Originally published in student-made magazine Femme
Written November 2017
You can release the best-selling album of the year just to find people are still picking you apart and trying to diminish your success. Taylor Swift knows this better than anyone.
November saw the release of Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated sixth album Reputation. But with it came a predictable onslaught of backlash, made up of old rumours and criticisms about the singer with new angles.
People seem to find amusement in brushing aside the fact that Taylor has released the critically acclaimed, best-selling album of 2017. Instead, they focus on picking her apart – as if calling her a snake and liar for a whole year previously, wasn’t enough of a blow. These criticisms can come from an incredibly misogynistic place and maybe it’s time we realise what a hard time Taylor is being given.
Let’s start with the oldest problem in the book people have with T-Swift: why does she only write about boys? You don’t see people making these comments about other successful musicians like Adele or Ed Sheeran, so why do people think she’s oversharing? Her ability to be vulnerable with her feelings by turning them into art through music should really be praised. And ultimately, using this as a reason to discredit Taylor is redundant if you’ve taken the time to listen to her albums. They contain themes varying from friendship to eating disorders to her admiration for her fans – so no, she doesn’t just sing about love. And let’s not forget when she wrote a tear-jerking ballad about the passing of a boy with cancer, titled Ronan, with proceeds going to charity.
People also seem to have a problem with Taylor and her love life, believing it is their duty to be a commentator on her personal life, dissecting her relationships and attacking her for dating purely for new material. Take her romance with Tom Hiddleston last year, people suggested it was fake and said she moved on “too quickly” from Calvin Harris. Since when did it become illegal for women to have relationships?
Then last year, Taylor haters were clapping their hands when the feud between Kanye West and Taylor was revived although she publicly forgave him for interrupting her acceptance speech for Best Female Video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. They seemed to be friends until Kanye released the controversial song Famous in February 2016, featuring the lyrics, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/ Why? I made that bitch famous.” Taylor’s team denied her giving consent to the lyrics and said in their statement, “Taylor was never made aware of the actual lyric, ‘I made that bitch famous.’” Fast-forward to July 2016, and Kim Kardashian tweeted a snake emoji before posting a clip on her Snapchat of Kanye and Taylor’s phone call where he read only the line about having sex to her.
Cue the endless stream of snake emoji’s commented on Taylor’s Instagram and aggressive tweets calling her a liar, attached with #taylorswiftisover. This was whilst ignoring Taylor’s bite back in her post about Kanye failing to ask permission to call her a “bitch” - a highly demeaning term to call your “friend”. Kanye then rendered it acceptable to use a wax figure of Taylor’s naked body in his music video. She was placed among other celebrities that included Rihanna led next to her abuser Chris Brown – but Taylor is still the problem here, right?
August of 2017 Taylor released Look What You Made Me Do, the lead single from Reputation. The lyrics, “I don’t like your little games/ I don’t like your tilted stage” and “The old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now/ Why?/ ‘Cause she’s dead,” hinted it was about Kanye. Articles immediately started popping up taking a dig at Taylor, claiming she “won’t stop talking about Kanye West”. So are we suggesting Kanye can take credit for her fame based on an incident seven years ago, but Taylor can’t respond? It doesn’t sound remotely fair. But let’s continue celebrating the problematic man who openly endorsed Donald Trump and called sexual assaulter Bill Cosby innocent, it makes perfect sense.
On the topic of sexual assault, remember in August 2017 when Taylor won her case against former radio DJ David Mueller for groping her in a meet and greet in 2013? Well, lots of the public decided to call it a publicity stunt for Reputation’s release, or equally as worse, chose to be silent in supporting her. This response completely disregarded how Taylor’s victory in the trial encouraged individuals to stand up and report their assault. Taylor even acknowledged her privilege in being able “to shoulder the enormous cost of defending myself” and donated to organisations that help victims of sexual assault. Yet, many of the self-proclaimed feminists out there are you guessed it, nowhere to be found. Anyway, Taylor wasn’t even the reason for the trial, she was countersuing for one dollar after Mueller tried to sue her for $3 million over false allegations she made him lose his job.
Another complaint people have enjoyed making to Taylor around the release of Reputation, is that she should be singing about politics - as if her music has ever been the place for political discussion. People aren’t asking this of musicians like Sam Smith, but as usual, it’s different when it comes to Taylor…
Shouldn’t it be okay for music to be an escapism from the world of politics? And it certainly seems odd to apply it as a reason to claim Taylor is a white-supremacist. This is to the point where her lawyers had to threaten to sue a blog in a letter of “yet another unequivocal denouncement by Ms. Swift of white supremacy and the alt-right”.
But maybe the cruellest part of all the hate Taylor is in the firing line of, is that she genuinely seems to be a good person. Last year, Taylor was listed as the third most charitable celebrity in the world by DoSomething.org.
Now take her love for her fans: Taylor constantly interacts with them online, has paid for their tuition fees, medical bills, sent them gifts and holds free meet and greets. But what really stands out is when Taylor invites fans to her home for album listening parties before the public hears it, named ‘Secret Sessions.’ I experienced this first-hand during her 1989 Secret Session London in 2014, where she hand-picked us online to attend. I was surprised to find she had even learnt our names. People can accuse Taylor of many things, but you certainly can’t accuse this woman of not being gratuitous.
“I got smarter/ I got harder in the nick of time,” sings Taylor on Reputation, and thank God she did because her ability to prevent masses of hate from getting in the way of her being a great musician shines through on this album. And if you’re a hater, please rethink, then listen to 2017’s best album.
Feature image: Royalty free from Google Images
Magazine layout: Millie Richardson
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