She is Taylor, hear her (and her girls) roar
Ms. Swift has gone from boy-crazy teen to the patron saint of female friendships
Remember when Taylor Swift was all about the opposite sex?
Hard to imagine now, but when Swifty first came on the scene, she was the boy-crazy teen who made headlines for her relationships (Joe Jonas, Jake Gyllenhaal, the Schwarzenegger, the Kennedy), and then wrote chart-topping, MTV Video Award-winning, Kanye-infuriating power anthems about those relationships when they went south.
And then, somewhere between breaking up with the Man Bun from One Direction and hitting the heady quarter century mark last December, there was a shift in identity: from professional girlfriend to patron saint of girl power.
These days, the most powerful pop star in the world is rarely seen in public without a member of her beloved #girlsquad, having apparently gotten hip to one of womanhood’s most universal truths: that life is just a lot more fun with your ladies. It’s not that T-Swift invented the concept of the female crew, or even the notion that this friendship could be bottled and branded and used to both empower millions of women and sell millions of albums across the planet. (We have the Spice Girls to thank for that.)
Still, her insistence that #femalefriendshipsmatter sends a powerful message. Especially when you look at her contemporaries (can anyone name a single friend of Rihanna?) and the celebrity world at large.
Remember a couple of years ago when Michelle Williams got a bunch of nominations for My Week With Marilyn, and she brought her best friend Busy Phillips to all of the big awards shows?
That was as awesome, and it was extremely unusual.
Because while new boyfriends and earnest schoolteacher moms and even publicists are deemed acceptable dates, the best friend has never really gotten her due . . . until now.
My BFF and I have always said that if one of us were to get ridiculously rich and famous, the other one is automatically along for the ride.
No qualifiers, no caveats, no questions asked. Because really, even the red carpet at the #Met Gala or the VIP section at Coachella sound sort of miserable if you’re flying solo.
And also because when you’re rich and famous you’re bound to make enemies, but when you’re surrounded by your #girlsquad, the haters can hate, hate, hate as much as they want to. Taylor Swift’s 1989 world tour arrives at the Air Canada Centre Friday night.