We knew this would be the year of the Taylor Swift Jewish parody, with the Eras Tour and the Eras Tour movie (and the relationship between Taylor and Kansas City Chief’s Travis Kelce) enrapturing the nation and the world. So it only makes sense that Six13, the a cappella group that rose to fame partly because of their 2014 “Shake It Off” parody, would return to the oeuvre of the songstress from Pennsylvania.
But how do you top a video as delightful as that one from eight years ago in which the men of Six13 made every prepubescent Jewish child cackle by dancing with colorful tutus? (Though I have to say, tutus are for everyone!) The answer is: You go all out! Six13’s 2023 Taylor Swift Hanukkah parody includes not one, not two, but 14 different Taylor Swift songs, taking us through (most of) the eras of Swift’s discography in just a little over four minutes.
“Six13 – Era-lution of Taylor Swift (Chanukah’s version)” starts with a parody of her 2008 hit “Love Story” titled “Hanukkah Story” and ends with Taylor’s 2023 version of the 2019 song “Cruel Summer,” titled “Judah and His Brothers.” Of course, they had to remake “Anti-Hero” into “Antiochus” (since we released our own Passover parody of the song titled “Evil Pharoah,” we approve of this choice).
They even brought us a take on 2008’s “You Belong With Me,” the same song that fellow Jewish group Y-Studs released a very sweet, bubbe-filled parody of this year. (We wonder if the two groups discussed their Hanukkah parody plans when they collaborated on their incredibly moving rendition of “Avinu Shebashamayin,” the prayer for Israel, that they released along with the Maccabeats in late October?)
Taylor Swift fans will be stoked to know that the band went all out with the imagery in this video, too — we’ve got Travis Kelce jerseys, a ton of beaded bracelets, heart-shaped shades, shirts with 1989, cowboy hats, pom-poms and frequent outfits changes (and even one backdrop change!). One of the group members can be seen writing “13” on their hand, a reference to Swift’s lucky number, before adding the Six for the name of the group (which, if you didn’t know, is a reference to the 613 mitzvot, or commandments in the Torah, so a Jewish lucky number, indeed!).
Also guest-starring in the video are some Hanukkah classics: a menorah and two potatoes (that look suspiciously like sweet potatoes, which make for great latkes, too).
The lyrics include references to the Hanukkah story, about how to make latkes and about Jewish survival (yes, there’s an Israeli flag in there). In my opinion, the best parody in this video (they’re all great, to be fair) is their take on the 2012 bop “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” in which they sing about the spelling of Hanukkah (Chanukah? Hanuka? Januca?), acknowledging that “we will never ever, know the proper letters.” Truth!
There is one complaint that we here at Kveller must lodge at this otherwise terrific video: Where is the “Folklore” and “Evermore” content? Couldn’t “Cardigan” have been turned into “Hanukkah sweater?” Couldn’t “August” easily be about Kislev? It would’ve only been right to turn “champagne problems” into a musing on latke problems in this season of latke topping strife. The people demand answers (the people are Kveller’s very small staff).
Otherwise, very well done, Six13. You’ve outdone yourselves again. Chag sameach to all.
