Taylor Swift Has Done It, Again
The LWYMMD (TV) Video Release Is a Genius Response to the 2024 Elections
As I approach my 50s, I rarely sleep through the night (without some sort of help). So, it wasn’t unusual for me to wake up at 4:30am on a random Tuesday morning in May. What was surprising, however, was that my social media accounts were being bombarded with the news.
In true Taylor Swift style, she had silently partnered up with The Handmaid’s Tale to launch a trailer video for its upcoming season featuring the song “Look What You Made Me Do” (LWYMMD) from the Reputation (Taylor’s Version) album, which is yet to be released. The news spread like wildfire among Swifties (Taylor Swift fans), and was confirmed by Billboard to be LWYMMD (Taylor’s Version) - meaning it is owned by Swift herself and is expected on the upcoming release of said album.
As someone who studies women and the economy, I’ve been waiting for moments like this since the 2024 election. I watched this video and felt pure joy. I was immediately reminded of an informal gathering I had a few weeks back while in Washington DC with some amazing female economists, including one of my most favorite, Nancy Folbre.
We were talking elections and the state of affairs for women and gender equity. The anxiety was thick and hung in the air around us as we sat in a city being dismantled of all efforts focusing on equity among a diverse populations and trying to move us back to our pre-1970s Madmen selves where the tradition of white male dominance stood at the forefront.
I mentioned that I was not worried. That the news of the day, distressing to say the least, was driven by a handful of anxious Kens (from the movie Barbie) who had taken over the Dojo Mojo Casa White House and, just like the movie, they were sure to wear themselves out in the knick of time.
Having just finished my book manuscript for SWIFTYNOMICS: How Women Mastermind and Redefine Our Economy, I also knew the depth and strength of women in society. We’d fought for women’s rights in the 70s, told our 80s daughters they could be anything, and watched them grow up to do just that. Even though a misogynistic criminal made it back into the White House, that was not about to deter women from keeping the rights they had earned.
Women play the long game. I knew this all too well. And, Taylor Swift is a prime example of what I mean. Watch the Miss Americana documentary on Netflix, and you see a woman determined by her convictions, who is willing to stand up to bullies and use her voice. You see a master strategist who cares deeply about her craft and will not be deterred by the minimized role some in society give her and thinks she, and women, should play.
She masterminds her way forward, leaving Easter Eggs for her fans, the Swifties, along the way. Her masterminding methods are fun, light-hearted, unique, and strategic, and her fans love her for it.
The flip side of her masterminding is a person who is serious, ingenious, caring, and thoughtful. And today, we saw that in its full power with the release of LWYMMD (TV) video for the next season of The Handmaid’s Tale.
Taylor’s first video of LWYMMD was about her and how she would not be deterred by the bullies, how she thrived and survived her industry through reinvention.
This new TV video is about the rest of us. It is about how we survive and thrive in a world where the bullies somehow made it into positions of power and are destroying the infrastructure that gives us opportunities and support to live our best lives at our fullest capacity. It’s a reminder that we will be ok. It’s a remembrance that we are not alone. It’s a call to action, a call to the rest of us that we must play the long game and do what we do best, mastermind ourselves, not into the society we have, but into the society we want.
And, at the end of the day, we might want to give a little bit of thanks and recognition to Taylor Swift for the encouragement. The best way to thank her may just be to get out there and be our best mastermind version of ourselves today, tomorrow, and always.
NOTE: If you enjoyed this read, consider pre-ordering my book, SWIFTYNOMICS: How Women Mastermind and Redefine Our Economy. You can do that here: https://a.co/d/bIkDV9r.