Pop music star Taylor Swift is shutting down her “Swift Life” social media app just over one year after its launch, informing users that they have under a month to spend their virtual money.
The Swift Life, which launched in December 2017, will shut down on February 1st, according to an official statement.
“Over a year ago, we launched The Swift Life alongside Taylor’s critically acclaimed, 6th studio album, reputation. It provided a creative and inclusive place for Taylor and her fans to connect with each other while expressing themselves in a uniquely interactive community,” announced The Swift Life this week. “As the reputation era comes to an end, our time on The Swift Life will be ending too. The app is no longer available to download and on February 1, 2019 The Swift Life will shut down. Current fans have until this date to utilize the virtual currency they’ve accumulated. Effective immediately, no new in-app purchases will be permitted.”
According to the Daily Mail, the app allowed Swift’s fans to purchase “Taymoji stickers and access to exclusive videos, photos and tickets.”
“Get the latest from Taylor: Including exclusive pics, video, news and an experience you won’t get anywhere else! Connect with Taylor: See what she’s liked, and use SwiftSends™ on posts for a better chance of Taylor liking them too!” advertised the app’s developer, Glu, on its website. “Collect tons of cool new Taylor stuff: Get fun animated Taymoji™, pictures, stickers, pets and more!”
Glu has developed a number of celebrity-based apps and games, including Kim Kardashian Hollywood and Restaurant Dash With Gordon Ramsay.
Fans of Swift expressed disappointment with the app closing down, while many users claimed the app was never very good.
“This is sad… this app promised exclusive content and now it’s pushing users to all the other apps we were in previously,” complained one fan, who described the situation as “really disappointing,” while another asked, “Does anyone even use this app anymore?”
“The app was and is crap. I love how Taylors PR is like ‘As the reputation era comes to an end’ as if its because of that where as they are really closing it because engagement on the app is far below what they had anticipated,” expressed another Twitter user, while a self-proclaimed “Swiftie” admitted, “i’m sorry but i deleted it very quickly, i actually didn’t like it all.”
Other fans on Twitter claimed the app was “cringey,” and “weird,” and declared it “Shouldn’t have launched in the first place.”
Some fans also criticized the app’s demise on Swift quickly abandoning it herself, with fans posting, “Taylor herself used it for a day and deleted the app,” and “if they kept doing updates and adding more things people would’ve came back but they stopped and the app died.”
In October, Swift faced criticism for endorsing two Democrat candidates in Tennessee and attacking Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) in an Instagram post, during which she claimed Blackburn’s conservative political views “appalls and terrifies me.”
Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington, or like his page at Facebook.