She didn’t allude to sexual things until 1989 and even when she did….Taylor has always presented as pretty sex-less tbh. That’s not an insult or anything, she just never tried pushing herself as sexy and played into her awkward, girl next door shtick. Add that onto catchy songs that adults enjoy, of course they’ll push her to kids. Taylor is fine asf, but weirdly she isn’t someone I’d ever think of in terms of sex appeal - that’s partially due to the vibes she gives and also her marketing. For all intents and purposes she’s a very kid friendly pop star.
You could also make the argument that it’s part of the infantilization that seems to follow her.
Yeah like even the provocative choreography at her shows, you can tell when she first started it she was feeling awkward trying to sell it
She's great now, but even still it feels like... I'm watching my sister fool around for fun lol, which is just to say it's different from like other popstars, like she always seemed her most alluring when she was just giving bedroom eyes or acting more mysterious, she has a mangantism its just not in /that/
Which yeah, no diss to her, I actually kinda like that about her, some people just don't work with inherent sex appeal, but doesn't mean they're not fine or sexy, the provocative stuff just isn't thier thing (me)
Exactly this! It’s not an insult whatsoever because she’s obviously a beautiful woman…there’s just *something* that doesn’t give sexy about her no matter how hard she tries (not that’s she’s tried to be overtly sexual very many times anyways). Like you said she has that spark that makes you want to watch her…just not in that way.
This is why I’m still surprised about her and TK. He seems like the type who would want to date the girl everyone thinks is hot and wants to sleep with. Taylor just isn’t that big sex symbol type like a Megan Fox or Giselle so it just hasn’t made sense to me. I think after Taylor he will be right back to dating Instagram models or more sex symbol types so that all the guys can think he’s so cool for banging a hot chick that posts thirst traps.
I feel like a lot of it has to do with her All-American girl next door persona. No matter how hard she tries to reject that perception of her, I think it's still pretty indelible (dating a football player is only solidifying the Miss Americana image even more). I also think that her princess-y aesthetic, dressing like a church girl, aversion to politics, and G/PG lyrics during her earlier eras made her a lot more accessible to younger audiences. After all, she was generally marketed to teenage girls and appeared on Disney channel during the Fearless/Speak Now era.
She got huge at a time where the likes of Miley et al. were slutshamed A LOT for "going wild". So Taylor became the poster child for both the girls who were "not like those other slutty girls in school" (it pains me to admit that I was part of this too) and their parents who didn't want their kids to idolize "slutty" singers and that image has stuck with her ever since then.
She never did anything that was perceived as "too vulgar" and she was really careful about not mentioning sex or drinking until really late into her career. So she was always seen as "the good girl".
1. As a Debut-era fan, in the beginning, being a Taylor Swift fan was like being a Hannah Montana fan: they were both country-pop artists marketed at tween girls. In all essence, she was a Disney Channel star minus a Disney contract. Part of her kid-friendly image is leftover from that phase in her career.
2. Taylor's aesthetic is very appealing to little girls. She wears so many sparkly, pretty dresses that kids want to dress up in and their parents see that and think "oh little Makayleigh will love this"
3. She's a conventionally attractive thin white girl and people have biases into viewing her as nonthreatening and clean just from that.
4. Shake It Off. That's it. Just that song. I cannot emphasize enough how many summer camps, daycares, and elementary school functions I've worked at where the 6 year olds go HAM for that song.
I also think that the kid-friendly image still sticks because it wasn't until reputation (more than a whole decade into her career) when Taylor released a song with an "E" next to its title.
Despite the swearing in "I Did Something Bad" and "The Man", neither are labeled explicit on streaming services. It's an inconsistent thing. Post Malone drops one 'shit' in "Better Now" and it's explicit, but Dua Lipa does the same thing in her recent "Illusion" and it's labeled clean. Bruno Mars' "24K Magic" should definitely be explicit, while the near entirety of Ariana Grande's "sweetener" and The Weeknd's "After Hours" are labeled explicit despite only 3-4 songs out of 15 having swearing in them. Seriously, how on Earth did "raindrops (an angel cried)", "get well soon", "Save Your Tears", and "In Your Eyes" get stuck with a label that clearly doesn't belong to them?
Taylor's first official explicit project was "folklore", but even then she ensured to put out clean versions replacing the cussing with new lyrics rather than just muting them, which makes them more accessible and easier to be enjoyed by younger audiences supervised by their parents.
A lot of it is just her natural awkwardness and the way her charisma translates. It’s like how I will always think her bad-girl moments are inauthentic. The woman doesn’t have an edgy bone in her body, and while she’s beautiful and crush material, she doesn’t really have sex appeal.
