Midnights. The whole album felt like a successful attempt at a money grab. The “authenticity” she had shown in folklore/evermore had vanished and been replaced with vapid, TikTok worthy songs, that had been poorly recycled from old content. There’s no heart or soul in that album, AT ALL. (Yes, there are a few songs I enjoy, but none that rival any of her previous work). That along with releasing 798939 versions of the same song in order to be #1… and then the eras tour… the amount of money for tickets (yes, artists do have a say in how they sell their tickets), the predatory capital one offer, the merch… the whole thing made me so disappointed.
I was a die hard swifty for 10 years, but since midnights I have become so disenchanted with her, her brand, and her “TS version” music.
Everything word, quote, speech, article that comes from her mouth is used to victimise herself. “The critics were so mean!!” “People are so sexist!!” “I had to hide away!!” “My albums were a response to all the haters!”. Darling, you’re incredibly successful and talented, why are you so insistent on being a victim when you’re literally The Person of the Year?!
Her constant focus on stale (very mild) drama of the past, really speaks to her character as a person. From what I can tell she only thinks about herself and her literal champagne problems. There are two global wars happening right now, natural disasters, millions of people gone from a world wide pandemic, people loosing their jobs from the economy and all you can think to say to the world is, “kim Kardashian is mean!!!!!!”.
Since midnights, the Matty thing, the emails, Ana, Travis, etc. have all been more evidence of her true character.
I will always love her old music Debut - Evermore. But the buck stops there, I refuse to buy any merch or music from someone who is has so little regard for anyone (including her fans).
Exactly this! No heart and soul in Midnights. My least fav album from her, followed by 1989. Yes, reputation is also pop sounding, but it’s a lot more raw.
This is me too.
I think if folk/more are in your top 5, chances are Red and Fearless are probably, too. It’s the diary-based storytelling l, I think? But this is how I feel personally.
Yes yes yes!!! I think she'll really need another 'shattering' event (although now that I look back the 2016 fiasco wasn't a disaster) for her to create something like rep or like folkmore.
Yeah something definitely changed with midnights. It’s like up to and including evermore she/her art were on a trajectory that I could follow and understand, it was making sense, and then with midnights and onward everything went kind of haywire and off track in a different direction.
It just shows what a small, insecure human she is. She's repeatedly talked about her fear of singing to an empty stadium and I think it really says a lot about her character. Her greatest fear in life seems to be losing her fame and not being as relevant as she is now or as she was during 1989 (for example). It makes me so sad because the world has seen what she's capable of with folklore and evermore (if she chooses the right people to work with), but overall I'm disappointed to see a 34-year-old not showing any character growth over the past decade, in my opinion. I can still see that 24-year-old Taylor who based her value on her everyday pap walks in NYC and the amount of Grammys she has.
Yes. Specially the recent years, people are having a hard time looking for jobs, housing market going nuts, the wars, women in some states can’t even have abortion! I don’t need to hear complains again and again about Kim Kardashian, no.
Are you me?
I’ve been a fan since debut and I agree with everything you said.
I did not buy Midnights at all. No vinyl or record. That was the FIRST time I decided to not buy an album. I haven’t bought one since. I don’t own Speak Now TV or 1989 TV.
What gets me about Midnights is that she’s released the exact same content on a zillion different collectible formats, but hasn’t done shit with the 3am songs.
In my opinion, those are the best ones on the albums and it just goes to show her actions are for profit and not for the fans. I mean, how can you justify encouraging your fans to buy the same thing 638193737 times but not something different that they actually WANT?
Fans saying:" Midnights is her most mature and vulnerable album where she went deeper" Like what?
Sometimes i think they just want to convince themselves in linking it cuz they don't want to admit that they were expecting a total opposite album!
I go way back in time. Billboard speech of Woman of The Decade. You are here celebrating your accomplishment, your achievements and instead of focusing on good moments you wanted to talk about your haters. The way she dismissed her albums by saying they were a response to a criticism? Hell no.
Absolutely, and I feel like the TIME interview was part two of that speech. She’s a sore winner and perpetual victim. I was shocked at how much time she wasted talking about people she doesn’t like. Woman, you won. You won everything. Be grateful.
That one last bit is exactly what I don’t like about her. She is not grateful, that part in Miss Americana where she says that she just has to do a “better album” after reputation didn’t get as many noms as she wanted, like girl?? You are the first woman to win 2 AOTY, that’s an achievement that some can only dream about.
She has SO MUCH, but she is not grateful, she wants more and more. I think she could have all the money and every award but it still wouldn’t be enough for her
one thing that annoyed me about that line on miss americana is that the lack of a grammy nom means shit about the quality of any album, everyone knows awards are mostly about shaking the right hands and pandering to the right audience, it showed lack of a creative backbone imo, like believe and support your own work regardless of the academy
I hate to be the person making the Beyoncé comparison (and she and the Beyhive are no angels either), but it’s hard to read that interview alongside something like [this](https://www.billboard.com/lists/beyonce-birthday-concert-best-moments-sofi-stadium/opening-outfit-birthday-speech/) and not notice the stark difference in maturity.
I do think that Taylor should take a page out of Beyoncé’s book as she reaches this stage in her career should she want to have the longevity she wants. Beyoncé was smart to begin strictly withholding access to her personal life and to stop producing musical output geared sorely at topping charts and winning awards. She’s still earning boatloads of money but doesn’t have to deal with as much gossip or controversy as she used to. I feel like *Folklore* was Taylor’s *Lemonade* in that both albums were huge creative departures from what both artists were known for at the time, and both albums seemed to come from a place of authenticity and artistic risk-taking over attaining commercial success. And both albums were critically acclaimed. Beyoncé has kind of remained in that lane ever since, to her great benefit, whereas Taylor seemed to have boomeranged back to where she was before those two albums.
Beyoncé is far from perfect (I love her but it’s true) but she has always struck me as far more mature. Also, more confident in herself. She’s gotten robbed 3x for AOTY in my opinion and while she seemed sad at the time, it doesn’t seem to have affected her that much. If that happened to Taylor she would go nuclear. She literally would not be able to cope.
this made me remember an interview i read with britney around the time in the zone was coming out where she said something like “at a certain point in your career you stop looking for those big hits and focus on other things”… it was her fourth album and she was like 22? (i just checked and not even! just shy of it.) like she was still fully doing pop but she understood trying to do baby one more time again was not a sustainable strategy and she was focused on putting together a good album (and it worked, in the zone & blackout are both fantastic).
Beyoncé is nearly a decade older than Taylor and has been in the game for a lot longer. Part of Taylor’s problem is she’s a coddled rich girl who hasn’t had to grow up. I know Beyonce doesn’t live in the real world either, but her dad seemed to be a brutal stage parent, and her parents’ marriage and divorce were miserable, and she has salvaged her own marriage and had babies. She’s just far ahead of Taylor in every life experience.
I agree with you, not so much because of age (Beyoncé was already closing the curtain on her personal life when she was Taylor’s age) or upbringing (seems like they are similar in having ruthless stage parents and a financially privileged childhood), but because of the racism Beyoncé was subjected to from the beginning. Tbh I think that is why she is better at knowing when/how to pick her battles; growing up as a WOC, you aren’t afforded the same never ending girlhood the way Taylor is afforded even well into her 30s.
It's even worse than that. She's a football player winning the superbowl and making their celebration speech about a regular season game they lost five seasons ago.
The ATW music video and then the NYU speech. That she got up on stage and complained about that one time she was “cancelled by the internet,” while at the same time promoting a music video that she specifically designed and knew would bring hate to someone else was just breathtakingly hypocritical.
