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Electronic Theses and Dissertations Electronic Theses and Dissertations

5-2023

“Look What You Made Me Do”: A Rhetorical Analysis of Taylor “Look What You Made Me Do”: A Rhetorical Analysis of Taylor

Swift’s Persona Swift’s Persona

Sydney Risher

[email protected]

Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd

ABSTRACT

Humans have found countless ways to create and consume media. Particularly, the world

loves to consume music. With the variety of music available at any given moment due to

streaming services and radio, musicians now must compete harder than ever for their

from each album to answer my research question: How do rhetors create novelty in the

music industry? Through my analysis, I found that by setting up a simple persona at the

start of her career, Swift proactively created space for her persona to change. Swift then

was able to incorporate changes into her image and roles, making both subtle changes to

show how she has matured and major changes to show that she is gaining new

understandings of life and fame. Swift’s use of persona creates novelty in the music

industry as she shows that musicians do not need to completely change who they are but

can establish themselves through their rhetorical persona and changes to that persona.

By

May 2023

This thesis, directed and approved by the committee for the thesis candidate

Dr. Lynette Sharp Penya

Master of Arts in Communication

Assistant Provost for Residential Graduate Programs

© Copyright by Sydney Risher (2023)

In writing this thesis, I found myself consistently leaning on those around me for

support, and I would like to take this time to thank them.

I would first like to thank Dr. Lauren Lemley, Dr. Lynette Sharp Penya, and Dr.

Cindy Roper as they have supported and encouraged me through both the writing of this

thesis and my time in graduate school. I would not have made it this far without your

passion for education and your dedication to your students. I also would like to thank

I could not have completed this task without the support of my residents at

Bullock Hall, the ResLife Staff at Bullock Hall, and my resident directors, Erika Mince

and Mitchell Bradford. I am so grateful for how you all have cheered me on and

reminded me to take breaks.

Finally, I would like to thank my friends for the encouragement, funny videos,

offers to work in a coffee shop with me, bring me meals, and love that they provided

throughout this process: Rachel Puckett, Chloe Brownell, Caroline McKnight, and

Willow Hodge. Long live all the magic we made.

Theoretical Framework ........................................................................................... 8

Complementary Roles ................................................................... 14

Contradictory Roles ....................................................................... 17

Methodology ......................................................................................................... 22

Analysis ................................................................................................................. 34

Angry ............................................................................................. 35

Frustrated ........................................................................... 36

Petty ................................................................................... 37

Sad and Remorseful .......................................................... 40

Innocent ......................................................................................... 41

Naïve and Inexperienced ................................................... 41

Overly Optimistic .............................................................. 42

Nervous and Insecure ........................................................ 43

III. RED (TAYLOR’S VERSION) ................................................................................ 51

Text Construction and Methodology ..................................................................... 52

Analysis ................................................................................................................. 53

Judgmental .................................................................................... 54

Contemplative ............................................................................... 60

with Kanye West, thus her issues with Braun were compounded, as Braun claimed to be

an advisor to West rather than a manager.

Swift, however, was permitted to re-record the songs owned by Big Machine

Records and thus create new master recordings. While this would not change the fact that

the original master recordings were owned by Big Machine Records or Scooter Braun, it

diminishes the value of the original records, as Swift is now able to authorize song use

herself. If she says no to songs being authorized to a certain project, the project owner

can then go to Big Machine Records and Scooter Braun to request the original masters,

but this creates some difficulty as they then have to deal with synchronization rights. As

of November 2021, Swift has released two re-recorded albums, Fearless (Taylor’s

Of The Year thrice for her solo recordings.”

Other notable awards that Swift has won

include a Primetime Emmy Award, multiple Billboard Music Awards, multiple

has amassed 196 award nominations and 140 wins in her career.

Additional accolades

for Swift’s success come in the form of recognition from Forbes. As of June 2022, Swift

had earned spots on multiple Forbes’ lists, such as the 30 Under 30, Highest-Paid

Entertainers, Power Women, America’s Self-Made Women, and Celebrity 100,

with a

net worth of 570 million dollars at the age of 32.

Swift’s Audience

Taylor Swift, starting her career at a young age, obviously set herself up to write

music for other teenage girls. Scott Borchetta had been criticized for signing Swift onto

his brand-new label, but his decision was supported by critics who claimed Swift

appealed to an untapped target market: “teenage girls that listen to country music.”

recently, the Wall Street Journal found that a large portion of Swift’s current audience is

made up of millennials, showing that many of her fans have grown up with her as they

have had similar experiences through their teen years and young adulthood.

Scholars have rhetorically defined the concept of persona as “something the

rhetor does, not something a rhetor innately has,”

“a human presence that saturates a

text,”

‘the characteristics assumed by the actor when [she or] he dons the mask.’”

Webster defined persona as “a character assumed by an author in a written work,” and

“the personality that a person (such as an actor or politician) projects in public.”

the rhetorical situation, I argue that it can also be applied to understand how the rhetor’s

public persona changes throughout a certain time period. According to Palczeswki, Ice,

and Fritch, five aspects go into building the rhetor’s persona: ethos, roles, identity,

authority, and image.

additional subcategories to break down the aspects even further. Ethos includes

credibility, virtue, and goodwill, all relating to the rhetor’s personal ethos formation.

Roles consist of two forms: complementary roles and contradictory roles. The difference

in role defines how the rhetor is viewed by their respective audience. Third, identity is

traditionally seen as an internal aspect of persona, with identifying fluidity, political bias,

and the concept of strategic essentialism as core aspects. The rhetor’s authority to

redundancy. Even further, I have limited the subcategories of the aspect of image so I can

focus on the synthetic and believable aspects of image. The synthetic yet believable

aspect of image provides the rhetor with the agency to choose the parts of his or her

personality that he or she would like to present to the audience and is thus important to

contradictory roles to build a full connection with Standpoint Theory and to understand

how the rhetor is able to critique the social systems in his or her life. With general

definitions established, I will now break down the segments of my theoretical framework,

reviewing previous literature regarding synthetic yet believable images, complementary

roles, and contradictory roles.

Image

While there are numerous research studies on visual images, the rhetor can also

construct his or her image verbally through vivid descriptions. Boorstin defined an image

as being synthetic when it is “planned: created especially to serve a purpose, to make a

certain kind of impression.”

