The Daily Show: Ears Edition - The Power & Politics of Taylor Swift

Episode Date: July 7, 2023

Taylor Swift has made her mark on the music scene, but she's also had a huge influence in the world of politics. From endorsing Democratic candidates to encouraging young people to vote there's no denying the power and influence Taylor Swift has on her loyal fan base, known as Swifties. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Taylor Swift. Popstar, songwriter, and inventor of the color red. Personally, I love Taylor Swift. Really, nothing bad to say about her. But even if I had something bad to say about her, I wouldn't. I wouldn't say it. Because Taylor Swiss fans are super protective of her. Like, they're like one of those old-fashioned dads with a shotgun,

who doesn't want you to marry his daughter, because he wants to marry her tolary her old albums. You see, Taylor Swift has been re-recording all of her old albums, which means people are re-listing to all of her old songs at those exes all over again on her behalf. And while Taylor may be content to address her old boyfriends with heartfelt lyrics and songs that are, again, I want to stress this perfect in every way, some of her fans are a lot less subtle. This is going a little too far. While Jake Johan Hall is taking incoming fire from the Swifties,

another one of Taylor's exes is being bombarded with messages now. A user on Instagram sent John Mayer a direct message, telling him, fuck yourself, you ugly bitch. I hope you choke on something. Mayor then responded to the user, saying that he'd been getting many messages like that over the past couple of days and asking, do you really hope I die? To which the user responded, OMG, what? I don't want you to die. I'm sorry. The user apologized again and admitted they didn't really think Mayor would see the message.

You see, people, this is what I hate about social media. It makes people act shittier than they actually are, which then makes us think that people are shittier than they actually are. Because social media people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people people th me me thi media media media media thiiiiiiiii. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. thi. th. thi. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I. I. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the. toe. toe. tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. I'ma. I'm thethat people are shittier than they actually are. Because social media makes us forget that we're all human beings. You know, we just see that little avatar and then we all talk shit to each other, but we're all human. Even celebrities are real people. All of them. I mean, obviously except Timothy Shalamey.

He's got to be CGI. No one can be that good looking. Now I'm craving spice. God damn. Mmm, mm, mm, mm, mm. And I know her fans are like, but he hurt her. Listen to her song. Yes, that's all you're supposed to do. Listen to the song. You know, Taylor Swift writes songs to express her emotions

in a way that touches other people. Not to order a hit on her ex-bo' So death threats are not the way to go, especially with someone like John Mayer. Don't send him death threats. He gets them all the time. If you really want to upset him, tell him that Ed Sheeran is a better guitar player. That's going to hit his heart. Democrats said, hey, Republicans, I'm going to let you finish, but we just got one of the best endorsements of the.... Andee. Ande. Ande. Ande. T. T. T. T. T. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. th. th. th. thi. thi. the. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toeeeeeeeea. toea. toea. toea. toea. toe. theredesen over Republican Marsha Blackburn in the US Senate race in Tennessee. The pop star has always made it a point of keeping silent on politics, but shocked her fans last night. Swift wrote, I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country.

Wow. Wow. Wow. This, this is a big deal. Because you realize until now Taylor Swift has stayed as far away from rhythm, right? And no, like don't get me wrong. Don't get wrong. I love, I love Teete's music, but let's be honest, have you seen her dancing? Like, Taylor Swift, Taylor Swift,

here's the thing, Taylor, Dances like she's making fun of how white people dance. That's how she dances. And just like Kanye fired up Republicans, Taylor also seems to be having an impact. Her post apparently caused a huge surge in voter registration. So you can't deny that she has influence with voters. Yeah.

You just can't. You can't deny that Taylor's Swift has that influence. The same way you can't deny that while reputation might have lacked momentum and sales records of 1989, it's still an impressive brooding departure portraying Taylor as a woman coming into her own and solidifying her power and range as an artist. Or so I've been told. And I get it. And I get it.

