Gwyneth Paltrow has had a great week. Taylor Swift has had an amazing week. She’s been out there hard, pushing 1989. And I’m curious to find out what the first week sales figures are going to be. Because RED was a big number. This one will be a big number too. For sure the biggest number of the year.
Today Taylor was at Good Morning America. Last night she and her best friend Karlie Kloss were front row at the Knicks game at MSG. They held hands. And it’s cute. They had beer. And that’s fine too. Anna M wrote to me this morning though that being seen with a beer at a basketball game isn’t something that Taylor would have allowed before. It was off-brand. It would have been better to be clinging to a stuffed animal.
But we’ve been talking about the Taylor transformation. About how slowly, over the last year, she's been tweaking her image. Single girl in the city. No boys but a lot of friends. Sleepovers and bonding. Sometimes over wine, sometimes over beer. Still vengeful if you f-ck her over but not the kind of anger that has to be tucked into a cotton ball. It’s a transition of confidence – from girl to woman? Aside from the personal benefits, professionally it’s astute.
Think of Avril Lavigne and how she hasn’t been able to grow with her fans, how every 3 years or so with a new album, she’s still appealing to the 14 year old but not to the 24 year old and definitely not to the 34 year old and the 44 year old has never heard of her.
Taylor’s still got her teens. But she’s also appealing to those in their 20s and 30s. I’m in my 40s and listening too. It’s a good indicator of career longevity.
