What’s a Spliftie? Meet the Stoners Who Love Taylor Swift

Musical mastermind Taylor Swift has inspired millions of listeners worldwide with her deeply personal lyrics and catchy, unforgettable sick beats — earning her one of the most populous and dedicated fan bases in modern pop culture.

Meanwhile, the past three decades have also shifted cannabis culture more toward the mainstream with modern legalization efforts and increasing public recognition of the wellness benefits provided by medical marijuana. 

On one hand, these two cultural phenomena seem unrelated. Taylor Swift has never explicitly indicated that she is or has been a cannabis consumer, and none of her songs stand out as jams in stoner culture as numerous other songs do, like Peter Tosh’s “Legalize It,” Sublime’s “Smoke Two Joints,” or “I Got 5 on It” by Luniz. 

Yet, pass the joint around, and you’ll find that an expansive following of stoners — who call themselves “Splifties” (a combination of “spliff” and the name given to the artist’s devoted fans, “Swifties”) — has emerged across the internet, showcasing their love for weed and Taylor Swift’s music on platforms like Reddit, Facebook, and Discord. You can even listen to a music commentary podcast devoted to the pleasures of getting stoned and appreciating the singer/songwriter’s talents (that is, if you’re not already too busy streaming Swift in your air pods). These online communities reveal a fascinating pop-cultural overlap where Swift’s emotional storytelling and lyrical depth resonate profoundly with a diverse range of cannabis enthusiasts.

Naturally, we just had to hear more! And who better to ask about the meaning cannabis consumers get out of Taylor Swift’s music than the stoner superfans, the Splifties, themselves? In this article, we delve into the subculture of stoners who have been enchanted by Taylor Swift. With input selected directly from the devoted redditors on r/stonedswifties themselves, we put together an article to showcase this fascinating subculture of cannabis enthusiasts, hoping to fill out some of the blank spaces in our understanding of how and why Taylor Swift’s music in particular has so profoundly moved tens of thousands of cannabis consumers worldwide. 

SmokeLore: What Connects Stoners to Taylor Swift? 

Today, over 17,000 members on Reddit’s r/stonedswifties sub and 37,000 members on the Facebook page “Death by a Thousand Blunts” are celebrating their joint appreciation for stoner culture and Taylor Swift songs. Splifites celebrate their shared enjoyment of music and cannabis by writing punny song lyrics, stringing together weed-themed friendship bracelets, creating memes, decorating smoking apparatuses, sharing playlists, and recounting anecdotes of listening to Taylor Swift’s songs while experiencing the effects of cannabis. 

Still, one cannot help but feel curious about this cultural merging of two seemingly discrete fan bases — How exactly did niche communities of passionate stoned Swifties emerge within cannabis culture? Unlike other musicians such as Rihanna, Snoop Dogg, Miley Cyrus, or Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift has never written a song explicitly about cannabis use, nor has the singer directly indicated that she is a cannabis enthusiast or user (however, there do exist rumors in the spliftie community speculating that cannabis use may be subtly indicated in certain songs). Sure, the beloved musician (and her cats) has a plethora of adoring fans across the globe. Still, it is curious that she has inspired a special nice of stoner buddies who are connecting across cyberspace to share their specific appreciation for both toking and Taylor Swift.

For the community at r/stonedswifties, members have expressed feeling out of place in either traditional Swiftie spaces or typical stoner circles. According to these fans, the subreddit provides a more laid-back social space for celebrating members’ shared enjoyment of Taylor Swift’s music, avoiding the drama reportedly found in other Taylor Swift-oriented forums. Rather than speculating about Taylor Swift’s personal affairs and generating drama, stoned Swifties are more interested in chill vibes and musical appreciation. In prioritizing expressions of members’ shared love for Swift’s music, the Spliftie community creates a platform where members can deeply connect with both the songs and each other. 

Members have also felt misunderstood and unwelcome among other stoners, whether online or irl, who often express critical attitudes toward Taylor Swift and her superfans. For these fans, the Spliftie community offers a space where members can simply enjoy sharing their combined enthusiasm for weed culture and Swift’s music without having to defend their tastes to other cannabis users.

In That Lavender Haze? Does Taylor Swift get Blazed?

