Being a Taylor Swift reporter is THE dream job.. but it won't end well.

Did you lose the great Eras Tour ticket debacle of 2023?

Here's a back-up plan that'll have you attend not just one of Taylor Swift's three-and-a-half-hour blockbuster shows — but maybe... all of them, as you follow Swift around the world.

And get paid for it.

ICYMI, Gannett Media, the parent company of national US newspaper USA Today and local Nashville paper The Tennessean, is recruiting for both a 'Taylor Swift reporter' and a 'Beyoncé Knowles-Carter reporter' to join its music team.

The ideal candidate for both should have a relevant degree and at least five years journalism experience, with "a nose for finding interesting stories that take readers beyond what's trending ". And well... here *I* am, and here *you* are.

If you lean towards the Beyhive, you can apply to "capture Beyoncé Knowles-Carter's effect not only on the many industries in which she operates but also on society."

I personally have an encyclopedic knowledge on Swift's career courtesy, which bodes well for that particular job description. 

"Swift's fanbase has grown to unprecedented heights, and so has the significance of her music and growing legacy," the ad reads. "We are looking for an energetic writer, photographer and social media pro who can quench an undeniable thirst for all things Taylor Swift with a steady stream of content across multiple platforms."

Look, if I can somehow convince them that my abysmal social media presence is on purpose, I'm a shoo-in. I have basically turned my role here at Mamamia into exactly this any way.

But beyond me receiving approximately 67 DMs from people I know about this opportunity, these job ads have caused chuckles, eye rolls and plenty of ire.

(A side note — it's not clear from the ads whether Gannett would cover the relocation costs of these reporters if they're doxxed by two extremely passionate fan bases for writing something unflattering. If you interview, please ask.)

People who care about 'the state of the world' are mad at the fact that Taylor and Beyoncé are considered worthy of a dedicated journalistic beat. There is precedent in men's sports reporting, though. The Northeast Ohio Media Group used to have a dedicated LeBron James reporter, for example.

The pair have transcended the extremely fractured pop culture landscape with their tours this year — bringing back a tiny sense of monoculture — and I think reporting on how and why that has happened *is* high brow! Pop culture reflects our world back to us and is worth interrogating.

Others have concerns about this very narrow beat — especially given the lack of investment in others that are more consequential to the average person, like hyper-local reporting.

Most other people just think it's funny (same).

What's unclear from the job descriptions is how these roles will approach stories that aren't about their careers — because even though there is a lot of scope in reporting on these women as cultural phenomenons, nothing garners clicks quite like gossip. And they're not going to be on tour forever.

What happens when Taylor isn't on stage singing to 70,000 people in a stadium? 

It's highly unlikely that these roles would allow the reporter to come face-to-face with their subject on a regular basis — if ever. Neither Tay or Bey need to give interviews for promo, after all, and their PR teams have a 'less is more' approach to officially commenting on the record. What does the Taylor Swift reporter do when they cannot actually access Taylor Swift? 

How do they approach the very buzzy rumour mill that follows her around? Do they dissect song meanings and speculate on her love life? Will the reporter need to keep track on her movements when she's not touring or attending professional events in order to fulfil a story quota and keep the news cycle ticking? 

Is the fallback of this job gossip, unofficial sources or worse; regular dissection of the Swifties fighting with Ariana Grande fans on Twitter?

Gannett has shrunk its workforce 47 per cent in the last three years with layoffs and attrition, according to AP — so whoever succeeds with their application best hope that reputation (Taylor's Version), one of the final two in Swift's re-recording project, doesn't come with the original album's year of disappearance.

Because short of camping outside her New York apartment, that wouldn't make for much quality content at all.

Feature image: Getty/Mamamia.