Taylor Swift's Next Era? the Swiftologist Zachary Hourihane on pop culture, criticism, fandom, selective vulnerability, Taylormania vs. Beatlemania and more

This week I spoke with Zachary Hourihane, a journalist living in Singapore. After going to school in New York, he returned to Singapore and began his career working in journalism there. He now works in corporate advertising while simultaneously being a prolific pop culture creator. He delivers heavily researched video essays and his thoughtful perspective on pop culture on his channel Swiftologist. He has videos on everything from Lana Del Rey to Lorde. He’s best known for chronicling the life and times of his favorite pop icon, Taylor Swift. He’s been part of the fandom for over a decade and for the last four years, he’s co-hosted the podcast The Evolution of a Snake where he and his co-host, Madeline Rubicam (writer of the Lizard Review), go through year by year and break down the catalog and career of Taylor Swift.

We cover the Beatles-esque mania of Taylor Swift and Zack’s take on where it’s going from here, as well as how he got into the fandom, the early Tumblr days, connecting with his co-host Madeline, how he got into American pop culture, selective vulnerability and self-mythologizing, and his process for making video essays and keeping up with the pace of media while working full time, including how he takes care of himself amidst the busyness. We recorded this on zoom  a few months ago; it was late at night for him in Singapore and early in the morning for me. Let us know if you listen.