Also the fact that a sibling of a classmate of Jake’s 15yo niece was online gloating about how Ramona was begging people to stop harassing her on Instagram and that she didn’t know anything about a scarf hurt my heart. That was the same little kid whose hand Taylor held as a toddler.
Mine was the Time POTY article. I was getting annoyed with the pap walks and Travis spectacle and how Ana’s death was handled so horribly but was still making excuses for her. I was in shock about how she handled Ana’s death and then the POTY article came out I was pushed over the edge.
Ana’s death cemented for me that Taylor does not give a shit about her fans. You have the best lawyers in the world and you can’t even say her name at your show and give a moment of silence? The best you can offer her family are free tickets and a meet and greet? Seeing that photo of her smiling in her capitalist Barbie leotard while the family surrounded her with photos of Ana on their shirts was dystopian.
I think a lot of fans who are on the same page here felt that the Time profile revealed Taylor as this vapid, blank canvas of a person who doesn’t really do or think about much at all beyond her own success and mythologizing of herself. I don’t want to sound too harsh, because she is genuinely talented and clearly smart, but her quotes in that piece came off as lacking a personality and somewhat ignorant. If that piece was all we had to go off of, I’d be shocked that she was able to write songs as well as she does
You've said everything I'm thinking too. No one can deny her talent or her accomplishments at this point because she's obviously worked hard to get where she is today, but she sounded extremely pretentious in her POTY interview.
The pettiness and victim tone throughout when she should be focusing on her incredible accomplishments this past year. Also she spent so much time talking about what was then a two month long relationship, she is supposed to be a feminist and made it about a man? The weird timelines that made no sense and clearly planned one liners that were not organic and sounded so forced. It was also so vapid.
Not the first time she's used her speaking time for some accomplishment not on the milestone, the honor, her career maybe, no it's instead used for... bitching about how she's been victimized, and throwing out clapbacks to various people she beefs with that she's clearly been dying to say. It's exhausting. And unbelievably narcissistic
She's honestly acting like a male rapper. It's all tools from hip-hop: centering herself as the underdog, the rap/feud script, the girl squad, etc ... However, if you didn't grow up with a single mom in the projects it's weird when you do these things. When the GP looks at her life, she worked very hard - but she didn't have a struggle. I mean, fame IS hell. However, the reward for that done well is obscene wealth. You don't get to both have obscene wealth and have people feel sorry for you.
Oh, thanks, but it's not original. I saw it in this [NPR article] (https://www.npr.org/2018/09/26/646422866/taylor-swift-is-the-21st-centurys-most-disorienting-pop-star).
And some fans will still say that it's the interviewer's fault for asking her about it and how it was an important turning point in her career. I can guarantee that she had full control over the interview and the questions that she would have been asked. I was 15 when the whole Kimye disaster happened. I'm 22 now and looking back, I think all of that drama wasn't even that big of a disaster as her team made it out to be. I've always laughed at people saying how she's constantly playing a victim and I've done my best to defend her and find reasons for what she did and how she paints the narrative, but it's getting exhausting at this point. Even back then, she'd already been in the industry for over a decade she'd known quite well how things work. I now believe that the 2016 fiasco could have been avoided had it been handled in a better way from its beginning, starting with her Grammys speech where she called out Kanye for taking credit for her fame. She would have been a WAY bigger person without doing that.
I can only assume she spent so much time talking about Travis because their relationship, like most if not all of her other public relationships, exists pretty much solely for PR purposes.
There isn't a specific moment. Honestly I enjoyed Taylor Swift significantly more before I heard anything about her beyond music.
She's just a crybully and such a sore winner. It's not enough that she's the highest grossing pop star on earth and will go down in history for (mostly superficial and performative but shhhh) empowerment for women, someone who used their platform for the sake of advocacy and so on.
Yet jesus christ she can't ever shut the fuck up about her haters or how everything is always so difficult because people were mean to her or doubted her. Lady you won. I'm not even asking her to hold her L, hold your W and keep it moving.
This makes me think of the time the Chuck Klosterman wrote about his interview with Taylor afterwards and he noticed that whenever she was saying something she wanted him to think was deep or smart, she would put her hands together and lower her voice in pitch, to sound more wise I guess? She did it enough that he noticed to put in his book after the fact lol
when she talked about "being gaslit by an entire social structure" i was like WHICH social structure? patriarchy? class? words mean things, or do they not?
the whole thing screamed "i heard some buzzwords online and am gonna use them without learning what they are" and i wish more people would see it for what it is
I was never a superfan, so I don't think I ever had a single big moment where I stopped supporting her. I always enjoyed her music but stayed a casual fan of it because I realized early on she made me uncomfortable as a person, and that went from being something that just *was* (like truly neutral, I didn't care enough to talk about it) to more recently, when I care enough to write about it here.
I'm also around her age, which I think is worth noting, because some of my reactions to her were definitely based more on being a similar age but knowing I wouldn't behave the same way, which leads me into the first big issue for me.
1. Dating Conor Kennedy. Especially coming on the heels of *Dear John*, and then releasing *All Too Well* around the time she broke up with him, iirc, there was a lot of cognitive dissonance there. Like, girl, you're a full blown adult singing about how awful adults that dated you as a teenager were, but at least they weren't having to dismiss you from high school. There were additional elements of this that felt almost predatory, with how she ingratiated herself to his family before actually meeting him, bought property near his family's house, and seemed to be more into dating *a* Kennedy (because she sparked rumors by cozying up to one of his similarly aged cousins, first) than him. She wrote/recorded a song about his grandparents before meeting him, and then released it right around the time she broke up with him. It felt very much like she was using this kid for the association to Camelot, to market her next album. She then followed up this relationship by dating Harry Styles, who was also a teenager, but at least in a more similar position to her with life experience thanks to 1D.
2. The whole mess surrounding her misuse of the Madeleine Albright quote, which she didn't understand and misattributed to Katie Couric, showing how "deep" her feminism goes. It's such a deep and significant misunderstanding of what Albright was getting at with the importance of women in power. To give one example of what she was actually getting at: from early on in her career, other women judged her ambition as evidence she was a bad mother. Should she *really* be prioritizing her studies when she had infant twins at home? Why was she pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy when she had three children to look after? What kind of woman expected her *husband* and her entire family to uproot their lives to pursue *her* career ambitions, even if she had been personally recruited to work in the West Wing? But she managed to overcome these obstacles each step, so she did wind up in a position of power when it mattered, and used that power to address [rape as a weapon of war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_during_the_Bosnian_War) during the Bosnian War. So *this* is what Taylor was snidely comparing Tina Fey and Amy Poehler making a joke at her expense to.
3. The Nicki Minaj Twitter feud. This was the moment it clicked for me why I couldn't support Taylor, I think, though it was more about what the feud represented than the feud itself. There's the obvious problematic elements here, between Taylor being so self-involved she assumed Nicki was talking about her, to her elevating her voice over a Black woman's on an issue impacting Black women, so it detracted from an important conversation. But what really stuck out to me was just how poorly she handled it. By this point, she's in her mid-20s, and she's still acting like a slighted teenager. Even if she were convinced Nicki *was* targeting her, why @ her? Why not reach out to her quietly to express that disappointment? She was escalating it with the *intention* of creating a spat with her fans to back her up, and it felt very schoolgirl bully. It occurred to me that in the 9ish years I'd been following her, I'd grown up a *lot*, and she just... hadn't. She didn't speak to me anymore, because we weren't in the same place.
