Text 1. Euro News article 26/08/24
Euro News’ article on Taylor is a piece of media that Swift had no control over, but it represents her in a positive way and as a kind and generous person from the title ‘‘Breathing space’: Taylor Swift food bank donations bring relief to European charities. This article more than anything would help boost her public image as she’s helping local areas near them and will help people being able to eat ‘Rich Jones, chief executive of St Andrew’s Community Network in Liverpool which manages 11 food banks, said the singer’s contribution would fund food donations for a full year.’
The wording of ‘grappling with rising food and housing costs’ almost makes Taylor seem like a hero and as if she’s saving the people from starvation and therefore their lives. Taylor donating also shows her as a caring person as she’s helping people, she’s never going to meat and also shows that she’s grounded and hasn't let the fame get to her head as she’s aware just because she has money doesn’t mean that other people aren’t struggling to afford simple things such as food and water.
The audience would take the preferred reading of she's a kind and charitable person who cares about other people because she's helping people's local communities in the UK especially Edinburgh, Liverpool, Cardiff and London.
Although Taylors charitable donation is a very nice thing for her to do it the oppositional reading of the article could be that people end up thinking that she has too much money and may be donating not out of the kindness out of her heart but for good publicity and people could argue that it's just like pocket change for her and she could do way more although personally I disagree with this. It could also be that she hasn't helped other communities that she didn't tour such as Manchester and therefore people won't like her because of that.
In this article the produces have definitely represented Taylor in a positive way as they don’t talk about anything negative about her and just how she’s helped many people as seen in this quote from the article: 'According to Biggs, the Swift’s donation helped to feed “1,200 people three meals a day, for three days - or 10,800 meals.”
Text 2. Reputation Album Cover 2018
Reputation is Taylor Swifts 6th album. It is a piece of media that she had control over creating and therefore let her choose how to represent herself. The cover represents Swift as mysterious and unbothered as the text that looks like newspaper covers half her face which shows that the headlines and news are going to say one thing about her and she’s the only one who knows the truth and that she’s going to show everyone the truth through the album. All the text except her name is a blur which could suggest how she doesn’t even take notice of what the press is saying about her anymore and she's going to get her name back. The text also represents how a man's words ruined her reputation so it's like a man has control over her but she’s not going to let that happen any longer as she’s represented as strong and empowered.
The use of black and white adds a serious tone to the album and how it contrasts between the truth (the side without the text) and the rumours which ruined her reputation at the time so its saying that she is going to get her good Reputation back and the old manipulated one made by a Man is not going to ruin her life any longer. The side covered in words is also way darker which represents a darker time in Taylors life which was when she was in hiding because of Kanye’s words and fake phone call but now she back better than ever to get her reputation back.
The choice of clothing is almost like bullet holes getting stitched up and shows how the media attacked her, but she came back stronger than ever after all the hate. It also looks more modern compared to the colour scheme that the editors have chosen. The chocker also represents how all the words are choking her and making her feel as if no matter what she does the public are going to continue to scrutinize her for every little thing she does, good or bad.
Taylors facial expressions could be showing how she’s unbothered and she's learnt to live with the fact that people will have something to say no matter what. The use of a bold dark lip also shows how no one cares about what she has to say as she knows no one's going to believe her so she’s waited her turn and it has finally arrived.
The oppositional reading could be that people think that all this rebranding is just a desperate attempt to revive her career and that she’s just trying to make Kanye West look bad and therefore just coming back to the industry to make money.
The general public could see the album covers dark and edgy aesthetic as a rebellion against societal expectations of how women are typically represented in the media as women are typically represented as glamourous when in the album cover she is the opposite as she has holes in her top etc. It could also be seen as a statement against stereotypical gender norms and instead embracing individuality and empowerment.
Text 3. Times Person Of the Year 2023 Magazine Cover
Taylor Swift was Times person of the year 2023 and she starred on the cover with her cat Benjamin Button. Times magazine is a piece of media Swift would have had some choise over how she’s represented
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