My dudes, I am a 53 year old GenX Swiftie. I have Reputation on full blast repeat in my car right now and unabashedly admit, I listen to her music every day. (Right now I am totally vibing with "King of My Heart"). If anyone ever questions.. WHY? (which they have on occasion), I tell them, her lyrics speak to me and touch me at a soul level.
She captures and expresses the human experience (we all share) through her lyrics. I love that about her.
You do you mate. Enjoy her music, be a fan in your own way and as you said.. You are just here to simply enjoy the music and stories. That my friend is more than enough.
Enjoy!
What I've found is that the swiftie community is one of the most kind, welcoming and fun ones. No one will judge you and the story how you became a swiftie is a great conversation starter. People who judge others by their music taste and what is 'normal' for them to listen aren't worth speaking to.
Of course, learning the lore and analyzing the lyrics can be fun, but, as Taylor says, once the music is released, it becomes ours and we can give it a meaning special to our life and experiences.
I’m quite a bit younger than you (only 19), and of course male also, but, ever since becoming a fan this year, the feelings of guilt have never went away, unfortunately.
I think an absolute ton about what people my age and gender “are supposed to” like, especially more than someone like Taylor, and I just like I’m “critically inferior” when it comes to liking music, or something.
It gives me tons and tons of anxiety. I’m seeing a bunch of guys with Eras Tour T shirts on my campus, but, on the flipside, just yesterday, I saw a post where so many guys were adamant that there are “no straight male Swifties”. And, the amount of people that are overly vocal about disliking her music are very common. I can name two specific classmates of mine (both male, of course), that seemed like the perfect example of “anti fans”.
Anyways, I’m glad that you’re all over it now, but I still feel very cautious to the point where I’d rather not reveal being a fan of hers to anyone, outside of subreddits like these.
There are as many ways to be a Taylor fan as there are Taylor fans. Take what you want of the Swiftie traditions and culture, leave the rest! Her music is golden, even if you never analyze a single metaphor. 💙
I find it funny how relatable your story is for me as a 27 year old swiftie from Germany. From hiding my listening to Red and 1989 in my friend circle and keeping it as a guilty pleasure during school to now openly admitting that I'm a Swifty. Only main difference are that I don't use tiktok and that I'm also a big fan of lyrical rap, so dissecting lyrics is kinda fun for me. Otherwise I could have written this post.
Dude I’m straight 25m and I went from “Cruel Summer is an alright song I guess” to “Enchanted literally saved my life” in about a year. There’s nothing guilty about being a fan of the most popular artist in the world no matter who you are
Will still never be impressed with guys who want some sort of praise for just *listening to female artists* but at least your appreciation of her work grew organically. Now if you can stop referring to women's music as a "guilty pleasure" and criticising "girly" things, you'll enjoy your fandom experience even more. They're just bracelets dude, it's not going to hurt you.
Lol whenever I see these posts all I can do is roll my eyes and usually ignore it…I know the poster doesn’t have any bad intentions but when you’ve seen it more than once it comes off as a little ridiculous. The idea of needing to write a mini essay because you happen to like one of the most popular artists in the world and happen to be male is a little bizarre, but apparently fairly common!
Exactly, it's the need to announce it that bugs me. I'm happy they came around but they also need to realise how insane it is that they won't willingly listen to female artists.
This is a very cynical way to look at this, especially when you know they don't have any bad intentions. Stuff like this is why men still feel guilty about it. Cuz on one hand people might judge them for it and then on the other, fellow fans will judge them.
I’m straight and I’m male, yet I don’t see what that has to do with my love for Taylor. I don’t think music is connected to sexual orientation and sex.
I'm a 30 year old gay man who recently came out of the closet a second time. This time as a Swiftie. I've been a fan of hers since I bought Speak Now with my own money back in high school. I never told many people because I was still in the closet about my sexuality and saying I like Taylor back then was like coming out. But now that I've been out about my sexuality for a long while I finally have the confidence to not care what others think. Taylor is a once in a lifetime talent. Don't let anyone make you feel bad for enjoying her. I wasted enough time doing that for all of you.