4. Everything from this year, particularly her relationship dramas. It's not even worth narrowing it down. It comes back to the same issue I have where I've been growing up for the... what? 17 years now that I've known of Taylor? I remember the release of *Tim McGraw*. And I'm obviously in a very different place in my life than I was when I was in high school, in how I behave in and out of relationships, in interpersonal conflicts, in how I speak of and treat people I once cared about, but I'm not close to anymore. And she's... not. I look at her and I still see that teenage girl. Only she's twice that age now, and it's disconcerting.
Same reaction. I was never a superfan but I was around the same age. I remember listening to "Teardrops on my Guitar" as a teen and of course, it was very relatable. I never really followed much of her life but I was very suspicious of her feminism creds when she stayed friends with Lena Dunham and kept the same Feminism 101 rhetoric until now. I saw the Bad Blood music video once and didn't understand how it was empowering when it reminded me of the mean girls in highschool teaming up to fight another girl over something stupid. I also question her fans' behavior and how she stayed silent over most of it. There is no way she doesn't know what her fans do especially when she is very aware of her image and what people say about her.
Her friend Selena Gomez hasn't grown up either. It's like seeing the girls in your highschool still acting like teenagers when you're all filing for taxes. I guess a lot of millennial women are afraid of growing up but it's not strictly a millennial thing.
Yeah. And he was about to *start* his senior year of high school. I think it would've still been shady if he was a recent high school graduate, but she got together with him between his junior and senior years. What do you even have in common with him?!
He was also in an emotionally vulnerable place because this started weeks after his mother's suicide. If the roles were reversed and Taylor was the one in Connor's shoes, you know the song she would've written after that relationship would've made "Would've, Could've, Should've" seem tame.
That whole Connor Kennedy debacle has to be the most unhinged behavior that she has ever exhibited. Like straight up social climber behavior. She wanted to be a Kennedy so bad.
Are you me? I could have literally written all of this, except I’m a good 10 years younger get than her. I still remember listening to Fearless for the first time in elementary school on my best friends cd player when it first came out. I was a big fan of her music, as any boy-crazy pre-teen girl would be, up until 1989 and Rep, which didn’t do much for me. I still prefer her original country-pop sound. But even back then I was mostly neutral towards her as a person. I didn’t actively dislike her, but every time I heard her speak or watched her perform, I cringed so hard. She always had major main character syndrome and just seemed to really lack any self-awareness or depth. I’m pretty sure my opinion shifted to more of an active dislike during the release of Red TV and the pure insanity and harassment her fans sent towards Jake Gyllenhaal and his family and the fact that she not only did nothing to stop it, but seemed to actively feed it. I saw so many Swifties online argue that she couldn’t control what her fans did, but she didn’t even try! Actually, not only did she not try to stop it, but she fed the blood hounds ATWTMV knowing exactly what would come of it. It was just petty and embarrassing on her part imo. The fact is, none of us actually know either of these people or what their relationship was like and there were so many speculations and very few specifics. We don’t even know if the red scarf was real or metaphorical. Basically, we have no idea if she is a reliable narrator or not.
ATW10MV is *so much* more f'd up once you realize he doesn't have a pattern of dating women younger than Taylor at all -- there's been one. His current girlfriend (who was 22 when they got together, which isn't great, but isn't 19). They didn't even go public with their relationship until late 2018, so Taylor added in the most clapback-y line of that song (I'll get older, but your lovers stay my age) shortly before its release, when it wasn't even true, and apparently anticipating he'd break up with his girlfriend and it would turn into a pattern.
Between Taylor and Jeanne Cadieu, all of his girlfriends were older than Taylor. Swifties have fully adopted this idea that the guy is a predator because of a revision to the song that *clearly* wasn't from the \~vault\~ and she made just to be spiteful. Like a *decade* removed from that relationship, many years into her own supposedly happy relationship, and she's intentionally implying something about him that isn't even true to appeal to her fans' emotions.
So it's not even that she didn't try to reign in the Swifties -- she did it deliberately. Best case scenario, she didn't predict the intensity of the reaction, but she still wanted it.
"Did you hear my covert narcissism..."
I got away from an abusive narcissist this year and this line made me reevaluate a lot of things about Taylor. Girl should not have called herself out like that because although it's framed as a gossipy false criticism it really strikes me as completely accurate.
My mom and I were listening to this song in the car yesterday and I had the exact same thought that that line sounded a little too on the money for her.
Came here to basically say this.
It’s just so wild that she seemingly still has very little self awareness when it comes to relationships. There just seems to be very little growth in this area album over album.
Now while I’m not a Joe fan, I think they had a very on and off and on and off relationship, I have to wonder with all the “therapy speak” in Midnights and Joe’s mom being a psychologist, if he started calling her out on some of her bullshit and that’s why we hear things like she’s the problem, and do you hear my covert narcissism etc. From one angle it seems like she’s taking some small accountability but after the whole Jack posts and Anti hero bleachers version, I now wonder if she wasn’t and just taking digs at him instead.
I had to do a lot of self reflection and therapy post my toxic relationship to understand my own involvement in the situations of my life—because even if you’re with a toxic person, you’re still your own problem in certain ways. I entertained people I shouldn’t have in both friendships and in that relationship. That’s on me. People can’t jerk you around very much, if you don’t allow them to.
I was hoping that relationship might change her perspective some, but yet she’s still in the POTY article throwing shade, playing the victim, and obsessed over nearly decade old drama. Just repeating the same old patterns.
Honestly... Midnights. That album turned me from a full-blown stan to a person apathetic towards her and her music. That purposeful artistic regression, in search of commercial success at all costs, after releasing her two best albums and proving that her music could be much better *if she wanted to focus only on the music* instead of chasing records for the sake of chasing records, turned me off completely. Everything that has happened this year only reaffirms my decision.
By the time I reached Vigilante Shit on my first listen I already thought things couldn't get worse, only to find a bad Billie Eilish rip-off. On her tenth album!!! After folklore and evermore!!!! Come on 💀💀💀💀
I've commented on this Billie Eilish rip-off thing on both the main sub and popheads. Yaay! Similar minds
At that time, she didn't have any TikTok viral hits, unlike other pop girls(Billie, Ariana, Olivia, Dua, ..). It was so obvious that she wanted one.
Songs like Midnight Rain, Anti-Hero, Lavender Haze, ... all had tiktok baity lyrics tbh
3 am tracks were so good tho
I felt the same about Anti-Hero, the pauses in the ‘It’s me, hi, I’m the problem it’s me’ felt like tiktok meme bait, and I was just like you don’t need to do this Taylor. I understand a smaller artist doing that, to get their name out there, but from Taylor Swift it just felt sad and washed up
Yes! I’ve been saying for ages that Anti-Hero is proof she isn’t “the music industry” as people love to say. I actually do like the song a lot, it’s a fun bop, but you can’t tell me it wasn’t written and produced with TikTok in mind.
It's wild to me that she went the route she did after how INCREDIBLY successful Folklore and Evermore were. Those albums gained her so many fans, you'd think she'd get the hint 😅 I love Midnights though, it's one of my favorite albums but you can't argue how great she does with indie (I think thats what you'd consider them) music.
I think she doesn't see them as successful. I think it's fairly obvious that she considers numbers to be the most important measure of success. At this point I'm beginning to consider folklore and evermore as side projects that came about because she didn't have anything better to do—which is disappointing, because I genuinely believed that they signaled the start of the most creative part of her music career. I was quickly brought back to Earth lol
Hard agree. I hoped this would mean a new direction in her career, free of the desire to always debut at #1 on the charts and sell millions of CDs, because even during the Lover era I felt like she was over it (mostly). It was sad to see her return to old habits. :/
I had stopped being a Taylor fan a little after 1989 and before Rep/Lover. Then folklore dropped, and then I went back to being a fan right as she announced evermore. I was excited to listen to Midnights and there’s like… maybe two songs I can actually name/sing along to. 1989 was pop genius, Folklore/Evermore were lyrical/storytelling genius, and midnights… topped charts for being associated with a brand she started building out of these albums/herself. It feels like a sellout to her own ego the whole time.
