In case you didn’t know, Taylor Swift’s next rerecording release is fast approaching, with 1989 (Taylor’s Version) set to drop on Oct. 27.
It comes after Taylor’s record-breaking Eras tour was credited with boosting North America’s economy this summer, and her upcoming concert film has already been praised for saving cinema amid the ongoing actors and writers strike.
And it seems like Elon Musk wants a piece of that Swiftie magic, with the billionaire publicly sliding into Taylor’s Twitter mentions on Wednesday.
Earlier that day, Taylor had taken to all of her social media accounts to unveil the four available back covers to her upcoming album — which included the titles of her much-anticipated vault tracks.
Posting the four pictures to Twitter, she wrote: “It’s a new soundtrack. Here are the back covers and vault track titles for 1989 (my version) I can’t wait for this one to be out, seriously. Thank you for playing along, sleuthing, puzzling and making these reveals so much chaotic fun (which is the best kind of fun, after all.)”
Taylor has over 94 million followers on this platform, so it’s perhaps unsurprising that her tweet immediately gained traction. Within minutes, it was racking up hundreds of thousands of likes and retweets, and it has so far been viewed more than 20 million times.
Many of Taylor’s followers also replied directly to share their excitement for 1989 (Taylor’s Version), and were left shocked when they saw a familiar face pop up in her mentions.
Amid the thousands of replies from fans, Elon’s tweet to the star read: “I recommend posting some music or concert videos directly on the X platform.”
Despite having astronomical popularity across the globe in the past, Twitter’s reputation has been steadily declining ever since Elon’s takeover — and several of his business decisions have sparked backlash in recent months.
This has included charging users to verify their accounts, and relaxing content moderation rules that have led to a suspected increase in hate speech. Earlier this year, it was revealed that Twitter had lost half of its top 1000 advertisers since Elon took the reins.
And when Elon failed to provide any further insight into why he was offering pop superstar Taylor Swift unsolicited business advice, he was accused of trying to use her name for “clout.”
Retweeting Elon’s message to Taylor, one person wrote: “she's so powerful she has a literal billionaire looking for clout from her.”
she's so powerful she has a literal billionaire looking for clout from her😭 https://t.co/oSkNrEaXoP
While others just felt second-hand embarrassment from witnessing the public exchange, with a user writing: “this is sooooo embarrassing how does he do it everyday.”
This sentiment was echoed over on Reddit, where Elon’s message was discussed in a dedicated Taylor forum. One person observed: “This is amazing, I didn't know you could condescend and beg at the same time but here we are.”
“That’s completely pathetic,” someone else added. A third agreed: “this is so embarrassing.”
“like she needs him😂 that man is delusional,” another commented. Someone else concluded: “You need her. She don’t need you.”
Others referenced the fact that earlier this week Taylor’s fans literally crashed Google when she teamed up with the site to create 33 million puzzles that related to 1989 (Taylor’s Version).
“He saw what swifties did to Google and was hoping he could some of that swfitie ad revenue, not gonna happen!” one user claimed. Someone else wrote: “He saw our impact on Google 🤭If he really wanted to do business with Taylor he would’ve have reached out to her instead of commenting.”
Taylor has not publicly acknowledged Elon’s advice, but I have a feeling that she probably won’t be taking him up on it.
