Taylor Swift’s Fourth of July Celebration: A Pop Culture Phenomenon

Out of all the eras embraced by Taylor Swift, I miss the star-studded Fourth of July party era the most.

If you follow celebrity culture even from a distance, you’ll no doubt remember the brief but unforgettable time in the mid-2010s when Swift’s Rhode Island mansion transformed into a sun-soaked, star-studded, Gatsby-esque sleepover.

Yes, there was magic in the air, even if we were all just watching it unfold through grainy Instagram filters and American flag emoji captions.

But these parties had everything: America’s most glamorous friend group playing dress-up, the pop star riding on an inflatable swan in her pool, and the reminder that the rest of us simply would never find ourselves on the guest list.

There was fun and frivolity — and, at times, even a little shade.

Why, who among us Swifties can forget the year 2023, when she posed alongside Selena Gomez, Este, Danielle and Alana Haim, Ashley Avignone and Sydney Ness for a bikini-clad photo captioned, “Happy belated Independence Day from your local neighborhood independent girlies”?” A cute tribute to the holiday? Sure, but also a nod to the fact that most of the women in the photo were, at the time, single (Swift herself had recently ended a brief romance with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy).

That 2023 party was the first look at Swift’s Fourth of July shindigs in seven years. — and the last we’ve seen since

But something about those early summers felt like the peak of a particular kind of Taylor Swift mythology. It was a celebration of female friendship, and a glimpse at one of the most powerful women in the world looking downright approachable, hosting themed parties and giving out matching onesies as if she were the world’s most stylish camp counselor.

This was before Reputation, before the pandemic and Great Social Media Retreat. This was at a time when life felt a bit more simple.

Those years often revealed Swift posing arm-in-arm with Gigi Hadid, Blake Lively and Karlie Kloss.

Sometimes, there was romance, too — like in 2016, when Tom Hiddleston caused meme madness when he proclaimed his love for the 10-time Grammy winner by sporting an “I ♥ T.S.” tank top during the then-couple’s Fourth of July rendezvous.

The actor has since said the shirt was something of a joke, but that’s not how Swifties will remember it (after all, if I was invited to Swift’s beach house, I, too, would proclaim my adoration in any way I could).

Perhaps what I’m really wistful for is the closeness? The photos from Swift’s Fourth of July era feel intimate, allowing the rest of us a peek into her real life, rather than the slick, career-focused photos that dominate her social media feeds now. At the time of her parties, Taylor was in her red-lip, polaroid-printing, Tumblr-captioning era. Her Independence Day events felt like an extension of that — curated but never cold; planned, but never sterile.

Even when we knew she was in control of the narrative (because she’s always in control of the narrative), it still felt like we were in on the secret.

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Now, in the post-Eras era, Swift never been more powerful, or more private.

And to be clear: the privacy is well-deserved. Having released 11 studio albums, completing the highest-grossing tour of all time (one that required singing and dancing in high-heeled Louboutins for three hours per night), and buying back her masters in a highly publicized deal, Swift is due for a break — hopefully, one that’s low-key and spent with her boyfriend, Travis Kelce.

Still, when the fireworks explode overhead tonight, I’ll be raising a sparkler for the golden days of Swiftmas in July — and quietly hoping she brings the inflatable swans out of retirement, just one more time.