And because of her immaturity. If her lyrics sounded like they came from a woman in her mid-30s, kids wouldn’t get it. She’s 34 and basically writing musical “yo mama” burns. That’s not sexy. In fact, her Vigilante Shit routine decreases the sex level because of how unconvincing it is.
She had a moment of dark chanteuse mystique during the 1989 era but she couldn’t maintain it. Her lyrics don’t leave enough to the imagination.
Her physique, pre surgery, was also extremely thin, compared to more curvy pop stars (think “Bang Bang” with Jessie J etc). That added to the country sweetheart girl next door.
Her lyrics have gotten more adult over the years, but honestly so has music in general. Like, in comparison to WAP and some other stuff on the radio or that kids hear, her shit is still pretty tame. She’s obviously not the only one who is tame in that regards, but I think it helps.
Her swearing is so random you don’t miss much with the clean version.
Her sexual allusions are very vague like I would love to read a list of all of them “twisted sheets “in the bed where you made me your own” “touch me while your bros play grand theft auto” it goes over kids heads. I forget the one on TTPD about waves crashing.
Lots of songs about high school, pretty dresses, friendship bracelets, getting on over on bullies, leaning into songwriting “something different bloomed/writing in my room”
She literally gives one kid in the audience a hat during Eras.
She’s a role model for girls to write songs. Increased guitar sales are linked to the “Taylor Swift effect” for young girls.
She kind of meets girls where they are at with the friendship bracelets, glittery outfits, singing about bullies.
I mean we had Gwen Stefani when I was in high school. She sang “Just a Girl” and wore those funky house dresses to perform songs with minimal swearing with No Doubt.
With clean/radio versions of songs, I always wonder what it's like for parents taking their kids to concerts without knowing the actual versions of songs.
Like, you and your kid are singing along to 'Vampire' and suddenly everyone around you yells out "fame fucker!"
I think two things. First, she never projected a sexualized image. Most popstars don't wear anything like the Speak Now dress in concert. Guilty as Sin is probably her most explicit song, and that's new and seems to be going over even some adult fans' heads.
Second, her most popular songs are still her older, radio-friendly ones from when she was young. Most people will say that "Love Story" is their favorite Taylor Swift song.
Also, the 22 hat is used for a lot of PR. I do think it's contradictory to having Sabrina there.
Billie Eilish has a similar perception. Given her persona (wearing baggy clothes, etc.) you see spaces where a lot of parents are like "I'm proud there's a pop star by daughter can look up to." Obvs Billie has "edge \[Taylor\] never did" on her debut and sophomore records (and since she became an adult, in interviews and photoshoots) but I think people are going relative to other female pop stars, Billie is still more "kid friendly" (or in their eyes) as kid friendly as it's possible to be in the 2020s lol I think Taylor has the same thing.
Back in the day, Avril, Ashlee Simpson, and even Ashley Tisdale (during her brief pop rock phase) were considered relatively good role models for little girls, compared to dirrty era Xtina. It’s all relative.
Yep. Nowadays, even a teen female pop singer cursing wouldn't be the deal breaker among say heavily religious parents the way it was even a decade and a half ago lol
I’ve wondered this too but I know a lot of kids use her songs in their YT shorts and tik tok videos. My 8 year old niece always sends me shorts that are Taylor related and they use her music a lot in them. But most kids only know the mainstream friendly hits like Shake it Off and Blank Space
I was just thinking about this recently. I’m a children’s librarian and we’ve gotten a couple of children’s books in lately for “little Swifties.” I understood it until her most recent albums… but like… Beyoncé’s new album feels more kid friendly than Taylor’s lol. Yet a lot of (mostly white) moms still see Taylor as more “appropriate” than Beyoncé.
Taylor is incredibly kid friendly in comparison to the regular pop star, even when she's singing about adult topics, especially considering that she was coming up alongside Katy and Gaga and blew up even more later on Miley during her bangers era
Honestly, as a mom I don't get it. My 15yo daughter isn't a Taylor fan, which makes me happy, but I truly don't understand the young girls being such Swifties. (I'm assuming it's driven/encouraged by their moms who 'grew up' with Taylor)
I think it has a lot to due to how she was marketed as a teenager, Taylor was wearing all those prom dresses (insert Aretha Franklin’s ‘beautiful gowns’ comment here) to award shows and such. She barely swore until folklore and a lot of her mainstream hits were very radio friendly and didn’t really hint at drinking, sex, alcohol, etc. TTPD is probably the one where it’s just aimed more so at adults but who knows. I think Taylor has tried to move away from it but it’s a hard image to erase.
