Taylor Swift's wedding proves AOC right: There are no good billionaires [View all]

Taylor Swift’s wedding proves AOC right: There are no good billionaires
The pop star built an empire on relatability until she became part of the ultra-rich

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer


(Salon) The month of July kicked off in New York City with two showy stories of couples disrupting life to celebrate their love. On July 1, extreme climbers Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus announced their engagement by scaling the Empire State Building and unfurling a banner from its famous antenna that proclaimed the healing power of love. A few days later — and just two avenue blocks west — pop singer Taylor Swift wed Kansas City Chiefs tight-end Travis Kelce at Madison Square Garden in front of what appeared to be nearly every celebrity imaginable. Outside the arena, digital billboards proclaimed “JusT&T Married!”

Both stunts caused trouble for everyday New Yorkers just trying to live their lives. Police were called out to deal with Nikolau and Beerkus, who put themselves and the people below in physical danger with their trespassing. Swift and Kelce’s midtown nuptials caused major traffic headaches, with street closures around the arena, along with cancellations (and rescheduling issues) for train passengers, all made worse by the wedding’s overlap with the World Cup, which brought more visitors than usual to the crowded city.

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Swift built her reputation as an ultra-relatable pop star, seemingly down-to-earth with her regular girl fashion sensibilities, boy troubles and cat-lady tendencies. While there are still legions of Swifties — the crowds that gathered around Madison Square Garden on Friday confirmed that — there has also been a noticeable cooling between the singer-songwriter and music fans in recent months. Critical reception of her most recent album “The Life of a Showgirl” was mixed, and although it sold well, the fan chatter about it died nearly immediately. Swift’s popularity has been sliding since the peak of her well-received Eras tour that kicked off in 2023. The vibes, as many a fan will tell you, just seem off these days.

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Swift’s Madison Square Garden wedding may be just the latest — and most outrageous — example of this change, but it’s as good an explanation as any for why her music has grown colder as she’s become richer. Flying around the world on a private jet, living behind a phalanx of security and saying Kelce is “putting his life on the line” as a well compensated football player are all signs that Swift has lost touch with humanity. This would be hard for any artist, but it’s disastrous for someone whose work is generally interpreted as autobiographical. ...................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/07/08/taylor-swifts-wedding-proves-aoc-right-there-are-no-good-billionaires/