Taylor Swift vs The World | Taylor Nation | 5

0:06I'm David Brown and this is Business Wars.

0:30Taylor Swift has been everywhere this year, literally. She accepted two awards at the Grammys, performed on stage in Japan for the Eras Tour, and cheered on her beau Travis Kelsey at the Super Bowl. And this was all in the same week, if you can believe that. This pop superstar has had quite the career, and she's showing no signs of slowing down either. With the announcement of a new album this spring and two more re-recording projects on the slate, it appears Taylor is unstoppable. Not only has her era's tour stimulated local economies, Taylor herself has boosted profits for the NFL, as her game day attendance brought in a huge uptick of young women viewers.

1:11Here to talk about all that and more is pop culture YouTuber and self-described Swifty bestie, Lauren Lipman. Her reaction to Taylor Swift's Look What You Made Me Do music video went viral with fans in 2017, and she's been covering Taylor ever since. Laura joins us today to share more on Taylor's impact in music, business, and even the NFL. Later, we'll be joined by a Taylor Swift fan who's become something of a household name within the community. Autumn Kennedy is the creator behind TS Tour Tips on social media, which shares Eras Tour recaps and Know Before You Go information regarding shows and venues.

1:50Autumn began a version of the account in 2014 with about 20 ,000 followers. Today, more than 400 ,000 people turn to Autumn's page to find out what's happening with her favorite artist. Autumn is bringing us insights on the Swifty community and how Taylor's unique, authentic relationship with her fans has contributed to her rising popularity. All that's coming up.

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3:53lauren lippman welcome to business wars hi thank you so much for having me you have a really interesting story about how you started covering taylor swift because it's not your average fan turned commentator sort of thing from what i understand it sounds like the fans found you first tell us more about that yes that's exactly what happened honestly um i have a background as an on-camera host and I wanted to make pop culture content on YouTube, specifically pop culture from a positive light. My first videos were just regular pop culture topics. And then my 15th video was a Taylor Swift music video reaction to look what you made me do.

4:35And she popped out of the grave and we were all shook. The old Taylor is dead. Oh my God. That was amazing. After that, that video went semi-viral. And then I was kind of looking through that music video. And I don't know, people on Twitter and Tumblr, there was just so many different things and Easter eggs that people were putting together. But I noticed that there was no one place where all of the Easter eggs for this one music video lived. There was no one really like talking about specific things that I saw. So then I decoded the Look What You Made Me Do music video. Right. And then that went viral.

5:10First scene. I don't know if a lot of you caught this, but Zombie Taylor is wearing the same dress that Taylor Swift was wearing in her Out of the Woods music video. That was the last music video of the 1989 era. The Swifties descended upon my YouTube channel and were like, Lauren, you have to make more Taylor Swift content. I love hearing you talk about and your take on everything. And then that led me to create a series on my YouTube channel that I ran for 88 weeks straight called Taylor Swift Tuesday. Taylor Swift Tuesday. Yeah, I bet that was well attended. So I understand that this video was, was it this video that got shown on the Reputation Tour?

5:49Is that right? Yes. So that was, that's a very crazy story that still doesn't really feel real to me to this day. My reaction to Look What You Made Me Do on YouTube. Right. Taylor Nation. David, are you familiar with Taylor Nation? I have heard of Taylor Nation. Okay. But fill in the blanks for us. because when I think of Taylor Nation, I think basically of the Swifties. It is Taylor Swift's official fan interaction account. It keeps the fans updated. It gives merch updates, tour updates. It's just basically everything. The official channel. Yes. It's everything from Taylor Swift's team. That's not officially from Taylor's mouth.

6:26Okay. So I got an email and I will never forget. I was working at a nine to five job and I looked down at my cell phone and there was a little notification that said from Taylor Nation, confidential message. Hi, Lauren, Taylor Swift watched your channel, dot, dot, dot, were the notification. And I just, the noise that left my mouth that day at work. And I was like, you know, in a working setting where I couldn't really scream about it at my regular day-to-day job of like, does anyone have any idea of what's happening right now? So I met with Taylor Nation. They let me know that Taylor Swift watched my channel, my series, really, really liked it.