If anyone can convince young people to vote, it's the woman who somehow got young people, people to buy physical CDs because she wasn't on Spotify. I mean, like who even owns a CD player? Like people probably popping the distance or the toaster trying to play them. There is like... And since Taylor has been so quiet about politics, there was actually a theory in the alt-rite community that was that maybe she was secretly a pro-Trump conservative, right? But now by endorsing a Democrat, she blew that the theory up, which is news that the president took surprisingly well. What do you have to say it's Taylor Swift now that she's in politics? Taylor Swift dumped in a politics. What do you have to say? She said you want people to vote the Democrat.

Let's say that I like Kaler's music about 25% less now, okay? That's a weird way to express displeasure. He likes her music 25% less. What does that even mean? Is he now just going to cut off 25% of his tailor merchandise? Is that what he's going to do? Oh, and by the way, I love how Trump turned back when he heard Taylor Swift? You see that? Like, because he was leaving, right?

And then he had Taylor Swift, and he was like, what? Yeah, because normally a reporter shoult questions. He just keeps going. They're like, Mr. President, the United Nations Global Warming. Mr. President, your policy and husband, what do's that? Taylor Swift. Let me tell you something. I know all about this issue from my briefings that I read in United States Weekly. And look, I know right now there are conservatives out there who are pro Taylor Swift and are feeling conflicted at this moment because she has endorsed the Democrats. And to them I say, if you're a real

Taylor Swift fan, you know what you got to do. Shake it off. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. Covering the news is exhilarating. You travel the country, meet interesting people, and find real stories. But then one day you realize it's a fucking Tuesday in November again. Well, it's election day again. Got it. It's election day again. Because it's... It's election day again. Because it's... I can't... It's election day again.

Ugh! Fucking Virginia! As a journalist, I'm honored to be covering this sacred process. Again, I feel super chill about it. I'm good. It's election day again, and we've got another close race on our hands. So you better start clenching those buttcheeks. Early voting is already underway in the Virginia gubernatorial race with the latest polling

showing Democratic Governor Terry McCullough effectively in a dead heat. Politico writing, if Terry McCullough doesn't pull out a win, Democrats are privately predicting a collapse on Capitol Hill. Wait, Virginia could go red? For a state that went blue by 450,000 votes in the last election, this was a story worth keeping down the vomit. I sat down with Jeffrey Skelly from 538 to help me make sense of this. Sorry about the mess.

Elections, am I right? Why is this race in particular so close? Isn't Virginia blue? Yeah, so Virginia is has been democratic leaning over the last few years, but President Biden is now somewhat unpopular and I think voters are responding to that and so the electoral environment is better for Republicans, so you've got a close race in Virginia. Who do you think will actually decide this race? Young voters are really important because

they are basically the most democratic leaning group. But one little interesting thing theough has done is run campaign ads attacking Glenn Youngkin because he was CEO of the Carlout group, which was involved in the purchase of Taylor Swift's master recordings. And so they've been using this to try to get young people to pay attention to the race because there are a lot of young people out there, you know, 18 to 34 year olds who really like Taylor Swift. Virginia Democrat candidate for Governor Terry McCullough recruiting Taylor Swift fans. McCullough reportedly linking his opponent to music executive Scooter Braun who infamously

bought Swift's master recordings back in 2019. After I was denied the chance to purchase my music outright, my entire catalog was sold to Scooter Bron's Ithaca Holdings in a deal that I'm told was funded by the Carlisle Group. One of the targeted ads reading, did you know that Republican candidate for Governor Glenn Yonkin helped buy Taylor Swift's masters out from under her? You gotta be shitting me. Taylor Swift fans vote? I think that's what the McCullough campaign is hoping. If the Swifties are backing McCullough, what group of fans are backing Youngkin? Chet Hanks fans? Chetheads? Well we don't have any polling on on different fan groups of musical artists. You were 538? Yeah, it's a real niche.

