{"id":166013,"date":"2024-04-04T14:02:22","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T12:02:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=166013"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:16","slug":"why-conspiracy-theorists-believe-taylor-swift-will-soon-give-birth-to-the-antichrist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2024\/04\/04\/why-conspiracy-theorists-believe-taylor-swift-will-soon-give-birth-to-the-antichrist\/","title":{"rendered":"Why conspiracy theorists believe Taylor Swift will soon give birth to the antichrist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taylor Swift seems to be an unstoppable force these days. Everything the American pop singer and newly-minted billionaire does is news. She is also regularly focus of fake news headlines or full-blown conspiracy theories. What attracts so many \u2018Swifties\u2019 to her and why are so many weird stories being made up about her? Researcher Simone Driessen (ESHCC) is a founding member of an international research network on Taylor Swift and has all the answers.<\/p>\n

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How big is Taylor Swift really, when you compare her to other pop icons?<\/strong><\/p>\n

While I think it\u2019s too soon to say she\u2019s the greatest of all time, you can definitely compare her to Madonna, Beyonc\u00e9 or Kylie Minogue at their peak. But that being said, what is happening in recent weeks is unprecedented. Her world tour is huge and completely sold out. And yes, Beyonc\u00e9 can say the same thing, but with Swift it\u2019s all just a bit bigger.<\/p>\n\t

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Simone Driessen is assistant professor in Media & Popular Culture at the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication. She did her PhD on research into the loyalty of fans of mainstream pop music, including those of the Backstreet Boys. She is also a founding member of an international research network on Taylor Swift and her fans.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

How did she \u2013 having starting out as a fairly average country singer \u2013 become so big?<\/strong><\/p>\n

By constantly adopting a new look, actually. This is quite literal: for each tour, she took on a slightly different identity or used a different colour. for the album Lover<\/em>, for example, she used a lot of pastels and soft but vibrant colours such as pink and light blue. The album folklore<\/em>, by comparison, features many shades of grey. So she was always reinventing herself. This meant her fans were able to grow along with her, and as a result, she is now standing onstage as a grown woman, not a 34-year-old playing a 14-year-old.<\/p>\n

She also makes very clever use of social media. For such a high-profile celebrity, she has quite a mysterious private life, but she does leave all kinds of Easter eggs \u2013 hidden messages \u2013 which her fans then go looking for. These can be song lyrics that refer to the release of her next album, for example, or to an event in her life. Sometimes fans may see things that are not there, but some messages are ones she has very intentionally planted.<\/p>\n

Lately, she all of a sudden seems to have this huge influence outside her music; why is that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s really crazy, because she never wanted that. She remained politically silent for a very long time, whereas her \u2018peers\u2019, such as Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Beyonc\u00e9, have been speaking out for much longer. You also have to remember that it was quite scary for her to speak out politically \u2013 you can lose a lot of fans doing that. To give an example: The Chicks (formerly The Dixie Chicks) expressed negative views on George Bush on the eve of the Iraq war. This led to them being blacklisted by several radio stations, selling fewer tickets and losing sponsorship deals.<\/p>\n

Swift herself only began speaking out in 2018. At first, it was still very cautious: she didn\u2019t even urge fans to vote for a particular candidate, but simply made it clear that she stands for certain values. She called for a more feminist perspective in US politics and expressed support for the LGBT community. This was ahead of the US midterm elections, two years into Trump\u2019s presidency. So that did cause a commotion, especially in the country music scene.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018Swift is a free-spirited woman who\u2019s \u2018getting up there\u2019 in age: at 34 years old, she has no family and doesn\u2019t seem to be making any moves in that direction\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Until that point, had there been any reason to think she was conservative?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, she started out as a country singer, of course, and her father is a devout Christian. It also didn\u2019t help that she was totally the \u2018girl next door\u2019 type, with that cute blonde hair. This was also literally used in memes by the alt-right, to reinforce the image of the \u2018Aryan princess\u2019. That bothered her for quite a long time.<\/p>\n

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Is that why she has become such an attractive focal point for conspiracy theorists?<\/strong><\/p>\n

