Opera isn’t just an event for fancy people in gowns and tuxedos to watch for one evening at the Arsht Center here in Miami or the Lincoln Center in New York City. It is one of the most demanding, collaborative and competitive art forms out there. 

After spending Nov. 12 and 13 behind the scenes of the Frost School of Music’s production of The Consul by Gian Carlo Menotti, I realized something: opera isn’t only alive. It’s thriving and needs to be more well known. 

What goes unnoticed 

Most people see the beautiful arias, the orchestra and thought out staging as the glamor of the opera. What you don’t see are the hours of rehearsal, the dozens of moving parts or the backstage chaos that somehow  flawlessly comes together on stage. 

I got to work on the shift team of The Consul this semester, moving props and reseting scenes in the dark while the story continues forward. It gave me the best view in the entire hall. Even  standing offstage, listening to voices slice through the air with resonance left the music resonating with me. I understood how much precision opera demands from everyone. 

Every prop we shifted was meticulously choreographed. Every moment depended on dozens of people working in perfect rhythm, whether they were onstage, in the wings or at the tech table. Watching the whole classical voice department create  a show as complex and  emotional as The Consul showed me that not only do the notes work in harmony, but the people do as well. This isn’t just with opera. Every single backstage performance, such as musicals or plays at the Jerry Herman Theater, shows the importance of working in harmony. 

Opera still matters

Opera is often dismissed as outdated, but The Consul showed just the opposite. Menotti’s opera is a political show about bureaucracy, fear and freedom. It has themes of oppression, surveillance, human resilience and feelings uncomfortably relevant to today. Seeing this show embodied by young artists reminded me that opera has always been a mirror for society, even in storylines written years ago. 

Classical voice majors spend hours each day refining technique in many languages, stamina, acting and musicianship. While learning one song takes weeks perfecting, a singing role can take months to prepare. An audience only gets to see the final product. That’s why it’s so important to remember and value all the work put into this wonderful art form. 

Listen for Yourself 

Opera isn’t just living on stages like Clarke Hall, but it’s finding new life online. Singers and students are bringing arias to TikTok, sharing opera clips on Instagram, and showing the behind-the-scenes work that usually stays hidden. I’ve been posting about opera and classical music on my own TikTok, and every time someone comments sharing their love for opera, I feel more connected to the community of classical musicians. 

Social media is proving that opera doesn’t have to stay locked in tradition. It can be modern, accessible, humorous, experimental and emotional in a way that younger audiences can actually connect to. As someone who has grown up immersed in classical music — singing since I was little, performing on big stages, and now studying classical voice — it has shaped the way I see the world. It’s given me discipline, empathy and a sense of belonging that I carry everywhere and hope to share with others.

Productions like The Consul deserve to reach people far beyond the theater. If we want opera to keep evolving and share the emotional depth of a show, we have to let it meet audiences where they are — onstage and online. One performance at a time, we can help more people discover how alive this beautiful art form is and how to keep it thriving.

Taylor Swift is everywhere. She dominates headlines, playlists and social feeds, turning nearly every move into a cultural moment. But as the private jet debates grow louder, fans crash out over a new album and social media replays another round of highly analyzed breakups. The overall conversation around Swift has started to feel bigger than the work she puts out itself. 

Even though she remains one of the most beloved figures in pop, her cultural status is starting to feel overrated.

Swift’s newest album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” raises doubts about the direction of her artistry, with many listeners calling it her weakest release to date. Critics and fans on TikTok have described the project as unfocused and repetitive, lacking the lyrical sharpness and emotional clarity that once defined her work. The album leans heavily on familiar themes without offering new insight. Several tracks feel more like unused drafts than fully developed songs. 

Online discussions with longtime fans show a noticeable divide, with some admitting they struggled to finish listening to the album at all. For an artist known for reinvention, the record marks a rare moment when the storytelling, production and ambition simply did not meet the expectations set by her earlier eras.

The concerns extend beyond the environment. Swift’s latest album left longtime listeners divided, raising questions about whether the praise she receives is grounded in the music itself or simply in th

e momentum of her brand. For some, the work feels repetitive and more focused on generating theories than producing depth.