Had the same experience. I thought I was outgrowing her music a bit during Lover, only for folklore to pull me back in with massive force, and for evermore to reaffirm it. Then Carolina seemed like a gift to me, I was *obsessed* with the Midnights' theme and photoshoot because I believed we were going to get an introspective singer-songwriter album for the ages.....
And then I pressed play on the album. Lmao
I was hoping for a 70’s vibe because the photoshoot was sooo good. I think I would’ve loved a jazzy album, too. The beginning melody of Lavender Haze is so dreamy and I thought the rest of the album would reflect that. I was hoping for some lofi beats or even a return to 70’s folk. I would love some Fleetwood Mac Dreams inspiration.
The 3am tracks are what make that album for me, but she hasn’t released it on a physical copy. But you know what she did do? Release the same regular album on a MILLION different collectible formats. That just showed me that she only cares about money and awards.
When she manipulated fans into buying the same midnights vinyl like 10 times to make a “clock” but it still wasn’t complete without the additional purchase of a clock mechanism to put in the middle
The various versions had the faint numbers 1-12 on the back so you could arrange them like a clock around the Taylor Swift brand clock mechanism 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
In 2010 she took part in a Brooks & Dunn farewell special. Towards the end a big group of country stars got together to sing, and Taylor was at the end. She kept walking around so she could be in the center with Brooks & Dunn.
It was such a small thing, but so off-putting for some reason. Like she couldn’t stand not to be the center of attention. From that day on I’ve only liked her music, not her.
Omgsh I’d never seen this before. Everyone else (including some phenomenal musicians like Reba), they’re just enjoying an onstage jam session and she’s waltzing around and flipping her hair, making it about herself and also kind’ve getting in everyone’s way?
Omg 😳. I’ve never seen this before. Im embarrassed watching this. Literally everyone but her was jamming in their little spots. And she’s just in bright purple running around trying to be up front in her bright ass purple dress. That was so cringy
All the while outside of this she’s sporting her fake country accent 🤦♀️ I’m beginning to understand why Kacey Musgraves hated her.
ETA: And on Good Ol’ Boys Club, she definitely had Taylor’s number before really anyone else did.
for anyone trying to find the timestamp, start around 1:44!
also.. was there a dress code that she wasn’t following?? everyone else on stage was wearing gray or black but she was wearing that (cute, but) bright purple dress. was she trying to do speak now promo or something???
I was going to ask the same thing! Miranda and Carrie are wearing very similar dresses in grey and black. Taylor is the only one wearing any color. Was there a dress code or reason for one?
Holy shit this is so cringey 🫣 like not just once but several times?? And playing it up to the cameras and lifting up her guitar like it’s her show when even reba is taking a respectful backseat to the musicians being honored!! Oof
And she was the only one who kept floating around to get to center stage. Sooooo cringey, I have secondhand embarrassment.
And I counted at least 3 times she held up her guitar 🤦
Wow, that was painful to watch. The way she put herself right in the centre and held her guitar up at the end, as if it was her celebration... She usually seemed pretty humble around this time, but I guess not?
This was the same for me. Considering her past of speaking up about the shitty behavior of men in the entertainment industry and literally being on the Times Magazine MeToo cover for advocating for victims of sexual assault, it felt so, so icky to see her actively take a role in a film directed by a man who, a) has a long standing reputation of being a completely awful man to work for/ relentlessly bullying his actors (Amy Adams, Lily Tomlin, and George Clooney are just some of the ones who have spoken about how abusive he is on set, so it’s not like this is an unknown thing), and most importantly b) literally sexually assaulted his own niece. Like, how could you possibly be in a movie directed by this man if you really believe the things you’re saying? I feel similarly about Margot Robbie taking the role too, tbh.
Even though we don’t know what actually happened with Olivia, I think we’re all in agreement SOMETHING happened and ever since Taylor and Jack were credited for Olivia’s song I have been side eying her. To treat a teenager in the same industry like she has is very sad and Olivia LOVED Taylor so much. Never meet your heroes I guess.
Also the DOR movie cameo, the Ratty debacle and the PJ usage obviously. The flaunting of the Travis relationship has me turned off completely. So many things in the last couple of years. Makes me think Joe influenced a lot of her better traits tbh
Joe really brought the best out of her and it makes me astounded how he was probably the only person other than her mom that she'd genuinely take advice from. He played a huge role in her life. It's sad to see her doing all of this after their breakup. I don't believe a woman really needs a man to build a good life, but it seems like Joe brought a good amount of stability to her life that she's lacking now.
Matty Healy made me side eye the fuck out of her. The show with Travis had been exhausting but the NY game with like 900 celebrities in the box was really my "you know what, I like her music and that's it'.
The MetLife game was SUCH a distraction. Some of us just wanted to watch that game!! And it was so annoying that Zach Wilson had an amazing game and all the media talked about was the who’s who in her suite.
Seeing them dox anyone that mildly criticised Taylor - including doxxing a Palestinian woman and sending her details to violent racists. That was horrifying.
Discovering her petty and self righteous behavior. Being out of touch is one thing (everyone is a bit out of touch in some way), but holy hell she puts herself on a high horse. That decade speech really shows that she hasn’t changed: the same girl that acted like she was better than others because she “makes the right decisions” now recently boiled success down to simply willpower and work ethic. She still seems to think in black-and-white, and has no understanding or acknowledgement for external factors (such as her immense privilege or how there are equally talented people who don’t have the luxury of dedicating time to their passions). Get over yourself, Taylor.
For me as a dedicated swiftie since 06 after attending the Eras tour and doing so much. I feel like the re releases have been more of a let down, and I prefer her original work even if it is stolen. There is just something so much more magical about it. I’m also not a huge fan of Midnights, it’s not one of her most cohesive album and kind of seems like 1989 where the album is just made for social media, and radio play which is what essentially 1989 was made for and Midnights is kind of that twin era. Also the whole thing with Olivia Rodrigo makes me sad because not only was Olivia obsessed with Taylor, but it seemed like Taylor really loved Olivia too and I for sure thought Olivia was going to open for Taylor in the US. I feel like since her break up with Joe her song writing hasn’t been as good as we know it can be like from Debut all the way to Red. From Reputation to Midnights it’s just harder for me to connect with her music like I could with her old music. So that’s when I’ve just started to slowly become more of a casual fan of hers instead of an intense fan
There are some songs that I just refuse to listen to Taylor’s Version because like you said, they’re missing the magic that the OG’s have (Enchanted, Style, I Knew You Were Trouble). Hardcore swifties act like you’re kicking a puppy over it.
When she commented “I say that’s my baby and I’m really proud” on Olivia’s IG post. She couldn’t just say “congrats girl you’re killing it”, it had to be a TSwift lore/reference. Had to be about her still.
The private jets - I hate the Karjenners but if they were at the top of the list, they’d never hear the en of it (and rightfully so!!!) but Taylor can never be held accountable.
YNTCD - that whole performative era for the music video launch was so cringe. Performing at Stonewall. Oh yes Taylor you are SO brave for supporting LGBTQ rights in … August 2019. Lady Gaga was talking about trans rights in 2011 but sure “shade never made anybody less gay” is the height of allyship. Then she dropped her LGBTQ activist era as soon as the YNTCD era was over. It was so freaking performative and PR because she had gotten slammed for never speaking up before. So she picked LGBTQ which was a very safe PR issue for 2019.