She has since become exactly what conservative people do not<\/em> want to see. She\u2019s the opposite of a trend we\u2019re seeing now, the \u2018trad wives\u2019 \u2013 women who embrace motherhood and believe that as a woman, you should stay at home and take care of your husband and the children. Swift is a free-spirited woman who\u2019s \u2018getting up there\u2019 in age: at 34 years old, she has no family and doesn\u2019t seem to be making any moves in that direction. Instead, she spends every night on stage in front of an audience of millions, making billions of dollars and doing whatever she feels like. Meanwhile, according to the conspiracy theorists, there are all secret messages hidden in her music. That makes her an appealing target for saying she\u2019s Biden\u2019s pawn and she is being used for propaganda purposes. These conspiracy-minded people choose her in order to benefit from her success.<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s why, with the presidential election coming up in November, conservative America is in such a state of panic right now. They\u2019re waiting to see if and when she will speak out again, for instance at the recent Superbowl. Why did they actually think she was going to say something there?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think because that seemed like the right time to launch a campaign spot for Biden, but it didn\u2019t happen. She is also now in a relationship with American footballer Travis Kelce, who played in the Superbowl. He also appears to be a fairly progressive individual in an otherwise quite conservative sport. This makes him the target of all kinds of conspiracy theories. Kelce also got vaccinated against COVID and appeared in a Pfizer commercial. That did not go down well with many football fans, who tend to be conservative. Those fans worried that Taylor and Travis were going to use their status as a \u2018power couple\u2019 to make a political statement. Which, of course, would have been quite a good time to do so, because tens of millions of viewers tune in to watch the Superbowl.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\tSo the right is afraid that if she urges people in swing states to vote, it could lead to a victory for the Democrats\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

It was also said that Swift expressing support for Biden would be disastrous for Trump. Why is that, seeing as everyone already knows she leans toward the Democrats?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is no way to measure the extent to which her support will have an impact on the election. But during previous elections, you could in fact see a shift when she called on people to vote. In those instances, the voter turnout was higher than expected. So the right is afraid that if she urges people in swing states (states that could go to either Trump or Biden, ed.) to vote, it could lead to a victory for the Democrats. That makes things like Swift\u2019s visit to the Super Bowl very scary for them.<\/p>\n

I would think it\u2019s especially scary for Swift herself, to have so much influence attributed to her.<\/strong><\/p>\n

To me, more than anything, it seems incredibly intense. I also think I would ignore stuff like this if I were her, but of course she can\u2019t. Sometimes she reveals that public opinion can sway her actions. Before dating Travis, she was very briefly with Matty Healy, lead singer of the band The 1975. He was controversial because he had made racist and misogynist statements in a podcast. The Swifties jumped on this and said: Taylor can\u2019t be with him because then that means she also supports those statements.\u00a0 At that point, there seemed to be a moment of panic on Swift\u2019s part. She was not seen with him again after that and CDs of their collaboration were pulled from shops. She has never confirmed or denied that this was the reason; the relationship may simply have run its course.<\/p>\n

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Are most of the conspiracy theories coming from her opponents?<\/strong><\/p>

No; you also have groups like the Gaylors \u2013 fans of Swift who think she is at least queer in some way, but might be gay. They say evidence of this is hidden in certain songs. The song Lavender Haze<\/em> is said to be an outreach to the lesbian community. In the song Dress<\/em>, for example, she sings about a dress, and according to the Gaylors, you wouldn\u2019t use those particular words unless you were actually talking about the female body.<\/p>\n\t

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\n\t\tI don\u2019t want you like a best friend\r\nOnly bought this dress\r\nSo you could take it off\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t\t\t
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The Gaylors also believe this because, for a while, Taylor was spending a lot of time with a friend, model Karlie Kloss. The two took road trips together and even lived in the same house for a while. However, the relationship rumours were denied by her management following a New York Times<\/em> article. Karlie is now married to a man, but none of that matters to the Gaylors.<\/p>

What is your personal favourite conspiracy theory surrounding Swift?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I actually like them all, but one theory I find particularly entertaining says that she is now with Travis specifically in order to procreate, and that she will then give birth to the antichrist. This sounds absurd to our ears, but you shouldn\u2019t underestimate how big the shift to the right in America has been in recent years and how much some people are now living in their own reality. Once you are in such a bubble, it is difficult to break out of it. If you already believe that there is a paedophile network operating from the basement of a pizzeria (a well-known QAnon conspiracy theory, ed.), for instance, then it\u2019s not such a big step to believe that Taylor Swift will give birth to the antichrist.<\/p>\n\n\t

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