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The mother of NFL superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes displayed her support for Donald Trump in a viral video.
On Monday night (November 4), the National Football League’s current Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs hosted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ mother, Randi Mahomes, made it plain that she’s voting for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump by wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat matching her Chiefs sweater with gold lettering against a red background. “Make America great again. Let’s do it!,” she says to the camera, adding a cheer and a little dance at the end.
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The video was shot in a private suite at Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs’ home field presumably as fans were filing into the stadium. Conservative media outlet Outkick and pundit Clay Travis shared the video with their followers in a post on X, formerly Twitter, noting the timing of it on the eve of the final day of the presidential election. The video was more striking as pop superstar Taylor Swift, who has publicly endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, was present at the game to cheer on her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
14-time Grammy Award winner Swift was a source of heavy conversation after the endorsement as Brittany Mahomes, Patrick Mahomes’ wife, has shared her support for Donald Trump in the past by liking social media posts from the former president. After receiving criticism online, she posted an Instagram Story in August blasting those commenters. saying: “I mean honestly, to be a hater as an adult you have to have some deep-rooted issues you refuse to heal from childhood. There’s no reason your brain is fully developed and you hate to see others doing well.” Trump would later express his thanks in a Truth Social post. “I want to thank beautiful Brittany Mahomes for so strongly defending me,” he wrote.
As for Patrick Mahomes, he has shied away from sharing who he supports in the presidential election, declining to publicly endorse a candidate during a press conference at the beginning of the current NFL season. He did, however, ask his fans and others to “do their own research, and then make the best decision for them and their family.”
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Get ready for the holiday season with a special gift for the Swiftie in your life. Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs best selling book is a must-have addition to any fan’s collection, offering an inside look at the stories behind her greatest hits. This Swift-themed book explores the fourteen-time Grammy winner’s music, covering every album, from Reputation to Lover and over 200 songs that tell stories inspired from her life experiences.
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With this Swiftie-approved gift, you can embrace all of Swift’s eras, from her second studio album, Fearless, to her Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping hit “Bad Blood” featuring Kendrick Lamar. Plus, you’ll have access the story behind her music and learn more about the evolution of her sound from country to pop and folk music.
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What sets this book apart from any other collectible, is that it features direct quotes from Swift herself, providing insight into her creative process and the inspiration behind her songs from “Dear John” to “Lover.” Reflecting on her seventh studio album Lover, in this book, Swift describes it as, “a love letter to love, in all of its maddening, passionate, exciting, enchanting, horrific, tragic and wonderful glory.”
You can find this Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs hardcover book exclusively at Walmart.
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Taylor Swift: The Stories Behind the Songs (Walmart Exclusive)
Let the games begin and add this Taylor Swift-themed book that takes you to a deep dive look at Swift’s musical journey, revealing personal stories and creative insights behind her iconic songs, including, “Fearless,” “Dear John,” “22,” “Bad Blood” and many more.
This bestselling book, packed with insights into Swift’s music and creative process, makes a great gift for fans and music lovers alike. With in-depth stories behind her chart-topping hits, personal quotes from Swift and a deep dive into her musical evolution, it offers a unique look at her journey from Fearless to Midnights and beyond.
Whether you’re a longtime Swiftie or a newcomer to her music, this book is a great place to learn more about the story behind your favorite songs.
For more product recommendations, check out Dolly Parton’s activity book, Taylor Swift Style: Fashion Through the Eras by Sarah Chapelle and additional Taylor Swift recommended books.
When veteran concert promoter Louis Messina weighs adding an act to Messina Touring Group’s impressive stable of superstar artists, his eyes aren’t focused on the stage. Instead, he’s intently surveying the concert audience. “I watch eyes and lips: eyes, if they’re really focusing on the artists, and lips, if they’re singing along and if they’re smiling,” he says. “When I see that happening, that’s when I know I need to be involved. It’s rare that you see artists that can do that and [aren’t] just going through the motions. You know they bring this unique connection.”
Messina knows that feeling well; he remembers first experiencing it at just 7 years old, when his father took him to see Elvis Presley in his hometown of New Orleans. “I’ve never forgotten that energy in that room,” Messina says. “It was a feeling that I’ve never had before, and I’ve carried it until today. When artists and an audience connect with each other, it’s magical.”
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Seventy years later, Messina and his enviable roster have created plenty of magic together, too. The Messina Touring Group origin story began in 2001 with acts including his longtime client George Strait — and since then, each of the artists Messina exclusively promotes has been within one or two degrees of separation from the country legend (with the sole exception of The Lumineers). Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, Blake Shelton, Eric Church and Old Dominion all once opened for Strait; then Ed Sheeran and Shawn Mendes both opened for Swift.
Simply put, Messina says, without Strait “there wouldn’t be a Messina Touring Group.” But Messina’s own story started way earlier. His promoting career got off to a dubious start in New Orleans in 1972 when he sold out a Curtis Mayfield/B.B. King show — only to have the artists get stuck in Atlanta, unable to get to the gig. “I had 8,000 people trying to break the doors down to get their money back. The New Orleans riot squad had to come out,” he recalls. He learned a valuable lesson: “After I got over my depression, I had to go back into the ring. I got knocked down, but I didn’t get knocked out.”
