---
title: "Just one of us after all? A closer look at Taylor Swift’s new website"
author: "Alex"
date: 2024-02-20
lang: en
source: https://voneff.de/en/taylor-swift-wordpress-website-review/
---

# Just one of us after all? A closer look at Taylor Swift’s new website

What do [NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/), the [White House](https://www.whitehouse.gov/), [Angry Birds](https://www.angrybirds.com/) and [Rafael Nadal](https://rafaelnadal.com/) have in common with Taylor Swift? All of their websites run on [WordPress](https://wordpress.org/showcase/). In Taylor Swift’s case, a wider audience recently became aware of this fact when [her website](https://www.taylorswift.com/) was temporarily unavailable during the past Grammy Awards and visitors were [greeted by a WordPress logo instead](https://twitter.com/tswifterastour/status/1754298096518062573). Of course, this didn’t go unnoticed within the WordPress community – which also prompted WordPress chief Matt Mullenweg to [offer tech support](https://ma.tt/2024/02/wp-taylor/) to Tay Tay to avoid future outages.

What all examples show: Despite all the badmouthing, WordPress can definitely be the foundation for websites that attract enormous amounts of traffic. With such a prominent topic, however, is’s quite interesting for me to find out how such a project is implemented. Time for a look at and under the hood of [taylorswift.com](https://www.taylorswift.com/).

Caution – it's going to be smartass and quite WordPress-nerdy! 🤓

## Who and when

According to the site’s [Terms page](https://www.taylorswift.com/terms/) (appearantly last updated in April 2019), the website is operated by an arm of the record company, namely UMG Commercial Services, Inc. on behalf of Taylor Nation, LLC, presumably a business structure of the artist herself. A look at the `style.css` of the active theme suggests that an English agency called [Push Entertainment](https://pushentertainment.com/) was commissioned to create the website.

The website in this form is fairly new; [according to the Wayback Machine](https://web.archive.org/web/20240205051857/https://www.taylorswift.com/), it was probably launched on or around February 5, 2024. The previous version, [shown here on February 3](https://web.archive.org/web/20240203231435/https://www.taylorswift.com/), was already running on WordPress.

There is also an online store, of course, on the subdomain [store.taylorswift.com](https://store.taylorswift.com/), but it runs on Shopify. Perhaps Mr. Mullenweg would like to take the opportunity to pitch Woo?

## Design

The design of the website is quite minimalist and is fully in line with the design of the new album titled “The Tortured Poets Department“, which will be released on April 19, 2024. Beige tones, grainy backgrounds and photos, as well as a fairly classic-looking font selection with “[Big Caslon](https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/big-caslon)” and “[Nitti Typewriter](https://fonts.adobe.com/fonts/nitti-typewriter)” – all quite coherent and pleasing so far. And a bit lame, but that might just be me. Matching favicon and open graph image are there, so nothing to complain about here. 🥸

A look at the [previous version of the website](https://web.archive.org/web/20240203231435/https://www.taylorswift.com/) shows that they obviously want to strike a different note than before, even compared to the rather pompous design of the ongoing "Eras" world tour.

There is a logo in the top left corner, which I stared at for quite a long time in search for a "Taylor Swift" in the compound letter shapes – until I finally realized that it was the letters "TTPD" pushed together, the acronym of the aforementioned album title.

The menu bar is `sticky` at the top and is not separated by a line or a drop shadow when scrolling, which results in the content of the page disappearing behind the background of the menu bar, which is the same as the body of the page. This may work, but it's a pretty lazy design choice IMHO. 🤷‍♀️

![Screenshot of the hero section with large photo and two call-to-action buttons](https://voneff.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/voneff-taylorswift-hero-EN-1024x509.jpeg)

*The website at first glance*

![Screenshot of the logo and a part of the hero section](https://voneff.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/voneff-taylorswift-logo-EN.jpeg)

*The TTFD logo and the disappearing content*

## Structure

On the surface, the website consists of a fairly simple one-pager, with a few linked subpages for [Terms](https://www.taylorswift.com/terms/), [Privacy](https://www.taylorswift.com/privacy/) and [Accessibility](https://www.taylorswift.com/accessibility/). However, a glance at the [sitemap](https://www.taylorswift.com/sitemap_index.xml) reveals a few more subpages, such as [landing pages for the upcoming "Eras" tour in the US](https://www.taylorswift.com/tour-us/) and [worldwide](https://www.taylorswift.com/tour/), as well as a [thank-you page](https://www.taylorswift.com/thankyou/) for new subscribers to the newsletter. So far, so unexciting.