While a synthetic image is one that is planned, it is not

consistent with the audience’s perceptions of a certain group. For example, analyses of

politicians’ rhetoric suggests that image construction can be seen in verbal depictions of

foreign enemies. Kobylska argues that former United States President, Donald Trump,

used verbal depictions of savage imagery in describing the 2019 and 2020 Persian Gulf

vivid language depicting violence and aggression, Kobylska argues that the descriptions

provide an image of an enemy that must only be dealt with using violence and

aggression, writing that “while the language demonstrates the US’ goodwill, the

interpretation is that it also becomes evidence for little likelihood that cooperation

between the two parties will develop, because the blame for a lack of collaboration is

placed on the enemy.”

However, this language would not be successful if it did not confirm the

audience’s perception of foreign enemies, as there is a longstanding tradition of United

States presidents using image construction of a foreign enemy to justify force.

Merskin

articulates the same sentiment in her analysis of former United States President George

victim can be seen

as the photo is passed through various internet forums and used to

to another group, the members internet forums were able to create jokes about their

experiences. However, Mielczarek raised a concern about the transformational capacity

of internet memes, arguing that “anonymity and spreadability combined with the ease of

photo editing make such character assassination a daily practice, propagating ideas that

are impossible to correct or control in the social media environment.”

echoed in Shirley’s analysis of the Kony 2012 movement, in which activists sought to

make Kony’s name famous, while also destroying his reputation, and framing him as a

villain to the world. Shirley argues that while the activists were not going after Kony’s

physical image, they were seeking to control the image of his brand in similar ways to the

iconoclasts of images in religious wars.

Finally, scholars find synthetic, yet believable

that might otherwise not have been possible,” despite the lack of a unified cause.

Finally, rhetors can have an influence on their own image. This is exemplified

through Image Restoration Theory, as it is applied to individuals in their respective

personal brand crises. Oprah Winfrey, as an entertainer, experienced multiple personal

brand crises throughout her career, but she employed concepts of Image Restoration

Theory to both repair her image and make it stronger than it was previously.

Hugh

Grant experienced an average level of image restoration as he employed the prescribed

strategies, but his success can be attributed to his position in society as an entertainer.

Benoit argued that “entertainers are much less likely to have third parties make, or

prolong, attacks reported in the media,” positioning them in a more forgiving place to

In this thesis, I will focus on two subcategories of roles: complementary roles and

contradictory roles. Complementary roles, as explained by Palczewski, Ice, and Fritch,

are roles that the rhetor takes on that are agreeable to the audience and meets their social

standards.

This role can be thought of as an individual performing tasks in ways that

meet the expectations of those who have the power to establish and/or reinforce the

normal of a social system.

social system, their status is complementary to the system and the people that dictate

what is acceptable. This is relative to a performance, as an actor playing a businessperson

role may dress in a suit, use formal language and specific jargon that is appropriate for

the setting. Palczewski, Ice, and Fritch. also define contradictory roles as roles that

Complementary Roles

In addressing complementary roles, it is important to understand expected roles

for women specifically, as this section addresses the roles of women in the public eye. In

housewife: quiet, domestic, subservient to the men in her life, and solely dedicated to

caring for her husband and children.

Keohane provides a strong example of women

embodying complementary roles in her analysis of the Smithsonian’s “First Ladies”

exhibit. In a social system that historically wanted women to be homemakers and

submissive to their husbands, former First Ladies embodied the role of homemaker and

obedient wife to their husband as he became the leader of the United States. The role of

First Lady, as Keohane describes it, is one that depicts effortless perfection and makes the

audience feel these women are familiar, yet full of mystery.

viewing artifacts from former First Ladies, the audience is set to view the artifacts and

outfits with a male gaze as they are prescribed traditionally feminine roles of silent,

mother who is also a First Lady. Hayden argues that Obama’s commitment to her

children displayed “intensive mothering, suggesting that a woman’s first and foremost

examine in my thesis.

Methodology

In narrowing the texts selected for this thesis, I have navigated through many

difficulties. Taylor Swift produces an immense number of texts that can each be analyzed

on their own or as part of a larger, composite text, creating what can be best described as

a web of information that she has used to build a connection with her fanbase. Swift has

created spaces on the internet within various social media platforms such as Instagram,

Twitter, tumblr, and more recently, TikTok, where she has fed into fan theories about her

upcoming projects. Much of Swift’s interaction with fans has been through social media,

giving her a unique ability to provide content in ways other musicians have not yet tried.

The volume of content that Swift provides to her fan base forced me to make

numerous decisions about what type of analysis I could complete within the scope of this

project. In narrowing down and selecting the texts I would examine, I have considered

the range of her discography, including singles, live albums, movie soundtrack songs, and

songs she has written for other artists or that other artists have invited her to be featured

on. I have also considered the visual content available from her expansive list of music

social media photos and videos. It was critical for me to include these texts, which are

beyond her musical releases, because her music alone hardly covers the scope of all the

content she has released. With the breadth of content available established, I will proceed

with breaking down Swift’s discography with examples of some of the hits from each

album. I will also explain how her re-recorded albums factor into the potential content for

analysis. Finally, I will provide the justification for my fragmented text construction and

the texts that I will use for analysis.

Taylor Swift’s Albums

Swift has a lengthy discography, as her career began in 2006 and has continued

for almost 20 years. Not long after signing with Big Machine Records, Swift released her

and “You Belong with Me.” Speak Now, a more pop than country album, provided more

insight into Swift’s love life and the trials she encountered with songs such as “Dear

John,” “Better than Revenge,” and “Mean.” By 2012, Swift released Red, sparking

discussion about her potentially moving away from her country music beginnings and

venturing into styles such as pop and indie music.

As Red was more focused on

began to establish an understanding of relationships gone wrong and her role in them.

Through collaborations with other artists, Swift branched out in her songwriting and

musical genre by learning how other musicians composed their own music, stating

“they’re true collaborations, it’s not just somebody else singing on one of my songs that

sounds like one of my songs. It’s a real mixture of the two influences”

. Red provided

more angsty songs such as “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “We Are Never Ever

Getting Back Together,” as well as sadder songs such as “All Too Well” and “The Last

Time.” The rumors about Swift’s venture out of country music came true when she

released 1989 in 2014, focusing heavily on pop style music with simple melodies through

songs such as “Shake It Off,” “Blank Space,” and “Welcome to New York.” However,

a villain role was not her goal, and instead, she focused on happy aspects of her life

through “ME!,” “Paper Rings,” and “Cruel Summer.” Swift made quick a turnaround

with her songwriting after the release of Lover, by releasing folklore in July of 2020.

consumers, since many artists rescheduled their own releases due to the pandemic’s

unpredictability. folklore also gained notability as Swift’s first album that was focused

primarily on telling stories unrelated to her life, including “August,” “The Last Great

American Dynasty,” and “Betty.” Swift remained in the folksy style for evermore, which

she released in December 2020, just five months after folklore. evermore continued

Swift’s endeavors into musical storytelling with songs such as “No Body, No Crime,”

“Champagne Problems,” and “Tolerate It.” Swift’s most recent release, Midnights, was

released in October 2022 as a concept album themed around a question: what keeps you

up at night?

