It was founded totally on two easy ideas. First, her fanatics cross balls-to-the-wall bonkers each time Taylor “notices” them on social media by blessing them with a like, share, or remark. As a hardcore devotee who has without a doubt interacted with the pop megastar a grand general of 3 times over the direction of a decade, I can verify this obsession as reality; a few years ago, while she retweeted my reward for Ryan Adams’ complete-album cover of 1989,
This brings me to the second idea: Taylor’s diehard enthusiasts are, as her “long listing of ex-enthusiasts” might all call her, insane — they obsessively pick out apart and parse her words, and that they’ll do honestly something to get onto their idol’s radar. Why else could we download yet another social app? Because Taylor instructed us to of the path.
And for the past 12 months, Swift lovers haven’t heard almost enough from Taylor on social media — shop for on Tumblr, a largely fan-pushed platform wherein she will be able to reblog fan artwork and touch upon lyrical theories and inner jokes without inciting the wrath she often encounters on other social sites. To a lesser diploma, she’s active on Instagram; inside the week’s main as much as the release of her ultra-modern album, Reputation, Taylor now and then commented on fans’ Halloween costumes and popped into their live streams.
The Swift Life combines the lot Taylor likes on those two platforms (the fans, the memes, the emoji) and gets rid of the whole lot she doesn’t. (Drama, which she swears she doesn’t love; it simply loves her.) Then it throws in a whole bunch of cartoon cats for the proper degree. She launched the app inside the US on her birthday, December thirteenth, and it’s currently available for iPhone and iPad; Google Play is coming “quickly.” (Sorry, Android customers, however, considering Taylor as soon as voluntarily face-planted on a treadmill for Apple, you likely should’ve seen that one coming.)
As part of the target demographic for this app, as someone who’s spent most of the past week ignoring My Actual Life in want of residing The Swift Life, I can percentage that the app is reasonable to addict serious Taylor lovers majorly. It isn’t always, however, for informal listeners. Honestly, it’s in all likelihood no longer supposed for you until sooner or later to your existence; you’ve opened Instagram and concept, “You recognize what’d be cool? If actually, each picture in my feed was of Taylor Swift.”
TSL is the cutting-edge launch from Glu, the organization liable for Kim Kardashian: Hollywood and Katy Perry Pop. (Ironically, those two stars are TSwift’s alleged nemeses. But to be fair, I’d, fortunately, paintings with my enemy’s commercial enterprise accomplice too, if it intended I would possibly make $forty million in three months flat.) Unlike both those apps, even though TSL isn’t a sport — now not exactly. It’s more of a photograph-sharing social network with characteristic ranks to climb and digital forex to acquire — all with the last purpose of having noticed using the actual, real-life Taylor Swift, who occasionally interacts with fanatics through the app.
Taylor Swift is an extraordinary consumer on the website: whatever she double-taps receives a heart-formed “Taylor Like” sticky label and a niche on Taylor’s Swift Life photo feed. But those stickers aren’t clean to come back by way of. On the day I downloaded the app, around 2,500 enthusiasts had already reviewed it, suggesting a large consumer base was already in the area. Still, there were around sixteen “Taylor Likes” overall. It wasn’t a mainly promising ratio. A week later, there were about 1,000 opinions… and about 20 general likes from Taylor. (Note that I’m now not such as reshares here because it’s doubtful whether those come from Taylor, her control group, Taylor Nation, or the app’s own body of workers. “Taylor Nation Like” and “The Swift Life Like” stickers additionally exist.
One way to grow the risk of Taylor seeing your post is to have other customers leave you “SwiftSends,” tiny paper plane emojis equal to the pendants she and Harry Styles wore once they dated. The size is that the app allows users to treasure a few of those in the first place, and it takes forever to earn more. So, you certainly have to make your posts stand out so one can get SwiftSends from the relaxation of the network. Illustrations, collages, and shifting personal testimonies seem to amass these fastest.
Unfortunately, I possess the portray abilities of your average 5-year-antique, so I decided to proportion an image of myself on the “Look What You Made Me Do” throne from the final month’s Reputation pop-up save as a substitute. This got more likes on TSL than on my Instagram feed — but sadly, only SwiftSends. Two! So much for Taylor ever seeing it. The 2D photo I shared of my “Look What You Made Me Do” Halloween costume (for which I braved the terrifying Times Square Toys R Us flagship on the way to find a filled snake) didn’t earn an unmarried SwiftSend. And when I attempted to shout out The Verge’s sister website Racked to a nice commenter who requested in which I worked (I’d delivered myself as “a writer/editor from NYC”), I obtained a warning message some hours later — in all likelihood due to the fact the app notion I turned into losing spam links.