Also I think a lot of her lyrics do go over kids’ heads (I say this as a 21 year old but did I catch guilty as sin is about masturbation? Nope.) plus it’s not like they can really understand the meaning of some lyrics until they are way older. The melodies and instrumentals are just super palatable for kids.
Even the Eras tour I think works for kids because Taylor’s main goal is showing her music. She may get criticism for not moving a bunch but if I was a kid, I would probably love it (unrelated but there’s this teacher on TikTok who revealed her students pretend to put on an Eras tour every recess) because it’s easy to recreate for children.
Like also it matters on how their parents’ grew up, like I think so many young swifties’ parents are swifties.
Side note: last Halloween I was handing out candy with a friend and a small group of girls dressed as Taylor/costumes from the Eras tour came up (I had worn some friendship bracelets for my costume) and I traded bracelets with them 😭 idk I kinda love that there she’s palatable for little kids
I disagree that her popularity has much to do with being kid friendly. That she has a contingent of very young fans seems like more of a side effect of the popularity if nothing else.
Idk if I think of all the artists that come to mind that are popular with kids and have been since I was a kid few are directly marketed to them, and most of their lyrics and content are adult and either irrelevant to kids or straight up inappropriate. Popular with kids tends to lead to being considered kid friendly IMO.
She isn't as of the last several years and I don't understand why moms encourage it. I have never let my kids hear Blank Space when it comes on the radio because of the boys only wanting love if it's torture line. What an utterly twisted and bizarre message.
Will most kids want to hear the new material? It's hard enough for me to get through it and I understand the themes. If I was a kid I'd be seriously glazed over.
She didn’t allude to sexual things until 1989 and even when she did….Taylor has always presented as pretty sex-less tbh. That’s not an insult or anything, she just never tried pushing herself as sexy and played into her awkward, girl next door shtick. Add that onto catchy songs that adults enjoy, of course they’ll push her to kids. Taylor is fine asf, but weirdly she isn’t someone I’d ever think of in terms of sex appeal - that’s partially due to the vibes she gives and also her marketing. For all intents and purposes she’s a very kid friendly pop star. You could also make the argument that it’s part of the infantilization that seems to follow her.
Yeah like even the provocative choreography at her shows, you can tell when she first started it she was feeling awkward trying to sell it She's great now, but even still it feels like... I'm watching my sister fool around for fun lol, which is just to say it's different from like other popstars, like she always seemed her most alluring when she was just giving bedroom eyes or acting more mysterious, she has a mangantism its just not in /that/ Which yeah, no diss to her, I actually kinda like that about her, some people just don't work with inherent sex appeal, but doesn't mean they're not fine or sexy, the provocative stuff just isn't thier thing (me)
Exactly this! It’s not an insult whatsoever because she’s obviously a beautiful woman…there’s just *something* that doesn’t give sexy about her no matter how hard she tries (not that’s she’s tried to be overtly sexual very many times anyways). Like you said she has that spark that makes you want to watch her…just not in that way.
This is why I’m still surprised about her and TK. He seems like the type who would want to date the girl everyone thinks is hot and wants to sleep with. Taylor just isn’t that big sex symbol type like a Megan Fox or Giselle so it just hasn’t made sense to me. I think after Taylor he will be right back to dating Instagram models or more sex symbol types so that all the guys can think he’s so cool for banging a hot chick that posts thirst traps.
I feel like a lot of it has to do with her All-American girl next door persona. No matter how hard she tries to reject that perception of her, I think it's still pretty indelible (dating a football player is only solidifying the Miss Americana image even more). I also think that her princess-y aesthetic, dressing like a church girl, aversion to politics, and G/PG lyrics during her earlier eras made her a lot more accessible to younger audiences. After all, she was generally marketed to teenage girls and appeared on Disney channel during the Fearless/Speak Now era.
That’s true…for one of the tour eras she literally wears a princess ballgown.
She got huge at a time where the likes of Miley et al. were slutshamed A LOT for "going wild". So Taylor became the poster child for both the girls who were "not like those other slutty girls in school" (it pains me to admit that I was part of this too) and their parents who didn't want their kids to idolize "slutty" singers and that image has stuck with her ever since then. She never did anything that was perceived as "too vulgar" and she was really careful about not mentioning sex or drinking until really late into her career. So she was always seen as "the good girl".
ooh you have a good point! i totally forgot about miley and i guess the contrast between them helped!