Swift has also recently been hard at work releasing re-recorded albums that were

additional context to listeners about her experiences and songwriting skills at the time.

The “From the Vault” songs also include some songs that she had written for other artists

such as “Better Man,” which was originally recorded by Little Big Town and “Babe,”

which was recorded by Sugarland and which featured Swift’s vocals.

Swift has provided a multitude of options for analysis with each of her albums,

but this also means that I have had to make decisions in narrowing down the texts I will

analyze in this thesis. I have selected a few criteria to aid in narrowing the texts: specific

musical styles, time periods, and the topics discussed within each album. In considering

specific musical styles, I will focus on Swift’s use of different genres to differentiate

herself from many modern pop artists. Next, I will use the difference in time periods to

identify that Swift, like many young adults, discovers new information and perspectives

as she ages, thus informing her presentation of certain ideas to her audience. I will

consider how the different time periods of her life inform her discussion of topics such as

love, friendship, grief, and more. While Swift provided dozens of songs to be considered

albums that show differences in specific musical style changes, the time periods

represented, and the variations of topics discussed within each album text.

It is also important for me to address why I have not selected Swift’s more recent

albums for analysis. While Swift is a prolific writer and has expanded her discography

significantly in recent years, it is also important to note that the focus on her music has

changed with more recent albums. Two of her more recent albums, folklore and

recount the relationships and situations she has experienced. Instead, folklore and

evermore focus more on telling fictional stories, with rare instances of autobiographical

information. With the theoretical framework I have established, having such a limited

amount of Swift presenting her own stories and identity through the contents of these

recent albums severely limits the amount of assessment I am able to do of her persona.

Additionally, her most recent album, Midnights, was released in the midst of the

formation of this thesis and was therefore excluded from my list of albums available for

analysis.

Fearless (Taylor’s Version)

While Swift released her debut album before Fearless, the Fearless album

herself in a place of reflection as she confronts lost relationships in both the original

version of Fearless and the Fearless (Taylor’s Version), showing additional context to

Swift’s love life in 2007 and 2008. Finally, Fearless is one of the last albums where Swift

is placed firmly in the country music genre, differentiating it from her future work. In

order to create a well-rounded analysis of Swift’s Fearless album, I plan to narrow my

one music video to broaden my analysis.

The first song that I believe is crucial for my analysis of Swift’s persona is

“Fifteen.” Swift’s country-pop focus on young love in “Fifteen” provides evidence of

how teenage girls think about love and relationships, making the relationship into

something that consumes their entire lives. Additionally, Swift provides a look into the

popular music video style of 2009 with her “Fifteen” music video, using visuals to depict

the story she portrays. The second song necessary for analysis is “Forever & Always.”

Swift specifically addresses the controversies she had been involved in regarding how she

writes about past relationships in the live performance of this song. Swift provides

additional context to the background of the song through a youthful display of angst and

saying goodbye to her partner through the form of a country-pop song.

Red (Taylor’s Version)

Swift released Red four years after Fearless in 2012, providing a new insight into

her maturity as a young adult as she was aged 23. Swift’s understanding of lyricism

expanded, as shown through the lyrics in the Red album that made use of metaphors and

more abstract language. The topics she covered within Red at the time of initial release

more relationship and breakup focused songs, including a few songs about losing friends

and being replaced. Swift, after releasing Red, was categorized as moving away from her

country roots and into indie and pop genres, starting her transition into new music genres

for her future work.

The first song that is needed to show change in Swift’s persona is “All Too Well

(10 Minute Version).” Swift, in her longest song to date, establishes the ups and downs of

an intense relationship through a pop ballad, explaining her experiences surrounding a

relationship from her early 20s. Swift provides additional context into the arguments and

subtle non-verbal behaviors used in this relationship through the music video-short film

starring Dylan O’Brien and Sadie Sink. The second text I have selected is “Everything

be unable to escape her influence on their life. Swift makes strong use of descriptive

language in this song as she describes specifics of her life with her partner and the

differences in their upbringings that led to the demise of their relationship. Finally, Swift

focuses on the perils of fame and fortune in “The Lucky One,” adding extra context to the

storyline she is portraying through her live performance of the song on the Red Tour.

recounts the stresses of being famous.

reputation

Five years after releasing Red, Swift made a quick turn into pop-synth music with

her release of reputation. Swift’s transition into pop-synth differed strongly from her

previous albums where she had been placed firmly in a formulaic pop genre. Following

her very public feud with Kanye West, Swift focuses this album on her recent media

controversies, discussing her embrace of the villain role the media had placed her in and

how she has settled into her most recent relationship. Swift focuses strongly on use of

abstract language in reputation, using references to crimes to describe breakups and

colloquialisms to describe the tensions of her relationships. Now 28 years old in 2017,

relationship has been a stable aspect of her fall from grace. The next song that is needed

for analysis is “I Did Something Bad,” in which Swift elaborates on the demise of her

reputation, owning her new reputation as a villain and claiming that her actions in

building the bad reputation were worth it. “Delicate” and its music video are crucial for

analysis as Swift highlights that her current relationship is delicate but is not dependent

on her role in fame or her reputation. “Delicate” sets the stage for the music video, as

“Look What You Made Me Do” is particularly important to the analysis, as Swift uses

both the song and the music video to not only justify her decisions that led to her bad

reputation, but also to show that she did not have a choice in her reaction.