After a tumultuous run in New Orleans, in 1975, Messina and his mentor and fellow promoter, Allen Becker, formed PACE Concerts in Houston. They introduced several new concepts into the live-event business, including touring multi-artist festivals such as the George Strait Country Festival and OzzFest, and were the first promoters to own outdoor sheds, starting with Nashville’s Starwood Amphitheater. Messina and Becker quickly realized they could reap the rewards of, as the late Becker used to say, the revenue from “popcorn, peanuts and parking” — and, in turn, greatly mitigate the financial risk of promoting concerts.
In 1997, Robert F.X. Sillerman bought PACE for $130 million as his SFX Entertainment consolidated the promotion business. In 2001, Messina launched Messina Touring Group, and in 2003, he partnered with AEG. His noncompete clause allowed him only to promote country acts, and he started with a passel that included Strait and Chesney, both of whom he still promotes. “Nobody else was paying attention to country acts back then,” Messina says. “What I did was take a little rock’n’roll mentality and brought it to Nashville; meaning I’m not going to do the same old same old.” He also gave each act its own dedicated team that they consistently work with from tour to tour.
On the fall day that Billboard speaks with the voluble Messina, now 77 and a father of six, he is at his desk in Austin. (Messina Touring Group’s 35 employees — 70% of whom are women — are spread between its Austin and Nashville offices.) “This is the time of the year where I’m busiest because I’m prepping for next year and the year after,” he says.
Still, he’s able to take a moment to look back. Last year was his company’s most successful yet, he says, with 2024 coming in second. Swift doesn’t report her concert totals to Billboard, but Billboard estimates her 2023 shows for The Eras Tour grossed $906.1 million (the tour will end Dec. 8). In 2024, Chesney completed his highest-grossing outing yet, according to Billboard Boxscore, with $159.5 million for the Sun Goes Down Tour, which ended in August. And Strait remains big business: His June 15 concert at Texas A&M’s Kyle Field set the all-time attendance record for a ticketed concert in the United States with 110,905 ticket-buying fans. “Everything’s clicking and so, you know, we’re happy,” Messina says.
But for Billboard’s 2024 Touring Executive of the Year, an artist’s potential career arc can’t be reduced to the success of any one tour.
“Louie isn’t a tour promoter. He’s an artist promoter… He’s a champion of not just the current tour he’s involved in with you, but your whole career,” says Church, who has worked with Messina for 12 years. “Louie always said to me, ‘You think your dreams are big, but you’ll never out-dream me.’ ”
Louis Messina
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Your father was a boxing promoter. Though you’ve said he didn’t influence you because your passion was music, what did you learn from him about taking risks?
I hate to say this because my dad’s passed away. He was a good man, but what I learned from him was what not to do. He was not a good businessperson. He did take me to see Elvis and exposed me to the excitement of what live music does. That’s what I’ve learned from my dad.
PACE pioneered the concept of touring artist festivals — multi-act events that would travel the country — but such stadium festivals are virtually gone now. Did local and regional festivals kill the touring artist festival?
I just ran out of talent. And the whole ego about “I’m not going to play in front of this guy… I need 110% billing… I need this. I need that” — it just wasn’t worth it. Then we started building amphitheaters and we made more money doing an amphitheater show than we did [promoting] stadium shows.
Two years into starting Messina Touring Group, you partnered with AEG. How does that relationship work?
I operate totally independent of AEG. Hell, a lot of times I’m competing with AEG over tours. They have their model, Live Nation has their model, and I have my model. My model is about careers, not tours. I always say I’m not in the rent-a-band business. I want to know what that artist’s vision is five and 10 years from now.
Legendary booking agent Wayne Forte unintentionally provided you with a light-bulb moment that changed your approach when you started Messina Touring Group. What did he say?
I was booking amphitheaters, and I referred to artists as inventory, and Wayne goes, “I’m sorry, Louis, did you just call artists inventory?” Literally, it stopped me in my tracks. I went, “I sure did.” At that moment, it totally reset my mind and where I was going in this business. I [wouldn’t] say I’d lost the passion, but I was a promoter that was just trying to sell popcorn and peanuts and parking. And I’m going, “This is not why I got in the business.” I got into the business because I love the passion of it. I changed my whole mentality at that point.
Most of your clients came from being opening acts for artists you were already promoting. Do you advise your acts on their openers?
With Kenny and George, I’m totally involved. Taylor always picks her opening acts. I’m involved with some and with others, I follow their lead. I believe there’s no such thing as overkill. Give the people their money’s worth. I’ve got George and Chris Stapleton and Little Big Town playing stadiums together and Zac Brown Band playing with Kenny. It’s magical.
The newest star in your orbit is Megan Moroney, who recently opened for Kenny Chesney even though you hadn’t seen her perform beforehand. Will she become your next client?
