Swiftmania: The medieval ‘cult of saints’ and the modern ‘cult of swifties’ (Cerys Brown)

In our latest blog post, Cerys Brown reflects on the cult of Taylor Swift and its debts to medieval religion.

‘You’re the new god we’re worshipping’. This is a lyric from Taylor Swift’s newest album on the final track entitled ‘Clara Bow’, where she discusses her relationship with fame and the music industry. Whilst Swift seems to be alluding to the fickle position of being America’s ‘It Girl’, one cannot help but take the word ‘god’ as literal. The lyric implies that Swift holds so much influence and is held up to such an ideal that some fans do indeed view her as a ‘god’ worthy of religious devotion.

It is impossible to deny the power and influence global popstar Taylor Swift holds over today’s culture. The summer of 2023 was defined by sequins, cowboy hats and friendship bracelets and characterised online as a period of ‘Swiftmania’. This was meant to evoke the Beatlemania in the 1960s, which similarly engendered extreme behaviour from fans. However, I would suggest that another important comparison can be made with Taylor Swift fans (‘swifties’) and the medieval ‘cult of saints’, a religious culture centred around the devotion of extraordinary individuals with supposedly miraculous abilities.

Saint versus Celebrity

Although some fans may argue otherwise, I am not seriously suggesting that Taylor Swift is a divine being with supernatural powers, but in an increasingly secular society it seems that celebrities and super-fan culture have replaced the saints as a subject of everyday devotion since celebrities represent an ideal of success to aspire towards. Whilst n medieval society would not have recognized modern celebrity culture as we know it today, there was still a sense of emotional attachment to and adulation of saints as  examples of perfect holiness. Saints were the ideal version of the good Christian.  An example of this can be found in a famous collection of Saints’ lives, the Golden Legend, the author writes ‘we, who cannot receive the highest light in ourselves, should at least be able to see it in the saints’.

Some discourse on celebrity culture suggests that it depends on media and consumerism and ultimately is a modern concept. However, saints needed public recognition and renown to be regarded as an official saint. Their miracles were recorded in hagiographical texts or Saints’ Lives (see the figure to the right as an example) or spread via oral tradition and spoken word, much like celebrity culture today in the sense that we get most information on celebrities’ lives from gossip and tabloids.

One important feature of the cult of saints is the use of relics, which were holy objects connected to a saint. These objects typically took the form of actual body parts of saints but could also be objects that the saint or their body had come into direct contact with. Whilst Christians still visit shrines of relics today, there are certainly parallels to modern fan culture also. For instance, the Taylor Swift Education Centre in Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame exhibits several artefacts (or relics) connected to Swift and her career. The display is available to the general public and includes objects such as various costumes worn by Swift and custom instruments used on her tours or in music videos, as well as a special artwork piece commemorating the current Eras Tour with an assortment of friendship bracelets collected from fans in attendance at the shows. Fans may not visit this exhibit in search of miracles, but it does allow them to gain a better understanding about Taylor Swift’s career and see objects directly connected to the star, and as a result they will feel close to her, just as a medieval Christians would have done to their chosen patron saint.

Pilgrimage and The Eras Tour

The phenomenon of The Eras Tour has seemingly taken over the internet and pop culture in the last year. Swift’s record-breaking show has become almost inescapable on social media with fans travelling across the world to catch a glimpse of her superstardom in action. Festival and ceremonies were in fact a common practice of devotion to saints.  The Eras Tour has become something so much bigger than just a concert and can therefore easily be compared to the act of medieval pilgrimage.

Pilgrimage was a huge phenomenon of the medieval period, with pilgrims making long and difficult journeys to holy sites to show their religious devotion and pray to specific saints for spiritual guidance. One of the ways to show devotion and respect to saints was in the form of gifts and offerings left by pilgrims. Taylor Swift has received several honorary gifts as she travelled to each city in America. For example, during her stop in Glendale, Arizona, Mayor Jerry P. Weiers temporarily renamed Arizona City Swift City in her honour. In addition, landmarks such as Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro have been illuminated with Taylor Swift themed displays because of a fan campaign, suggesting a clear connection between religion and Taylor Swift’s community of fans.

One only needs to look at the economic boosts caused by each Eras Tour stop to see the widespread impact of these shows on each city. With the average Eras Tour attendee spending nearly $1,300, and an increase in hotel and restaurant earnings, Swift’s show benefitted local economies Here the parallels between pilgrimage and modern tourism are also evident, with pilgrimage creating a demand for travel and accommodation. The behaviour of some fans also matches those of pilgrims. Some have even pitched their own tents outside the stadiums several days or weeks in advance to ensure a good view of their idol, with some going as far as to quit their jobs to commit to being a full-time Swiftie (is this not an example of a devoted pilgrim?).

Another economic aspect of medieval pilgrimage was the production and selling of pilgrim badges, which were worn or displayed as tokens to show that one had been on a pilgrimage. Swifties have queued for hours before the concert to buy merchandise and souvenirs of their time at The Eras Tour. The trend of trading friendship bracelets also acts in a similar way to the pilgrim badge, as fans will cover their arms in bracelets and keep a collection of them after to the concert to treasure the time spent with fellow swifties.

Finally, what has personally drawn me to The Eras Tour as a comparison for medieval pilgrimage is the popular description of the tour by fans as a ‘religious experience’. Sam Lansky, the author of Taylor Swift’s 2023 Person of the Year article for Time magazine, describes his own experience as he stood amongst the ‘rapturous’ crowd.  I think he perfectly captures the real feeling of the Eras Tour as he describes it as a space for fans to ‘revisit their own joy or pain, once dismissed or forgotten’. Medieval people often went on pilgrimage in search of miracles, typically regarding healing. Whilst there are currently no instances of broken bones being healed by Taylor Swift’s voice, many fans view the Eras Tour as a site of healing, not in the medieval sense perhaps, but as a site of emotional healing of the heart and of the self. Whether Swift is singing about love, heartbreak, or the power to pick yourself up after experiencing hardship, fans can always find something to relate to through her music, which some might say is a superpower or miracle in itself.