Is Taylor Swift flailing without a good PR strategy?

taylor_swift_13_wenn3259737

For whatever reason, Taylor Swift is in London, and she’s been getting pap’d a lot on the trip. These are all photos from the past few days – Swifty in off-the-shoulder red, Swifty in off-the-shoulder beige. I have to admit, as much as the whole Swifty debacle damaged Jake Gyllenhaal’s reputation, I also think Swifty’s rep has taken a hit. It’s not just the Jake situation, it’s everything combined. Hooking up with John Mayer, writing a song about riding (and being dumped by) Mayer’s racist douche dong, planting stories about her relationship with Jake, and then planting stories about the breakup with Jake… it’s all left a bad taste in my mouth, and I doubt I’m alone. Plus, Swifty has been coming across as kind of psycho – she pretty much stalked Jake at the post-Oscars Vanity Fair party.

So, post-Jake Swifty has to change things up a bit, right? Travel to London, pap herself around town. She also has been trying to make the Chord Overstreet thing happen – the two of them went to some sporting event a few weeks ago, but from what I can tell, that PR gambit fizzled. It seems like Swifty doesn’t really have a strategy in place, right? Should we help her out?

Here’s my PR strategy for Swifty: First, do a makeover. Cut your hair, stop with the little frilly princess dresses for a while, change it up. Secondly, either don’t date anyone for several months, or if you do, don’t promote the relationship like it’s your album about the drop. No one should be thinking about your biscuits for a while. And for God’s sake, stop accosting men outside of public bathrooms.

taylor_swift_1_wenn3259565

taylor_swift_02_wenn3259716

Photos courtesy of WENN.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

37 Responses to “Is Taylor Swift flailing without a good PR strategy?”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. Rita says:

    I doubt any real damage has been done to either Jake or Swifty but she is flailing a bit in her PR. I think the worst thing these celebs do is feel the need to constantly saturate the public with their presence. My PR advice would be to follow Celine’s lead which is to say, be yourself and show yourself in a good light and at arms length when there is a project to promote. (That’s what I do with my PR).

  2. quixotic says:

    You forgot one more important tip Kaiser. She needs to stop playing the victim. She drew out the Kanye debaucle at the MTV awards show. She plays the victim in her music. She played the victim with John Mayer and now Jake.

    Swifty stop acting like you’re 14 years old when you’re supposed to be nearing 20 now. GROW UP and you’ll stop seeming desperate to hold on to your tween appeal.

  3. Marjalane says:

    She’s just acting like a typical ego-centered teenage girl. Sometimes I think they’re genetically unable to think before they act. I totally agree with your suggestions to rehab her image; esp. the hair! I’m so tired of it.

  4. Saskia says:

    God, I hate her hair SO MUCH. That omni-present poufy sidesweep makes my head hurt. She’s in her 20s now. IT IS TIME TO STOP with the kindergarten picture day ringlets, bitch. Also, nice split ends. They look like you chew on them when you’re locked in the bathroom stall crying your heart out over some douchenozzle you let into your secret garden.

    I don’t even have the energy to address whatever the hell is going on with that caftan she wrangled out of my dead grandmother’s dining room tablecloth.

  5. Quest says:

    Swifty I agree you in need of a Major Makeover in the hair, face, style department as well and behaviour.

    PS: Writing the large number “13” on your right hand ain’t helping matters.

    Or and not matter what I will still hate your music

  6. Crash2GO2 says:

    She would look gorgeous with a cute pixie haircut, wouldn’t she? I think the drapey gypsy clothes work for her, I don’t have a problem with them. But I do like her with straight hair better. Or she should just let it go really wild and curly. SOMEthing.

  7. Jennifer says:

    The whole cutesy thing is way over. Grow up, Swifty.

  8. quixotic says:

    “They look like you chew on them when you’re locked in the bathroom stall crying your heart out over some douchenozzle you let into your secret garden”

    @Saskia LOOOOLL! Well said! I’m going to be chuckling to myself all day thinking about this comment.

  9. malachais says:

    I don’t mind Swifty, and I’d rather deal with her any day as opposed to Rihanna, Katy, or Lady Gaga. She is actually beautiful, talented, and writes her own music. She just comes off really immature and melodramatic.