One way to boost the chance of Taylor seeing you submit is to have other customers leave you “SwiftSends,” tiny paper airplane emojis like the pendants she and Harry Styles wore once they dated. The trap is that the app allows users to treasure a few of these in the first place, and it takes forever to earn more. So, you virtually have to make your posts stand out to get SwiftSends from the rest of the community. Illustrations, collages, and shifting personal testimonies seem to acquire these quickly.
Unfortunately, I possess the portray talents of your common five-year-antique, so I determined to proportion an image of myself on the “Look What You Made Me Do” throne from closing month’s Reputation pop-up keep instead. This got greater likes on TSL than on my Instagram feed — however, regrettably, only SwiftSends. Two! So, it’s a good deal for Taylor ever to see it. The 2nd picture I shared of my “Look What You Made Me Do” Halloween dress (for which I braved the terrifying Times Square Toys R Us flagship to find a stuffed snake) didn’t earn an unmarried SwiftSend. And once I tried to shout out The Verge’s sister website Racked to a pleasant commenter who asked where I worked (I’d introduced myself as “an author/editor from NYC”), I received a warning message some hours later — possibly due to the fact the app notion I turned into losing spam hyperlinks.
One way to boom the risk of Taylor seeing your post is to have other customers depart you “SwiftSends,” tiny paper airplane emojis equal to the pendants she and Harry Styles wore when they dated. The size is that the app allows users a valuable few of these in the first place, and it takes forever to earn extra. So, you genuinely should make your posts stand out if you want to get SwiftSends from the relaxation of the network. Illustrations, collages, and shifting private stories seem to amass those quickest.
Unfortunately, I own the portray talents of your common five-12 months-old, so I determined to proportion an image of myself on the “Look What You Made Me Do” throne from the ultimate month’s Reputation pop-up save alternatively. This was given more likes on TSL than on my Instagram feed — but unluckily, the handiest SwiftSends. Two! So, a whole lot of Taylor ever seeing it. The 2D photograph I shared of my “Look What You Made Me Do” Halloween costume (for which I braved the terrifying Times Square Toys R Us flagship so that it would discover a stuffed snake) did not earn a single SwiftSend. And when I attempted to shout out The Verge’s sister website Racked to a pleasant commenter who asked in which I worked (I’d delivered myself as “a writer/editor from NYC”), I obtained a caution message some hours later — probably due to the fact, the app thought I became losing unsolicited mail links.
Confused, I paused posting the content material and gathered Taymoji as a substitute. Quick apart here: In June 2016, I wrote a piece for Racked, wondering why Taylor didn’t have her custom emoji set yet, à Los Angeles Justin Bieber’s Justmoji and Amber Rose’s MuvaMoji. I even enlisted Curbed’s Michelle Goldchain to lay out a few examples of ability “Taymoji.” Because of this, I’m going to choose to accept as true that Taylor reads Racked and that I play a crucial function in all her business-choice-making techniques. Additionally, maybe I deserve upgraded seats at next summer time’s Reputation tour or something.
How many could Taylor Swift-themed emojis, in all likelihood, exist on this, the 12 months of our Lord 2017? Hundreds, and here’s why: 29 of Taylor’s hit singles have an entire 8-piece Taymoji “p.C.” associated. Each of the tiny cartoons is inspired by a Taylor lyric or music video moment — so in the “Blank Space” p.C., for instance, you’ll find a tiny Taylor on horseback and a bleeding, coronary heart-shaped cake. (Sadly, she didn’t flip her mascara-streaked sob face right into a Taymoji, as Michelle and I cautioned the final 12 months). Meanwhile, the “Shake It Off” percent capabilities a little boombox and a tutu-clad Taylor busting some dorky actions. (The Taymoji could’ve easily inspired the latter we designed of Taylor dancing awkwardly at the ACM Awards. Again, simply sayin’!)
Anyway, one way to get Taymoji is by liking different users’ images; each time you double-faucet, you’re rewarded with a bar of silver, bouncing track words. It sounds stupid, but it’s a quite powerful Pavlovian method, and I, without a doubt, got grumpy once I liked some regular pictures on Instagram, and nothing occurred. (If I’m going to enjoy several of the ones with the same images of your new toddler, I deserve something to go back to!)