Thesis Preview

The analysis of the admittedly fragmented text throughout my thesis will be

guided by the question: How do rhetors create novelty in the music industry? I will use

each aspect of my theoretical framework regarding persona to guide my analysis and

answer my research question. My focus will be how Swift uses both complementary and

contradictory roles and a synthetic yet believable image to portray a persona that changes

from album to album. By applying the aspects of roles and image to each song selected as

analysis by applying the same aspects previously mentioned to the Red album, comparing

the differences between Swift’s persona in Fearless to the new persona she established in

Red. In Chapter IV, I will apply the previous aspects to Swift’s reputation album to show

the differences in persona from the previous two albums. Finally, I will conclude my

thesis in Chapter V.

illustrates this by singing,

scared little boy,” comparing her partner’s behavior to the behavior of a child. Swift’s

petty reaction to the heartbreak is compounded by her live performance of “Forever &

Always.” Swift begins the live performance by playing a clip from an interview where

she is asked about her relationships and her music:

Swift’s use of this clip at the start of the performance provides perspective into her focus

for the song: frustration and heartbreak. She also uses this interview clip to identify that

the partner she is speaking about has done something distasteful, and she is using this

the phrase, “coming down to nothing,” a few times in the Fearless album, specifically to

portray the end of a relationship. In “Forever & Always,” Swift uses the phrase in a

sarcastic toast to the relationship, stating “so here’s to everything coming down to

nothing, here’s to silence that cuts me to the core.”

Swift acknowledges that the

promises of forever and always from her partner have ultimately resulted in nothing but

pain and silence for her as her expectations are left unmet. Swift carries this sentiment

into “Bye Bye Baby” as well, stating “bye, bye, to everything I thought was on my side,

bye, bye, baby, I want you bad, but it’s coming down to nothing.”

Swift highlights that,

while her expectations were set by her partner, they were left unmet as she finally accepts

the end of the relationship and acknowledges that all of the promises of a lasting

provide her perspective of her ex-partner’s issues maintains her youthful perspective as

she uses conversations with that partner to make jokes at his expense. The petty

perspective also provides a believable image as the phrasing and storytelling used can be

the drama they experience.

Sad and Remorseful. Swift, while she has established her frustration and petty

reactions to her partner letting her down, also expresses sadness in her music. In “Bye

Bye Baby,” Swift hints briefly at her sadness with lines such as, “lost in the gray and I try

to grab at the fray,” “all I have is your sympathy,” and “the picture frame is empty, on the

dresser, vacant just like me.”

end of the relationship and how she was not expecting it to end, but the brief hints to her

sadness also depict that she is disappointed that the relationship is ending. Swift also

shares her experience with sadness in “Fifteen” as she states “when all you wanted was to

be wanted, wish you could go back and tell yourself what you know now,” “Abigail gave

providing a mature perspective.

Many members of Swift’s audience and the general public viewed her as a

wholesome country singer, just barely getting introduced to the world around her. Swift

capitalizes on this perspective by focusing on the niche emotions within the category of

innocence. By narrowing down the emotions she is feeling in certain situations, Swift is

able to amplify even the smallest emotion to further her connection to her audience as

they experience a full range of emotions together.

Naïve and Inexperienced. “Fifteen” includes references to the naivety of youth

as teenagers are just starting to figure out what they want in their adult lives but do not

have enough experience to always make full judgements about people’s character or

behaviors. Swift cites wanting to be noticed by an older boy despite her young age and

Swift also highlights being naïve in “Forever & Always” as the protagonist is

confronted with disappointment from her expectations of a relationship not being met.

Swift opens the song with “once upon a time,” referencing a common opening for

fairytale stories.

forces her to rely on fairytale stories as background for how she should be treated and

how things should work out—with a happily ever after at the very end.

Swift also expresses her reliance on fictional tales for relationship expectations in

“The Other Side of The Door.” Swift explains that, despite the fact she was fighting with

her partner and did not handle the argument well, she still wants the partner to react like

they are in a movie, citing “I said ‘leave’ but all I really want is you, to stand outside my

window, throwin’ pebbles, screamin’ ‘I’m in love with you,’ wait there in the pourin’

rain, comin’ back for more.”

capability to connect the situation Swift is describing to common emotional scenes in

romantic drama movies such as The Notebook and Say Anything. Swift uses the same

flying and your mama’s waiting up and you’re thinking he’s the one.”

Swift’s optimism

about this first date working out well enough to result in a functional marriage provides

insight into how her naivety has set her up for disappointment when things do not work

out like they do in romance movies. The theme of romance movies represents Swift’s

Baby.” Swift starts the song by stating, “it wasn’t just like a movie, the rain didn’t soak

through my clothes, down to my skin,” showing that her expectations of the relationship

and subsequent breakup were not met, at least in part, due to her optimism that things

would happen like they do in movies.

Swift also states, “I was so sure of everything,

everything I thought we’d always have,” referencing the main focus of “Forever &

Always”—that her partner in the song promised their relationship would be forever and

always.

While Swift is optimistic about her relationships and has possibly been led

astray by her partners, her young age and inexperience in romantic relationships has left

her with the expectation that things will always work out for these relationships, despite

the warning signs she has witnessed.

also illustrates a small reference to the insecurity that many teenagers face as she states,

“try and stay out of everybody’s way,” referencing that the school is busy, and she does

not want to impede those who know where they are going and what they are doing.

arms to her body and slouches to depict that she is in an uncomfortable situation. Swift

then steps around a group of people, looking at them as she walks to make sure she does

not disturb their conversation. Swift does not openly admit to being self-conscious, but

through her use of visuals and small hints lyrically, the audience is able to see the signs of

insecurity and nervousness. By providing common feelings such as nervousness and

insecurity, Swift builds subtle connections with the audience that may not be as apparent

to the general public.

Swift’s image can be volatile in terms of the range of emotions portrayed in just

four songs. However, understanding that this is the image of a teenage girl who is

experiencing first loves, heartbreaks, and general disappointments, the range of emotions

Role

Taylor Swift’s reputation in the beginning of her career was that of a sweet,

innocent, yet boy-crazy teenage girl. Her primary audience of teenage girls found her to

be relatable because she portrayed experiences that they were also living through at the

time. Swift’s portrayal of these situations relied on amplifying the basic emotions she was

feeling so that her songs matched the experience she was having.

expectations of her. Portraying herself as a sweet, yet emotional teenager who values

friendship, relationships, and making her ex-boyfriends regret hurting her, Swift was able

to use songs to portray the roles she was playing in life. All of the roles Swift played

were complementary to social expectations for teenagers: they might be overly

emotional, naïve, are sweet when they want to be, and are generally interested in

connecting with others.

Teenager

Swift portrays the role of teenager throughout her album, but by using specific

language, she puts herself in settings that are typical for a teenage girl. In “Fifteen,” Swift

sets up the scene for the first day of freshman year and being at a new school with the

your room when the night ends”

room, much like the common teenager’s, is where she celebrates good experiences and

mourns bad experiences. Swift capitalizes on the emotions and common situations that

complementary role in the eyes of her teenaged audience and the general public.

