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“I Prefer Hiding in Plain Sight”: The Overlooked Queerness of Taylor Swift’s Midnights

Ohlsson, Lisa LU (2025) ENGK70 20251
Division of English Studies
English Studies
Abstract
Taylor Swift is one of today’s most beloved songwriters, however, all aspects of her work are not recognised. Swift frequently references queerness, yet this is often overlooked. Previous scholarship focused on Swift and queerness has either centred around Swift’s support for LGBTQ+ causes or the subgroup of Swift’s fans who acknowledges and embraces her expressed queerness, but textual analysis of her work in relation to queerness has been insufficient. This paper examines the traces of queerness on Swift’s Midnights (2022) album and questions why these go overlooked. It is argued that Swift writes about queerness in multiple ways; she references queer history, she implies sapphism and she employs queer themes. However, Swift does so... (More)
Taylor Swift is one of today’s most beloved songwriters, however, all aspects of her work are not recognised. Swift frequently references queerness, yet this is often overlooked. Previous scholarship focused on Swift and queerness has either centred around Swift’s support for LGBTQ+ causes or the subgroup of Swift’s fans who acknowledges and embraces her expressed queerness, but textual analysis of her work in relation to queerness has been insufficient. This paper examines the traces of queerness on Swift’s Midnights (2022) album and questions why these go overlooked. It is argued that Swift writes about queerness in multiple ways; she references queer history, she implies sapphism and she employs queer themes. However, Swift does so ambiguously, which in combination with heteronormative and autobiographical perspectives often being applied to readings of her work, result in her expressed queerness to be overlooked and overshadowed by heteronormative ideas. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Ohlsson, Lisa LU
supervisor
organization
course
ENGK70 20251
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Taylor Swift, Midnights album, queer reading, queer history, LGBTQ+, heteronormativity, Gaylor
language
English
id
9224661
date added to LUP
2026-03-25 09:44:21
date last changed
2026-03-25 09:44:21
@misc{9224661,
  abstract     = {{Taylor Swift is one of today’s most beloved songwriters, however, all aspects of her work are not recognised. Swift frequently references queerness, yet this is often overlooked. Previous scholarship focused on Swift and queerness has either centred around Swift’s support for LGBTQ+ causes or the subgroup of Swift’s fans who acknowledges and embraces her expressed queerness, but textual analysis of her work in relation to queerness has been insufficient. This paper examines the traces of queerness on Swift’s Midnights (2022) album and questions why these go overlooked. It is argued that Swift writes about queerness in multiple ways; she references queer history, she implies sapphism and she employs queer themes. However, Swift does so ambiguously, which in combination with heteronormative and autobiographical perspectives often being applied to readings of her work, result in her expressed queerness to be overlooked and overshadowed by heteronormative ideas.}},
  author       = {{Ohlsson, Lisa}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{“I Prefer Hiding in Plain Sight”: The Overlooked Queerness of Taylor Swift’s Midnights}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}