(RNS) — Every morning on the way to school, Susannah Coe, a 12-year-old living in Connecticut, picks the day’s soundtrack in her family’s car. It’s always the same voice coming through the speakers: Taylor Swift’s. Whether it’s a heartbreak ballad, a glittering pop anthem or a country tale of small-town love, the singer’s music has become the rhythm of Susannah’s family drives, a ritual.
But in the two weeks leading up to Oct. 3 — the release of Swift’s album “The Life of a Showgirl” — Susannah didn’t have to decide what to play. Following a fan-made campaign spread across Instagram, YouTube and other social media, she joined “Swifties” around the world in a kind of pop-music Advent calendar: listening to one of the artist’s 11 previous albums each day, in order. Online, fans of all ages traded their favorite songs, memories and photos, counting down to what they called “the next era” of Swift’s work.
It’s just one example of how the pop industry, of which Swift is a leading figure, reproduces logics that draw on the structure of religious rituals, creating community and a sense of belonging. For some die-hard fans, idols …