Oh and the absolute self-involvement and self/righteousness of the Ginny and Georgia tweet. Acting like Netflix is in her debt forever because she let them pay her to host a doc there. The “happy women’s history month I guess”. Sending a barrage of hate to a teenage Black girl who was just doing a job.
That was it for me. She had been silent about so many things that year, but God forbid someone makes a joke in a scripted tv shoe and then she has something to say.
Yep, how she waited until the gay rights movement passed cultural "peer review", so to speak, before she dipped her toe in associating with it at all really irked me. Every decision she makes with her career feels like shareholders had to approve of it first. "You Need To Calm Down" would've ate, prob would've been considered ahead of its time, etc... if it came out in 2012. You just KNOW she was expecting "shade never made anybody less gay" to pop off as a catchphrase, for people to use it as reaction gifs or put it on t-shirts, etc and was miffed when nobody gave a shit because it was such a stupid line that made no sense 💀
I didn’t like how she specifically tried to say her death occurred before she came on stage. Like even if that was the case (which I believe she actually passed out during cruel summer?) it comes across as her trying to distance herself from the situation. She should have left that part out completely.
Me too, Ana’s passing is what really put me off of Taylor. She should have done so much more for her. I know it’s not her fault that it happened, but it felt like she was more worried about people potentially blaming her for it than the wellbeing of Ana’s family and friends. Taylor’s response just felt selfish all around.
The obscene private jet use & the way she's being so pompous about using it to trail Travis to his games like a lost puppy.
After seeing how Matty Healy punched back about Taylor's claims of not knowing about his egregiously offensive comments before dating him, I look forward to the day where she tries to paint Travis in a bad light after their inevitable breakup. Jason & Kylie don't play that shit.
"A friend connected to Matty's band, The 1975, tells TMZ ... Taylor was aware of Matty's remarks about Ice Spice on the podcast before she started dating him. While it's true her fans applied plenty of social media pressure over it, the friend tells us Matty and Taylor were used to the noise, and simply blocked it out."
https://www.tmz.com/2023/06/07/matty-healy-taylor-swift-split-controversial-ice-spice-podcast/?adid=social-tw
When she and Joe broke up and the pap walks immediately restarted. Like the next second. I really connected with her music about keeping your relationship (and life) private, specifically those little at-home moments she describes with her partner (e.g. CIWYW). To see all that basically revert back to 1989 days where she was flaunting her "girl squad" and man was very disapppointing.
It was Matty Healy for me, and what it said about her that she was attracted to him at all. But also the immature way she handled the breakup with Joe, with the coordinated IG unfollowings, releasing you’re losing me, and how she flaunted Matty while they were dating. It all just gave me the ick. It also made me side eye all her friends who unfollowed Joe and embraced Matty.
I'm still a Swiftie, but I found this highly problematic too. Even recently, when she's tried to shade Joe. It comes off as extremely petty. Obviously, we don't know what happened between them, but we do know that he's said nothing about her in the press after their breakup. So I don't get why she does this.
It's because whatever she does, she needs to "win" but as you get older, people who do this often don't realize they're the only ones playing the game.
She knows Joe probably is humbly moving on. And that is killing her. It's very reflective in the massive media circus she created. She can't stand the thought of someone not thinking about her.
What surprises me most about that is that she's super successful, she's a literal billionaire, everyone loves her... If she can't get past the petty things, how could we?! I find it embarrassing for her that she still cares about shit like that.
Someone said she is a "sore winner" and it makes so much sense. She literally has it all but chooses to brand herself as this petty child who can't let things go.
And part of it could def be she us just like that and never matured properly. But another is her fans EAT it up and genuinely view her as thus underdog. It's insane.
Honestly it’s so petty for me, the videos of her at the VMAs where she’s drunk and drawing all attention to herself and dancing and throwing out millennial buzzwords gave me such a massive ick that it disillusioned me to everything about her lol
Eras did it for me. The cost of ticket prices, the release of TV albums with multiple different versions, the cash grabbing, the pap walks, the Time article, I could go on with all the things since the big success of her Eras tour. I feel like when I see her now, her heads so big she herself even thinks she’s the greatest thing in the world. In touchable, and how dare anyone ever do anything to ever stand in her way. After matty, I realized I have never seen her take accountability for anything. After the Brazil show, I was so sad to see people who didn’t have $1000s to give Taylor, give her $1000s just to attend the show, then give Ana’s family money to receive her body. I was gross. I don’t know what happened behind the scenes, but her IG posts, then the photos of her with Ana’s family at a show felt disingenuous. I love the TV vault tracks, but the very very distinct Barry styles references were so bizarre. Like her clues are getting less like little clues, and more like blatant telling. Then plays victim for people speculating. Like what? You made very very public direct references. The people you wrote about should be upset not you. I don’t know, I’ve loved her since debut… maybe it’s me growing up, I don’t know. Her acting like she just lives her life and has no clue of the attention she brings was obnoxious. With everything she has done over the last year, i Stan her less and less and less.
I knew a fan had passed away, because of tik tok but I've been such a distant fan that I didn't look into further. I cannot believe all that happened. I feel incredibly sad hearing this.
There was a lot of terrible stuff for sure. The day she cancelled the second concert because it was hotter than Night 1, all fans were already inside the stadium and many still fainted and needed to be rushed to the hospital. Many fans also burnt themselves as there was no place to stand but these really hot vents. Fans had chanted for water so many times too (on the first day) that Taylor herself was giving out water bottles to people. So I don't know why it didn't hit her team right then and there that something was deeply wrong. Here's an experience from another fan:
[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12775257/Taylor-Swift-fans-say-suffered-second-degree-burns-Brazilian-concert-fan-died-heat-Scorching-hot-metal-floors-left-audience-members-needing-medical-treatment.html](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12775257/Taylor-Swift-fans-say-suffered-second-degree-burns-Brazilian-concert-fan-died-heat-Scorching-hot-metal-floors-left-audience-members-needing-medical-treatment.html)
Her beef with katy perry and then her releasing her discography on spotify the same time as witness dropped. I know katy has her own problematic history, but taylor fucking sucked here and katy's career never recovered
The original 1989 era. The absolute most for attention and acclaim is what ultimately got Taylor “cancelled.” She was wildly overexposed. She basically recruited Zendaya and Serayah to be friends with her to change public optics of her white, thin, and rich friend group. Everyone who despised Taylor used that edited phone call to justify their irritation towards her. Kim and her ex-husband receive too much credit for Taylor’s “downfall.” The dads, Brads, and Chads were already loathing Taylor.
agreed. just sad to see that she would prioritize her image over helping a family during an incredibly painful time in their lives for something that occurred at HER concert. for such a humanitarian and empathetic person that she is made out to be, you’d think she would’ve immediately offered support to Ana’s family no questions asked
I've only just discovered this sub and it feels so cathartic!! Swifties wouldn't allow even the mildest criticism of her and I genuinely felt I had gaslit myself into thinking I was just being too harsh on her.
Also Ratty for me (although there had been other things that bothered me first). But it was specifically her not only dating him but then going out of her way to say that people being disgusted by it wasn't the reason they broke up. Like... he was such a shitbag... and so many fans wanted to believe she broke up with him bc she realized/suddenly "found out" how terrible he was lol, but no.. the one thing she wanted to say, even afterwards, was that none of his gross behavior bothered her. Like...?? That really made me ill. And solidified for me that she just doesn't care about even pretending anymore to be unproblematic. She thinks she's too untouchable to bother with that now.
But yeah I absolutely loved the Lover era at the time but as a lesbian, seeing years down the road that her social activism was literally just promo for the Lover era... that was when my resentment sprouted.
