The dudes are Tay-baiting & Tay-trapping
I couldn't help but wonder: is it fandom or fauxlore?
The dudes are Tay-baiting & Tay-trapping
I couldn't help but wonder: is it fandom or fauxlore?
Today, rather than giving you a rundown of a bunch of different things, I just wanted to write about a singular phenomenon that I’ve seen happening on TikTok over the past few weeks - the dudes are out here listening to Taylor Swift and then going super viral for it.
[Now, before I get into anything else, let me be clear from the get-go: I’m obsessed with the idea of every teenage boy I’ve ever known growing up, entering their Taylor Swift era and then being really LOUD about it. More of that! Always and forever! This is in no way saying that this trend is bad for the world, or trying to be gate-keepy at all (lol Taylor Swift is the biggest star on earth) it’s simply a trend that I’m commenting on (and maybe giving a name to) because that’s what we do around here!]
Tay-baiting and Tay-trapping is referring to a specific subsection of the internet where it’s become a ‘growth hack’ to be a dude, sit in your car, and “discover” Taylor Swift (allegedly for the first time) or introduce one of your bros to her, knowing you’ll be met with SOOOO many views/likes, and a comment section filled with things like “marry me right now,” “where do I find a guy like this,” etc. Let me drop a few examples in here.
There’s Braden Galloway who maybe started this ‘trend’ off, because his wife is a Swiftie and honestly, his videos (especially the first one where it wasn’t yet something that he knew would rack up the views) are actually quite sweet!
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Braden then “introduced” this guy - Adrien Nunez - to “Tay Tay” who made it his whole personality:
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And then there’s also this guy who looooves Cruel Summer (and who I think is from New Zealand so honestly go off!):
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And these examples that I’m showing you aren’t just niche sides of TikTok - they are getting MILLIONS of views and inspiring other people to use this formula to do the same.
Naturally, when I noticed this was happening I took to Twitter to see if any of you had been noticing it too and unsurprisingly - you had! Twitter user racheldunklee replied back to me saying “I call it taylor trapping” with a screenshot between her and her bestie:
After seeing a few more comments I got the guts to post this theory on perhaps the most frightening place one could post a theory: TikTok. And BOY did y’all agree:
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I braved it into the comment section to see what the reaction was and honestly learned a lot. Here are some of my takeaways from the comment section:
I was heartened to get a lot of “fr, I've been saying this” or “finally someone said it” so a bunch of us had obviously noticed this ‘trend’
It’s not just TiKTok they’re doing this on, it’s dating apps too:
“I’ve been noticing that all of a sudden so many guys on bumble have her in their top artists 🧐”
“Every man who mentions Taylor swift on hinge is a red flag to me simply for this reason”
Similar things are happening on BookTok & and on Lana Del Rey-Tok
And then just some honourable mentions:
“And most of them are the same dudes that would’ve bullied you for it back in the day too like how the turn tables”
“I’ve only seen this from one person but the people in the comments were ready to forgive murder for that man or smth😂”
“I didn’t get made fun of as a guy for getting 1989 deluxe on release just to be grouped as a Taylor-trapper”
The comment section also showed me that there are a few dudes out there that we must protect at all costs, like TJ Pruitt:
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and HTHAZE (who mostly reacts on YouTube but they’ve made their way onto TikTok):
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To me, being able to spot when people are capitalising on a trend (before it’s a ‘trend’) is almost like another type of media literacy we’ve had to learn as internet users. It’s like - we know we’re being manipulated by algorithms to keep us on these platforms, we know we’re getting manipulated by influencers trying to get us to buy shit, but now we’re seeing a new type of manipulation (big word for a subject that’s not that deep - I know) where people can see something that’s perhaps authentically working for someone (in this case men with Taylor Swift) and a chance to get a few seconds of fame, and then we’re left to decide whether it’s genuine, or whether they’re just looking for some easy views. I guess this kinda thing has been happening forever if you think about viral trend videos on YouTube - maybe this is simply an unlabelled ‘make women think I love Taylor Swift so they wanna date me!’ challenge.
Today when we discussed this on Culture Vulture Bel asked me about what the inverse of this would be - like what could I post about online that would illicit men to run to the comment section and say I’m “marriage material” and want to date me instantly. In that moment, of all the things I came up with (posting about gaming, sports, rock bands) I couldn’t help but think I would be labelled a “pick me” girl STRAIGHT away, or asked to prove my knowledge on discography, lore, or historic sporting moments - so while this isn’t a ‘deep’ trend that I’m commenting on, it would have felt remiss for me to not mention that if this were the other way around things would ‘Hit Different.’
God - sorry for ending with a terrible pun and hope you all manage to stay out of tay-traps now that you’ve read this!!
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I feel like men do this a lot with whatever/whoever is popular with women as time goes on. I remember back in the day men pretending to love Katy Perry when she became the it thing when I was in college (I know there are more but my elder millennial brain is broken this morning). This is bigger though because the Taylor Swift fandom is massive and can be intense. I, however, forced my husband to listen to only Taylor all day every day the entire week before my concert on June 9, and now he is like "um I am in love with the song Cruel Summer, and Karma, and like everything on 1989, why didn't you make me listen before?" I was 18, it was the summer after my high school graduation when her single Tim McGraw was released, I've been a fan for almost half my life (17 years), Taylor is in heavy rotation on my mixes, I think my husband just never listens lol. He said "next time she goes on tour I'm going with you" which is huge because he never goes to concerts with me lol. I told him he has to wear a shirt that says "where's the scarf, jake?" and he said "um no, we're wearing sequins"... he's the best lol
great article!! hmm, i mean i think the tay-trapping and "pick me" girl are quite related because you don't really know what is genuine so you either respect them because of their actual interest or you acknowledge the fact they're doing it for views. very interesting!