Meghan Schorr, a senior at UM, said the repetitiveness of the music contributes to the perception that Swift is overrated. “Almost all of her music sounds the same. It is all about a man or a breakup and it has gone on for years,” Schorr said. “She spends more time making her music into a game with Easter eggs than focusing on making impactful music.”

Schorr said the shift in genres also made Swift feel less authentic. “I grew up on her older music and loved it. But once she switched to pop, it did not feel genuine. It felt like she was making music to make music and put on a show, not to connect,” she said.Swift’s public relationships add another layer to her cultural dominance. Her image as a perfect pop storyteller depends heavily on public fascination with her love life, heartbreaks and feuds. As these narratives grow louder, her morals sometimes becomes secondary to the spectacle surrounding her.

In the past, Swift has been praised as thoughtful and socially aware. Yet her public image often conflicts the reality behind it. 

Swift, frequently criticized on social media for the carbon emissions produced by her frequent travel, has long claimed she can reduce her environmental impact. But Carbon Market Watch, an environmental advocacy group, disputes that defense, saying “the only way for high-flying celebrities and the superrich to reduce their climate impact is to fly less and choose more sustainable forms of transport.”

Other celebrities are more aware than Swift, including Grammy and Oscar winning singer-songwriter Billie Eilish. Eilish is known for her environmentally focused activism and recently announced that she is donating $11.5 million from her Hit Me Hard and Soft tour to support food equity, climate justice and efforts to reduce carbon pollution. 

Billie Eilish has made a major impact because of this donation and has drawn attention from celebrities and billionaires around the world.

During her acceptance speech for the Wall Street Journal Magazine’s Music Innovator Award, she urged billionaires in the room to give more, saying, “If you have money, use it to do good … and if you’re a billionaire … give your money away, shorties.”On the tour itself, she partnered with the nonprofit Reverb to build “Eco Villages” at venues, encouraging fans to learn how to reduce their carbon footprints and offering more plant-based food options. 

Taylor Swift, who faces ongoing scrutiny over her private jet emissions and large-scale touring footprints, could be doing far more to reduce her environmental impact. But she does not seem to care. 

Even fans who adore her are grappling with this. Jamison Delaine, a junior at the University of Miami, said it affects how she sees Swift’s influence. “It is upsetting to hear how one person is drastically contributing to the issue of carbon emissions,” Delaine said. “As a leader in pop music, Swift should lead by example. As a billionaire, she has plenty of resources to be more eco-conscious and I hope she starts using them.”

“Swifties” often blur the line between admiration and obsession, according to Delaine. “The fandom became toxic. People started to believe she was exempt from criticism,” she said. “I did not think that was beneficial for her development or for our growth as a society.”

The question of who Swift really is has become harder for some fans to answer.
“She has had so many different characters and genres and personalities that it is hard to know who the real Taylor Swift is,” Schorr said. “But I am sure she is not a bad person. Other than the carbon emissions.”

Despite her massive global platform, Taylor Swift often remains quiet on major social issues, speaking out only occasionally and usually when the moment feels safe or aligned with her brand. 

While she has taken public stances in the past, critics argue that her engagement is inconsistent, especially compared with artists who use their influence more frequently to spotlight political or humanitarian causes. As her fame and commercial power have grown, so has scrutiny over her reluctance to weigh in on topics her audience cares deeply about.

Her influence remains enormous, and she could help spark meaningful conversations about issues her audience already cares about, yet she often stays silent while artists with far smaller platforms take more consistent risks.

None of this denies Swift’s talent or her impact on modern pop culture. She has shaped a generation of listeners and built a career that few artists can match. But it is possible to acknowledge her accomplishments while still questioning whether the hype around her is still valid. Calling for accountability does not diminish her music. It simply asks for honesty from someone with the power to influence millions.

For fans, the challenge is deciding whether they love the artist or the hype. For Swift, the moment may have come to recreate the image with the values her audience hopes she stands for.

Despite what haters think, Taylor Swift still makes the “whole place shimmer”. 

With over 105 million monthly listeners on Spotify, it’s baffling to see people still argue and water-down Taylor Swift’s impact on not just the music industry, but pop culture itself. 