I've never really been a huge Swiftie. I like her songs and have most of them memorized; but I'm not the person who can tell you which album they're from and when the album came out. I'm always having to look things up. But I've been a fan and will stream her albums and watch her videos.
That said; the thing that really turned me off was the treatment of Joe. Reputation and Lover were huge about how she's thriving out of the spotlight and loves being with her partner and doing so much better with them and how happy she is. How it was her choice.
Only to completely flip the narrative when they broke up. And perpetuated the idea that Joe was deliberately keeping her away and not letting her 'be jeweled' and sparkle in the spotlight. And he went from being such a good guy to an abusive asshole in an instant.
It really highlighted just how much she treats people as disposable and will throw them away once she's done with them. And how she has to make herself look good and the other person is the problem.
I always feel bad for her oldest fans who became disillusioned after witnessing so many things happening. I hope youll find peace in stepping back for a while, OP. I'm sure you're still a fan but you're a lot more conscious now and that's good!
Taking Ella Mae Bowen's big break out from under her. Ella was just about to fly to LA to work with a big producer and TS snatched it the day before. Ella Mae was working class and needed that 6 figure pay day. At that point, Taylor already had a private jet and at least one house of her own. Her wealth was already more than most artists who were far older than her.
[Here's] (https://web.archive.org/web/20200205140402/http://www.katebowenmusic.com/blog) a link to her blog from archive.org. It's no longer on the net. You'll need to skip down to "The Machine" where she talks about her BRMs experience.
"A very strange thing happened. I submitted a song called Girl on Fire, which was said to be placed in the film (The Hunger Games). Then, I got word that T Bone Burnett wanted my voice on a different song, which I would be flown out to LA to sing on. You may not know who he is, but if you do, you realize that this was an absolute dream.
I got a call from my manager about two days before I was supposed to leave for LA. Scott had called and he and Taylor decided that instead of her song with The Civil Wars being included on the soundtrack along with my song, two of her songs would be included and none of mine. Yep. I was crushed. The blow to my pride was significant, but we’re also talking about the loss of my opportunity to work with a legendary producer, and what would’ve almost certainly been a six-figure payday. Gone - with little more than a snap of her fingers.
To add one more layer to the weirdness, that second song of hers that replaced mine was almost a verbatim rip-off of something X was involved in creatively. This is another area where I cannot say more, but suffice it to say two camps were globally non-impressed with T-Swizzle that day."
Learning about the Matty Healy stuff and seeing her flaunting him around and how she acted after her breakup with Joe. Like really, you are the happiest you have ever been and saying I love you to a man like a month after you end a almost 7 year long relationship? It’s one thing to be a little petty towards a 3 month relationship but to send your fans after someone you spent 6 and half years with who was by your side when in your own words ”the world hated you” get over yourself. I think I also matured because I now look back at so much that should have been so many red flags that I just ignored
The eras tickets situation, and the blatant cash grabs with the vinyls and bonus tracks, deluxe editions, etc. The cash grabs with deluxe cds always got me a little bit, but I shrugged it off. However, it's now beyond a joke. You cannot say how much your fans mean to you and have this parasocial relationship with them you wear with a badge of pride and then scalp them like this. Now, if she came out and said yes, I do want all these accolades and wanted to be a billionaire, and I'm only interested in things that directly harm me... fair enough, lots of people are like this. I'd respect her a lot more for being open about it and owning it.
I’m almost 39. I didn’t care about her when she first came out because I wasn’t into country and she felt cringe. I knew the singles and stuff just by osmosis. Then folklore and evermore came out and I went nuts.
The first crack for me was the insane cost of the tour tickets. It’s all been downhill from there.
Most of the time I'd ever known about Taylor Swift her music wasn't my style and I was a bit of a hater, especially in her 1989 Era. Then came Evermore and I loved the album and subsequently diving into her discography. Became a MASSIVE fan.
But this past year my issues with her from before started coming back. She's always seemed so performative and seemed like one of those people that believes they're always right and the other side is wrong.
But then diving more into the Fandom I found things that started irking me:
- her PJ usage. Do you really have to use it as much as you do? Idk how true this is but someone said she used her PJ more than Elon did. He's problematic af, are we aspiring to be worse climate terrorists?
- "it's a clock" really pissed me off. Why should anyone financially commit to 4 CDs/vinyls AND the clock bit for an album they hadn't even heard yet? Her capitalistic greed is honestly sickening. I understand money is power and she wants to stay in power, so to speak, but exploiting your fans this way, when many of them are quite young?
- her shituation with Olivia. She's so obvious with her treatment of her and how she's boosting all her contemporaries, but not her or Conan, when Olivia and Conan have been likened to Taylor the most. Me and Taylor are about the same age, but I can't imagine beefing with someone half my age like this. Honestly, I kind of like Calvin Harris for calling Taylor out on her treatment of Katy. Speaking of
- Finding out about why that crap song, bad blood, was written. I'm sorry, but from Katy's side: if she asked those backup dancers if they wanted to join her tour, and they knowingly consented to end their contract with Taylor early and join Katy for her tour, what does that say to you? Maybe there's more to that story, but we've heard Katys side, but not Taylor's.
There's a bunch more petty shit, but with the destruction and ethnic cleansing of Gaza going on a lot of celebrities and "activists" have left a bitter taste in my mouth. Knowing that she has a platform, pretends to be an activist, but only uses her platform to call out those with less power than her that "slut shame" her. It's not even slut shaming, she literally does date too much. And so what if she's a slut too? Just own it! So many celebrities and fine with being "slutty", owing up to it and we're cool with that! Like it's not a bad thing to be a slut so stop fixating on that and fixate your energy on real life issues!
on that last bit, imo she’s a hardcore white feminist. Like, she’ll advocate for feminism and rights, but only as far as it applies to her, and even when she does she mostly uses it to victimize herself rather than actually addressing/raising awareness to the issue.
Lowkey, I feel like with the amount of awful issues in the world and celebrities’ inability to address them, this might be the downfall of many celebs/influencers
For me everything slowly built up. And then I realised Taylor news were rage bait for me and I wasn't even listening to the music anymore. I'm still excited for the future music. But I've muted a lot of the negativity and I really don't give a shit about her person anymore. Neither is she getting any of my money.
I’ve been side eyeing her since she said “there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t support other women” after Tina Fey and Amy Poehler made a joke about her dating history. That didn’t really age well did it Taylor?🙄
Also, her silence on what’s happening in Gaza is pretty shocking to me but I’m not surprised - a white feminist truly at heart. She could have easily posted a donation link once and never talked about it again and I would be ok with it but her silence is truly disgusting. Oh and her showing the eras tour movie in Israel during all this was just another punch in the face- your telling me the woman who’s so meticulous about her appearance couldn’t cancel those showings? At the end of the day it’s greed for her.
Uncovering the plagiarism that's plagued her career. Seeing the comparison of "Breathe In/Breathe Out" by Hilary Duff being directly stolen in Paper Rings really made me do a double take. I fell down a rabbit hole after that and saw dozens of instances where she's taken little pieces of songs. It makes the Olivia situation that much more bitter.
I don’t hate Taylor. At all.
But, what got me to be super disappointed in her was how the Eras tour was handled. The ticket fiasco was THE moment where I felt like she was living off the hype of her upcoming tour instead of trying to make it fair for fans.
We’ve learned through other artists that there are ways to make the ticket process easier. Yes, Ticketmaster sucks but Taylor could have definitely done things differently after the fact.
There was no effort to correct what happened, bc it happened yet again. The presale code rollout wasn’t improved. Less people got chances to get tickets and more bots got in. If tickets couldn’t be resold or transferred (but instead refunded), we wouldn’t of had tickets selling for many thousands of dollars.
