Taylor Swift fan from Newark selected to assist V&A on pop star
A Taylor Swift superfan has been selected from a pool of over a thousand applicants to assist the V&A on the pop star.
India Meade, 28, who grew up in Lincolnshire and now splits her time between living in London and her family’s home in Newark, has been a fan of the American singer since she was 13.
Now, she is one of four Swifties — the nickname given to the singer’s fans — to have been selected for the role of Taylor Swift Superfan Advisor at the Kensington museum.
India said: “I stated blogging as a student and back then, especially in that period, Taylor was really active on Tumblr so it was just the perfect period to be doing stuff on there really.
“I had quite a lot of interactions with her, so it’s kind of cemented my place in the fandom.
“Originally I really liked the music, when I was a kid, and country music has always been a thing my dad liked. From there it developed because she was quite unique in her fan inclusion, the way she kind of created a community when people weren’t really doing that at the scale. Once you’re in it its just kind of fun, so there was no reason not to carry on.
“Swifties are a great community of people.”
While at university, India also wrote her undergraduate dissertation on fandom — and has now been putting her knowledge into action advising the V&A’s senior curator for theatre and performance, Kate Bailey, on the Swiftie fandom and the Eras Tour in the UK.
Also taking on the role alongside India are Kelsey Barnes, 31, a journalist and unofficial ‘Taylor Swift historian’, Dr Iona Murphy, 27, a literature professor with an ‘encyclopaedic’ knowledge of the singer, and Molly Gilroy, 27, a conservation charity worker who has been blogging about Taylor since 2013.
The four were selected as the standout candidates by Kate Bailey after immense interest from over 1,000 applicants for the role advertised by the museum earlier this year.
Kate Bailey, senior curator of theatre and performance, said: "Being inundated with over a thousand applications from Swifties around the UK was incredibly humbling and a testament to Taylor Swift's impact on popular culture.
“The depth of knowledge and passion for her work displayed by the applicants was truly astounding and as a result, narrowing it down to just four candidates was an arduous process, with each applicant bringing unique perspectives and expertise. We were thrilled to find individuals who could provide so much enthusiasm and their own insights into Swift's artistry.”
The four superfans will join similar fan experts in Pokémon Cards, Gorpcore Clothing, Toby Jugs and Lego, who were hired by the museum earlier this year.
India added: “When this came up I kind of though why not even though I knew there’d be so many people going for it.
“It took them quite a long time to go through their thousand applications. I was quite shocked and surprised to be picked, I really didn’t expect it.
“I never thought being in a fandom would end up with something slightly more vocational at the end.”
The V&A’s Taylor Swift Songbook Trail opens today (July 27) and runs to September 8.
The free trail will showcase 16 looks worn by the 14-time Grammy Award winning artist, as well as instruments, music awards, storyboards and previously unseen archival which will explore her childhood and recording legacy, many of display for the first time.
The 13 stops on the trail will each showcase a a particular era of her music, celebrating the creativity of the singer’s costumes, lyrics and music videos and exploring the global phenomena of the pop icon.
Items on display will range from the customised cowboy boots worn during her breakout success as a country singer in 2007, and the jet-black ruffled shoulder dress worn in the most recent music video for her single Fortnight.
