It never surprised me that there was a sizeable fan base, what irritates me the most is this media blitz trying to shoehorn her into everything imaginable. I have always had something of a low opinion regarding Taylor Swift, she has always been something of a curated presentation to the public going all the way back to how she was even recruited as an artist, straight into the studio and presented an opportunity to make an album. She never really had the same closeness with the fans as some of her predecessors with a rabid fanbase in the same industry. One person I could pull out of my hat that had a rabid fanbase was Selena, but the difference between the two is that Selena came to popularity literally singing on street corners, dive bars and very small concerts, often mingling with he fans after the show, there was a closeness with her fans that was genuine and it literally ended up being the reason she was murdered, she was incensed over theft and embezzlement of money by a woman that worked for her that handled fanclub material such as sending out brochures on her upcoming appearances (pre-internet era) and she personally intervened in the matter.
There is a certain measure of authenticity that I find missing from Taylor Swift, to me, she has always come across as extremely stiff and using practiced media friendly smiles or poses, her interactions with fans always had a veneer of fake politeness to them and she just gives off the impression that she is only in the hospital visiting a kid with a broken leg or whatever ails them because it is a media friendly image to do so. I just don't like the robotic focus grouped image she has. As for her fans, it doesn't surprise me that there was fans of her music, it was designed for teenage girls, a demographic that is now in their late 20s early 30s, what should catch people flatfooted is how deranged they are, but I think most people here are aware of the increasing ability for the media and tech companies to create cult like fervor out of any matter and turn normal people into NPC brain damaged fools.