    I hope she doesn’t cut her hair, because frankly she has awesome hair..but a style change would be nice. You have to give her a tiny bit of credit for not becoming some hollywood style robot.

  10. Marc says:

    OMG she is sooooooooooooo boring. No matter what she does. Gurl make sex tape, get drunk or whatever and stop with this fairytale princess crap.

  11. MikeyAngel says:

    Quixotic you are so right and Saskia you are so funny, and right!

  12. GeekChic says:

    My daughter has hair just like Swifty’s. It is very curly with natural ringlets and about the same color (my daughter’s is a little lighter from playing outside so much). Blonde naturally curly hair is different from all of the other colors because blonde hair tends to be very thin, meaning that the individual strands are thin. As a result, it is much harder to do anything with it and styling products don’t work nearly as well.

    I can say from experience that this hair type pretty much needs to be long. When it is short, the ringlets get even more “ringlet-y” and impossible to manage. Now Swifty could try for another style — maybe a middle part and angled around the face? But she definitely shouldn’t chop it all off, as it would look disastrous.

    And just for the record, I adore my daughter’s hair. I love to pull on her curls and watch them boing back into shape. She thinks it’s funny now (she’s 6), but eventually she will just think her mom is a huge dork (and she wouldn’t be wrong, actually).

  13. Sue says:

    malachais@ talented she is not even some of her fans say and know that she can’t sing but is a good song writer, hell I don’t even think she a good song writer she writes like a 14 year old and acts like one too. My PR advice for her is to stop dating for a will and grow the hell up.

  14. Lila says:

    I think she’s an innocuous, boring beige girl-child. She’s kinda like Raffi for teens. At the end of the day, who she dates is the most interesting thing about her. THAT’S her problem. That and the Ogilvie perm, the mall fashions and the total lack of personality. She has the LeeAnn Rhimes pre Cibriani problem: a famous, successful person who no one really cares about.

  15. kelbear says:

    She is on tour, that’s why she is over there.

  16. icantbelievethis says:

    ‘Travel to London, pap herself around town.’

    She didn’t just randomly travel to London, she’s currently on tour.

    Not a huge fan of hers, but her last album sold something like a million copies the first week. I’d take that PR/marketing strategy in a heartbeat!!!

  17. danielle says:

    she needs to lie low for awhile.

  18. Jenna says:

    Honestly, you have to take her for what she is. She isn’t trying to be a huge star and appeal to everyone. She is 21, still pretty young, cute and is a decent singer/writer. As a mom to 2 “tween” girls, I will take Taylor any day over some of the others out there. Boring? Maybe to us, but the kids are happy!

  19. the original bellaluna says:

    Yes, failing. Get her another made-in-Hollywood fauxmance, STAT!

  20. daisy says:

    The stuff they play on the radio is mostly crap.But she is actually very talented.She acts like a teenager but she to say she isnt talented is harsh.

  21. Sue says:

    daisy:@ No it’s the TRUTH!!

  22. mln76 says:

    I am not a fan of this girl’s music and I find her whole look really annoying, cloying and cheesy. I am sympathetic to her bad taste in men though and I think in that department she should get a break until she is at least 24 or 25. I wish she should just lay low for a couple of months since her album is doing well. But I don’t think celebs know how to do that anymore.

  23. koala says:

    there was the joe jonas thing that lasted five minutes too… she is starting to look like she dates too much. granted, she may not have slept with ALL of these guys, (jonas, jake, mayer, and now this chord overstreet guy) but it certainly appears that she has. at least, most people probably perceive it that way. and that is not a good reputation for someone to get who is trying to pull off the sweet and innocent vibe. she really needs to be single for a while. maybe that’ll help. not sure though, the damage may have already been done.

  24. Rita says:

    @Geekchic

    Love the share about your daughter. *heart smushes*

  25. Nicky says:

    I think Lila hit the nail on the head with this one. There’s just nothing about Taylor personally that retains peoples interest in her for very long hence her publicists continually suggesting stories for the weeklies in order to keep her in the public eye. I do think she’s gradually starting to outgrow her audience but for now I don’t think she has much of a problem. Having said that, Swifty just scored a voice acting role as “the love interest” in the animated remake of The Lorax and judging from the negative reaction to her casting, I hope “acting” isn’t something she considers as an alternative career.