I’d love to work with her. I think she’s amazing. [Chesney’s manager] Clint [Higham] and I were talking about Kenny’s support and we brought up Megan Moroney. Kenny goes, “She’s only got one hit.” I go, “This album is so deep. Kenny, I’m telling you, this is going to work.” I’d never seen her perform, I just listened to her music and her songwriting. We put her on, and oh, my gosh, I’ve never seen Kenny so excited about an artist. He called me and he goes, “Louis, you were right. I was wrong.” But it didn’t take long for Kenny to recognize because Megan is such a natural star.
The production on Swift’s The Eras Tour is unlike anything that fans have seen. Has it changed what can be done onstage?
What Taylor has done is to me the best show I’ve ever seen. She amazes me night after night. She’s one of a kind. She’s always been like that. I’ve known her since she just turned 17… I always tell people, “You think you’re working? Go sit around Taylor for 15 minutes.” I remember when she was the first of three acts with Strait. She was the first one in the production office every day after visiting radio [stations], handwriting notes to people around the country. Ed’s the same way, Eric’s the same way, in their own way. None of the artists I work for is dialing anything in. They’re working their ass off.
The Ticketmaster site crashed when the Eras tickets went on sale, upsetting fans and leading to an antitrust suit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster. In hindsight, what could you have done differently?
When you have 15 million people trying to buy a million tickets, nothing could handle that. When we started adding shows, what [Swift’s management company] 13 and everybody decided to do was to stagger on-sales where instead of putting five shows up at once, we would put one show up at a time. Everybody’s blamed Ticketmaster, but I use this analogy: Imagine getting into a subway car in New York City. It holds 40 people, but 1,000 people are trying to get in that subway car. It just doesn’t work. They can’t get in. That’s what happened.
What’s the biggest change you’ve seen in negotiating artists’ fees over the last 10 years?
The biggest thing is [other promoters] playing with house money. These touring deals that some of my friends and competitors make, it’s ridiculous. The sales pitch [is] “What’s it going to take financially?” I don’t believe in that because if you’re tied to a check that somebody wrote to you, that means you have to play so many shows, your ticket price has to be this. You lose control of your own destiny. My trying to compete with a checkbook, that’s the hardest part I have because my sales pitch is “Let’s talk about the future. Let’s talk about your dreams.” Do what you’re supposed to do and the money will be there. If you chase the money, you’ll never get there.
Ed Sheeran has talked about trying to keep ticket prices low. Is there something other acts can learn from him?
No. This is one thing that’s wrong with artists that [want to price tickets too low]. Ed goes, “Louis, I want to go to bed at night knowing that this is the ticket price I wanted my fans to pay.” I go, “Ed, you’re beautiful for saying that, but here’s the problem: People are going to go to the secondary market and spend $700 on a ticket that you want to sell for $99… and you’re only going to get $99 of it.” I remember a long, long time ago working with George and his tickets were really reasonable and I did a printout of StubHub or whatever and said, “This is how much your tickets are being sold for right now.” And his eyes got big, and it was like a “Holy crap” moment for him. He had no idea.
Which acts are on your wish list?
I love Bruce Springsteen. I adore [Springsteen’s manager] Jon Landau and [tour manager] George Travis. They are all like family to me even though I don’t promote Bruce anymore these days because [Springsteen’s longtime agent] Barry Bell said I was too cheap, that I wouldn’t do the Bruce Springsteen deal. I don’t work at a discount price. My other fantasy [act] is Beyoncé. I adore her. Sometimes it’s cheaper to just buy a ticket than to get involved with the artists you love.
You spend a tremendous amount of time on the road. What’s your best travel tip?
My best travel tip I gave myself is I stopped drinking. This Christmas will be two years. I figured me and Jack Daniel’s had a good run together.
Any thoughts about retiring?
Seeing an artist go from an opening act to a stadium act and knowing that I had a little bit to do with it and walking into that sold-out stadium and seeing that energy… Wow! Why would I want to give that up? I’m the luckiest human being in the world.
Messina will receive Billboard’s inaugural Touring Titan honor at its Live Music Summit & Awards on Nov. 14.
This story appears in the Oct. 26, 2024, issue of Billboard.
It was a historic trip to the Grammy stage for Taylor Swift on Feb. 4, when she accepted her second and final award of the evening: album of the year, for her 2022 blockbuster set, Midnights. The win was her fourth in the category, breaking her out of a four-way tie and leaving her alone in the record books as the performing artist with the most album of the year wins in Grammy history. But by that point in the evening, Swift had already ensured that her fans were thinking more about the future — and perhaps AOTY trophy No. 5.
“I want to say thank you to the fans by telling you a secret that I’ve been keeping from you for the last two years — which is that my brand-new album comes out April 19,” Swift had revealed two hours earlier while accepting her first award of the night (best pop vocal album). “It’s called The Tortured Poets Department.”
A year after that announcement, Swift may indeed end up making more treks to the Crypto.com Arena stage thanks to the record-breaking Poets. While Midnights bowed with a jaw-dropping 1.6 million first-week units upon its October 2022 release (according to Luminate) and topped the Billboard 200 for six weeks — setting off the historic, globe-trotting Year of Taylor that followed in 2023 — it paled in comparison with Poets, which debuted with over 2.6 million units and spent a whopping 15 weeks atop the Billboard 200. Given that Swift has secured AOTY nominations for each of her three brand-new albums released this decade (including two wins, for Midnights and 2020’s folklore, of her four career total), Poets seems a lock for one of the eight AOTY slots at the 2025 ceremony.