Girlfriend

Taylor Swift also plays the role of girlfriend in many of her songs. Because of her

age, she is often found in relationships that are not healthy because she lacks experience

to see the warning signs. Swift shows this in “The Other Side of The Door” as she

explains the tension with her and her partner within the relationship by saying, “I keep

goin’ back over things we both said, and I remember the slamming door, and all the

things that I misread.”

Swift is actively bargaining with herself and her partner in the

song, trying to overcome the issues they are experiencing, but she does not tell the

audience the issues that have led to the argument she is explaining in the song until the

the conversation with the little white lies,

Swift’s explanation of this argument and subsequent admittance of reliance on her partner

shows that, despite the issues of infidelity they are experiencing, she is not ready to give

up, much like many girlfriends who want to mend the relationship issues rather than call

but it’s not enough this time.”

Swift provides the audience with the complementary role

of girlfriend as she shows love for her partner, dedication to working through problems,

and an understanding of boundaries that should not be crossed.

Ex-Girlfriend

Swift also has to acknowledge the role of ex-girlfriend in her music as her role of

girlfriend comes to an end. Swift eventually must acknowledge the issues that are causing

her relationship to suffer and not meet her expectations. Swift’s change in perspective is

one that reflects on the warning signs that were not initially seen. Swift first

acknowledges her change in perspective in “Fifteen” as she sings, “back then I swore I

was gonna marry him someday, but I realized some bigger dreams of mine.”

the angry ex-girlfriend in “Forever & Always” as she recounts the unmet expectations her

partner had set. Swift states “‘cause I was there when you said, ‘forever and always,’ you

in this album. I will again use the aspects of image, role, and standpoint to determine the

new persona Swift is portraying. I will use this analysis to answer my research question:

How do rhetors create novelty in the music industry?

Image

Taylor Swift’s image prior to the release of Red (Taylor’s Version) was that of a

sweet, innocent teenage girl. Portraying a strategic yet believable image, Swift was able

to connect with her audience and their experiences. Swift’s use of a relatively favorable

image set up opportunities for her to change her persona as she aged and matured. Swift’s

image in Fearless (Taylor’s Version) was primarily focused on portraying the volatile

emotions of a teenage girl, using an amount of both negative and positive emotions that

Version) deviate from the format used in Fearless (Taylor’s Version). As Swift recounts

the issues she experienced with an ex-partner, she also recounts the financial and attitude

differences between them. Swift begins by commenting on her ex-partner’s need to

compare his life to others in “I Bet You Think About Me” by stating, “3 a.m. and I’m still

continues this sentiment by commenting on her ex-partner’s new girlfriend in a rather

derogatory way, stating, “and the girl in your bed has a fine pedigree.”

used in relation to the generational lines of dogs, making Swift’s comment about the new

girlfriend an insult as she insinuates that his new girlfriend is a dog, or a bitch. Despite

the “fine pedigree” of his new girlfriend, Swift knows that her ex-partner’s friends are

feeding into his need for validation, stating “and I’ll bet your friends tell you, she’s better

than me, huh.”

Additionally, she comments on her ex-partner’s need for validation by calling him

“mister superior thinking” and arguing that he is “scared not to be hip, scared to get old,

chasing make-believe status.”

wasn’t a mansion, just livin’ room dancing and kitchen table bills.”

Swift also adds that

Beverly Hills, will never be satisfied with his life as she states, “I don’t have to be your

shrink to know you’ll never be happy.”

superior to Swift, is unable to move on from the relationship. Swift acknowledges the ex-

partner is unable to stop thinking about her in every situation as she states:

Swift also echoes this sentiment in “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” as she states,

“but you keep my old scarf from that very first week, cause it reminds you of innocence

and it smells like me, you can’t get rid of it, cause you remember it all too well.”

Swift’s inclusion of her ex-partner’s affinity for indie music concerts, organic shoes, and

million-dollar couches shows his strong need to be seen as a unique individual with

unique tastes. Swift’s ex-partner uses unnecessarily expensive and elaborate items and

tastes to give himself additional reasons to feel superior to Swift.

Swift also makes regular comments about her ex-partner’s issues throughout “I

Bet You Think About Me” and “All Too Well (10 Minute Version),” using these issues

as points of contention within their relationship. One of the issues that she encountered

when nobody had to know. You kept me like a secret, but I kept you like an oath.”

These lyrics also indicate that Swift did not have much control in the relationship as she

was often too hopeful that her partner would want to show off their relationship as she

did.

Swift alludes to a false hope in control as she states, “you were tossing me the car

keys, ‘fuck the patriarchy’ keychain on the ground, we were always skipping town.”

This line, in of itself, reveals a lot about the issues Swift experienced in the relationship.

Swift uses the contradictory behavior of her ex-partner to pass judgment on the fact that

the version of himself he presented to her was not the same person she experienced

during their relationship. First, using the car keys as a metaphor, Swift was often not the

situation hidden from people they might know. She also communicates her ex-partner’s

avoidance of defining the relationship clearly in the “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)”

short film-music video as the partner, played by Dylan O’Brien, sits next to the female

protagonist, played by Sadie Sink, but takes special care to avoid holding her hand in

are seated at, and pats it before removing his hand.

Sadie Sink’s character then

expresses her frustration with the situation as she argues with Dylan O’Brien’s character,

providing connections to Swift’s issues with her ex-partner’s friends and his avoidance of

an egalitarian relationship:

Her: I don’t know any of these people, they’re all strangers, they’re all older than

me.

Him: But like, what are you talking–

Her: I feel so out of place you’re the only one that makes me comfortable, and you

Swift, the director and writer of the short film, used this moment to portray one of the

major arguments she experienced in this relationship. This moment could also be

connected to a lyric from “I Bet You Think About Me” as she states, “I tried to fit in with

your upper-crust circles, yeah they let me sit in back when we were in love,” showing

that while Swift was seated at the table with these friends, she was not able to be an

gallery is conversing with friends, drinking champagne, and having a good time, Sink’s

character looks lost, scared, and out of place in a room of older adults. The use of Sink as

a main character in this scene also provides connection to the line, “you said ‘if we had

been closer in age, maybe it would’ve been fine,’”

About Me,” where Swift sings, “but then reality crept in, you said we’re too different.”

