The Cringe Factor Of Taylor Swift Is The Key To Her Magic
There's a corner of the internet in which Taylor Swift doesn't exist. Or rather, she does exist but away from the mechanics of influence in which she functions in the real world. In this microcosm, Swift has been relegated to the nadir of desirability. Every lyric she sings arrives tone-deaf at this community's ears. Every effort she makes to be authentic, to laugh or to sing revolts these detractors. They don't deem Swift influential, nor do they see her as the beacon of light that the rest of the world, or at least her devoted Swifties, appears to. Welcome to the anti-Swiftieverse where the biggest crime Taylor Swift has ever committed is being cringe.
On TikTok, there are videos - née entire accounts - whose very raison d'être is to slice apart the very core of who Swift is. Her dancing, her silliness, the way she engages with her fans. 'My TikTok is filled with TayTay, but why are they so CRINGE,' one user wrote in a video that's been 'liked' just shy of 40,000 times at the time of writing. Another shared a clip showing Swift and sports team co-owner Brittany Mahomes, both of whom are in relationships with Kansas City Chief NFL players, doing a handshake as the team scored a goal. The caption bemoaned the pair for being cringe. The video was 'liked' approximately 70,000 times.
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But these users and the narrative they're peddling is missing the magic of Swift's star. In fact it's missing the point entirely. This is an artist who has become the cultural arbiter that she is today because of the fact that she transcends political, religious and socio-economic divides. These sects of society don't care that Swift is cringe. They care that when she takes to the stage, or her music is blasted from a speaker, they feel seen and spoken to. This is an artist who has worn her cringe the same way she's worn her embellished bodysuits and knee-high boots throughout every three-hour performance she's given her adoring fans on the Eras tour for the last 18 months. On the world's largest stage, that of the public eye, this is an artist who has spoken openly and freely about who she is and how that may be interpreted by the world.
When she was named as Time Magazine's 'person of the year' in 2023 she acknowledged that the word 'cringe' is synonymous with her brand of high-octane friendliness and frothiness in its accompanying interview. 'Every part of you that you’ve ever been, every phase you’ve ever gone through, was you working it out in that moment with the information you had available to you at the time. There’s a lot that I look back at like, "Wow, a couple years ago I might have cringed at this." You should celebrate who you are now, where you’re going, and where you’ve been,' she said. Swift also posed for the magazine alongside her beloved cat, Benjamin Button, which her detractors were quick to point out was 'embarrassing'.
It wasn't the first time that Swift's publicly mentioned the word 'cringe' either. At a commencement address for New York University's graduating class in 2022, she advised them to 'learn to live alongside cringe.'
'No matter how hard you try to avoid being cringe, you will look back on your life and cringe retrospectively. Cringe is unavoidable over a lifetime. Even the term "cringe" might someday be deemed "cringe",' she said. 'I promise you, you’re probably doing or wearing something right now that you will look back on later and find revolting and hilarious. I had a phase where, for the entirety of 2012, I dressed like a 1950s housewife. But you know what? I was having fun. Trends and phases are fun. Looking back and laughing is fun.'
In our culture, 'cool' is a status bequeathed upon those who are perceived not to care. Their nonchalance is rewarded plentifully. The 'cool' among us leave the emotional detritus from a failed relationship where it belongs: in the past. They present themselves to the world as effortlessly beautiful, stylish and talented, attributes Swift possesses but as a result of intense and years-long efforts and worth ethic. Her star has been bolstered by her ability to lyricise the pain of her romantic failings; she has made no secret of how hard she has worked to be in the position she is in. But rather than metabolising this information as a categorisation of cringe, why don't we celebrate that a woman has broken boundaries, records and others' expectations of her? Why don't we live in a world that rewards hard work, focus and dedication – and the subsequent success that follows these pursuits – with unilateral status and acclaim for women? Is it really cringe for a woman to be empowered and comfortable enough to be herself under the glare of public scrutiny?
It is the misogynistic conditioning of Swift's detractors that is the saddest part of the reality of the anti-Swiftieverse. The idea that women should be born beautiful and talented, not that they should work hard to establish such realities for themselves. It is women who use their time trying to tear down one of the most ubiquitous faces of the past decade who are missing the point entirely.
Swift isn't working to disprove anybody's aspersions that she might be cringe or embarrassing. She's working to bring joy to her fans, to the world. While she performs her way around the world on her record-breaking, billion dollar-making Eras tour, it's doubtful she'll be checking the accounts of TikTok users who deem her work to be cringe. Nor will she be reading social media comments bemoaning the fact that she tries too hard like it's a valid criticism in a patriarchal system that bountifully rewards men who work hard but never women. Nor will she be batting an eyelid that people are posting videos analysing her every move and declaring it 'tragic'. Taylor Swift's star, which she has been busy building for almost two decades, is too far above the banal commentary that's trying to pull her down. And therein lies her once-in-a-lifetime, impossible-to-replicate magic.
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