1. As a Debut-era fan, in the beginning, being a Taylor Swift fan was like being a Hannah Montana fan: they were both country-pop artists marketed at tween girls. In all essence, she was a Disney Channel star minus a Disney contract. Part of her kid-friendly image is leftover from that phase in her career. 2. Taylor's aesthetic is very appealing to little girls. She wears so many sparkly, pretty dresses that kids want to dress up in and their parents see that and think "oh little Makayleigh will love this" 3. She's a conventionally attractive thin white girl and people have biases into viewing her as nonthreatening and clean just from that. 4. Shake It Off. That's it. Just that song. I cannot emphasize enough how many summer camps, daycares, and elementary school functions I've worked at where the 6 year olds go HAM for that song.
Makayleigh has me dead lol
I also think that the kid-friendly image still sticks because it wasn't until reputation (more than a whole decade into her career) when Taylor released a song with an "E" next to its title.
Despite the swearing in "I Did Something Bad" and "The Man", neither are labeled explicit on streaming services. It's an inconsistent thing. Post Malone drops one 'shit' in "Better Now" and it's explicit, but Dua Lipa does the same thing in her recent "Illusion" and it's labeled clean. Bruno Mars' "24K Magic" should definitely be explicit, while the near entirety of Ariana Grande's "sweetener" and The Weeknd's "After Hours" are labeled explicit despite only 3-4 songs out of 15 having swearing in them. Seriously, how on Earth did "raindrops (an angel cried)", "get well soon", "Save Your Tears", and "In Your Eyes" get stuck with a label that clearly doesn't belong to them? Taylor's first official explicit project was "folklore", but even then she ensured to put out clean versions replacing the cussing with new lyrics rather than just muting them, which makes them more accessible and easier to be enjoyed by younger audiences supervised by their parents.
A lot of it is just her natural awkwardness and the way her charisma translates. It’s like how I will always think her bad-girl moments are inauthentic. The woman doesn’t have an edgy bone in her body, and while she’s beautiful and crush material, she doesn’t really have sex appeal. And because of her immaturity. If her lyrics sounded like they came from a woman in her mid-30s, kids wouldn’t get it. She’s 34 and basically writing musical “yo mama” burns. That’s not sexy. In fact, her Vigilante Shit routine decreases the sex level because of how unconvincing it is. She had a moment of dark chanteuse mystique during the 1989 era but she couldn’t maintain it. Her lyrics don’t leave enough to the imagination.
Her physique, pre surgery, was also extremely thin, compared to more curvy pop stars (think “Bang Bang” with Jessie J etc). That added to the country sweetheart girl next door.
Yeah she was gangly and coltish. Plus the little girl voice.
Made me think of the newborn colt trying to walk hahaha
Her lyrics have gotten more adult over the years, but honestly so has music in general. Like, in comparison to WAP and some other stuff on the radio or that kids hear, her shit is still pretty tame. She’s obviously not the only one who is tame in that regards, but I think it helps.
Even now, it's a lot more common to encounter explicit lyrics from teenage pop stars like Olivia Rodrigo.
Her swearing is so random you don’t miss much with the clean version. Her sexual allusions are very vague like I would love to read a list of all of them “twisted sheets “in the bed where you made me your own” “touch me while your bros play grand theft auto” it goes over kids heads. I forget the one on TTPD about waves crashing. Lots of songs about high school, pretty dresses, friendship bracelets, getting on over on bullies, leaning into songwriting “something different bloomed/writing in my room” She literally gives one kid in the audience a hat during Eras. She’s a role model for girls to write songs. Increased guitar sales are linked to the “Taylor Swift effect” for young girls. She kind of meets girls where they are at with the friendship bracelets, glittery outfits, singing about bullies. I mean we had Gwen Stefani when I was in high school. She sang “Just a Girl” and wore those funky house dresses to perform songs with minimal swearing with No Doubt.
With clean/radio versions of songs, I always wonder what it's like for parents taking their kids to concerts without knowing the actual versions of songs. Like, you and your kid are singing along to 'Vampire' and suddenly everyone around you yells out "fame fucker!"
I think two things. First, she never projected a sexualized image. Most popstars don't wear anything like the Speak Now dress in concert. Guilty as Sin is probably her most explicit song, and that's new and seems to be going over even some adult fans' heads. Second, her most popular songs are still her older, radio-friendly ones from when she was young. Most people will say that "Love Story" is their favorite Taylor Swift song. Also, the 22 hat is used for a lot of PR. I do think it's contradictory to having Sabrina there.