![A screenshot of the sitemap](https://voneff.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/voneff-taylorswift-sitemap-index-EN.jpeg)

*The index sitemap from taylorswift.com*

What's more interesting, of course, is that the sitemap here reveals two custom post types with the slugs `video` and `gig`. And the single posts of these CPTs are publicly accessible, see for example “[Lavender Haze](https://www.taylorswift.com/video/lavender-haze-official-music-video/)” or the even more accident-looking `gig` post “[Hard Rock Stadium](https://www.taylorswift.com/gig/hard-rock-stadium-2/)”. In the case of `video`, there's even a rather unorganized [public archive page](https://www.taylorswift.com/video/).

![Screenshot of a publicly accessible video post](https://voneff.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/voneff-taylorswift-cpt-video-single-EN.jpeg)

*`video` single post*

![Screenshot of the gig archive page](https://voneff.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/voneff-taylorswift-cpt-video-archive-EN.jpeg)

*`gig` archive page*

![Screenshot of a publicly accessible gig post](https://voneff.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/voneff-taylorswift-cpt-gig-single-EN.jpeg)

*`gig` single post*

Is that intentional? Hardly so, I guess. 😜

## Stack and infrastructure

As you can already gather from the sitemap, the well-known [Yoast SEO plugin](https://de.wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/) is running here, as is always visible at first glance in the source code. The often criticized code comment “This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.2.1” also gives us a hint about the update discipline: [version 20.2.1](https://developer.yoast.com/changelog/yoast-seo/20.2.1/) was released on 2 March 2023. One or two updates must have been released since then, right? 🤷

![Screenshot of a section of the source code with code comments referencing Yoast](https://voneff.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/voneff-taylorswift-source-plugins-yoast-EN.jpeg)

*Yoast has always had a slightly more aggressive marketing approach*

Things are not quite as dramatic when it comes to keeping the WordPress software up to date: Taylor Swift is currently on [version 6.2.3](https://wordpress.org/documentation/wordpress-version/version-6-2-3/), which is from October 2023.

The WP Core blocks are extended by the [Kadence](https://de.wordpress.org/plugins/kadence-blocks/) suite of blocks (as [it has already been observed](https://newpulselabs.com/newsletter/tailwind-vision-pro-taylor-swift-kadence/#-taylor-swift-feels-like-an-old-kadenceagain)). The CSS of the website is (at least partially) optimized with [Autoptimize](https://de.wordpress.org/plugins/autoptimize/). In addition, an old culprit loads its assets: [Contact Form 7](https://contactform7.com/loading-javascript-and-stylesheet-only-when-it-is-necessary/) – even though there is no contact form on the website. There is a newsletter subscription form, but this is provided by the newsletter service provider, as far as I can see.

References to several other plugins can be found in the source code:

- appreciation-engine-social-sign-in
- umg-grand-royal-theme-plugin
- push-global
- umg-analytics
- umg-aal

These plugins all appear to be custom developments that are apparently used on many artist websites from the Universal Music Group cosmos, as this index of the [themesinfo.com](https://themesinfo.com/wordpress-plugins/wordpress-umg-analytics-plugin-ew1m) website shows, for example on the websites of [The Velvet Underground](https://www.velvetundergroundmusic.com/), [Sex Pistols](https://www.sexpistolsofficial.com/) or [Mumford & Sons](https://www.mumfordandsons.com/).

The fonts used to design the website are supplied by Adobe Fonts/Typekit; a service called [Listrak](https://www.listrak.com/) is used for the newsletter.

The website is [apparently](https://de.hostadvice.com/tools/whois/#https://www.taylorswift.com/) hosted by a provider called [Imperva/Incapsula](https://www.imperva.com/incapsula-moved/). A CDN doesn’t appear to be used here, Cloudflare only helps out with individual scripts.

## About speed and other abnormalities

Subjectively, the website loads quickly, but Google is not exactly enthusiastic in [its PageSpeed Insights](https://pagespeed.web.dev/analysis/https-www-taylorswift-com/t4qrq5z0ji). It's fascinating that so little importance seems to be given to this.

