Meet The Stoners Who Love Taylor SwiftCannabis Central

Musical mastermind Taylor Swift has impressed hundreds of thousands of listeners worldwide together with her deeply private lyrics and catchy, unforgettable sick beats — incomes her one of the vital populous and devoted fan bases in trendy popular culture.

In the meantime, the previous three many years have additionally shifted hashish tradition extra towards the mainstream with trendy legalization efforts and rising public recognition of the wellness advantages offered by medical marijuana. 

On one hand, these two cultural phenomena appear unrelated. Taylor Swift has by no means explicitly indicated that she is or has been a hashish shopper, and none of her songs stand out as jams in stoner tradition as quite a few different songs do, like Peter Tosh’s “Legalize It,” Chic’s “Smoke Two Joints,” or “I Got 5 on It” by Luniz. 

But, go the joint round, and also you’ll discover that an expansive following of stoners — who name themselves “Splifties” (a mix of “spliff” and the title given to the artist’s devoted followers, “Swifties”) — has emerged throughout the web, showcasing their love for weed and Taylor Swift’s music on platforms like Reddit, Fb, and Discord. You may even hearken to a music commentary podcast dedicated to the pleasures of getting stoned and appreciating the singer/songwriter’s skills (that’s, in case you’re not already too busy streaming Swift in your air pods). These on-line communities reveal a captivating pop-cultural overlap the place Swift’s emotional storytelling and lyrical depth resonate profoundly with a various vary of hashish fanatics.

Naturally, we simply needed to hear extra! And who higher to ask in regards to the which means hashish shoppers get out of Taylor Swift’s music than the stoner superfans, the Splifties, themselves? On this article, we delve into the subculture of stoners who’ve been enchanted by Taylor Swift. With enter chosen straight from the devoted redditors on r/stonedswifties themselves, we put collectively an article to showcase this fascinating subculture of hashish fanatics, hoping to fill out a few of the clean areas in our understanding of how and why Taylor Swift’s music specifically has so profoundly moved tens of hundreds of hashish shoppers worldwide. 

SmokeLore: What Connects Stoners to Taylor Swift? 

At present, over 17,000 members on Reddit’s r/stonedswifties sub and 37,000 members on the Fb web page “Death by a Thousand Blunts” are celebrating their joint appreciation for stoner tradition and Taylor Swift songs. Splifites have fun their shared enjoyment of music and hashish by writing punny track lyrics, stringing collectively weed-themed friendship bracelets, creating memes, adorning smoking apparatuses, sharing playlists, and recounting anecdotes of listening to Taylor Swift’s songs whereas experiencing the results of hashish. 

Nonetheless, one can not assist however really feel interested in this cultural merging of two seemingly discrete fan bases — How precisely did area of interest communities of passionate stoned Swifties emerge inside hashish tradition? In contrast to different musicians reminiscent of Rihanna, Snoop Dogg, Miley Cyrus, or Woman Gaga, Taylor Swift has by no means written a track explicitly about hashish use, nor has the singer straight indicated that she is a hashish fanatic or person (nevertheless, there do exist rumors within the spliftie group speculating that hashish use could also be subtly indicated in sure songs). Positive, the beloved musician (and her cats) has a plethora of adoring followers throughout the globe. Nonetheless, it’s curious that she has impressed a particular good of stoner buddies who’re connecting throughout our on-line world to share their particular appreciation for each toking and Taylor Swift.

For the group at r/stonedswifties, members have expressed feeling misplaced in both conventional Swiftie areas or typical stoner circles. Based on these followers, the subreddit gives a extra laid-back social area for celebrating members’ shared enjoyment of Taylor Swift’s music, avoiding the drama reportedly present in different Taylor Swift-oriented boards. Relatively than speculating about Taylor Swift’s private affairs and producing drama, stoned Swifties are extra desirous about chill vibes and musical appreciation. In prioritizing expressions of members’ shared love for Swift’s music, the Spliftie group creates a platform the place members can deeply join with each the songs and one another. 

Members have additionally felt misunderstood and unwelcome amongst different stoners, whether or not on-line or irl, who typically categorical vital attitudes towards Taylor Swift and her superfans. For these followers, the Spliftie group presents an area the place members can merely get pleasure from sharing their mixed enthusiasm for weed tradition and Swift’s music with out having to defend their tastes to different hashish customers.

In That Lavender Haze? Does Taylor Swift get Blazed?

