Earlier this month, Taylor Swift released her 12th studio album, The Life Of A Showgirl, racking up historical streaming numbers and breaking multiple records, including the largest album sales week in US history. Boom.
What many may not have noticed are the pre-launch life events that just so happen to coincide with the album release, including her stating back in 2024 that she would not repeat the “exhausting” process of releasing another album and her decision to not tour this year (2025), building demand for this album. Also, a BIG, well-orchestrated social media announcement of her engagement to her football-star fiancé, Travis Kelce, along with this happening right at the start of the NFL season.
Coincidence?
Maybe.
I think coincidence is a fool’s way of explaining a pattern not yet recognized.
In any area of exceptional achievement, there are concealed steps to success that most people don’t see or simply don’t recognize “hiding” in plain sight. But instead of taking a deeper look into why something did or did not work, they attribute overly simplistic and selective “success bias” to why certain things work, much like toting around a lucky rabbit’s foot or wearing the same socks to every sales meeting. Books have been sold on this very topic: Think And Grow Rich, as if that’s all it takes. Or the one-page business plan that magically aligns everyone to get your company twice as productive in half the time.
Success is NEVER that simple.
Some might think that my pointing out the above about Taylor Swift is me being cynical and might even mock me as a tinfoil-hat-wearing “conspiracy theorist.”
But she truly IS a marketing and PR genius, so my “theory” about all of this being timed as such is not as crazy as you might think.
Often, when you pull on a common thread of success, it leads down a dark, sketchy alley that makes you uncomfortable. Patterns emerge that might be the complete opposite of what you think success is made of and what is required to achieve it; such patterns might also emerge about the person you admire. Many books written by or about highly successful CEOs regarding their success are sanitized and packaged in a way that is palatable to the average person. Jack Welch is one. Bezos, Zuck and Gates are also in that club.
As Puzo wrote in his novel The Godfather, “Behind every great fortune, there is a crime.” The word “crime” might be too harsh or technically inaccurate, but it’s not too far off the mark.
Taylor Swift is one of the biggest brands alive. That is NOT by accident or simply because she’s a nice person who can perform well onstage. Her persona, while I’m sure it has a thread of authenticity, is carefully manufactured.
Her fans might think her songs are purely “from the heart” and a simple outpouring of her thoughts and feelings, with no artificial ingredients and no heavy-handed influence by the managers and record labels that are profiting from her success.
But if you look at her songs through the lens of a marketer, you’ll see that they are intentionally manufactured to connect with her fans by singing about the shared miseries of life, such as heartbreak, disappointment, betrayal, and being marginalized. Don’t overlook this very important point.
Swift has been harshly criticized for her “money-grabbing” tactics, with people claiming she batters her fans with an exhaustive rollout of merchandise and music. Others have said her new album lyrics are a rehash of old conflicts now that she can’t do her usual burn-the-ex-boyfriend stuff.
To the point, many who might want to follow in her footsteps may incorrectly assume her success is due to things they can see on the surface, overlooking some of the ever-so-subtle tactics she uses to influence (some would say manipulate) her fan base and extract gobs of money from their wallets (to put it crassly).
Personally, I admire what she’s done and the genius of her brand, so don’t take any of this as criticism. Just know this: ALL success has a formula, and some of the “ingredients” are nasty pills you might find inauthentic, manipulative, or downright distasteful.