![Screenshot from the website test in PageSpeed Insights](https://voneff.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/voneff-taylorswift-page-speed-insights-EN-1024x669.jpeg)

*Google doesn't like the website so much*

There is certainly a lot of potential for optimization, including some pretty low hanging fruit. In addition to the usual suggestions from Google, the following also stands out when poking around in the source code a bit further:

- The fonts *Roboto* and *Raleway* are loaded from Google Fonts, although they are not used in the design of the website.
- Apparently the same Google Analytics script is loaded twice.
- A Google reCAPTCHA script is loaded, although it is not even used in the newsletter subscription form (as far as I can see).

Of course – and Google also criticizes this in its PageSpeed Insights report – a colorful bouquet of other services is called up on page load, which further slows down the website: Snapchat, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, DoubleClick etc. (of course, without this even being mentioned in the [privacy policy](https://www.taylorswift.com/privacy/)).

## Accessibility

A complete accessibility check would go beyond the scope of this article – and besides, I'm not the expert here. But I would like to share a few cursory observations. It is difficult to navigate the website using the keyboard – no `focus` or `active` status is defined for the menu items. Links in the body text on subpages are underlined, but do not even have a hover status. The labeling seems to be a bit mixed up, I’m seeing stuff like `aria-label=Taylor Swift - I Can See You`…, for example. The heading order also seems to be rather arbitrary: A non-visible `h1` is then immediately followed by an `h3`, and so it goes on blithely. The newsletter form fails the test: You can only guess which field is currently in `focus` or where the cursor is located.

Above all, however, the contrast of light beige text on the grainy, dark beige background is hardly sufficient from an accessibility perspective, which is fatally evident in the [accessibility statement](https://www.taylorswift.com/accessibility/) with continuous text in a very small text size and small character spacing. And a special bon mot can be found in the footer: In a font size of an incredible 5px, the following note is visible but illegible: “If you are using a screen reader and are having problems using this website, please call 866-682-4413 for assistance.” This is somehow reminiscent of SEO measures from the early internet days, where masses of redundant text crammed with keywords were placed in a minimal font size in light gray on a white background. 🧐

![Screenshot of the footer with the unreadable but visible reference to the screen reader.](https://voneff.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/voneff-taylorswift-accessibility-screen-reader-pfeil-EN-1024x432.jpeg)

*Yesssss, all the way down there!*

![Screenshot from the Accessibililty subpage](https://voneff.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/voneff-taylorswift-accessibility-contrast-EN.jpeg)

*Contrast wanted*

“UMG is proud of its ongoing efforts to ensure that the Website and Web Store, respectively, are accessible to everyone…”, this is proudly touted in the accessibility statement. Well, accessibility remains more of an hollow promise here.

## Closin’ up

*Look what you made me do* – that was fun, once again! What remains to be said? Over at Swifts, they still put their pants on one leg at a time. It's funny to see that the same or similar tools that I would use are also being deployed for such a prestigous project. The website will certainly achieve its goals (Ka-Chiiing! 💰), but there is still room for improvement.

In any case, it's hard to imagine a more prominent ambassador for WordPress. Maybe Matt Mullenweg can put together a little swag package – [The Time Person of the Year 2023](https://time.com/6342806/person-of-the-year-2023-taylor-swift/) in a WordPress shirt, that would be something!

Why did I undertake this little review? Well, apart from the fact that it's fun being a smartass, I try to improve my own web projects by scrutinizing the work of others. Basically, it's how I've learned everything I know about web development – and I'm still learning, obviously.

As with [other reviews](https://voneff.de/en/the-new-sussexroyal-com-website-through-the-wordpress-lens/), I'm naturally worried that my own (somewhat outdated) website and other projects of mine will be taken apart. Or rather, in this case: that I will be targeted by offended Swifties! I beg for mercy! (But of course I am happy to receive clever tips! 🙀

The title graphic is based on a photo by [jurvetson/Flickr](https://flickr.com/photos/44124348109@N01/53078564252), published under [CC BY 2.0 Deed](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/), via [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taylor_Swift_up_close_(53078564252%29.jpg). Edits and additional illustrations are mine.

All screenshots from [taylorswift.com](https://www.taylorswift.com/) are for documentation purposes only.

---

**Now it's your turn: How do you like the new T-Swizzle website? What have I overlooked? What do you think of this review? Let me know in the comments!** 👇