Could we be underestimating the Swifties? I think I'd be careful about giving them too much weight, but there are a lot of young people who like Taylor Swift. We know that's true. Could Taylor Swift fans be the key to the Virginia race? To find out I had to dive deep into their fandom, no matter how many of her albums I had to buy on the show's credit card. Oh, sorry. This just happened to me without my approval or consent. Shame on him. Wuh! Woo! Finally, after becoming fluent and old things,

Taylor, I gathered a group of her fans of Virginia to see how angry they were with candidate Yonkin. Are you all true Swift Are you true Swifties? Did you buy signed Fearless Albums, Taylor Version? I actually do have it and I can pull it up. I also have every single Taylor record on vinyl right next to me, if we want to go that far. Yeah, the two most important dates in November, is November 2nd, which is Election Day, just in the tien, tien, ties....... to to to to to to to to to to toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, to to to to to to to to to to to to too, too, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to tha, tha, tha, tha, tie. I I I I I I, tie. I I, tie. I I, tie.. I, tie. I, tie. I, tie. I, thae, thae, theu. theu. thea, thea, tel. tel. telliii. telli. telli. telli. telli. thaea. thaea, thae. I'm toda, is Election Day, and November 12th, which is Red. Yeah, I'm taking off work for Election Day, just in case the lines are too long.

Are you also taking up work for Taylor's release of Red? Oh, 100% percent. I need to get through all the emotions of all the songs on that album. I'm taking off work and my therapist is not getting the day off. While I respect this generation's clear dedication to mental health, could this new base of voters actually tip the scales in Virginia? I'm originally from Texas, and the last three years in college I voted in Texas, but I just knew that I couldn't just sit by and watch as Yonkin took Virginia. And so that's when I decided to change my voter registration.

Wow. Okay, so you just change your registration. This is dedication. I was in the weird weird thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiia thia thia thia thia thia thia thia thia. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the, the, thi, thi, thi, the, tho, tho, tho, tho, I'm thi, I'm the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their, I their, I the their, I the the th. I thi. I th. I thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I the. I the. I theeeeeea. I'm tea. I'm tea. tipea. tipe. tipe. I'm theeeea. I'm the. I'm the. I. This is dedication. I was in the weird college era as well, where I was kind of voting in my home state, but now I am voting Virginia because of this issue. They couldn't help but pity these young girls. There are so many important issues, but all they care about is Taylor Swift's master recordings. It's not really about the masters, but, I mean, just a couple days ago, Yon came out and said said, th and said, th and said, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. I, thi, thi, thi, thi, just a couple days ago, Yonkin came out and said, you know, he loves everyone who when asked if that includes LGBTQ people, he said no.

Are there other issues that you care about? Women's right to choose. I'm very passionate about gun violence prevention. Climate change is going to be the biggest issue of our time, so those policies are super important. I'm an environmental engineer, so this is life-a to to to thiiiiiiiiiiiiii, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, that that that that that that that that that that that that that that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiolioli, that's really really really that's really that's really that's really really that's those policies are super important. I'm an environmental engineer so this is life-changing. What would you say to boomers like my aunt Sheila who say 14-year-old girl should stay out of politics and stop stealing my sleeping pills Desi. I think that's such a weird stereotype of Taylor SoFans because we're not 14 anymore. We are adults we pay taxes and we vote. Yeah do you

want to see my thesis paper about congressional legislation? Because I can show you that. Don't underestimate Swifties. All right, take it easy, Molly. Geez. I don't want any snake comments on my Insta. Yes, they are fans of Taylor Swift. And yes, they are in their 20s.

Maybe they can make a difference in this upcoming election. No matter what happens, at least now I'll have some great music to cry to, just in time for next election Tuesday. Like cocaine and harmonies, beefs are an essential part of the music business. Think about it, Tupac versus Biggie, the Dixie Chicks versus George Bush, Keith Richards versus mortality. And with so many new beefs going on in the music world right now, we figured it's about time to settle some of those scores in our brand new segment we call beefs us. All right, next up, the artist who soundtracked your quarantine, the Empress of Evermore, Taylor Swift. She's been dropping albums almost every week, but according to the guy from that British band that was an Oasis, she's not putting in enough work.

