From Emily Dickinson to Joe Alwyn, Taylor Swift is a master of misleading messaging
Before a note from The Tortured Poets Department has been heard, Swifties have turned sleuths, spreading baseless allegations about the assumed subjects of the superstar’s forthcoming album
As you can’t have failed to notice, last week it was reported that Taylor Swift and Emily Dickinson are sixth cousins three times removed. Ancestry.com shared the blessed news – in no way, I am simply certain of it, prompted by team Swift as promo for her forthcoming album, The Tortured Poets Department. Call it the Tortured Promo Department – fans who crunched the numbers worked out that Swift probably has 3.3 million sixth cousins thrice removed. She is just as likely related to Ayn Rand, enslavers or any number of unsavoury people – as millions of people are – but naturally there’s no Today Show exclusive on any such tenuous links. “How’s this for a coincidence?” the broadcaster asked. Telling, and not in the way the Swift operation would doubtless like you to think: less indicative of a handy lineage of literary greatness than a taste for plausible deniability in a well-maintained void of information.
The Dickinson link is mostly harmless fun, if over-egging an already considerably egged pudding. (And hardcore Swift fans already knew: it was discovered in 2020 when she released the folksy Evermore album on Dickinson’s birthday, because she does nothing by accident.) But there are riskier ways that Swift plays fast and loose with inference, especially given the fact that she has previously said she’s “trained” fans to look for clues and connections in her work. What started as a cute treasure trail that revealed genuine information about the subjects of her songs and approaching release dates – what do the highlighted letters in these liner notes spell out? How many holes in this fence? – caught on like wildfire, turning her admirers into sleuths and Swift’s every knowingly constructed outfit, nail polish colour and Instagram caption into grist for their conspiracy mill. Given her relative retreat from traditional media in the past five years, it’s a smart way of having fans carry out promo for her – but at this point fans can’t be expected to tell the difference between genuine clues and promo hints, and this level of interactivity has created entitlement among some factions, who assume responsibility to carry out attacks and smear campaigns on her behalf.
→ Swipe to see more articles