Sink’s character looks significantly younger than the other people in the room and shows

that she did not fit in with her ex-partner’s friends, not only because they did not have

any common interests, but also because she was significantly younger than her ex-

partner, and his friends perceived she was immature. However, Swift makes a mockery of

her ex-partner’s taste in women as she states, “and I was never good at telling jokes, but

her tone in each one is both contemplative and mocking as she recounts the good

situations and uses the bad experiences as jokes and ways to point fingers at her ex-

partner for being the instigator of ending their relationship.

Swift often presents herself as reflective about her past, as are many musicians

when they write about common experiences. While Swift can get rather specific in

discussing situations from her own life, the relatability of how she shares her feelings

provides unique connections with her audience. A second aspect of Swift’s image from

the Red (Taylor’s Version) reveals how contemplative she is. Swift often reflects on the

good and bad aspects of the situations she writes about, providing a niche perspective on

topics such as heartbreak and disappointment.

Swift, in “I Bet You Think About Me,” sets herself up to be both mocking and

contemplative. Looking at the contemplative aspect, she gives the audience insight about

the length of her relationship when she states, “but you know what they say, you can’t

experiences, citing, “cause in this city’s barren cold, I still remember the first fall of

snow, and how it glistened as it fell.”

of being uncomfortable yet welcomed also comes from “All Too Well (10 Minute

something about it felt like home somehow.”

Swift uses other nature-themed metaphors to connect with the emotions she has

felt in her relationships. “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” carries most of the

metaphors, as when Swift cites, “we’re singing in the car, getting lost upstate, autumn

leaves fallin’ down like pieces into place, and I can picture it after all these days,” using a

commonly understood visual of leaves gracefully falling to the ground in the fall to

describe how their relationship came together neatly.

metaphor for feeling free, singing, “wind in my hair, I was there, I remember it all too

well.”

connection with the scenes she is describing. Swift references even small moments in the

story as a basis for comparison with her own, finding similarities between the

experiences. The media have often termed Swift a serial dater, so she is all too familiar

with the lack of privacy she has in her dating life and uses her understanding of tabloids

“your lover in the foyer doesn’t even know you, and your secrets end up splashed on the

news front page,” acknowledging the experience of many female celebrities as they are

treated as commodities with no privacy and a lack of genuine connections.

acknowledges that the fame is not always positive, stating “and they tell that you’re lucky

but you’re so confused cause you don’t feel pretty, you just feel used, and all the young

things line up to take your place.”

Swift uses contemplation to set up her image as someone who is reflective about

her past experiences, creating a connection with audience members who may also be

spending their time reflecting on things they went through in their youth. By connecting

the concepts of contemplativeness and judgment, Swift shows a more abstract

Swift, no longer a teenager, now has the capacity to focus on a wider range of

roles she would like to take on. When she was a teenager, every role that Swift took on

was marked with the addition of “teenage,” rather than just the role itself as it could be

applied to teenagers and adults. Acknowledging her role as a celebrity now, Swift has

roles of girlfriend and ex-girlfriend.

Celebrity

In her Fearless (Taylor’s Version) album, Swift did not acknowledge her status as

a celebrity, instead focusing on more teenager-centric topics such as boys, love, and

friendships. Now in her fourth album as a musician with a couple of awards and

recognitions in her possession, Swift firmly fulfills the role of celebrity and is gaining an

understanding of both the good and bad aspects of that role. She acknowledges that the

role of celebrity is quite volatile based on audience expectations, saying, “you had it

figured out since you were in school, everybody loves pretty, everybody loves cool, so

overnight you look like a 60s queen.”

Swift also acknowledges the excitement of being

acknowledges that the life of a celebrity is not enjoyable when the role quickly becomes

unfavorable in the eyes of the audience and makes many celebrities want to leave their

profession as she sings:

West initially apologized, then rescinded his apology. Swift and West formed a neutral

friendship, spending years joking with each other and having conversations at various

events together.

in February 2016 when West released “Famous,” in which he says, “I feel like me and

Taylor might still have sex, Why? I made that bitch famous.”

the lyric but tried to defend himself by clarifying that Swift had given him permission to

mention her name within the song on an hour-long phone call. Swift commented

indirectly on the situation at the Grammy Awards, stating, “I want to say to all the young

women out there, there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut

your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame.”

like me and Taylor might still have sex,” while not providing the following line in which

phone call, stating:

A year and a half after Swift and West’s song-based feud began, Swift deleted all

her Instagram posts, completely emptying her social media accounts. As fans noticed

Swift’s absence from social media platforms, talk began to spread about what was going

more specifically, I have chosen four songs from the reputation album and two

accompanying music videos to construct my text. The first song I have selected for

analysis is “I Did Something Bad.” With the general theme of reputation being one of

apologetic about the things she has done, but rather enjoyed the bad actions she

committed. The second song selection I have made is “Delicate,” along with the

accompanying music video. “Delicate” focuses on the formation of Swift’s relationship

with her current partner, actor Joe Alwyn. Because her reputation was poor at the time,

Swift comments on the delicate formation of their relationship as they must navigate

media perceptions and public comment while also getting to know each other. My third

song for analysis is “Look What You Made Me Do” its music video. “Look What You

Made Me Do” highlights that the bad actions Swift committed prior to the album as more

reactionary rather than proactive. My fourth song selection is “Call It What You Want,”

where Swift provides a focus on her current partner, examining their relationship and

reputation album, I will again apply to the concepts of image, role, and standpoint to the

texts. I will highlight the differences among the personas provided in Fearless (Taylor’s

Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version) with the persona she develops in reputation to

answer my research question: How do rhetors create novelty in the music industry?

Swift’s image in the past two chapters has been well balanced, and I have

analyzed both its negative and positive aspects. But with the controversy that inspired

Swift’s reputation album, it is no surprise that the image Swift constructs in the album is

negatively focused. Swift uses the reputation album to accept that she is no longer in the

good graces of the general public and is now portrayed as a bad person in the media and

by other celebrities.

Insecure

A major image theme that arises from Swift’s reputation album is that she is

insecure about herself and her relationships. She highlights this theme both visually and

lyrically in the song “Delicate” and its accompanying music video. Swift begins the song

use of silly faces highlights that she is her true self when not surrounded by fans, security,

or paparazzi as she was earlier in the music video.

Swift also argues that past

relationships may not have been as genuine as they could have been some had dated her

innocent musician, but now her new partner likes her for who she truly is and not the

persona she publicly presents. Swift also claims that because her reputation is so poor,

she cannot offer much in terms of her future because her fame and fortune could plummet

at any moment, singing, “we can’t make any promises, now can we babe?”

