Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

A swift reflection

2024; Wiley; Volume: 29; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/resp.14728

1440-1843

Christine Jenkins,

Education Systems and Policy

A huge social phenomenon has occurred in Sydney and Melbourne over the last 10 days, the arrival (and departure) of Taylor Swift. I confess that when I first heard her songs, they had not excited me greatly. However, one would have to be tone deaf not to hear the massive buzz that has accompanied her Eras Tour Down Under. Even if her music failed to elicit in me the thrill that others seemed to feel, I was curious to better understand the nature of the attraction she holds for so many. Last year, quite a while before her visit, I had quite purposely downloaded and listened to her music to get into the space properly and to genuinely give her an opportunity to impress. It's not that I am beyond being interested in current musical trends and pop music in general—indeed I am perhaps for my age, far too familiar with it. My children mock my musical taste, which is eclectic and despite the pile of Baroque composers in my CD library (yes, I still use that hardware) it also has a good proportion of what they derisively term 'mum pop'. Some modern VIPs in my pop music list are Neil Horan, Ed Sheeren, Neil Finn, Chris Martin, many bands and a host of female singers. Popular music trends usually catch my eye and ear, and in secret I often turn my favourite musicians up full bore when no-one else is within earshot. I am telling you this so that you understand that I am not coming to Taylor Swift like some old fogey who generally dismisses or has little time for popular music or songwriters. I give her more listening time and I realize that her vocal range is much better exhibited in small concerts and performances rather than when singing to massive crowds as has happened in this tour. There are not too many surprises in her vocal range, but there are plenty in texture, which creates mood and emotion, and those are best heard in settings more intimate than a cricket ground. There are still echoes of her country music beginnings in many of her song lines, and indeed, one of the most enduring and endearing qualities of country music is something she often openly acknowledges—she is singing about break ups and broken hearts, being dumped or finding someone is a cad after first being entranced. They are everyone's story, even if told in her way. Photo by Paolo Villanueva (@itspaolopv). Taylor's songs certainly have rhythm—although it is often syncopated, as are her lyrics, which keeps them from being predictable. She plays with the timing of phrases, as in Lover, and plays on words and idioms with double meanings. There are many metaphors, sometimes very obvious but frequently thought provoking. And now I begin to feel the appeal myself. I realize she is writing some very clever poetry, universal and autobiographical, so willing to be exposed. I hear her candour, and her self-deprecation, but always her hope and excitement at the possibility of love. She trips, she falls, she gets up again, her despair is real but she emerges out of it wiser. And this is the journey that millions of people who have grown up with her music are also on with her. She is their modern-day prophet, echoing their experiences and delving into their unarticulated memories of joy and anguish. And now I watch—not just listen or read, I spend an evening immersed in her videos. She is hugely appealing in what is still, despite all the glamour and glitter, the lights, the geolocation bracelets and the waves of colour, a very slightly restrained yet vibrant performance. She preserves her dignity beautifully. Somehow she throws herself out to her fans but also keeps some of herself, she doesn't need to venture into excessive displays of her own sensuality to hold onto the cheering, dancing crowd. She leaves them with her story, yet their own versions of their lives intact. She is a cartographer of places in the heart. But there is far more to it than that. The attraction is not just for her music, but for her person. She has evolved, she has proven herself to be able to connect with big themes, with just causes, and be true to them in her music and in her off-stage demeanour. She has been a raging success from an extraordinarily young age and yet money, lights and fame do not seem to have spoiled or spoilt her. She performs as a total professional, her commitment to the audience and to giving people what they've paid for and hope for is generous and unwavering. Here Taylor has a lesson for us—no longer just to be seized by her poetry, but also her energy, her freshness, her willingness to engage. Think of what it might mean to put yourself out there in an American election, not just to be an observer but a participant and one who uses their influence to enjoin others to try to preserve what she believes is just and good government. She doesn't have to do this, she certainly doesn't need the fame, influence or the risk this entails. Nor do we. We can just go on being clinicians or researchers in our own small worlds, doing our best to deliver better health outcomes. But how much more can we do? And here finally I come to the point where all this merges into my thinking about lung health. We talk about whole of life lung health amongst ourselves, but we haven't challenged the status quo, and in the wider community, lung disease is still better understood than lung health. This is a consequence of our clinical role, which is focused mostly on treating people and removing harms, often late in the course of disease, rather than being focused on primary prevention. It is time for us to speak about achieving and preserving lung health from birth, anytime we have the opportunity. This will be more likely to engage patients, will help remove the stigma of respiratory disease and create an awareness that the lungs don't automatically look after themselves. It also creates a natural space for discussing the evidence that is now rapidly accruing—the role of early life as well as lifetime exposures, the potential for catch-up lung growth, the value of a healthy diet and maintaining physical activity and the importance of avoiding respiratory infections throughout life. Not only performers, but health professionals also have a stage, with patients and with their carers as their audience, much as we might not wish to think of ourselves this way. However, it provides us with the opportunity to change the dialogue, and potentially affect more people's lives than just the person in front of us. Not related to this work, CJ's research group has received funds for PhD scholars from and investigator-initiated research funds from GlaxoSmithKline. CJ has received personal consultancy fees from AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis; payment for attending advisory boards and associated travel from AstraZeneca, BoehringerIngelheim, Chiesi, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis and payment for presentations and developing educational content for AstraZeneca, BoehringerIngelheim, Chiesi, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis.