Of course even Taylor Swift’s cats are capitalists

Tne thing Taylor Swift and I have in common is that we are obsessed with our cats. Swift even played one in “Cats,” a movie that we’re still trying to recover from as a society. The main difference in our cat obsession is that hers are worth nearly $100 million. According to a recent report from All About Cats, Swift’s Scottish fold Olivia Benson is worth $97 million, which she earned from appearing in music videos and commercials with her owner, making her the third richest Pet in the world. Until a few days ago, I didn’t know that Animals could accumulate wealth, but as a lifelong Swiftie, it comes as no surprise that Swift is the mother of the feline 1%. That’s just who she is.

Taylor Swift is one of the most successful artists ever for many reasons, with her talent and songwriting abilities being paramount. But, as the first person set to become a billionaire with music as their primary source of income, Swift is more than the woman who consistently writes songs that make me cry. She’s a savvy Businesswoman, whose girlboss version of feminism is sometimes too much for those who love her most.

November’s Ticketmaster meltdown is an obvious example. When fans skipped school and sat in hours-long virtual waiting rooms to spend hundreds of dollars on nosebleed tickets to her Eras Tour (if they got tickets at all), Swift responded as though she wasn’t partly responsible for the chaos. Following a disastrous presale and canceled general sale due to “insufficient remaining ticket inventory,” Swift posted a statement comparing the experience of buying tickets to her show to going through “several bear attacks.” Between bots, ticket resellers and the sheer demand for her first tour in five years, it’s not fair to blame Swift for everything that went wrong. However, decisions like using dynamic pricing (a Ticketmaster feature that increases prices from face value based on demand) during a Verified Fan presale is just one example of Swift asking fans to dole out a lot of cash to someone who already has plenty.

It’s the Eras Tour that is expected to bring Swift to billionaire status. Forbes estimates that she has a net worth of $570 million and predicts that she could make as much as $620 million from the tour between ticket and merchandise sales. It’s not like she doesn’t work hard; the tour is 52 stops, and she has released five albums since 2020, all of which broke multiple records. But, if there’s one thing I learned from years of following everything Swift’s said and done, it’s that she doesn’t like being treated differently or held to unfair standards. The “there’s no such thing as an ethical billionaire” rule should apply to her too.