Swift’s insecurity about what she is able to bring to the relationship also causes

her to question herself, wondering aloud in “Delicate” if she is moving too fast in the

relationship or if she is saying the right things to the new partner, singing, “is it cool that I

said all that? Is it chill that you’re in my head? Cause I know that it’s delicate, is it cool

that I said all that? Is it too soon to do this yet?”

As Swift sings this line in the music

video, she also expresses insecurity visually as a group of girls walks into the room where

reason to be insecure about making the right decisions for the formation of this new

relationship. However, she is also forced to grapple with what she can offer in a

relationship with her volatile reputation impacting her fame and career.

Settling into her reputation as a bad person, Swift sheds her images of being

remorseful and contemplative and instead takes on an image of being manipulative of

those around her. Swift highlights this at the beginning of “I Did Something Bad” as she

sings, “I never trust a narcissist, but they love me, so I play them like a violin, and I make

it look oh so easy,” explaining that she has learned her lesson with narcissists and

understands how to use their manipulation tactics against them without much effort.

Swift then argues that she manipulates the narcissists she interacts with by lying, saying

that “for every lie I tell them, they tell me three, this is how the world works, now all he

thinks about is me.”

Swift, using manipulation, understands the games that others have

tried to involve her in and has turned the tactics around to benefit herself. Through her

the world works, gotta leave before you get left,” explaining that she is simply doing

what they were planning to do to her.

accepting that it is okay for her to manipulate people because that is what is expected of

her.

Role

As Swift has aged and has become more accustomed to a variety of roles, such as

celebrity and girlfriend, she has expressed different perspectives in speaking about fame

and her partners. Having written previous songs about relationships that did not last,

Swift’s perspective on love in the reputation album is novel as she recounts a long-lasting

relationship, despite how public opinion has turned against her. Swift’s presentation of

her relationship with Joe Alwyn provides her with the only complementary role she

portrays within this album, that of girlfriend. Swift’s roles of celebrity and villain show

common issues that many female celebrities have experienced as they have made names

for themselves. Swift begins to list her issues with men who take credit for her fame,

belittle her work, and use her for her money as she sings, “if a man talks shit, then I owe

him nothing,” “if he drops my name, then I owe him nothin,’” and “if he spends my

change, then he had it comin’.”

truly lying about Swift’s opinion of West’s song “Famous.” Swift highlights her

perspective on the situation in “Call It What You Want” as she sings “my castle crumbled

overnight, I brought a knife to a gunfight, they took the crown, but it’s alright, all the liars

are calling me one, nobody’s heard from me for months,” showing that her role as a

celebrity is volatile due to the situation with West and Kardashian-West.

Swift also highlights her issues with media attention in “Delicate” as she

overviews the formation of her relationship with her current partner and how they had to

meet secretly to avoid media involvement. Swift recounts this as she sings:

Phone lights up my nightstand in the black,

come here; you can meet me in the back,

dark jeans and your Nikes, look at you,

oh, damn, never seen that color blue,

‘cause I like you.

mess up the formation of their relationship, explaining:

handsome, you’re a mansion with a view,

As Swift’s experience as a celebrity evolves, her role becomes more solidified

Girlfriend

Swift’s previous role as a girlfriend was built from failed relationships that ended

from any combination of her own and her partner’s issues. However, in reputation, Swift

sings of a love that has lasted through a poor reputation and an unsure future as she is not

sure if her reputation can ever recover. Swift first sings about the formation of this

relationship and the unpredictable nature of her relationships in “Delicate,” saying,

“sometimes when I look into your eyes, I pretend you’re mine, all the damn time.”

Swift understands that some relationships take longer to form, but she is hopeful that the

relationship will pan out to exclusivity every time she looks into his eyes.

Swift depicts this relationship as a major support system for her through the

high above the whole scene,

loves me like I’m brand new,

I did one thing right,

I’m laughing with my lover, making forts under covers,

trust him like a brother, yeah you know I did one thing right,

starry eyes sparkin’ up my darkest night.

have run away with her to other towns out of shame regarding their relationship. Swift

also mentions being proud of the relationship, singing “I want to wear his initial, on a

chain round my neck, chain round my neck, not because he owns me, but ‘cause he really

audience’s expectations for how she is going to portray herself and accepting the

controversial position that general public opinion has forced her into.

life of a celebrity is fast paced and must be carefully navigated to find success. Having

been a musician for over 15 years, Taylor Swift has created “eras” for her music to

maintain her relevance. Swift has directly acknowledged that many women in her

position are required to do something new with their career every few years to maintain

relevance, even if the quality of their work stays the same.

As a female musician who started at a young age, Swift has experienced her fair

share of wins and losses. Having garnered a large fanbase, she was quickly propelled into

stardom. Swift started her career by finding a genre that she would be a novel player in:

country music. As country music was primarily dominated by adults who sang about

marriage, divorce, and the cowboy lifestyle, Swift capitalized on a lack of appeal towards

could see that she was no different from them.

Using the concept of persona as a theoretical framework, I gathered prior research

about image’s importance to a rhetor and how an individual can use the role he or she is

in to either appease their audience or to provide critiques of unfair social standards.

Establishing how rhetors can craft strategic images for both themselves and others and

how the perspective of a rhetor’s role can change throughout time if social standards do

not stay the same, I established the first half of my theoretical framework. I then took the

understanding of a rhetor’s persona and added standpoint theory to create additional

context for how a rhetor can use his or her projected persona to critique the systems

around him or her.

songs. For Fearless (Taylor’s Version), I selected “Fifteen,” “Forever & Always,” “The

Other Side of The Door,” and “Bye Bye Baby,” focusing on topics such as youth, love,

heartbreak, and disappointment. I also utilized the “Fifteen” music video and the

“Forever & Always” live performance to add additional depth and variety to my analysis.

For Red (Taylor’s Version), I selected “The Lucky One,” “Everything Has Changed,” “I

Bet You Think About Me,” and “All Too Well (10 Minute Version).” With these four

video for “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” to aid in my discussion of love,

heartbreak, and fame. For the reputation album, my texts consisted of “I Did Something

Bad,” “Delicate,” “Look What You Made Me Do,” and “Call It What You Want” and the

music videos for “Delicate” and “Look What You Made Me Do.”