7:05And at first it started off with, they wanted to gain the rights to my Look What You Made Me Do reaction video to show on screen, on the 112 foot screen on the Reputation World Stadium tour. That is crazy. It was, yeah, it was so crazy. It's still one of my favorite memories. That then led Taylor Swift and Taylor Nation to invite me to the tour. I got to go backstage, meet her, sit in Club Olivia next to Rebel Wilson and Bob Saget, RIP. But it was just, it was such an amazing moment that it still doesn't really feel real that that happened. That is insane. What was, well, I got to ask, what was Taylor Swift like backstage?

7:47Honestly, she was just exactly like how everyone says that she was. I feel like it's this weird moment looking back on that time when I'm meeting Taylor Swift. You go through all these things in your head of, oh, I'm going to say this. I'm going to ask her that. Nope. You kind of black out. She is just so lovely and so refreshingly normal and human. The first thing we started talking about was how my nail polish color matched her dress. And then she was like, oh, I love your nails. My nails are trash. And then showed me her nails. And I was like, I can't believe I'm having this conversation about Taylor Swift's chipped nail polish right now.

8:24And she was just so lovely and sweet. and yeah. I want to ask you about Taylor News because she's had a lot going on in February. I want to, should we start with the Grammys? I mean, she scooped up two awards, that record-breaking album of the year win, but then on top of that, while accepting the word for best pop vocal album for Midnight's, she revealed that she's got a new album, the Tortured Poets Department, it'd be dropping in April. That's pretty big stuff. What was your reaction to that? Did you see it coming? I was hoping that she was going to announce a different album that evening in the Swifty fandom among the Swifty lore.

9:06We are all waiting for Taylor Swift's Reputation, Taylor's version. It is her re-recorded album of Reputation. And we were all convinced she was going to drop that album that evening. That's what we were waiting for. and I personally did not predict that she was going to announce a brand new album, the Tortured Poets Department. There are a couple Swifties online. However, I do have to say that did predict this because Taylor Swift has been in this cycle of dropping two re-recordings and then a new album, two re-recordings and then a new album. For some reason, I just didn't believe it that she was, I was like, when would she have found the time?

9:47She's been on tour. She's halfway through the Ares tour And no, I was not expecting that. Well, where does she find the time? I mean, when she's doing all of this, is she the kind of person that writes while she's on the tour bus or on the jet or whatever? I mean, is that part of her thing? Yes, absolutely. There are Taylor Swift fan accounts that see paparazzi pictures of her walking into the studio in between tour stops. She loves to record at Electric Lady Studios in New York City. She's got a house there. And it's just always wild to me how much she can work all the time. I've loved hearing interviews of hers when she's like, when you get the songwriter gene, sometimes you'll be mid-conversation with someone.

10:32And then I'll look to the side. My eyes will glaze over. And I'll be like, hold on, sorry. I just came up with a melody. I got to record it. Hold on. I got to write down these lyrics that just came into my head. I mean, she's been honing her craft for so long. She is such a professional at putting feelings that are so indescribable into words and into a catchy melody that it's just, I don't know where she finds the time, but she does. Now, right after the Grammys, not only was Taylor kicking off her heiress tour in Japan, but then she squeezed in a quick trip to Las Vegas to watch her boyfriend, Travis Kelsey, play his biggest game of the season.

11:11She's kicked out! Yeah, this gets to the whole NFL thing. Did you ever think Taylor Swift's name would be tied to the Super Bowl for something that wasn't a halftime show? Not in my wildest dreams. Truly. So to speak. I would never have guessed this. Yeah. Exactly. It's been wild and so exciting. And as a long, long time fan of Taylor's, I got to say, it's been really fun to see that everyone else, people who weren't Swifties, people who aren't even big music fans, just kind of like peek back the curtain and be like, wait, this is kind of fun. I want to watch and see what's going on because it's truly turned into this like pop culture phenomenon, like this moment.

11:53How do you think she would feel about this conversation that's been going on in the background, certainly among diehard football fans, complaining about how frequently Taylor was shown on camera, right? That sort of thing. I mean, at the same time, I know that folks in the back room at the NFL must be thrilled by the fact that they've got all these new eyeballs, you know, young people, women who are watching this, right? I loved in her Time article, Person of the Year, that she mentioned, you know, we're dating and I just want to support him in his time. Now that Taylor is a new member of Chiefs Kingdom, she just wants to be there and show up for him on the game days.