Collect enough music notes, and you’ll “unencumber” new Taymoji, which you can hold or publish on other humans’ pictures. At first, I became tempted to hoard all the Taymoji I’d earned for myself because they’re cute, and I am selfish. But I quickly discovered that most effectively, giving away my Taymoji might make extra followers and likes of my own. Taylor has studied Marcus Pfister’s The Rainbow Fish, the award-prevailing kids’ ebook about the importance of sharing!
Collecting Taymoji and interacting with different fanatics and their content material probably facilitates your degree, even though the precise policies for advancement in the app are murky. When you first download TSL, you start as a Rookie, but you can ascend via four ranks: Fan, Super Fan, Swiftie, and Super Swiftie. (It is slightly stressful when you consider that if you download and use an app dedicated completely to Taylor Swift, you are, by using definition, already a Super Swiftie.)
At first, it was smooth to climb the ranks; with the aid of my 2nd day of app use, I’d already graduated to Fan popularity. But my momentum soon slowed. Several days and hundreds of likes later, I haven’t made a lot of extra development — and multiple, which means Reddit courses trying to break down the app’s rather complex economic system, left me even more confused. (Apparently, there also are stars involved?! From the conversations around this app, I’m no longer the handiest one suffering from parsing how all distinctive in-recreation currencies interact.)
And here’s where TSL’s free-to-download, pay-to-boost setup comes into play; fans can purchase bundles of guitar picks — the app’s most valuable form of foreign money helps them degree up quicker. Having studied plenty of horror tales about Kim Kardashian: Hollywood customers who, by chance, spent hundreds of bucks on the game, I obsessively checked my credit card stability simultaneously as The Swift Life’s periodic suits of monetary paranoia. (Because, among merch, music downloads, and Reputation excursion tickets, this lady’s already claimed sufficient of my coins in 2017.) Luckily, no wonder $a hundred costs, but!
According to view, those who prefer to earn alternatives without draining their wallets can watch quick video ads for ten picks; however, you’re most effectively allowed to do that five instances in 24 hours. (Sad news for the folks who watched Taylor eat cookie dough masses of times for a higher shot at excursion tickets.) The only other way to get them is with the aid of leveling up — which, once more, takes a protracted-ass time, and it’s now not entirely clean the way it takes place. I guess I’ll keep liking and leaving Taymoji on my favored posts — by and large, watercolors, Star Wars mashups, and whatever protecting net neutrality — hoping to mountaineer the ranks of the good old-fashioned freeway.
Besides apparently being the only manner to degree up, there’s another reason those guitar selections are crucial. They’re the best way to do the absolute high-quality issue in this complete app: Buy cats. Specifically, tiny animated versions of Dr. Meredith Grey and Detective Olivia Benson, Taylor’s Scottish Folds. The cats make occasional cameos as you click on across the app; however, they’ll completely purr, nap, and pad around on your profile page if you purchase them. They apparently help you get extra Taymoji — but I need them because they’re freaking adorable. So cute, in reality, that the primary time they marvel-crawled across my smartphone display, I emitted an unusual guttural noise loud enough to wake my napping boyfriend. (It changed to 1 a.m. Since I downloaded TSL, my bedtime has drifted later every night.) Put, who in her Neopet-loving thoughts could resist this stuff?
I get that it’s dumb. I also get that I may want to cough up $22 and purchase Meredith and Olivia properly this minute and achieve it. But for now, adopting these animated furballs without having to fork over any cash keeps me invested sufficiently in TSL to hold gambling.
And that’s the thing: Confusing as the app’s policies are, fans will probably be interested in The Swift Life for exclusive motives. Some Swifties will appreciate that it’s a secure area to geek out over their favorite pop famous person and meet like-minded enthusiasts. Others will probably deal with it like Pokémon Go with a TSwift twist, leveling up and accumulating new Taymoji as quickly as possible. And still, others will prioritize the goal of interacting with Taylor herself.
As a fan who falls squarely into that 0.33 category, I’ll probably keep popping into The Swift Life some instances per week to proportion content, like a few posts, and test in on Taylor’s very own feed. Sure, I’ve possibly been given a better chance at triumphing the lottery than getting a like or reshare from the big name — but my odds on TSL must be better than on Twitter or Instagram, considering that Taylor now essentially handiest uses the one’s systems for promotional functions.