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Whether Swift will win, however, is another question entirely — in part because of a remarkably strong and high-profile slate of likely competitors, including one particularly legendary perennial AOTY bridesmaid. But perhaps the most interesting question of all: After four AOTY wins, already unmatched in Grammy history, how much more does Swift really have to gain by adding another such statue to her collection?
While Swift has already triumphed among some strong fields this decade, it’s likely that the category’s 2025 slate of nominees — with its expected mix of huge critical and commercial successes from veteran A-listers and emergent superstars — will be the most formidable she has faced yet. Alex Tear, vp of music programming at SiriusXM and Pandora, mentions Billie Eilish (Hit Me Hard and Soft), Chappell Roan (The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess) and Sabrina Carpenter (Short n’ Sweet) as strong contenders for the marquee award, calling Carpenter “a force” in particular. “It’s really going to be a highly competitive year,” he says.
Still, the narrative surrounding the AOTY race will likely boil down to two names: Swift and Beyoncé, whose Billboard 200-topping country and Americana pivot, Cowboy Carter, will almost certainly also vie for the prize. Cowboy did only a fraction of Poets’ flabbergasting first-week numbers — though at press time, it still had the year’s second-highest debut total, at 375,000 units — but it received widespread acclaim, as well as immense media attention for its genre explorations and for the music history Beyoncé illuminated on it.
And of course, Carter’s candidacy comes with extra intrigue, given that Beyoncé — one of the most celebrated album artists of her era — has still never won album of the year, despite her four career nods for it (and record 32 total Grammy wins).
One longtime Recording Academy member who considers both Swift’s and Beyoncé’s new albums worthy contenders calls the latter “the prohibitive favorite” due to her careerlong shutout in the category. “I think that there’s a feeling in the industry, which was certainly encouraged via last year’s Grammys” — when her husband, Jay-Z, called attention to her AOTY shutout in a televised speech — “that [Beyoncé] has been overlooked for too long,” the member says.
Swift may well have less at stake in this year’s AOTY race than her storied competitor. In fact, because Swift is at the overall height of her career success and exposure (and therefore at risk of generating a backlash), it’s worth considering whether she stands to lose more than she does to gain by netting a fifth trophy, especially over a competitor with such a strong case — and such a strong sentimental pull for so many.
And public perception about a potential Swift victory could be colored by her own philosophy about the Grammys and awards shows in general. “She looks at record-making as a competitive sport in a way that other artists don’t,” the academy member says. “Other artists are competitive and would like to win Grammys, but she really, like, thinks about that stuff going in [to recording her albums].”
Swift has admitted as much over the years. In 2015, she explained in a Grammy Pro interview that when her Red lost AOTY in 2014 (to Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories), it set in motion her plan to make a more cohesive pop album with 1989, which won the award two years later: “You have a few options when you don’t win an award — you can decide, ‘Oh, they’re wrong…’ [or] you can say, ‘Maybe they’re right,’ ” she said. Similarly, her 2020 documentary, Miss Americana, captured her reaction when her 1989 follow-up, 2017’s Reputation, failed to garner even a nomination in the category: “I just need to make a better record.” (Two albums later, she would win the category again in 2021 for the stylistic left turn folklore.)
Competitiveness, of course, doesn’t equate to outright making Grammy bait, Tear points out — noting that it seems to have inspired Swift to grow artistically, while at the same time, “we’ve grown into her evolving as a person and the choices that she wants to make as an artist… The projects of late are not chasing where the puck is going — it’s already there.”
And though the Recording Academy member gives Beyoncé the edge in this particular race, it simply makes sense to them that the biggest pop star on the planet should be one of the favorites every time she’s in the mix.
“Look, [Swift] is the most popular recording artist on earth, and therefore she’s likely to win more often than not,” the member says, citing the famous Muhammad Ali quote, “It’s not bragging if you can back it up.” And Swift “can do it, God bless her. She should keep doing it. Maybe she’ll win album of the year several more times.”
This story appears in the Oct. 5, 2024, issue of Billboard.
“People call it Brat Summer — it should be called ‘artist development summer,’ ” Jack Antonoff jokes on a mid-September afternoon, sitting on the rooftop of New York’s Electric Lady Studios and reflecting on the past few months in pop music. Charli XCX, whose brat album helped define the season, is an old friend of Antonoff’s — they co-headlined a 2015 tour called Charli and Jack Do America — and he points out that her 2024 success speaks to a larger movement of artists creating their own mainstream niches instead of latching on to trends.
“Sabrina [Carpenter], Charli and Chappell Roan — the three of them have had this shared experience of artists who have been crystallizing, and that’s where you get gems,” Antonoff says of a trio of pop talents who have dominated recent cultural discourse. “And that’s the story of being an artist. That’s true artist development. And it doesn’t matter where we are in tech or streaming or anything — the only way to win is to create your own language.”