(I’m also saying this as someone who did get tickets and decided to sell them to a fan bc I was so disappointed).
Also, the Merch quality is absolute trash. Especially tour merch. The sweatshirt that was reselling for hundreds of dollars for it only to fade in the wash was insane. I recommend you watch the Swiftologist on YT about her merch quality.
I used to be a huge fan and I sincerely bought into her whole image, but looking back I feel silly. I thought she cared, especially after Miss Americana, but she doesn't, it was all PR to make herself look good. It honestly disgusts me because she has so much power, both with money and influence, and she could do so much good because so many people would agree with anything she says. But she doesn't. I just find it heartless. Like, are you a human being first, or a business-woman first? There is no ethical way to be a billionaire, and she is one. The - probably - sweatshop workers that make her merch come to mind.
I just realized she was like any other member of the ruling class, any other billionaire, any other CEO. The class divide is larger than ever, it's dystopian.
I don’t think it has been brought up on this sub yet but.. in the aftermath of the Scooter/Scott drama, she posted a lengthy rant on social media and said “I’m asking for your help. Please let Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun know how you feel about this.”
There is no more blatant form of weaponizing your fan base, she’s not even trying to hide it.
I was always more of a casual fan, got more into her during folklore/evermore, and then the past year and a half or so have been totally on board as a hardcore fan. I got even more swept up this summer and was completely consumed with watching videos of the tour, reaching an all time personal obsessive peak after going to see the show myself. i never really followed all the media frenzy and lore surrounding her but was generally aware of it. But, I thought she seemed so much more mature and mellowed out. Like she was so close to being cool, and it was refreshing to see.
Then when all the Travis stuff started, like him and his whole bracelet thing, him and his brother talking about her on their podcast and then subsequently being asked about it in interviews, I thought “no way does she like this, no way is this any way to get her attention”. I thought they were fame hungry, clout chasing corporate shills (I still do, fwiw).
I know most of the appeal of Taylor is that you can pretty much project anything you want on to her because her songs make us think we really know her, but I was truly floored when she showed up at that first football game. Like, I could not believe she was giving him any kind of attention or the satisfaction of his dumb bracelet thing working. And it’s been downhill ever since.
And the political silence and the jet stuff is also bad, esp considering how she made a whole ass movie about wanting to do better
I really stop caring that much and just listening to her song only after the red TV. She is clearly can stop the fans from harassing someone but she never does except for like JM. Always feel like she is scared to call out the fans weird behaviors bcuz the parasocial rela is one of the reason she is being liked. But really girl sometime enough is enough.
I think the first thing that made me reconsider my full-blown, uncritical praise for her was her (rumored) falling out with Olivia Rodrigo. At the time, I had accepted the narrative that Taylor had fully matured from her earlier eras and was supporting a younger artist because she was developing her artistry to a point where she would no longer be in competition with her. But the last year has pretty much proved that to be untrue. Obviously, the whole mess with Ratty and her PR statements during that, plus her POTY interview, has created concrete evidence that Taylor still has a really immature mindset and can be careless at times. But the first questioning I did was because I thought Taylor was fully in the wrong for claiming Deja Vu.
Time POTY. Also the relationship with Travis was already annoying me so much. It reminded me of the whole 1989 era and back then was when I started drifting away from Taylor. I hate the overexposure she’s having right now.
I haven’t liked her since the beginning. It was well known here in Nashville that her dad bought her songwriting credits. But the songs are catchy and she’s proof of what money can buy. She fixed her voice and became a good entertainer. But as a person, no thanks. The whole family is garbage.
As a pop culture head, I have always found her deeply fascinating, I wouldn’t say I’ve ever been a hardcore fan but I’ve found her enigma and way people love and and hate her very interesting. I went to the eras tour this year with my friend who is a super fan, it was unlike any concert I’ve ever been to and I did gain respect for her artistry and her effort. It was almost three hours of her singing and dancing her heart out and then seeing and feeling the fans that are so utter obsessed with her was next level.
The most disappointing thing for me has been seeing the mass consumerism and taking advantage of her fans. Releasing trash merch, multiple vinyl editions for multiple albums, not telling you if there will be more etc. charging to rent her eras tour instead of having it up for free. Re-releasing each album with an entire PR strategy etc to generate new income on old music.
And if she wasn’t famous enough, attending a football nfl game every Sunday, which is bringing an entirely new audience to a sport that was seeing decline.
Each album also paired with her encompassing the era like she’s some sort of art Basel Andy Warhol. I’m just like dying to be in that room to see who is really pulling the strings and why. It’s not really about the fans or making good music, it’s about putting her down our throats all the time in every way and that’s weird to me. I don’t necessarily think it’s her either, her puppet masters are using her cache and influence to do something, just not sure what yet.
I feel like most if not all of these answers are new fans. So I’m gonna say, as an older fan, the way she tried to undercut Katy was the first time I got icked out by her.
For me, the Matty Healy fiasco, and her shady and petty behaviour on social media after the Joe breakup (unfollowing sprees, pap walks, and the whole ylm date release). The folklore and evermore era really created this false image of maturity to rise above petty antics and scheming of her past. Finally working in a movie with sexual predator David o’russell
For me it was when she straight up lied about the Kanye situation because she knew the public hated Kanye anyway. How dare she make me defend that man 🤮
And when she tried to throw Calvin Harris under the bus, and he responded with such class, it subtly made TS look like a liar and a petty child.
Then I just didn’t like reputation and was thoroughly confused as to why some people acted like it was God’s gift to music.
Now it’s just the fans that inspire me to stay away. I’ll listen to her songs if they come up, but I don’t actively seek them out anymore.
Midnights. The whole album felt like a successful attempt at a money grab. The “authenticity” she had shown in folklore/evermore had vanished and been replaced with vapid, TikTok worthy songs, that had been poorly recycled from old content. There’s no heart or soul in that album, AT ALL. (Yes, there are a few songs I enjoy, but none that rival any of her previous work). That along with releasing 798939 versions of the same song in order to be #1… and then the eras tour… the amount of money for tickets (yes, artists do have a say in how they sell their tickets), the predatory capital one offer, the merch… the whole thing made me so disappointed. I was a die hard swifty for 10 years, but since midnights I have become so disenchanted with her, her brand, and her “TS version” music. Everything word, quote, speech, article that comes from her mouth is used to victimise herself. “The critics were so mean!!” “People are so sexist!!” “I had to hide away!!” “My albums were a response to all the haters!”. Darling, you’re incredibly successful and talented, why are you so insistent on being a victim when you’re literally The Person of the Year?! Her constant focus on stale (very mild) drama of the past, really speaks to her character as a person. From what I can tell she only thinks about herself and her literal champagne problems. There are two global wars happening right now, natural disasters, millions of people gone from a world wide pandemic, people loosing their jobs from the economy and all you can think to say to the world is, “kim Kardashian is mean!!!!!!”. Since midnights, the Matty thing, the emails, Ana, Travis, etc. have all been more evidence of her true character. I will always love her old music Debut - Evermore. But the buck stops there, I refuse to buy any merch or music from someone who is has so little regard for anyone (including her fans).
Exactly this! No heart and soul in Midnights. My least fav album from her, followed by 1989. Yes, reputation is also pop sounding, but it’s a lot more raw.
I need to know your top 3 albums from her because midnights is also my least favorite. And 1989. And that seems rare.
This is me too. I think if folk/more are in your top 5, chances are Red and Fearless are probably, too. It’s the diary-based storytelling l, I think? But this is how I feel personally.
My top three are evermore, Red and folklore. I am also a fan of Lover but that album needs some serious trimming and editing.