So, does Taylor herself partake in the ganja? The question is still up for debate, and the answer is: we don’t know for sure. This is especially a hot topic since a video surfaced showing NFL star Travis Kelce with Taylor Swift smoking weed at a post-Super Bowl party. However, it has also been noted that Swift herself wasn’t involved in smoking the substance in the video. 

There’s also a story of stoned Swiftie lore that the album Midnights was inspired by Swift’s experience of taking an edible with producer Jack Antonoff. There are also Splifties that feel that the Midnights album in its entirety evokes the vibes of “late night stoned overthinking” and speculation that the cover of the album is a reference to smoking weed as well. 

For other Splifties, the fact that Taylor Swift doesn’t explicitly mention cannabis enhances their emotional experience. There is a sense of connection created through the mysterious representation of cannabis between the lines of songs like “Paper Rings” or “The Tortured Poets Department.” Almost like a wink and nod or another point of lyrical interpretation for fans. Overall, whether or not Taylor Swift is a cannabis user seems to be of little concern to her stoner fans, who are more interested in enjoying her music with cannabis than snooping into the songwriter’s private life. 

When it Hits Different: How Cannabis Affects Perceptions of Music

For some, the combination of cannabis and Taylor Swift’s music creates an enhanced emotional and introspective experience, making certain lyrics or albums even more meaningful. Although this experience is rather commonly reported by both musicians cannabis users listening to music, few studies have actually been done to indicate whether cannabis actually enhances individuals’ perceptions of music. 

One study presents a paradox in its findings regarding the effects of cannabis on music appreciation. On the one hand, cannabis without cannabidiol (CBD) resulted in dampened responses in several brain regions implicated in music-evoked reward and emotion, including the ventral striatum, auditory cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus. These results led the authors to conclude that cannabis reduces the neural response to musical reward. However, despite neural dampening, participants in the study also reported an increased desire to listen to music and an enhanced perception of sound with consistency. Moreover, the brain’s ventral striatum, which is central to reward processing, reacted in positive correlation with participants’ pleasure ratings, suggesting that cannabis may not completely diminish the subjective enjoyment of music. 

Regardless of how the brain is processing music under the effects of cannabis, plenty of Splifties have found that certain Taylor Swift songs tend to “hit different” when consuming cannabis. From “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” and “The Lakes” to “This Love” and “Fortnight,” stoned Swifties report feeling a more intense emotional connection to Swift’s lyrics and musical backtracks, which become more profound or pronounced to these users while experiencing the effects of cannabis. Some people report being more sensitive to sounds in the background of the main vocals, and others find Swift’s diary-inspired writing style deeply moving when using cannabis. Overall, there is an interesting phenomenon for many Splifties where a song will just come together and make sense within the musical mastermind’s canon and the listener’s individual experiences. 

THE TORTURED STONERS DEPARTMENT: Combining Cannabis Culture with Pop Culture

Splifties contribute an important presence in the growing acceptance of cannabis as part of everyday life by bringing together cannabis culture with more mainstream cultural experiences. This community’s unique blending of stoner culture and Taylor Swift fanhood speaks to an important broader phenomenon that brings cannabis use into contact with mainstream pop culture. While cannabis has traditionally been associated with stigmatized or niche communities, bringing cannabis enthusiasm to spaces like music fan communities represents a cultural shift toward normalization and destigmatization.

Such communities are actively contributing to the transformation of cannabis culture from its association with anti-social illegal drug users, showcasing cannabis’ ability to enrich artistic experiences and inspire meaningful interpersonal connections. In spaces like r/stonedswifties, cannabis becomes a shared lens through which fans are welcomed to deepen their appreciation for music, share their excitement about Taylor Swift, and connect with like-minded people. The stories, memes, and conversations produced by these communities demonstrate how cannabis users can be relatable and approachable rather than engaged in an isolating or taboo habit. 

As cannabis legalization continues to gain momentum, these intersections with mainstream pop culture communities further erode the stigma surrounding its use. The emergence of Spliftie culture, then, can be said to reflect a broader cultural shift, celebrating the multifaceted nature of contemporary cannabis users and portraying the plant as an accepted mainstream substance that fosters connection and community.