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This year, Antonoff has had a direct hand in abetting artistic evolution at different levels of stardom — helping a longtime collaborator, Taylor Swift, shape-shift while staying on top of the pop world, as well as a rising artist, Carpenter, secure her place on the A-list. For the latter, Antonoff produced and co-wrote four songs on Carpenter’s new album, Short n’ Sweet — including her first Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper, “Please Please Please” — allowing the pop singer’s sardonic tics to shine on her way to arena-headliner status.
“No one deserves it more,” Antonoff says of the former Disney Channel star, who has released six albums by the age of 25. “Sabrina’s been quietly growing, and her albums have been getting more awesome, and she’s been honing her sound and performances. It’s not like she just popped onto the scene — this has been a decade of grinding toward it.”
During the week that Short n’ Sweet was released in August, Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department — on which Antonoff contributed to 16 songs across both of its volumes — spent its 15th week atop the Billboard 200, the longest run at No. 1 of any Swift project. Swift announced The Tortured Poets Department on the night of the 2024 Grammys, where previous full-length Midnights was awarded album of the year and she set the record for the most career wins in the category.
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This year, Antonoff’s work with Swift and Carpenter — along with the self-titled fourth album from his long-running band, Bleachers, which arrived in March — could help him notch his sixth consecutive Grammy nomination for a producer of the year, non-classical, a category that he has won the past three years. If Antonoff takes home the trophy at the 2025 ceremony, he would set a record as the only four-peat in the 50-year history of the award.
“It would be a really [nice] resolve to a really special period,” says Antonoff’s manager, Jamie Oborne. “If it’s based on the work alone and the broad spectrum of work, I can’t imagine anyone else winning.”
Instead of functioning as a victory lap for Swift, The Tortured Poets Department was emotionally unguarded and knowingly messy, dividing critics and inspiring immediate fan devotion on its way to the biggest first-week debut of her career. “The best bodies of work are when people drill into the most personal, the most if-you-know-you-know kind of stuff,” Antonoff says. “I think the depth of [Tortured Poets Department] was surprising to people because I think people are constantly surprised when artists continue to be artists. You see so many people take the wrong turn and pander and become terrified of what they could lose. That’s the recipe for all the worst music, and I can only relate to people who don’t give a f–k. That next body of work — it doesn’t matter how big your audience is, it either comes from the depths of you or it doesn’t. And I love that album so much because the whole thing is so remarkably vulnerable.”
That ethos helps explain why, in the midst of a record-setting run as a pop studio whiz, Antonoff keeps pushing his creativity into unfamiliar areas. After producing the April soundtrack to the Apple TV+ fashion drama The New Look, which included Antonoff pals like Lana Del Rey and The 1975 covering early-20th-century songs, he also signed on to provide original music for a Broadway revival of Romeo + Juliet, which began previews in late September. More recently, he unveiled early plans for his Public Studios initiative, which, with the help of The Ally Coalition, will build studios in LGBTQ+ youth shelters and create a network of engineers to help train those interested in production — free of charge.
Jack Antonoff photographed September 10, 2024 at Electric Lady Studios in New York.
Amy Lombard
Antonoff also deconstructed the first Bleachers album, 2014’s Strange Desire, for a 10th-anniversary rework dubbed A Stranger Desired, released in September. And amid all of the projects, he foremost describes 2024 as “a touring year,” having led Bleachers on a global trek that will culminate with a headlining gig at Madison Square Garden in New York on Oct. 4.
He admits that he gets asked about his schedule by the people around him — friends curious about his balancing act and why he hasn’t zeroed in on the more successful pieces of his artistry. “My hunger to make things hasn’t changed since I was like 14,” Antonoff says with a chuckle, “but the context for people has changed.” When asked about the idea of winning four consecutive Grammys for producer of the year, Antonoff returns to the idea of artist development — that even when he’s receiving what he describes as “a huge honor,” his priority remains “protecting that zone” that allows him to grow as an artist and person.
“I really don’t let anything get in the way of that,” Antonoff says. “I keep my head down and I go back to work.”
This story appears in the Oct. 5, 2024, issue of Billboard.
For any fashion-friendly Swiftie, there’s only one place to go immediately after the pop star releases a music video, attends an award show, is snapped out and about, or supporting Travis Kelce at a Kansas City Chiefs Game: Taylor Swift Style, the fashion blog and popular Instagram account of writer Sarah Chapelle.
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On TSS, Chapelle documents with astonishing detail (and speed) the source and pricing of Swift’s ensembles (down to each ring on her fingers), but also provides insightful, in-depth critical analysis, illuminating how Swift’s fashion choices are often as revealing — and intentional — as her lyrics. “We’re very familiar with these confessional, emotional songs that she gives us about her life, but I always felt that her style is the other half of that story,” Chapelle tells Billboard. “It’s the visual half that icon-ifies her eras, and it creates these memorable moments that stick out in your brain. I think she’s always, in some form, used fashion as a way of carving out identity and saying something about herself.”