12:34to the people that are upset that are showing her on screen. Did they not show Giselle Bunchen? Did they not show any other celebrity that is attending a game that day? I just find that very hilarious. Taylor's not the one choosing this. She's just there to support. I guess from the NFL perspective, I mean, you look at the game viewership numbers for the Super Bowl up 53 % among teenage girls, 24 % among the 18 to 24 demographic. They talk about the Taylor effect, the Swift bump. Oh, yeah. This is the most watched Super Bowl in history. Has it been enough to convert you into a Chiefs fan? Great question.

13:14And my boyfriend would love for me to say that, yes, it's now made me understand and enjoy football. I don't know if I could say that fully, but I will say it's been really nice seeing, even as someone who comments on Taylor Swift as a pop culture YouTuber all the time, I'm getting comments from older men that are just like, wow, I'm like, I didn't really realize the impact. I just knew her because my daughter liked her, but now I'm going back and I'm learning all of these things. I got this very funny YouTube comment of this older guy saying, don't tell my football bros, but I just subscribed to your channel.

13:52I'm shocked at how much I like Taylor Swift. I didn't think that I would. And it's been cool to see even during the Super Bowl, There was a commercial that talked about how Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey dating this rom-com that we're watching play out before our eyes. It's bringing like daughters and dads together. Yeah. They are getting excited about watching football on Sundays with their dads. And I think that's really sweet. I think there's no negatives here. You can't see this, but I've got my hand raised because that's exactly what happened. In our household, my daughter was watching the entire game and it was a chance for me to explain football to her.

14:29Right? But it was a wonderful, you know, moment for us to share. Now, the Chiefs have made something like$330 million since Taylor started going to the games. Is this sustainable? Is this going to be the kind of thing that's going to last beyond these early weeks of this relationship? What do you think? I will say a lot of my audience that follows me for Taylor Swift, I've got a very large international fan base because Taylor Swift is globally loved. after the Super Bowl, I got so many comments being like, I'm in Russia and I woke up early and had to wait and watch the Super Bowl on some little live stream just because I wanted to see Taylor Swift, just to see her little clips of her, seconds of her throughout the game.

15:14I am also curious if it will withstand the hype, but I do fully believe that wherever Taylor Swift goes, she has this army behind her that's just interested to know in what she is. So as long as the NFL camera shows her on the Jumbotron, pretty sure she's going to be the biggest thing. Hey, let's take a short break. Our guest is Lauren Lipman, pop culture YouTuber and Taylor Swift pro. More Taylor talk when Business Wars returns.

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17:49Hey, welcome back to Business Wars. Our guest is Lauren Lipman, pop culture YouTuber and self-described Swiftie Bestie, keeping the fans up to date on all the latest Taylor news. You know, lots of people have said that they started paying real attention to Taylor Swift during the fight for her master's against producer Scooter Braun and Big Machine CEO Scott Borchetta. What was it like for you covering Taylor during that time? Wow, that was an intense time. That was a crazy, unprecedented thing that was going on. In terms of music history, this kind of thing has happened before. This happened with Prince.

18:25This happened with the Beatles. But for Taylor Swift to so publicly share and be open with her fans about what was going on, what she was dealing with, and for her to literally do a public plea to her Swifties, which she's never done before. And I don't know if she'll ever do that again. But she put out a plea to her fans to let Big Machine and Scott Borchetta and I believe Ithaca Holdings, let them know how you feel about this, that Taylor wasn't even offered the opportunity to buy back her masters. It was an intense time in the fandom. Did you see any uptick in viewers to your channel as this battle became more mainstream?

19:08Absolutely. This was when I was doing my Taylor Swift Tuesday series. I did multiple live streams the day that this was announced. I did see a huge uptick in viewership. I was making more content on it because I was mad. I was mad and I was trying to get more insight. I love interacting with my followers because then they'd be like, hi, lawyer here. Here's my perspective on what's going on. Here's how contracts work in this sense. And it was just very interesting. As a pop culture YouTuber, what was wild for me during that time, I had never had an issue making Taylor Swift content online because the Taylor Swift versus Scooter Braun issue was everywhere and everyone had opinions.

19:51I actually lost some brand deal sponsorships during this time because they were like, hey, we know you already did the work. We know this, but we can't put our ad in front of this content right now. It's just too sensitive. PR legal team doesn't want that. And it was just, it was wild. That is wild. Fast forward to now, everyone wants to be tied to Taylor Swift. I mean, the Ares Tour is breaking records as I think is the highest grossing concert tour of all time. Just incredible. Now I have to ask, have you been more than once perhaps? I absolutely have been. I've been twice. I went in Los Angeles night one and night six, which was the night that she announced 1989.

