What a Taylor Swift-themed tea party taught me about AI
Taylor Swift releases albums, re-records her catalog, drops surprise tracks, builds entire worlds around each era, and manages to remain culturally omnipresent. I found myself wondering if it's possible to be more prolific than Taylor Swift?
With AI, that is no longer a question. As with many of the other AI modalities (text, video, and voice), it was just a matter of time before music followed.
Lately, I've been seeing a steady stream of stories about AI-generated music and that fact that it's becoming much harder to distinguish from the real thing. Multiple reports suggest that most listeners can't reliably tell when a song is created by AI. ElevenLabs, best known for its AI voice synthesis, recently announced The Eleven Album, a collaborative project with real artists (including Liza Minnelli and Art Garfunkel) are using AI as part of the creative process. Then there's Sienna Rose, one of the most talked-about names on Spotify right now, who may not exist at all. Because Sienna has churned out 45 songs since September 2025, and has virtually no social presence, the prevailing theory is that Sienna is very likely AI.
As the lines between what's real and what's generated continue to blur, I find myself gravitating more toward more authentic, human experiences.
I recently found myself at a Taylor Swift–themed high tea in Dallas (as one does). I’m not exactly a Swiftie, but my friend’s daughters are, so we showed up fully committed – custom shirts printed with our favorite tracks from The Life of a Showgirl. I picked “Wi$h Li$t” solely because of the dollar signs (my highly sophisticated selection criteria.) The hotel had gone all-in: pink feathers, sequined table runners, microphones, friendship-bracelet kits, and a menu of items named after Taylor's songs, including the chai sugar cookies she’s known for. Between the décor and the general enthusiasm of the room, what stood out most that afternoon was the shared experience of a special moment.
Moments like that work because they’re human – people showing up, participating, and adding their own personality. It’s the same reason Taylor Swift’s work resonates the way it does.
You don’t have to be a Swiftie to recognize Taylor Swift's influence. She’s spent more than 20 years building something that goes far beyond albums. She writes, she strategizes, she reinvents, and she understands her audience with a clarity most brands wish they had. When she lost ownership of her masters, she re-recorded her songs and turned it into a cultural event.
There's a reason Starbucks, Google, and half the marketing world want to partner with her. She's not just creating content, she's creating connection. I’ve been reading Kevin Evers’ book on her marketing approach, and one theme keeps showing up: she creates a world people actually want to step into. Her videos are full of hidden symbolism. Her album rollouts come with puzzles, clues, and inside jokes. Fans spend hours dissecting details because she rewards their curiosity.
The questions we should be asking:
What does this mean for the rest of us, especially as AI becomes part of everyday life?
Where can we be more intentional?
Where can we add care, personality, or meaning?
Where can we choose to make something feel human instead of merely more efficient?
This is where the whole AI-generated music conversation comes full circle.
AI can now generate a chart-topping song. It can imitate a voice, a melody, and the tone of emotion. But it still can’t replicate the human side of the work.
Since I work in marketing with many professional creators (developers, designers, motion artists, and copywriters), I take this as a call-to-action:
Keep building emotional connections.
Keep surprising and delighting.
Keep telling stories that only humans can tell.
AI can assist, accelerate, and amplify. But it’s the thoughtful decisions, the lived experience, and the intuition, that can't be automated.