Sarah Chapelle
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On Oct. 8, Chapelle’s already devoted audience (over 300,000 strong on her @taylorswiftstyled Insta) will likely get even bigger when she releases Taylor Swift Style: Fashion Through the Eras (St. Martin’s Griffin), a book encompassing Swift’s career to date as viewed through Chapelle’s “critically-kind” and highly personal perspective. With essays along with commentary on over 200 photographs capturing Swift’s evolution in the public eye, Taylor Swift Style will certainly be catnip for fans – but it also proves to be a fascinating, often surprising lens into this additional layer of Swift’s creativity for anyone watching the artist’s continuing evolution.
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Chapelle spoke to Billboard ahead of her book’s publication about Swift’s style eras, fashion Easter eggs, and why she should always wear more green. When you were starting what would become Taylor Swift Style, how, if at all, was the fashion press treating Taylor? So I have been a fan of Taylor since around 2006, and I’ve been documenting her fashion since 2011. At that time, the social media landscape was certainly not what it is right now, and the celebrity fashion landscape and press coverage of it was also not as hyper-focused, and certainly not on Taylor, as it is now. When I created the blog, I was studying in university to become a journalist, and I was trying to figure out my own identity and navigate, you know, how do I express myself and figure out who I am? And one way that a lot of us would do that is through our clothes. The blog just kind of became an intersection of all of my interests — like a niche within a niche of the fandom — to offer a resource for all of her fashion to other fans who I hoped might feel the same way and have this highly specific interest that I did. I talk about it in the book, and Taylor has talked about it as well, how there was a certain period when her art just wasn’t really taken very seriously or was sort of brushed off as like a teenage girl thing. And now I think we take her art and her power and her business through her artistry, and also, by extension, through her fashion, so, so, so seriously. It’s been an amazing evolution and journey to witness and also document. As you note in the book, at the start of her career, Taylor’s stylist was her label head, Scott Borchetta’s wife. Her current stylist, Joseph Cassell, has now been working with her for many years. Do you see a parallel between how Taylor’s ownership over her creativity and over how she presents herself have evolved? One thing that has always resonated with me about how Taylor seems to approach her business is that it’s, in a sense, always seemed kind of personal — she retains staff and people around her for very long periods of time, obviously a reflection of the mutual understanding she has with the people around her and the level of trust she has in them to help execute her vision and bring her ideas to life. I think one kind of fascinating example of her taking an incredible amount of creative control over her image was in the folklore and evermore era when, due to the circumstances of the pandemic, she self-styled because she didn’t want to inconvenience or endanger her team. So the folklore and evermore eras’ [imagery is] a very undiluted look into her creative process of translating what was going on in her mind into the physical, into the visual of how she wanted that era to look and to feel. And I think that’s especially resonant when you consider how the folklore photo shoot feels like its music — you’re kind of traipsing through this imaginary, wooded place as she’s trying to escape the realities of life. It felt right for that era, for that time, for that music. How did your “critically-kind” ethos come about? I can’t remember exactly when it started, but I didn’t always write commentary. I used to feel that, oh, people don’t want to hear from you, they just want the information — they just want to know where the clothes are from and where they can get it, and you should kind of be like this invisible admin force, like “don’t look behind the curtain!” type of energy. And a few years in, people would just start being like, “You should write more. You should write longer captions.” It almost felt like taking a page out of Taylor’s book, of when you choose to be vulnerable and a little bit more open people resonate with that humanity, and that resonance is the entire reason why there’s a book in the first place. It’s very easy to fall into the internet pit of defaulting to [saying] unkind or cruel things, and that just never felt like the tone that I wanted to hit or the ethos that I wanted to drive conversation with. I think that there are a lot of people who crave the original intention of the internet, which is to connect with other people — and when you carve out an intentional space for those kinds of conversations to happen in a way that’s thoughtful and nuanced and kind, people will come. You are well known for your love of Taylor wearing green. Please explain! When people ask me this I feel like I’m almost disappointing with like, a very boring and underwhelming answer — which is, I just think she looks really pretty! (Laughs) I just think that she looks great in that color, and every time I see it, it makes my heart really happy. Luckily for me, she’s had quite a number of amazing moments in green; there’s like an entire sidebar dedicated to some of my favorite Taylor in green moments in the book. The most relevant from this year was the peridot green Gucci gown from the Golden Globes, which was fantastic.
Taylor Swift at the 81st Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 7, 2024 in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Gilbert Flores/Golden Globes 2024
I was very into that long-sleeved crushed velvet green dress she wore out that everyone was very sure was Rep-coded… The Little Lies dress from January, yeah. Here’s the thing: I strongly believe that that outfit was an Easter egg, but it was an intentional misdirect, because — stay with me — [as part of] the Tortured Poets rollout, there was coding in the backend of her website that [when unscrambled] said “red herring.” She’s now comfortable enough playing with fashion, not only as a tool to reflect what’s coming next or her state of mind or her emotions or a vibe about a project, but also to intentionally mislead, because she’s aware that people will pick up on things.