20:36It was crazy. It was amazing. And in terms of her breaking the record for highest grossing tour of all time, the record that she just previously broke was a record that she set with the reputation of World Stadium Tour. I just love that fact. Now, let me follow on to that. Were you waiting on the Ticketmaster app trying to get your tickets? We're about to go into that fiasco. Late 2022, we talk about it in our series. Millions of folks unable to purchase tickets. Did you get caught up in that yourself? Oh my God, I'm getting PTSD even thinking about it. Yes, that was awful. It was so horrible.

21:17I made this whole YouTube video that I started the video being like, hi guys, this is going to be such a great day. I'm going to get Taylor Swift tickets today. Fast forward to what actually happened. I'm actually happy that I documented every step of the way because that was just the craziest thing that has ever happened. Of course, the show was able to go on with Taylor adding even more Ares tour dates to accommodate all that demand. What do you know about the economic impact that the tour has had on local economies? I understand she's been bringing in millions of dollars pretty much wherever she goes.

21:50Yes, it's been actually very magical to watch her go from city to city. I mean, it all started in Glendale, Arizona. And then I think each city just tried to top each other. One of them made her the mayor for the day. One of them renamed their town to be Swiftyville. And it's been very amazing to watch all of that because one of Taylor Swift's favorite thing that she loves to do is on all of her tour stops is she makes quiet food bank donations. She makes donations to Swifties in need. She'll invite Swifties who've had hard times to her concert if her team is able to track them down in time. And it's been very amazing to kind of watch this happen.

22:31Well, for those who couldn't make it in person to the Heiress Tour, of course, there was this self-produced film version that was released directly through AMC Theaters. I hear you were at the release party. Is that right? I was. Taylor Swift actually invited me to the Heiress Tour movie premiere at The Grove in LA. she hand selected a large group of swifties like in order to go you had to like like her team had to vet you in order to go and be there and it was amazing it was truly such an amazing experience no one else has ever shut down the entire grove before for people that don't know the grove is like this big outdoor mall it's very very fancy shopping area huge and what was so cool was you you park your car and the grove is like full of all these different stores and restaurants Everything was closed.

23:23You get out of your car in the parking garage and they were playing vault tracks of Taylor Swift's in the parking garage. Wow. They put this red carpet over every single piece of gravel. So the second that you walked out of your car, you were like, oh, I'm at a Taylor Swift premiere. She took over the theater and she's going to be here right now. It was an amazing night. I got to chat with Scott Swift and Andrea Swift, her mom and dad and her brother, Austin. I ended up watching the movie in the movie theater with Scott and Andrea Swift, and also Flava Flav, who is a huge Swiftie. Oh, that's amazing.

23:58I had no idea. That's amazing. So, you know, within 24 hours, this movie breaks ticket sales records, ultimately grossing something like more than$260 million worldwide. I think it was like the highest grossing documentary and concert film in box office history. Why do you think it was so successful? Oh my God. So I think in order to answer that question, I have to go back to what it felt like being at the heiress tour. There's a reason why people are like following her, like she's grateful dead and attending multiple tour stops because the feeling that you get when you are in that stadium, people of all ages, men, women, fathers, mothers, dancing, crying, singing their heart out.

24:46And it felt like a religious spiritual experience. And so in terms of the success of the Heirs Tour film, I think we just all wanted to go back to that moment. It's incredible. But I think it's really telling that 2023 was the year of the Barbie movie, the Beyonce Renaissance Tour, and the Taylor Swift Heirs Tour. It's becoming very evident that girlhood is a story that people want to hear about. They want to celebrate it. They want to spend money on it. And I think it's now become this, I keep saying cultural moment, but it's true. People who couldn't attend the Heirs Tour were attending the movie theaters and they were doing circle dances down in the movie theater.

25:31They were getting up and dancing like they were at a concert. And this is like a three-hour movie, and people are still on their feet the whole way through. It's a phenomenon unlike anything I've ever seen, heard about, or experienced. So connect the dots there if you can. I mean, you've got Taylor Swift, the artist, and you've got Taylor Swift, the businesswoman, and a certain moment that's happening in the zeitgeist, right? What is Taylor Swift's superpower here? Why is this happening? I think after everything Taylor Swift has been through, I think her superpower is being honest about wanting to maintain control over her music and that it's okay to be strategic.