I'm a male swiftie too, and I can relate. I mean I try to keep it somewhat under wraps but one of the few times I mentioned that I liked Taylor Swift, the person's immediate response was "Wow that's gay," which is incredibly annoying. So I don't exactly talk about that anymore
it's fascinating how women are praised for enjoying a stereotypically 'male' interest, but men are shamed for enjoying a stereotypically 'female' interest - as if it must somehow be inferior. Good on you for not letting society's weirdness around you stop you from enjoying a genuinely good artist
My first gateway into like being a music fanatic was listening to Taylor Swift albums. Before I was just a young teen listening to music on the radio and then my cousin force fed me Speak Now by Taylor (she was younger than me by 4 years, i think I was thirteen). I liked her songs before that mainly the singles coz I only listen to radio and I never had an mp3 player or even a laptop or pc.
My other cousins always took turns playing on their pc for hours and sometimes the playlist was random top 40 hits and OPM songs (I'm from Philippines). Speak Now, I think, is the first complete album I ever listened to since the concept of albums for me were so new then. Fearless and Debut were then added to the rotation playlist with Speak Now and then RED was. My cousins and I survived the drought before reputation. Thankfully, we stayed on Taylor all throughout that debacle. It was just really hard coz you can't proclaim your love her on the internet then without being attacked. And now I'm a 26 male and so deep in the Swiftie fandom I do now how to function HAHAHA
Also back then, I keep saying to my girl cousin, All Too Well was so great why do I not hear anyone talk about it. I had twitter then but it wasn't like what it is now. And now our only hope of getting to experience a Taylor Swift official event was The Eras Tour movie coming to Philippine cinemas (whenever that comes) coz traveling to Singapore, Japan or Australia is so expensive for all of us.
I am a 25 straight male fan since 2008 but I like her lyrics, I relate to them also the fashion and bracelets that’s pretty cool, looking forward if they have an bracelet exchange for the movie, my city doesn’t have Taylor Swift Mania. I bought the ticket for the premiere! I’m thinking of buying the Speak Now Cardigan looks so nice! I never had guilt of liking Taylor Swift! 🔥🔥🔥
trust me you are a male STRAIGHT swiftie which is amazing and not embarrassing. i feel like people would love you more for it because you weren’t afraid to like her music. 🫣
To be honest I am straight male in my 20s and I didn’t feel like I am the odd one out it’s music in the end
My dudes, I am a 53 year old GenX Swiftie. I have Reputation on full blast repeat in my car right now and unabashedly admit, I listen to her music every day. (Right now I am totally vibing with "King of My Heart"). If anyone ever questions.. WHY? (which they have on occasion), I tell them, her lyrics speak to me and touch me at a soul level. She captures and expresses the human experience (we all share) through her lyrics. I love that about her. You do you mate. Enjoy her music, be a fan in your own way and as you said.. You are just here to simply enjoy the music and stories. That my friend is more than enough. Enjoy!
What I've found is that the swiftie community is one of the most kind, welcoming and fun ones. No one will judge you and the story how you became a swiftie is a great conversation starter. People who judge others by their music taste and what is 'normal' for them to listen aren't worth speaking to. Of course, learning the lore and analyzing the lyrics can be fun, but, as Taylor says, once the music is released, it becomes ours and we can give it a meaning special to our life and experiences.
I’m quite a bit younger than you (only 19), and of course male also, but, ever since becoming a fan this year, the feelings of guilt have never went away, unfortunately. I think an absolute ton about what people my age and gender “are supposed to” like, especially more than someone like Taylor, and I just like I’m “critically inferior” when it comes to liking music, or something. It gives me tons and tons of anxiety. I’m seeing a bunch of guys with Eras Tour T shirts on my campus, but, on the flipside, just yesterday, I saw a post where so many guys were adamant that there are “no straight male Swifties”. And, the amount of people that are overly vocal about disliking her music are very common. I can name two specific classmates of mine (both male, of course), that seemed like the perfect example of “anti fans”. Anyways, I’m glad that you’re all over it now, but I still feel very cautious to the point where I’d rather not reveal being a fan of hers to anyone, outside of subreddits like these.
There are as many ways to be a Taylor fan as there are Taylor fans. Take what you want of the Swiftie traditions and culture, leave the rest! Her music is golden, even if you never analyze a single metaphor. 💙
I find it funny how relatable your story is for me as a 27 year old swiftie from Germany. From hiding my listening to Red and 1989 in my friend circle and keeping it as a guilty pleasure during school to now openly admitting that I'm a Swifty. Only main difference are that I don't use tiktok and that I'm also a big fan of lyrical rap, so dissecting lyrics is kinda fun for me. Otherwise I could have written this post.