And I believe that she had intentionally been using Reputation (Taylor’s Version) as a red herring, so that nobody would suspect that the bait-and-switch would be a new album, The Tortured Poets Department. Because how much more obvious can you get, wearing a green velvet dress and pairing it with Giuseppe Zanotti boots that have snakes on them? For once, I didn’t think that was a leap — I was like, “I think we are correctly interpreting what we are seeing with our eyes!” (Laughs) She just wanted us to be wrong, which is her right! It’s interesting to see how your readers react to different looks of hers. I noticed that there were very divided reactions to her wearing obvious logos on the recent weekend in New York when she and Travis were photographed together a lot. Why do you think that was? A logo-covered item [a Gucci shift dress Swift wore out] stuck out to my eye, because it’s not typical of her to go for something so ostentatiously branded, so I think it was just surprising to see her, you know, fully Gucci-fied for that particular outing. Especially because one signature of Taylor’s fashion is the high-low — she loves pairing like, a Reformation dress with, say, Louis Vuitton or Christian Louboutin heels, creating this balanced mix of aspirational and attainable, while still looking overall very relatable. So to wear something so obviously luxury-branded stuck out to a lot of people’s eyes. Are there particular eras when you think Taylor’s music and fashion aesthetics have matched especially well – and, conversely, when they’ve felt more incongruous with each other? I think that debut made perfect sense. Folklore and evermore make perfect sense to me. It’s hard for 1989; I look at it and I’m like, yeah, that makes perfect sense — it was her major breakthrough into pop music and so she had this, like, pop girl uniform of crop top and skirt — but also she briefly kind of introduced 1989 as, like, this ’80s album, which it’s not…. so debut and folklore feel more cohesive to me. I really loved how the Reputation fashion captured the duality of the album: I talk about it in the book, but obviously she kind of beats you over the head up front with a lot of leather and snakeskin and camo and combat boots, it’s very clearly a bombastic, quote-unquote revenge album, but then she accompanies it with softer sequins and rainbows and sparkles, kind of the signature Taylor Swift soft feminine aesthetic, which is appropriate for Reputation too, because underneath all of that, it is a falling in love album. For a lot of people, the most incongruous is probably Midnights — a lot of people were confused by this ‘70s aesthetic, like this smoky, hazy, wood scratched floors and vinyl and patchouli scented air…..and then this huge kind of return to shiny pop. Though I think I’ve come around to making sense of it I really like the Midnights album photo shoot visuals quite a lot. A big part of seeing Taylor publicly these days is seeing her with Travis — someone who’s intentional about dressing in maybe a very different way — and of course seeing their individual styles juxtaposed. Do you feel they’re complementary, or even rubbing off on each other in interesting ways? So that’s interesting…do you think that Travis dresses intentionally, or do you think that Travis just thinks fashion is fun?
Taylor Swift arrives at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium prior to a game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 15, 2024 in Kansas City, Missouri.
Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Hmm, interesting question. I guess there’s a difference. I do think he finds it fun… I think that there’s a clear difference between somebody who thinks that fashion is a fun thing to play with and to experiment with, and somebody who’s intentionally using fashion as an extension of their artistry and messaging and communication. And I think Travis falls into the fashion is fun [camp]. Having somebody around who obviously injects what she said about him at the VMAs — like, magic and happiness and rainbows and puppies — having that sense of lightness in her life is obviously fun to see, as a fan. But I think watching her show up to Chiefs games has been a fascinating extension of her style, in that it’s the first time that I am analyzing her fashion and her choices not through the lens of “what does this say about her” but in her playing entirely a supporting role. And that’s her choosing Kansas City based businesses, women-owned businesses, choosing vintage — all of those careful, thoughtful, intentional choices kind of create this foundation of “I’m here as a supporting person. I am here to ‘Woooo!’” And I love how she’s made that clear. To me it’s a very clear delineation in her style that still feels very Taylor — like, cute little plaid skirt, little vintage Chiefs sweatshirt? That feels like a very Taylor outfit! It’s very clearly a “I am not the main character” outfit, but the core of the outfit is very recognizably Taylor. She still retains this semblance of recognizability, and I think that that’s one thing that she does incredibly well in all aspects of her branding and her fashion: even as she evolves as an artist, as a person, you can still see her as a human.
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Source: Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty / Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift officially has broken Donald Trump.
The Orange Menace, Donald Trump, is not handling the fact that Taylor Swift and her Swifties endorsed Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to succeed President Joe Biden very well.
Trump wrote on his bootleg social media platform, Truth Social, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” on Sunday morning, leaving many baffled but not shocked at his unhinged all-caps post.
The former disgraced President’s bizarre post garnered numerous responses, like this one from big-time Trump hater Liz Cheney, who wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “Says the smallest man who ever lived.” For those who follow Swift’s music, that was a clever callback to Swift’s latest project, The Tortured Poets Department.
The View co-host, former Republican and proud Donald Trump critic Ana Navarro wrote on X, “Donald Trump has lost what little sanity he had left. Taylor Swift broke him.”
Trump’s swift meltdown came after the pop star announced she was Team Harris/Walz immediately following the VP’s dragging of the convicted felon during last week’s presidential debate.
She shared the post on her Instagram Stories along with a link to Vote.org, which led to “more than 400,000 visitors to the voter-information site in a 24-hour period,” Variety reports.
