Taylor Swift turns 30 today, and she’s received well wishes from fans everywhere, some more well-known than others. On Friday, Hillary Clinton herself joined the chorus of Swifties sending their best to the birthday girl as she enters a new decade. The former Secretary of State and presidential candidate took to Instagram to share her message for Swift, and to applaud the singer-songwriter for her riveting acceptance speech as Billboard’s Woman of the Decade.
Clinton wrote: “Love this line from Taylor Swift, upon accepting her Billboard Woman of the Decade Award: ‘As for me, lately I’ve been focusing less on what they say I can’t do and more on doing whatever the hell I want.’ Congratulations on the honor, Taylor (and happy birthday)! #gutsywomen.”
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As two strong women who have experienced intense scrutiny under the public eye, Swift and Clinton share a connection that few people can relate to or understand.
In 2017, following her very public fallouts with Kim Kardashian West, Calvin Harris, and Katy Perry, the comment sections of Swift’s social media pages were filled with snake emojis. Her reputation came into question, and many people questioned her motives. But Swift turned the negative experience into a positive one, unleashing the Reputation era upon us.
And it's no secret that one of the biggest — if not the biggest — setbacks of Clinton’s career was her surprising loss to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. At the time, it seemed like an insurmountable defeat. But true to form, Clinton persevered, writing books, doing speaking engagements, and continuing to be a voice people listen to in the U.S. political sphere (certainly much to Trump’s dismay). Just today, she announced her forthcoming Hulu documentary series, aptly titled Hillary, which will dive deeper into her life story.
As for Swift, earlier this year she told Elle the 30 things she learned before turning 30. One major lesson? The importance of being political and using her platform to spark change. Swift famously stayed publicly politically neutral during the 2016 election, telling Vogue: “I just knew I wasn’t going to help.”
But that all changed last October, when Swift endorsed Tennessee Democrats ahead of the 2018 midterm election in a passionate Instagram post.
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“In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now,” Swift wrote at the time. “I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country.”
Now that’s a lesson anyone can learn at any age.
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