Pennsylvania declares 2023 as its “Taylor Swift era”

The state of Pennsylvania has officially declared this year as its “Taylor Swift era”.

• READ MORE: ‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’ concert film review: this is cinema (Taylor’s version)

The motion was put forward by the House of Representatives in the state, as part of the House Resolution 282. Passed last Wednesday (December 13), the measure was adopted in a 103-100 vote and declared this year as the “era” of the pop star.

It was sponsored by Rep. Danielle Friel Otten, and highlighted the widespread cultural impact the singer has had on the US state. This included her various examples of charity work, the record-breaking success of her ongoing ‘Eras Tour’ and her participation in the ‘Get Out And Vote’ campaigns.

The motion also cites how Swift was born in the state, and noted that “it is clear that Pennsylvania is in its ‘Taylor Swift Era’”.

As seen in a report by AP News, various lawmakers opposed the House Resolution for 2023. One of which was Rep. Wendy Fink, who took to the floor, saying: “House resolutions are not legislation, and their considerations should not be a function of our government.”

Following the motion being passed by the House of Representatives, Speaker Rep. Joanna McClinton responded to Fink by stating that “Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate” – quoting Swift’s 2014 song, ‘Shake It Off’.

In other Swift news, the singer’s ‘Eras’ tour has become the first tour to gross $1billion (£796million), and is set to head over to the UK and Europe next year.

Reflecting on the success of her tour – which was running at the same time as Beyoncé‘s ‘Renaissance’ tour – Swift recently spoke out against the constant comparisons between the two, saying: “Clearly it’s very lucrative for the media and stan culture to pit two women against each other”.

In other news, Swift has been announced as Forbes’ most powerful woman in media and entertainment. She also won TIME’s Person of the Year, which X/Twitter CEO Elon Musk warned could cause some negative backlash: “Some risk of popularity decline after this award,” he wrote. “I speak from experience lol.”