Taylor Swift Lives Rent-Free In Donald Trump’s Small Mind
Before declaring his hate for Swift on Truth Social, Trump declared his love for Patrick Mahomes’ wife, Brittany Mahomes, who wasn’t shy about revealing her love for Orange Mussolini by liking Trump-related posts during a Fox & Friends interview.
“Well, I actually like Mrs. Mahomes much better. If you want to know the truth. She’s a big Trump fan. I was not a Taylor Swift fan,” Trump said.
Users on X clowned Brittany Mahomes for getting love from Trump after her “bestie” endorsed Kamala Harris.
Patrick Mahomes didn’t help beat any allegations that he is in the Trump boat by refusing to endorse any candidate. Instead, he dropped some lame reasoning for not having a political backbone.
In a recent turn of events, Brittany Mahomes is now questioning her support for Trump after his Truth social comments, which, according to The Daily Mail, left her “shaken to the core.”
Social media also clowned Trump for letting the world know that Taylor Swift lives rent-free in his mind.
You can see those reactions in the gallery below.
5. Listen to Kobe
6. Imagine that
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Taylor Swift is not letting her fans get finessed by artificial intelligence. She has formally endorsed Kamala Harris for President of the United States
As reported by The Verge the music superstar is standing on democratic business. After the conclusion of the presidential debate on Tuesday, September 10, the Tortured Poets Department singer took to Instagram and made it clear that she is casting her vote for Kamala Harris. “Recently I was made aware that AI of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site. It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation,” her caption read. “It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.”
She went on add that “I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them.” The rest of the post encourages her followers and fans to do their own research on both candidates and reminded everyone to register. Additionally she featured a link that shared more information on where to register by state in her Instagram Story. The post is a reference to some AI generated images Donald Trump shared back in August that depicted Taylor Swift fans wearing “Swifties For Trump” shirts and an image of the songstress wearing an Uncle Sam outfit with the caption “Taylor Wants YOU To VOTE For Donald Trump.”
As expected the announcement has many republicans in their feelings. JD Vance responded saying “I don’t think many people are going to be influenced by a billionaire celebrity who I think is disconnected from the interests and the problems of most Americans.” One X user wrote “Who the heck is Taylor Swift? Just another pretty face and half clad body that no one will care about in 10 years when she’s filled with botox and plastic. Just ask Madonna.”
You can find more information on how to register to vote here. Check out the reactions to Taylor Swift’s co-sign in the gallery.
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Source: Jamie Squire / Getty / Brittany Mahomes / Taylor Swift
Following Taylor Swift’s swift endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, Brittany Mahomes caught all of the strays.
Taylor Swift is letting the world and her millions of followers know that she wants to be on the right side of history and do her part to help get Kamala Harris to become the 48th President of the United States.
Swift made her very loud announcement after VP Harris was finished clowning the orange menace on the debate stage, writing in her post on Instagram:
I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos. I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.
Swift’s endorsement of the Harris/Walz ticket comes after she faced “backlash” for fraternizing with Brittany Mahomes, the wife of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who outed herself as a Trump supporter.
Social Media Is Roasting Brittany Mahomes
Following Swift’s endorsement, Mahomes immediately became the subject of conversations on X, formerly Twitter, with users clowning her.
It also doesn’t help that Donald Trump expressed his admiration for Mahomes, telling Fox & Friends Wednesday morning, “I actually like Mrs. Mahomes much better if you want to know the truth,” Trump said. “She’s a big Trump fan. I was not a Taylor Swift fan,” when asked about Swift endorsing VP Harris.
Trump reacts to Taylor Swift endorsing Kamala Harris: “Well, I actually like Mrs. Mahomes much better … I was not a Taylor Swift fan … she’ll probably pay a price for it in the marketplace.” pic.twitter.com/J9Nk56nhEB
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) September 11, 2024
Congratulations, Brittany Mahomes, on getting that shining endorsement.
You can see more reactions in the gallery below.
2. Accurate
3. She brought this on herself
4. More than likely
Taylor Swift has made a surprising political move, taking to social media to endorse Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election.
In a post shared with her millions of followers, Swift expressed her admiration for Harris following today’s Presidential Debate, calling her a “steady-handed, gifted leader” and a “warrior” for causes she holds dear, such as LGBTQ+ rights and women’s reproductive freedoms.
The “Fortnight” singer endorsement follows a moment of reflection, spurred by a false AI-generated image of her endorsing Donald Trump, which had appeared on his website.
Swift’s post reads:
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Like many of you, I watched the debate tonight. If you haven’t already, now is a great time to do your research on the issues at hand and the stances these candidates take on the topics that matter to you the most.
As a voter, I make sure to watch and read everything I can about their proposed policies and plans for this country.
Recently I was made aware that AI of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site. It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation. It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.
I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos. I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.
I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice. Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make. I also want to say, especially to first time voters: Remember that in order to vote, you have to be registered! I also find it’s much easier to vote early. I’ll link where to register and find early voting dates and info in my story.
With love and hope,
Taylor SwiftChildless Cat Lady