Let's see the beef! Looks like there is some bad blood between Taylor Swift and Blurf Frontman, Damon Alburn. During an interview, a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, he claimed Swift doesn't write her own songs. He said writing music doesn't count if you co-write, and that co-writing is very different from writing. Well, Taylor swiftly hit back, slamming the musician on Twitter, she tweeted, I was such a big fan of yours until I saw this.

I write all of my songs, my own songs. Your hot take is completely false and so damaging. You don't have to like my songs, but it's really messed up to try and discredit my writing. Alvern later responded with an apology saying he had a conversation about songwriting that was reduced to clickbait. He said he apologizes unreservedly and unconditionally and said the last thing he would want to do is discredit Taylor Swift.

He he, he, yo, that was the fastest ending beef of all time. Because one minute the dude was like, yo, Taylor ain't shit. And also, I'm sorry, Taylor, please don't hurt me, please. And I'm not surprised he realized how wrong he was. I mean, guys, T. Swift is one of the most renowned lyrics of our generation. Meanwhile, Blur's most famous lyric is, woohoo! And by the way, by the way, people, there's no shame in co-writing, right? I'm not saying Taylor Swift does, I'm just saying there's no shame in co-writing.

Don't forget, even God had co-writers, right? There's Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. They'll help with the Bible, and no one ever says God's fake. I mean, except Ricky Javace, but he's going to hell anyway, so it doesn't count. Anyway, it's no surprise who the winner of the beefs is between Taylor Swift and Damon Elbond is. It's Jake Jillinhal. Yeah, you see, finally, the heat is off. Now he's in the corner like, yeah, get that blur guy! And I keep the scarf.

Taylor Swift. This morning, tickets went on sale for the singer's first tour in four tour in tour in tour in tour in tour in tour in tour in tour in tour in tour in tour in tour in tour in tour in tour in tour in tour in t This morning tickets went on sale for the singer's first tour in four years and so many fans rushed onto the ticketmaster site that it immediately crashed. I mean no one can get tickets and yeah ticketmaster did Taylor Swift so wrong she's already put out three albums about them. They're gonna learn their lesson. And look I know everyone thinks getting these tickets is the most important thing in the world but it's really not all right if you don't get them just

relax log off you know just give the site like a chance to cool down and repair itself and then you know don't bother and you just you just chill. Ah, all right I got mine you can go back on you can go back on you do whatever you want. All right let's move on to news out of Washington. To the biggest crisis the country is facing right now. Finally there's something the country is facing right now. Finally, there's something that Republicans and Democrats seem united on, and it's this, the Taylor Swift ticket fiasco. Today on Capitol Hill, senators held a hearing to examine the lack of competition in the

ticketing industry. The bipartisan hearing comes in the wake of a technology breakdown on the ticket master website during the pre-sale for Taylor Swift's upcoming tour. Superfans, known as Swifties, faced hours long wait times and website crashes. I just really wanted to see Taylor. I'm not getting tickets. Shame on you Ticketmaster. Look what you did to these emotional young people. Hey, you know what? It's about time someone held Ticketmaster accountable, and the Swifties are the only ones who can get this done.

They're the most politically organized group in America. Yeah. It goes Swifties, the Teamsters, and somewhere way all the way down the list is the Democrats. You know, these hearings are so popular, I bet Ticketmaster screwed up tickets to that too. You got kids outside crying, I'm the Senate's biggest fan. I just wanted to see Dick Durbin. But ultimately there's only one way to fix this problem. Get rid of online ticket sales. Go back to waiting online in person at Nicole. Make people earn that shit like we used to waiting on a line in person at Nicole. Make people earn that shit like we used to.

You're not a real fan unless getting a ticket gave you hypothermia. Hey, I almost lost two toes just to see Johnny Gill. And I'll do it again, damn it. Explore more shows from the Daily Show Podcast Universe by searching the Daily Show, wherever you get your podcasts. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Fairmount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.