Elon Musk’s Warning to Taylor Swift

Elon Musk has warned that Taylor Swift may notice a dip in popularity after being named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” for 2023.

The award goes to an event or person deemed to have had the most influence on global events over the past year. Swift is the first person to win the title purely for her “success as an artist,” but her win shouldn’t come as a huge shock, as she has had a record-breaking year.

Her Eras Tour saw unprecedented demand and stands as the second-highest-grossing tour of all time after Sir Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour with an estimated gross of $906 million to date.

Her album 1989 (Taylor’s Version), sold 580,000 copies on vinyl between October 27 and November 1. According to Billboard, it was the fastest-selling vinyl record ever since the stat was first tracked in 1991.

In just its first weekend of release, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour became the highest-grossing domestic concert film ever. It made $92 million in its opening weekend and since its October 13 release, the movie has made more than $200 million globally.

This year’s Time magazine’s shortlist included Hollywood strikers, Xi Jinping, Barbie and Musk, who was given the title back in 2021. Now he’s offering advice to the pop superstar after his own experience, warning that her popularity may fade.

Newsweek reached out to Musk and Swift for comment via email Thursday.

On Thursday, the billionaire took to X, formerly Twitter, to congratulate Swift in a series of tweets.

“Congrats,” he posted. In another tweet, he added: “Some risk of popularity decline after this award. I speak from experience lol.”

Musk was bestowed the title before he purchased Twitter for $44 billion in 2022. He re-branded the social media platform as X and cut the staff numbers, which many consider as part of the reason his popularity has declined.

Musk replaced billions in advertising dollars with millions in subscription revenue. He has also saddled the platform with approximately $1.2 billion in annual debt payments.

As well as this, several major companies have pulled advertising after he publicly endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory. On November 15, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO replied to a post that read: “Jewish communties [sic] have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.” Musk wrote this was “the actual truth.”

Disney had long been one of X’s top advertisers, but it joined brands such as Warner Bros, Apple and Comcast in no longer advertising on the platform. Tesla investors have also distanced themselves.

Swift shared her Time magazine cover to Twitter, writing: “@samlansky has such a wondrous way with words, and I’ve loved reading his pieces for over a decade. If you’ve ever been around him, you know he’s just the best type of person: Curious. Interested. Hilarious. Intriguing and intrigued. I have tRuSt iSSueS when it comes to interviews but I couldn’t be happier that I did this one with him.

“I was blown away to see quotes from people I adore and admire like Stevie Nicks, Greta Gerwig, Shonda Rhimes, Phoebe Bridgers, Natalie Maines, Kenny Chesney, and Lucian Grainge. I was so happy he spoke to fans Madison and McCall who were so eloquent, loyal, and kind. I’m really reflecting on this year, and all the years that led up to it. Can’t say thank you enough times.”

The magazine’s editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs said they picked Swift because she represents joy.

“Every year contains light and dark; 2023 was a year with significant shares of darkness. In a divided world, where too many institutions are failing, Taylor Swift found a way to transcend borders and be a source of light,” he wrote for Time magazine, explaining this year’s choice.

He said that everything Swift has achieved this year is immeasurable. He continued: “She has committed herself to giving value to the dreams, feelings and experiences of people, especially women, who felt neglected and routinely undervalued.”

“For building a world of her own, but making room for so many others, for making her story a global legend, for bringing joy to a society that desperately needed it, Taylor Swift is Time‘s Person of the Year 2023.”