped strategically by her and her marketing team. Despite her constant backlash for making her songs 'too personal', she takes this negative representation in her stride and feeds on it.

She appeared on the front page of a cosmopolitan magazine in December 2012, shortly after her album 'Red' was released. The magazine depicts her as a sexual being, rather than focusing on her personality or success. The text around her are usually related to sex or body image, with pinks, purples and reds used; typically feminine colours. None of the texts talk about her success, with her name only being mentioned once and in fairly small text in comparison to the word 'sexy' which is the biggest body of text and is placed over Swift's body. She wears an outfit that enhances her body image with the lighting giving her a 2000s kind of look. Swift makes direct eye contact with the camera further reinforcing this representation that only focuses on her promiscuity rather than her achievements or music ability.

Swift's self representation differs significantly in comparison to how the media represents her. In her music video, 'Bad Blood', she represents not just herself but all the other well known female celebrities (Zendaya, Gigi Hadid, Ellen Pompeo etc.) as powerful women. The song has widely been interpreted as a response to Katy Perry, the pop singer who Swift often seems to clash with in the press. This interpretation may or may not be true, but in either case it feeds into old stereotypes that have previously been prominent about women being portrayed as inherently catty; additionally, the idea that females must compete for the top spot in arenas from music to dating as explored in the video. Ultimately, Swift is represented as a strong, female leader who drives the narrative of the video and acts as a signifier of female empowerment, something which she has been previously criticized for due to her dating history.