Taylor Swift: Miss Americana
A Netflix Original, Taylor Swift: Miss Americana is a very obviously deliberate attempt to humanise the much-discussed popstar, delivered in a somewhat formulaic format, which proves fairly engaging nonetheless. Whilst the film somewhat encourages the viewer to pick apart Taylor’s psyche (something that the wider public have reveled in doing down the years), Miss Swift is just about interesting enough as a subject to hold the documentary together. Not your typical popstar, the bells and whistles usually associated with artists who have reached such heights largely disappear the moment she steps off stage.
Like many creatives, the best-selling singer and songwriter has always come across as an incredibly conflicted individual, but where her peers in the world of pop have typically fallen by the wayside as a result, Taylor’s struggles have been magnified as a result of having to live her life in the public eye, making Miss Americana an interesting watch. Whilst it’s unmistakably a marketing piece, watching her come to terms with the struggles that a lot of young women face (including an eating disorder first revealed by Taylor in the documentary) naturally elicits a lot of sympathy for the artist. It’s clear that Taylor’s strong morals and belief system are both a source of strength and a weakness of hers, which is something I can empathise with, as I can her impressive sense of self-awareness, likely driven by a tendency to ruminate on every little thing.
It makes her the perfect narrator for her own documentary – a singular voice that adds to the sense of loneliness surrounding an artist adored worldwide, particularly during the film’s opening bars. As her fans will attest, this penchant for storytelling is the main reason why she has proven such a huge success story worldwide, endearing herself to millions of mostly teenage fans from the US to the UAE. I don’t know that I’d count myself amongst them, but I’ve always had a lot of respect for Taylor Swift as a songwriter. Miss Americana‘s most magical moments are the glimpses we’re offered into her music-making process, with a give-and-take relationship between her and whichever producer she happens to be working with at the time, taking precedence over the large-scale operations favoured by many modern popstars. There’s also one particularly enjoyable scene that lifts the lid on the moment that Taylor and Brendan Urie came together to record ‘ME!’, where she outlines her plans for the accompanying music video to the Panic At The Disco frontman, highlighting the strength of her overall cultural vision.
That said, I struggled to get into ‘Folklore’ – Taylor’s most recent album – despite on paper, it feeling like a record I would usually lap up. I still believe ‘1989’ to be her best album, and ‘Out Of The Woods’ her best song. It’s no surprise to me that a live performance of that track shows her at her very best in Miss Americana. Even so, it’s impossible to deny that ‘Folklore’ was a hit with the critics, lauded for showing a very different side to the artist, one that could be construed as an attempt to shift the ‘Overton Window’ and forge a new career path by an artist who will soon be hitting 30 – this especially makes sense when you couple this new sound with Taylor’s musings in Miss Americana regarding the expectations around young female artists and their cultural relevance.
So whilst #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty may have once been a trending hashtag on Twitter – a horrible example of cancel culture that felt particularly misogynistic – it’s clear that this is an artist who is in it for the long haul. If nothing else, Miss Americana showcases Taylor’s holistic understanding of the cultural economy, which will likely lead to a complete reimagining of who you thought Taylor Swift was over the coming years. It might not be an essential watch, but if you’re wanting to understand the artist, if not the person, then this documentary film hits the mark.