KARA KENNEDY: OK, I’m ready for the Swiftie slap back… Taylor is cringe, unoriginal and massively overhyped. When WILL the millions in this cult-like collective trance shake it off?

Taylor’s fans, ‘Swifties’, have created a reverence around the singer that is cult-like. If you aren’t in, you are the enemy. If you aren’t there, you’re missing out.Online Swifties, known to be among the most vicious of fan groups, won’t think twice before sending you death threats, doxing your friends and family, or trying to hack your social media accounts.

One reporter was even publicly accused by Swifties of being a paedophile for having the audacity to criticize Taylor’s current world-wide tour.

When I asked my girlfriends why they had booked entire days off work in the slim hope of bagging tickets for the wildly popular Eras shows, the answers were as follows:

‘Her songs are so catchy.’

‘She seems to represent the millennial female experience so well.’

‘I don’t even like her, really. I got tickets because of FOMO.’

Really, people freely frittering – in some cities – north of $1000 for a ticket to see a woman they aren’t that fussed on? Perhaps following the crowd really does make for an easier life.