  26. Emma says:

    I don’t understand why people justify Swift’s juvenile songwriting style by pointing out that she writes her songs herself. So just because someone sits down and blurts out some fifth-grade math class poetry it’s automatically considered special?

    Taylor Swift is not a good songwriter. It’s as simple as that. Her age is no excuse either. Listen to Laura Marling’s most recent album ‘I Speak Because I Can,’ which was written when she was 18 and 19, or even her debut “Alas, I Cannot Swim,” written when she was 16. Being a relatively young songwriter doesn’t excuse a lack of real writing ability.

  27. mln76 says:

    @Emma agreed. There is not anything impressive about her songs or her lyrics. I think she is going the way of other overhyped singer songwriters and will just be a celebutard eventually.

  28. jover says:

    Agree Emma and mln76, THe whole post is cockeyed – if she had real talent she wouldn’t need a pr strategy – did the great legendary rock bands, motown acts, guitar gods from the 60s and 70s need this much pr strategizing no. As for her record sales of Speak Now – here’s a test, if she were transported back to the 70s and had to succeed on the strength mostly of her live peformances – no massive pr, modest marketing, no music vids, – would she succeed – hell no. I’d like to know the size of the venues and crowd figures she’s playing for and how long she plays. Help me out someone.

  29. Shaishai says:

    I’ve only got 1 thing to say to everyone who keep going on about giving this whiny victim-playing melodramatic hack a break because she’s “so young”. She’s the same age as Adele. Listen to their albums and THEN tell me why I should give her a break. Also, Jonny Lang was 16 when his first album came out and it was a classic and Fiona Apple was 19 when she wrote the ENTIRE Tidal album. That “she’s a kid” crap is wearing mighty thin.

  30. ctkat1 says:

    That “13” on her hand- didn’t she have that in the movie Valentine’s Day for her boyfriend, Taylor Lautner? Am I hallucinating? I thought in the movie she had his number, 13, written on her hand.

    So what is it about in London? Is she seriously trying to get attention by re-writing it on her hand and getting papped?

  31. Elfie says:

    Maybe the 13 is because her birthday is in December 13, so her favorite number is 13(?)
    I know her birthdate because we born the same day :S

  32. hatekyle says:

    she’s annoying…this girl changes bfs as often as she changes her underwear, that is if she even has the time for it.
    that number 13 is probably some “i dig you” signal for the potential boyfriend number 2,349th.

  33. hatekyle says:

    her smash hit records pretty much tells all there is about her – smash and hits.

  34. Nicky says:

    I’m certain her publicists are tipping off the paps because she simply isn’t a big star over here in the UK to warrant the amount of attention she’s getting – four outfit changes in one day? Please! Her album debuted at no.6 and quickly dropped out of the charts completely, her tour consists of four arena dates (five if you include RoI) none of which are sold out (in contrast, Katy Perry has 29 arena dates lined up) and she’s barely mentioned in the UK press unless she’s “dating” someone, so there’s no way these aren’t photo ops set up by her team.

  35. kikay says:

    Taylor your 21 now,stop writing about those ex boyfriend who dump your boring ass,start writing about how tough you gonna be from now on!

  36. Newbie says:

    She is soooooooo annoying to me. I can’t think of her as any older than 15, and I can’t STAND her ridiculously stupid music. But yet I feel sorry for her because she seems to be trying so hard to get both fans and boys alike to be obsessed with her. And she seems relatively harmless. Even when she’s bashing a guy in a song, I’m more inclined to be embarrassed for her than for the guy. I’m just a sucker when it comes to pathetic people who can’t seem to get it right. She’s basically a tinkerbell that buzzes around your head too long. She’s cute and all, but you end up wanting to swat that fly into another universe.

  37. Taylor1811 says:

    a) Taylors lucky number is 13 thats why its on her hand
    b) I think shes fantastic – shes my favourite singer because I love her music and I can relate to it. She cant please everyone so just back off. I would much rather listen to her than to Miley. Taylor Swift is what the industry needs – someone whose head isnt filled with sex. And remember no matter what anyone says about her, she’ll still be as famous, still have her fans and s till be as rich…so whats the point in tearing her down? It wont benefit anyone. TEAM TAYLOR !!! xxxxx