With my texts constructed and a theoretical framework established, I began my

analysis of the first album, Fearless (Taylor’s Version). Swift, being only 19 at the time

of the album’s release, has a limited perspective to provide because she does not yet have

much life experience and is still experiencing things through the perspective of a

teenager. This is evident through the texts, as Swift was quite literal in her descriptions of

career, such as how she wanted to present herself and her music. The persona Swift

communicated through Fearless (Taylor’s Version) was perhaps one that was the least

filtered version of her actual self, as she was young and would not have had much of a

background in manipulating her own self presentation and thus was not tailoring herself

to be perceived as a celebrity. Through advocating for herself in securing a recording

deal, she also had an understanding of remaining true to herself and her goals. Swift’s

her own music and say what she wants gave her a unique position with her career because

she did not have to change how she presents herself to her audience but was able to find a

record label that believed in the presentation they saw at the very beginning.

Because Swift’s image in Fearless (Taylor’s Version) was both negative and

positive, she needed to balance public perception of her. While the general public has an

expectation that she is solely a sweet, kind, and innocent country singer, she also is a

normal teenage girl and expresses emotions in a rather chaotic way. Swift’s use of

frustration, pettiness, and remorse to highlight the broad emotions she was feeling when

she felt angry produced texts that highlighted her developing ability to process complex

emotions. Swift mostly used literal language to express herself, showing that her

rarity, as were teenage musicians who felt they could freely express their negative

emotions without fear of major backlash. Swift also crafted novelty as a teenage country

star through her roles as she fulfilled complementary roles in Fearless (Taylor’s Version),

using common perceptions of teenaged girls, young girlfriends, and ex-girlfriends to

easily meet her audience’s expectations of her.

position as a celebrity, Swift did not acknowledge this position. Understanding what

made her famous in the first place, being a teenaged, female, country singer who sang

about topics relevant to young girls, Swift maintained her focus on the topics she knew

would connect with her young audience. Swift’s standpoint of neglecting the power

structures in her life and instead focusing on her fan base and the things they want to hear

from her also showed novelty. While many celebrities would take a quick rise to fame as

an ego boost, Swift seemed to do the opposite and used it as a reason to be vulnerable

with her audience as she displays the negative aspects of her image and her insecurities

and concerns.

which led Swift to also discard her previous persona to adopt a more mature perspective.

Swift’s new persona included an image that was judgmental, yet contemplative, and the

complementary roles of celebrity, girlfriend, and ex-girlfriend. Swift’s role as a celebrity

was a new addition to her persona, replacing her role as a teenager because she was both

22 at the time of release and also making acknowledgements about fame in her music.

aspects of fame through the story of a celebrity who gave up her fame for a peaceful life.

Swift’s persona in Red (Taylor’s Version) highlighted slight changes in her

maturity and understanding of the power structures and her relationships. By using a

judgmental tone to mock the personality traits of her ex-partner, Swift shows that her

expectations for her relationships have matured slightly, but not by much. Swift’s

expectations for her relationships in Fearless (Taylor’s Version) were not realistic and

appeared to be based on the types of love she had seen portrayed in movies. Swift’s

perspective of love in Red (Taylor’s Version), however, revealed that she was grounded

in reality and understood that while relationships are messy, the mess should not be

aggravated by a partner’s toxic behavior. Swift’s contemplative stance in constructing her

acknowledged that she wanted the fame, but was also not sure if she made the right

decision. Swift’s established role of girlfriend only exhibits minor changes as Swift has

now acknowledged young love as a pure, love at first sight moment rather than an

unrealistic fairytale. Swift accepted the slow formation of a relationship based on a desire

to truly know the other person in Red (Taylor’s Version), rather than the fast-paced

relationships that she described in Fearless (Taylor’s Version). Swift also expressed

remorse for the end of the relationship. Swift provided instances of remorse and sadness

over the loss of her partner in Fearless (Taylor’s Version), but only exhibited a mocking

and mean perspective in Red (Taylor’s Version), perhaps being almost glad the

relationship ended.

Finally, Swift’s critical stance about the power structures around her provided

novelty as she had not even acknowledged power structures previously. Prior to the

release of Red (Taylor’s Version), Swift prioritized connections with her young fanbase

by writing about topics that were relevant to the audience. Swift intentionally neglected

the interests of the powerful as a teen, only to feel the effects of not abiding by their

unspoken rules as a young adult. She ignored unspoken dating rules that are only partially

significant changes to her persona, which provided the best example of her ability to

create novelty across the three albums I analyzed in this thesis. Prior to the release of the

reputation album, Swift had balanced her persona with negative and positive aspects of

image, complementary roles, and only slight acknowledgments of the power structures in

her life. reputation, however, provided Swift with both an opportunity and a need to

make a major change to her persona. Through the controversies she was experiencing at

either accept their appraisal of who she was or to try to continue marketing herself as a

sweet, innocent girl.

The image Swift constructed in this album is negatively focused both on herself

and the people around her. Swift’s image of insecurity was not a new aspect but took a

different direction than how she used it in the past. Because Swift was nervous and

insecure in Fearless (Taylor’s Version), her insecurity was focused on the newness of the

situations she was in and a need to make a good impression. Swift’s insecurity in

reputation came from an understanding that her reputation is rather controversial and that

her position as a celebrity could be a major imposition to the formation of a genuine

relationship. Swift also enacted a manipulative aspect of her image, significantly

that she changed her insecurities to communicate how volatile her career was without

providing any positive aspects to create a balance.

Swift’s role also created novelty through changes to her previously established

role as a celebrity and a girlfriend, but also through the addition of the role of villain.

Swift previously acknowledged the fun aspects of her celebrity role but was not very

critical of the system of fame. Swift’s celebrity role in reputation, however, was critical

for her hard work and how media attention has made the beginning stages of her

relationships harder to navigate due to the potential for the details of the relationships

becoming public. Swift also expressed that her role as a girlfriend was one that she is

now more confident in enduring because it has persisted through the fall of her

reputation. Swift had previously only portrayed the girlfriend role through discussions of

failed relationships, but her relationship in reputation provided her with support,

freedom, and trust that she had not communicated in previous albums. Swift’s role of

villain, however, provides a large amount of novelty as this was a completely new role

and was the centerpiece of the reputation album. As Swift took on the villain role, she

also took ownership of the accusations made against her of being a bad person,

role was also complementary as she established that villains were expected to be

manipulative, mean, harsh people, thus meeting social expectations.

Finally, Swift’s standpoint was also highly novel as she was much more critical of

the power structures in her life. Having been scorned by other celebrities and the media,

Swift had experienced the bad side of power structures and had decided to speak out

about the injustices she has faced. Swift’s ability to make assessments of the power

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