RIP To Pop Tradition’s Enjoyable Single Woman

When Taylor Swift introduced her engagement To Travis Kelce final month, it marked the top of an period. Not of her blockbuster tour, somewhat an finish to trying to Taylor as some type of blueprint for navigating single life. Whether you contemplate her music good, unhealthy or irrelevant, if something in any respect is going on in your romantic life, then Taylor Swift has a tune for it. Then she has one other tune to make you are feeling higher about all of it, after which one other tune that makes you need to mud your self off and exit to the pub with your mates.

Good luck to her. All being properly, the uncertainty of singledom is gone for the lady who created the soundtrack to the romantic lives of tens of millions of millennials. I’ll miss that model of Taylor. It was reassuring to know another person was additionally going by way of the identical factor; that being essentially the most well-known girl on the earth doesn’t make you resistant to romantic disappointment. Which is nice, as a result of that romantic turmoil served because the inspiration for among the finest pop songs ever written. Can that proceed as soon as she’s fortunately married?

It isn’t simply Taylor who has deserted us singles – what about Charli xcx, very long time advocate of kissing strangers in golf equipment, who went and obtained married in July? Her low-key east London wedding ceremony has little question made it onto many a bride-to-be’s Pinterest board, nevertheless it additionally concurrently eliminated her from her function as one of many few aspirational unwed ladies we had left.

In truth, 2025 killed off the fictional single icon too. With the ignoble end result of And Just Like That, we lastly misplaced Carrie Bradshaw, the archetype of aspirational singledom. To add to the toll, this yr additionally marked the top of the Bridget Jones franchise. Perhaps our most beloved fictional single character, Bridget served as proof that, so long as keep true to your self, issues will work out in the long run. Who will reassure me of that now?

After my final breakup, my pals made me really feel higher by saying issues like, “You’re not even in your Carrie Bradshaw era yet – she was 32 in the first series.” I discovered this nugget surprisingly comforting. If life might look even a bit like ’90s Carrie’s did, then that will be a superb factor. But I’d love to have the ability to see a brand new Carrie-esque character for now – not must rewatch outdated seasons of Sex and the City from the flip of the century with a purpose to see an really glamorous portrayal of thirtysomething singledom.

But the factor is, characters like Bridget and Carrie couldn’t exist in 2025 (you may not smoke inside for one factor). The lives they represented are at odds with the cultivated, curated world we eat on social media. A time when it feels prefer it has by no means been tougher thus far is made much more miserable by the absence of fortunately single ladies – fictional or in any other case – to look to in popular culture, providing inspiration, steerage or simply some a lot wanted mild reduction after one other bleak evening of fruitless swiping.