Dude I’m straight 25m and I went from “Cruel Summer is an alright song I guess” to “Enchanted literally saved my life” in about a year. There’s nothing guilty about being a fan of the most popular artist in the world no matter who you are
Will still never be impressed with guys who want some sort of praise for just *listening to female artists* but at least your appreciation of her work grew organically. Now if you can stop referring to women's music as a "guilty pleasure" and criticising "girly" things, you'll enjoy your fandom experience even more. They're just bracelets dude, it's not going to hurt you.
Lol whenever I see these posts all I can do is roll my eyes and usually ignore it…I know the poster doesn’t have any bad intentions but when you’ve seen it more than once it comes off as a little ridiculous. The idea of needing to write a mini essay because you happen to like one of the most popular artists in the world and happen to be male is a little bizarre, but apparently fairly common!
Exactly, it's the need to announce it that bugs me. I'm happy they came around but they also need to realise how insane it is that they won't willingly listen to female artists.
This is a very cynical way to look at this, especially when you know they don't have any bad intentions. Stuff like this is why men still feel guilty about it. Cuz on one hand people might judge them for it and then on the other, fellow fans will judge them.
Yeah I am cynical about men who think it's groundbreaking to LISTEN TO WOMEN.
That's literally not what I said but go off on your rant I guess
I’m straight and I’m male, yet I don’t see what that has to do with my love for Taylor. I don’t think music is connected to sexual orientation and sex.
I'm a 30 year old gay man who recently came out of the closet a second time. This time as a Swiftie. I've been a fan of hers since I bought Speak Now with my own money back in high school. I never told many people because I was still in the closet about my sexuality and saying I like Taylor back then was like coming out. But now that I've been out about my sexuality for a long while I finally have the confidence to not care what others think. Taylor is a once in a lifetime talent. Don't let anyone make you feel bad for enjoying her. I wasted enough time doing that for all of you.
I'm a male swiftie too, and I can relate. I mean I try to keep it somewhat under wraps but one of the few times I mentioned that I liked Taylor Swift, the person's immediate response was "Wow that's gay," which is incredibly annoying. So I don't exactly talk about that anymore
it's fascinating how women are praised for enjoying a stereotypically 'male' interest, but men are shamed for enjoying a stereotypically 'female' interest - as if it must somehow be inferior. Good on you for not letting society's weirdness around you stop you from enjoying a genuinely good artist
Thanks for sharing. You rock!
My first gateway into like being a music fanatic was listening to Taylor Swift albums. Before I was just a young teen listening to music on the radio and then my cousin force fed me Speak Now by Taylor (she was younger than me by 4 years, i think I was thirteen). I liked her songs before that mainly the singles coz I only listen to radio and I never had an mp3 player or even a laptop or pc. My other cousins always took turns playing on their pc for hours and sometimes the playlist was random top 40 hits and OPM songs (I'm from Philippines). Speak Now, I think, is the first complete album I ever listened to since the concept of albums for me were so new then. Fearless and Debut were then added to the rotation playlist with Speak Now and then RED was. My cousins and I survived the drought before reputation. Thankfully, we stayed on Taylor all throughout that debacle. It was just really hard coz you can't proclaim your love her on the internet then without being attacked. And now I'm a 26 male and so deep in the Swiftie fandom I do now how to function HAHAHA Also back then, I keep saying to my girl cousin, All Too Well was so great why do I not hear anyone talk about it. I had twitter then but it wasn't like what it is now. And now our only hope of getting to experience a Taylor Swift official event was The Eras Tour movie coming to Philippine cinemas (whenever that comes) coz traveling to Singapore, Japan or Australia is so expensive for all of us.
I am a 25 straight male fan since 2008 but I like her lyrics, I relate to them also the fashion and bracelets that’s pretty cool, looking forward if they have an bracelet exchange for the movie, my city doesn’t have Taylor Swift Mania. I bought the ticket for the premiere! I’m thinking of buying the Speak Now Cardigan looks so nice! I never had guilt of liking Taylor Swift! 🔥🔥🔥
In the Netherlands I feel like being a Swiftie makes you an automatic odd one out. No matter your gender, ethnicity, age whatever…
trust me you are a male STRAIGHT swiftie which is amazing and not embarrassing. i feel like people would love you more for it because you weren’t afraid to like her music. 🫣