So, does Taylor herself partake within the ganja? The query continues to be up for debate, and the reply is: we don’t know for positive. That is particularly a sizzling matter since a video surfaced displaying NFL star Travis Kelce with Taylor Swift smoking weed at a post-Tremendous Bowl occasion. Nonetheless, it has additionally been famous that Swift herself wasn’t concerned in smoking the substance within the video. 

There’s additionally a narrative of stoned Swiftie lore that the album Midnights was impressed by Swift’s expertise of taking an edible with producer Jack Antonoff. There are additionally Splifties that really feel that the Midnights album in its entirety evokes the vibes of “late night stoned overthinking” and hypothesis that the quilt of the album is a reference to smoking weed as effectively. 

For different Splifties, the truth that Taylor Swift doesn’t explicitly point out hashish enhances their emotional expertise. There’s a sense of connection created by the mysterious illustration of hashish between the traces of songs like “Paper Rings” or “The Tortured Poets Department.” Nearly like a wink and nod or one other level of lyrical interpretation for followers. Total, whether or not or not Taylor Swift is a hashish person appears to be of little concern to her stoner followers, who’re extra desirous about having fun with her music with hashish than snooping into the songwriter’s non-public life. 

When it Hits Totally different: How Hashish Impacts Perceptions of Music

For some, the mix of hashish and Taylor Swift’s music creates an enhanced emotional and introspective expertise, guaranteeing lyrics or albums much more significant. Though this expertise is quite generally reported by each musicians hashish customers listening to music, few research have truly been performed to point whether or not hashish truly enhances people’ perceptions of music. 

One examine presents a paradox in its findings concerning the results of hashish on music appreciation. On the one hand, hashish with out cannabidiol (CBD) resulted in dampened responses in a number of mind areas implicated in music-evoked reward and emotion, together with the ventral striatum, auditory cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus. These outcomes led the authors to conclude that hashish reduces the neural response to musical reward. Nonetheless, regardless of neural dampening, members within the examine additionally reported an elevated need to hearken to music and an enhanced notion of sound with consistency. Furthermore, the mind’s ventral striatum, which is central to reward processing, reacted in constructive correlation with members’ pleasure rankings, suggesting that hashish could not fully diminish the subjective enjoyment of music. 

No matter how the mind is processing music beneath the results of hashish, loads of Splifties have discovered that sure Taylor Swift songs are inclined to “hit different” when consuming hashish. From “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” and “The Lakes” to “This Love” and “Fortnight,” stoned Swifties report feeling a extra intense emotional connection to Swift’s lyrics and musical backtracks, which grow to be extra profound or pronounced to those customers whereas experiencing the results of hashish. Some folks report being extra delicate to sounds within the background of the principle vocals, and others discover Swift’s diary-inspired writing fashion deeply transferring when utilizing hashish. Total, there’s an fascinating phenomenon for a lot of Splifties the place a track will simply come collectively and make sense inside the musical mastermind’s canon and the listener’s particular person experiences. 

THE TORTURED STONERS DEPARTMENT: Combining Hashish Tradition with Pop Tradition

Splifties contribute an vital presence within the rising acceptance of hashish as a part of on a regular basis life by bringing collectively hashish tradition with extra mainstream cultural experiences. This group’s distinctive mixing of stoner tradition and Taylor Swift fanhood speaks to an vital broader phenomenon that brings hashish use into contact with mainstream popular culture. Whereas hashish has historically been related to stigmatized or area of interest communities, bringing hashish enthusiasm to areas like music fan communities represents a cultural shift towards normalization and destigmatization.

Such communities are actively contributing to the transformation of hashish tradition from its affiliation with anti-social unlawful drug customers, showcasing hashish’ skill to counterpoint creative experiences and encourage significant interpersonal connections. In areas like r/stonedswifties, hashish turns into a shared lens by which followers are welcomed to deepen their appreciation for music, share their pleasure about Taylor Swift, and join with like-minded folks. The tales, memes, and conversations produced by these communities display how hashish customers could be relatable and approachable quite than engaged in an isolating or taboo behavior. 

As hashish legalization continues to achieve momentum, these intersections with mainstream popular culture communities additional erode the stigma surrounding its use. The emergence of Spliftie tradition, then, could be mentioned to mirror a broader cultural shift, celebrating the multifaceted nature of up to date hashish customers and portraying the plant as an accepted mainstream substance that fosters connection and group.