TAYLOR SWIFT AND THE 1989 ALBUM RELEASE AND FAN RESPONSE PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIP STUDY A Thesis Presented to the faculty of the Department of Communication Studies California State University, Sacramento Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in Communication Studies by Sarah White FALL 2018 © 2018 Sarah White ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii TAYLOR SWIFT AND THE 1989 ALBUM RELEASE AND FAN RESPONSE PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIP STUDY A Thesis by Sarah White Approved by: ________________________________, Committee Chair Robert Humphrey, Ph.D. ________________________________, Second Reader Mark Williams, Ph.D. ________________________________, Third Reader John Williams, Ph.D. _________________________ Date iii Student: Sarah White I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the University format manual, and that this thesis is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to be awarded for the thesis. _______________________, Graduate Coordinator __________________ Shawna Malvini Redden Date Department of Communication Studies iv Abstract of TAYLOR SWIFT AND THE 1989 ALBUM RELEASE AND FAN RESPONSE PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIP STUDY by Sarah White This thesis looks at how social media and its intricacies, paired with parasocial relationships, significantly influence and control social media-goers' behavior in favor of the entertainer, in this case, Taylor Swift. The critical question of this thesis is: How did Taylor Swift use social media to communicate with her fanbase about her release of the album, 1989? This thesis will employ close textual analysis on Swift's social media posts about her album release on release day and fan response from the three social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This study argues Swift used simple language and popular social media intricacies to oversee and control the online conversation about 1989 and her fandom. ______________________, Committee Chair Robert Humphrey, Ph.D. ______________________ Date v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Dr. Humphrey, thank you for taking a chance on me: a graduate student you did not know, and research on a topic you were not familiar with. Thank you for being open to my subject matter and vision for this paper. But most of all, thank you for being a champion for me when I needed support and guidance to finish this program successfully. Your support pushed me to do my best work. The completion of this thesis and degree would not have been achievable without you. Dr.'s Mark Williams and John Williams, it was an honor to have you both on my committee. Thank you for your dedication to me and my thesis. Your support, feedback, and commitment seeing this thesis through completion have meant so much to me. As Dr. John Willaims said so eloquently, "The best kind of thesis is a completed thesis." Thanks to you both, I can now say I have the best kind of thesis. Thank you to my real friends and my family. You have been the pillars of strength for me these past few years. Thank you for believing in me and pushing me to achieve what seemed impossible in my eyes. Thank you for driving me to try again, find a way, not give up, and remind me I am a woman of high resilience. Your contribution to my success in this program will never go without notice, appreciation, and recognition. I would not be where I am today without you. Special acknowledgment to my Mom: You are the best. You are indeed the real M.V.P. and extraordinary. Thank you for all you have done to help me with this thesis. vi Lastly, thank you to Taylor Swift. Thank you for your activism in sisterhood and believing in supporting women, not tearing them down. As you powerfully said at the 2016 Grammy Awards, I want to say to all the young women out there: there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success, or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame. But if you just focus on the work and you don't let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you're going, you'll look around, and you will know that it was you and the people who love you who put you there. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………………vi Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1 Background: Who Is Taylor Swift Anyway? ..........................................................1 Methodology ...........................................................................................................8 Social Media .........................................................................................................11 Facebook ...................................................................................................12 Instagram ...................................................................................................12 Twitter .......................................................................................................13 Social Media Intricacies ........................................................................................13 Hashtags ....................................................................................................13 Trending ....................................................................................................14 Photobombing ...........................................................................................14 Follow and Feeds ......................................................................................15 Selfie..........................................................................................................15 Description of Artifacts .........................................................................................15 viii Research Question ................................................................................................20 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................21 Close Textual Analysis .........................................................................................21 Parasocial Relationships .......................................................................................30 3. DATA ..........................................................................................................................46 Swift’s Facebook Rhetoric ....................................................................................46 Swift’s Instagram Rhetoric ...................................................................................50 Swift’s Twitter Rhetoric .......................................................................................53 Fan Reaction Rhetoric ..........................................................................................56 Fan Facebook Response ............................................................................57 Fan Instagram Response ...........................................................................63 Fan Twitter Response ...............................................................................70 4. DISCUSSION ..............................................................................................................78 5. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................86 Insights on Communication and Parasocial Relationships....................................86 Swift's Master Plan................................................................................................87 ix Limitations ............................................................................................................90 Future Research ....................................................................................................91 References .........................................................................................................................93 x 1 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Background: Who is Taylor Swift Anyway? Taylor Swift, a multi-Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter, made an impact in the country music world when she was 15 years old. Coming from humble beginnings, Swift grew up on a Christmas tree farm in Reading, Pennsylvania (Taylor Swift Biography, 2017, para. 2). At the age of 10, Swift sang at local fairs and competed in talent contests. At age 11, Swift sang the “Star Spangled Banner” at a Philadelphia 76ers game. By the age of 12, Swift began to write country songs and self-taught how to play the guitar. (Taylor Swift Biography, 2017, para. 2). To pursue her country music career, the Swift family moved to Hendersonville, a town near Nashville, Tennessee, the country music capital. While in Nashville, Swift signed with Big Machine Records at the age of 15, a mere sophomore in high school (Doyle, 2009, para. 17). Swift turned her narrative of experiencing bad relationships into successful country music by writing country songs that exposed the narrative of her heartaches with intimate and intricate lyrics resembling diary entries. Her country hit songs earned her ample radio time and many platinum albums. "Swift found that using her failed relationships as material for her confessional songs was a hit formula" (Cripps, 2013, para. 4). Swift expressed, in her music, teenage narratives of love and heartache all the way through her early twenties. Swift claims country music "is the place to find reality in music, and reality in the stars who make that music" (Cripps, 2013,