Hello! If you're receiving this email, it's because you gave me your email when you responded to the Taylor Swift survey. If you don't want to receive these update newsletters - which, as you can see from how long it took me to do this one, won't be too frequent - then just unsubscribe down below. I still have it for when I reach out for interviews in a few weeks, so no harm done.

Anyway, let's chat a little about what's been going on for the last... few months? Since I first put out the survey.

Survey Updates

Right now, I think I'm at just about 40 respondants. So thanks so much for being a part of that! Especially as I don't have a huge budget for massive marketing. If you know someone who loves Taylor Swift music and hasn't answered it, I'd really appreciate you sharing it with them.​

I'm already seeing some really interesting similar threads - similarities between age groups, for example. But most interestingly, I've also got some similarities in Swiftie definition between those who say they are a Swiftie and those who say they're not.

Interestingly, those who define themsleves as "Swiftie" have definitions of a Swiftie which are neutral (for example, "Swifties are people who like Taylor Swift music). Those who did not self-define as a Swiftie had more pejoritive definitions (for example, Swifites are people with parasocial relationships, or who take things too seriously). I think this reveals a lot about the dynamics and interplays of fan dynamics.

I'm deciding on whether or not to update the survey with a song from the new album. Speaking of which...

Life of a Showgirl Release

As I'm sure you could have bet, the new album release has gotten me a bit busy. When I was first putting together this study as my next one, I didn't know a new album was on the horizon, but the timing has actually been wonderful - it's given me a lot of new study.

I got to go to one of the movie release events here in Salisbury (where I'm based). Had so much fun being in the crowd, laughing and crying and enjoying the night with everyone.

What's Coming Up

So the next step is getting together a proposal, some sample writing, and finishing up some initial research. I'm hoping to get the book with a publisher before doing any deeper dives. This is because publishers will sometimes want the scope of the research to be slightly different than the initial intentions. Though, I'm really happy with what I have so far that I don't know how much I want to change.

In the meantime, I'll be posting some of my initial findings when I get them over on Substack, and also with you here as I get them.

Alright, that's it for the first post. More of an introductory email, but I'm happy to have you along for the ride!