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BBC OS Conversations: The Taylor Swift phenomenon

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The Taylor Swift phenomenon

22/12/2023 GMT

BBC World Service - BBC OS Conversations, The Taylor Swift phenomenon

Experts and fans discuss the global appeal of the singer-songwriter megastar

Experts and fans discuss the global appeal of the singer-songwriter megastar.

There is no doubt this has been Taylor Swift’s year. Just 34 years old, the American singer-songwriter has been in the music industry for more than half her life. She is a multi-award winning performer whose diehard fans have helped her break all sorts of records. 

Time Magazine’s 2023 Person of the Year is also the most streamed female artist on Spotify and Apple and this week she achieved a record 90 weeks at number one on the US Billboard Artist 100 chart.

Swift’s Eras tour, which began in March this year and concludes at the end of 2024, has become the first to gross over $1 billion. Wherever Swift’s concerts land, they bring a big boost in the local economy.

Host James Reynolds hears about Swift’s appeal from those with a professional and personal interest in the singer-songwriter. They include the first full-time Taylor Swift reporter and also the professor who is about to start teaching a Taylor Swift and her World course to students at Harvard University. 

We also meet fans - or Swifties - from across four continents about why her songs are so special.

“I was in the southern most part of Africa,” says Agape, who is from Cape Town and currently studying in the UK. “But I felt, even in her song lyrics, like she was writing for me or about me.”

(Photo: Taylor Swift attends a premiere for Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour in Los Angeles, California, U.S., October 11, 2023. Credit: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

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