From sold out stadiums to iconic award-show moments, Taylor Swift has revolutionized the idea of a pop star. Her fanbase is far from low-key, and it is for a reason. Swift’s musical brilliance and global fan base make her one of the largest influences on pop culture and music today.

Her most recent “Eras Tour” generated 2 billion dollars in ticket sales alone, and is meant to pay homage to her iconic albums and their re-recordings. Despite what many believe, though, Taylor’s tour did not just benefit her. 

It was reported that Taylor Swift gave over 195 million dollars in bonuses to all of her Eras Tour employees, giving one employee a 100,000 dollar bonus with a hand-written note and bouquet of flowers. She gave each of her equipment truck drivers a 100,000 dollar bonus as well. 

The economic impact was felt by entire cities that she performed in each leg of her tour. Melbourne reportedly generated 1.2 billion Australian dollars, London generated 300 million pounds, California made 320 million dollars and countless other cities also reported experiencing tremendous economic boosts as Taylor came through their city. 

So, while some claim that Taylor Swift is “stuck-up” or too far removed from her fan base to understand just how much income she generates, the singer-songwriter has been more than generous with her earnings. 

Many also make the argument that Taylor’s songs are recurrently male-centered and lacking in substance or value, and while these are only her most popular songs, there are also many other female artists who do the same. 

Sabrina Carpenter just recently released her album “Man’s Best Friend,” which features over 10 songs that either center around or mention a guy. Don’t get me wrong, I love Sabrina’s music too, I’m just saying it’s a bit hypocritical to bash on Taylor but not Sabrina when it comes to male-focused music. 

Additionally, reporters have consistently pushed the narrative onto Taylor Swift that she is “boy-crazy,” even from an extremely young age. 

In a 2015 Grammy Awards interview, reporter Nancy O’Dell asked Taylor Swift if she would be going home with “lots of men” that night, to which Taylor replied, “I won’t be going home with any men. I’m going out with friends and then home to my cats.” 

When you take a look at the songs that have gone the most viral — “Blank Space,” “Love Story” and “You Belong With Me” — they are consistently male-centered. 

Her true fans know that her music is much more than songs about the latest teen heartthrob or her recent heartbreak. Her album, Folklore, features an intricate and well thought out story about three characters: Betty, Augustine and James. The songs tell a beautiful story about infidelity, teen romance and innocence. 

Taylor’s song “Dorothea,” rumored to be about her friendship with Selena Gomez, describes a narrator telling a story of her childhood best friend who moved to Hollywood to pursue her dreams of fame and glamour. 

Other songs such as “Ronan” and “Marjorie” feature important people to Taylor, aside from romantic partners. 

Swift was inspired to write the song “Ronan” after reading a deeply moving blog post by the boy’s mother, who described how her son had passed after battling stage four cancer. Taylor used direct quotes from the blog in her song, even crediting Ronan’s mother as a co-writer on it, ensuring financial support for the mother as she was going through this difficult time. 

“Marjorie” is featured on the album Evermore, and is a tribute to Swift’s grandmother and opera singer Marjorie Finlay. In the song, Taylor discusses how she wished she would have treasured all the time and memories she had with her grandmother because she didn’t know how short it would all feel. 

An excerpt of one of her grandmother’s performances can also be heard in the background towards the end of the song. 

Taylor’s discography includes dozens of other songs that truly capture the beauty of female friendship and childhood innocence, proving that she is not limited to songs about boys, boyfriends or husbands. 

She’s also extremely connected to her fanbase and remains transparent through interviews, podcasts, and documentaries. In 2020, Swift released the “Miss Americana” documentary on Netflix, where she discussed a range of personal topics from her childhood to her political views. 

She is now releasing a new documentary on Dec. 12 titled “The End of an Era” on Disney+. The six-episode series will cover behind-the-scenes footage from her multi-million dollar Eras tour and give fans a glimpse into all that goes into a global tour.

It’s time to put a stop to the Taylor hate-train. Her musical talent, lyrical genius, and immense platform growth make her stand out in the music industry. There’s no need to hate on another female artist on top, and she’ll probably just shake it off anyways.