I thought we’d reached peak Taylor Swift — I was wrong

globalnews.ca:

In this space back in August, I wondered how much Taylor Swift mania the world could take.

People were talking about selling kidneys in exchange for tickets to the Eras tour. The New York Times was projecting that this one road trip would end up contributing nearly US$5 billion to the American economy. She’s become so big that accepting an invitation to play the NFL halftime show would be a step down for her. Billy Joel marvelled, “The only thing I can compare it to is the phenomenon of Beatlemania (in the 60s).”

The consensus seemed to be that Tay-Tay had reached the pinnacle of stardom and would soon level off at a nice cruising altitude for the rest of her career. There was no way that Taylormania could get any bigger, could it? I thought so. But I was wrong. Very, very wrong. Swift is a marketing and self-promotion miracle.

Let’s begin with her alleged relationship with Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs. For the moment, Tayvis (Tayce?) are among the world’s great power couples, up there with Barack and Michelle, George and Amal, and Jay-Z and Beyonce. Gossip pages are breathlessly reporting on the tiniest things (“Fans spot clue that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce had secret makeout session on date night!”).

Not only are the paps following their every move, and not only is Swift the topic of an infinite number of daytime and late-night TV talk shows, but even NFL pre-game and halftime segments have taken to offering Swift reports.

If the Chiefs are playing, someone in the booth is assigned to the Tay Cam to capture her reactions in the luxury box. And naturally, she’s right down front with her famous friends (like Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman) so the camera can capture everything. And she never, ever