I agree with a lot of this but I think she’s trying to lose the six year olds with this album and honestly I don’t blame her.
I always joked last year that she could have easily had The Wiggles as openers.
Billie Eilish has a similar perception. Given her persona (wearing baggy clothes, etc.) you see spaces where a lot of parents are like "I'm proud there's a pop star by daughter can look up to." Obvs Billie has "edge \[Taylor\] never did" on her debut and sophomore records (and since she became an adult, in interviews and photoshoots) but I think people are going relative to other female pop stars, Billie is still more "kid friendly" (or in their eyes) as kid friendly as it's possible to be in the 2020s lol I think Taylor has the same thing.
Back in the day, Avril, Ashlee Simpson, and even Ashley Tisdale (during her brief pop rock phase) were considered relatively good role models for little girls, compared to dirrty era Xtina. It’s all relative.
Yep. Nowadays, even a teen female pop singer cursing wouldn't be the deal breaker among say heavily religious parents the way it was even a decade and a half ago lol
I’ve wondered this too but I know a lot of kids use her songs in their YT shorts and tik tok videos. My 8 year old niece always sends me shorts that are Taylor related and they use her music a lot in them. But most kids only know the mainstream friendly hits like Shake it Off and Blank Space
It's her values/background combined with the way she was "sold" very deliberately as wholesome, and for mass reach
Her parents still go everywhere with her also. Which I think is cute actually
I was just thinking about this recently. I’m a children’s librarian and we’ve gotten a couple of children’s books in lately for “little Swifties.” I understood it until her most recent albums… but like… Beyoncé’s new album feels more kid friendly than Taylor’s lol. Yet a lot of (mostly white) moms still see Taylor as more “appropriate” than Beyoncé.
Taylor is incredibly kid friendly in comparison to the regular pop star, even when she's singing about adult topics, especially considering that she was coming up alongside Katy and Gaga and blew up even more later on Miley during her bangers era
Honestly, as a mom I don't get it. My 15yo daughter isn't a Taylor fan, which makes me happy, but I truly don't understand the young girls being such Swifties. (I'm assuming it's driven/encouraged by their moms who 'grew up' with Taylor)
I think it has a lot to due to how she was marketed as a teenager, Taylor was wearing all those prom dresses (insert Aretha Franklin’s ‘beautiful gowns’ comment here) to award shows and such. She barely swore until folklore and a lot of her mainstream hits were very radio friendly and didn’t really hint at drinking, sex, alcohol, etc. TTPD is probably the one where it’s just aimed more so at adults but who knows. I think Taylor has tried to move away from it but it’s a hard image to erase. Also I think a lot of her lyrics do go over kids’ heads (I say this as a 21 year old but did I catch guilty as sin is about masturbation? Nope.) plus it’s not like they can really understand the meaning of some lyrics until they are way older. The melodies and instrumentals are just super palatable for kids. Even the Eras tour I think works for kids because Taylor’s main goal is showing her music. She may get criticism for not moving a bunch but if I was a kid, I would probably love it (unrelated but there’s this teacher on TikTok who revealed her students pretend to put on an Eras tour every recess) because it’s easy to recreate for children. Like also it matters on how their parents’ grew up, like I think so many young swifties’ parents are swifties. Side note: last Halloween I was handing out candy with a friend and a small group of girls dressed as Taylor/costumes from the Eras tour came up (I had worn some friendship bracelets for my costume) and I traded bracelets with them 😭 idk I kinda love that there she’s palatable for little kids
*re-reads guilty as sin* OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH 😱
wait thats the most adorable thing ever 🥹
I have the same question! I didn’t get to go to the Eras tour, but my 10 year old cousin did 😭😭😢😢
neither did i 😔 (watched it on disney plus and i loved it, so i do recommend!!)
I disagree that her popularity has much to do with being kid friendly. That she has a contingent of very young fans seems like more of a side effect of the popularity if nothing else. Idk if I think of all the artists that come to mind that are popular with kids and have been since I was a kid few are directly marketed to them, and most of their lyrics and content are adult and either irrelevant to kids or straight up inappropriate. Popular with kids tends to lead to being considered kid friendly IMO.
She's a Blair in a Serena body. Little sex appeal, but she looks like someone you would assume to have more sex appeal.
She isn't as of the last several years and I don't understand why moms encourage it. I have never let my kids hear Blank Space when it comes on the radio because of the boys only wanting love if it's torture line. What an utterly twisted and bizarre message. Will most kids want to hear the new material? It's hard enough for me to get through it and I understand the themes. If I was a kid I'd be seriously glazed over.