Love’s a game, wanna play? The Proverbiality of Taylor Swift’s Lyrics
Love’s a game, wanna play? The Proverbiality of Taylor Swift’s Lyrics

Summary/Abstract: Taylor Swift (born 1989) is an internationally acknowledged musical superstar whose songwriter/singer status with twelve albums to her credit is indeed phenomenal. She is without doubt a first-class performer on stage as well as in videos and films, who plays several instruments, composes her own songs, and writes her own lyrics as a remarkable poet. Certainly, her lyrics touch a deep nerve in her fandom of young, so-called Swifties, but she also touches listeners, viewers, and readers (of her texts) of all ages. The question arises why she has had such incredible success among people throughout the world, as could be witnessed in her international “The Eras” concert tour of 2023/24. This article argues that her relatability is at least in part due to her proverbial language with which everybody can identify. Her lyrics are replete with proverbial expressions and proverbs that often appear as leitmotifs both musically and textually. In fact, there are quite a few songs with proverbial titles that are repeated in the poetic stanzas. As stated by herself, she enjoys twisting such metaphorical language, creating her own fascinating anti-proverbs. In addition, she also has her very own sententious style that might well become proverbial due to her universally distributed musical art. Her proverbial language is enhanced by allusions to fairy tales and nursery rhymes that give her the opportunity to communicate indirectly about various types of emotions, of which love is the most important. Proverbs and proverbial phrases have always been part of the musical scene, from operas to country music and on to popular music of all types, but Taylor Swift is a quintessential artist in what might be called unique and lasting proverb songs.

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