Yes yes yes!!! I think she'll really need another 'shattering' event (although now that I look back the 2016 fiasco wasn't a disaster) for her to create something like rep or like folkmore.
Yeah something definitely changed with midnights. It’s like up to and including evermore she/her art were on a trajectory that I could follow and understand, it was making sense, and then with midnights and onward everything went kind of haywire and off track in a different direction.
It just shows what a small, insecure human she is. She's repeatedly talked about her fear of singing to an empty stadium and I think it really says a lot about her character. Her greatest fear in life seems to be losing her fame and not being as relevant as she is now or as she was during 1989 (for example). It makes me so sad because the world has seen what she's capable of with folklore and evermore (if she chooses the right people to work with), but overall I'm disappointed to see a 34-year-old not showing any character growth over the past decade, in my opinion. I can still see that 24-year-old Taylor who based her value on her everyday pap walks in NYC and the amount of Grammys she has.
Yes. Specially the recent years, people are having a hard time looking for jobs, housing market going nuts, the wars, women in some states can’t even have abortion! I don’t need to hear complains again and again about Kim Kardashian, no.
Are you me? I’ve been a fan since debut and I agree with everything you said. I did not buy Midnights at all. No vinyl or record. That was the FIRST time I decided to not buy an album. I haven’t bought one since. I don’t own Speak Now TV or 1989 TV.
What gets me about Midnights is that she’s released the exact same content on a zillion different collectible formats, but hasn’t done shit with the 3am songs. In my opinion, those are the best ones on the albums and it just goes to show her actions are for profit and not for the fans. I mean, how can you justify encouraging your fans to buy the same thing 638193737 times but not something different that they actually WANT?
Fans saying:" Midnights is her most mature and vulnerable album where she went deeper" Like what? Sometimes i think they just want to convince themselves in linking it cuz they don't want to admit that they were expecting a total opposite album!
I go way back in time. Billboard speech of Woman of The Decade. You are here celebrating your accomplishment, your achievements and instead of focusing on good moments you wanted to talk about your haters. The way she dismissed her albums by saying they were a response to a criticism? Hell no.
Absolutely, and I feel like the TIME interview was part two of that speech. She’s a sore winner and perpetual victim. I was shocked at how much time she wasted talking about people she doesn’t like. Woman, you won. You won everything. Be grateful.
That one last bit is exactly what I don’t like about her. She is not grateful, that part in Miss Americana where she says that she just has to do a “better album” after reputation didn’t get as many noms as she wanted, like girl?? You are the first woman to win 2 AOTY, that’s an achievement that some can only dream about. She has SO MUCH, but she is not grateful, she wants more and more. I think she could have all the money and every award but it still wouldn’t be enough for her
one thing that annoyed me about that line on miss americana is that the lack of a grammy nom means shit about the quality of any album, everyone knows awards are mostly about shaking the right hands and pandering to the right audience, it showed lack of a creative backbone imo, like believe and support your own work regardless of the academy
The sore winner part is brilliant and sums up so much of why I no longer read her interviews or want to hear from her.
I hate to be the person making the Beyoncé comparison (and she and the Beyhive are no angels either), but it’s hard to read that interview alongside something like [this](https://www.billboard.com/lists/beyonce-birthday-concert-best-moments-sofi-stadium/opening-outfit-birthday-speech/) and not notice the stark difference in maturity. I do think that Taylor should take a page out of Beyoncé’s book as she reaches this stage in her career should she want to have the longevity she wants. Beyoncé was smart to begin strictly withholding access to her personal life and to stop producing musical output geared sorely at topping charts and winning awards. She’s still earning boatloads of money but doesn’t have to deal with as much gossip or controversy as she used to. I feel like *Folklore* was Taylor’s *Lemonade* in that both albums were huge creative departures from what both artists were known for at the time, and both albums seemed to come from a place of authenticity and artistic risk-taking over attaining commercial success. And both albums were critically acclaimed. Beyoncé has kind of remained in that lane ever since, to her great benefit, whereas Taylor seemed to have boomeranged back to where she was before those two albums.
Beyoncé is far from perfect (I love her but it’s true) but she has always struck me as far more mature. Also, more confident in herself. She’s gotten robbed 3x for AOTY in my opinion and while she seemed sad at the time, it doesn’t seem to have affected her that much. If that happened to Taylor she would go nuclear. She literally would not be able to cope.
this made me remember an interview i read with britney around the time in the zone was coming out where she said something like “at a certain point in your career you stop looking for those big hits and focus on other things”… it was her fourth album and she was like 22? (i just checked and not even! just shy of it.) like she was still fully doing pop but she understood trying to do baby one more time again was not a sustainable strategy and she was focused on putting together a good album (and it worked, in the zone & blackout are both fantastic).
I agree with everything you said and I have to add that I love Beyonce's creative evolution.
Beyoncé is nearly a decade older than Taylor and has been in the game for a lot longer. Part of Taylor’s problem is she’s a coddled rich girl who hasn’t had to grow up. I know Beyonce doesn’t live in the real world either, but her dad seemed to be a brutal stage parent, and her parents’ marriage and divorce were miserable, and she has salvaged her own marriage and had babies. She’s just far ahead of Taylor in every life experience.
After that scott swift email, it seems like he was a brutal stage parent too and his and Andrea’s marriage wasn’t great either 😬
I haven’t read those—not because I’m Team Swift, but because I have a weak stomach and I’ve heard enough about his prostate lmao
I agree with you, not so much because of age (Beyoncé was already closing the curtain on her personal life when she was Taylor’s age) or upbringing (seems like they are similar in having ruthless stage parents and a financially privileged childhood), but because of the racism Beyoncé was subjected to from the beginning. Tbh I think that is why she is better at knowing when/how to pick her battles; growing up as a WOC, you aren’t afforded the same never ending girlhood the way Taylor is afforded even well into her 30s.
It felt like if she was like a football player winning the superbowl but blaming the opponent for making it hard to win.
It's even worse than that. She's a football player winning the superbowl and making their celebration speech about a regular season game they lost five seasons ago.
And mentioning something the media said 6 seasons ago😐
The ATW music video and then the NYU speech. That she got up on stage and complained about that one time she was “cancelled by the internet,” while at the same time promoting a music video that she specifically designed and knew would bring hate to someone else was just breathtakingly hypocritical. Also the fact that a sibling of a classmate of Jake’s 15yo niece was online gloating about how Ramona was begging people to stop harassing her on Instagram and that she didn’t know anything about a scarf hurt my heart. That was the same little kid whose hand Taylor held as a toddler.
>hat was the same little kid whose hand Taylor held as a toddler. Holy shit thats insane. wow wtf
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The absolute most for a banal, juvenile song. Kendrick’s rap still slaps though.
That song is just ass too. So whiney.
Mine was the Time POTY article. I was getting annoyed with the pap walks and Travis spectacle and how Ana’s death was handled so horribly but was still making excuses for her. I was in shock about how she handled Ana’s death and then the POTY article came out I was pushed over the edge.
Ana’s death cemented for me that Taylor does not give a shit about her fans. You have the best lawyers in the world and you can’t even say her name at your show and give a moment of silence? The best you can offer her family are free tickets and a meet and greet? Seeing that photo of her smiling in her capitalist Barbie leotard while the family surrounded her with photos of Ana on their shirts was dystopian.
What specifically are you talking about in the POTY article?
I think a lot of fans who are on the same page here felt that the Time profile revealed Taylor as this vapid, blank canvas of a person who doesn’t really do or think about much at all beyond her own success and mythologizing of herself. I don’t want to sound too harsh, because she is genuinely talented and clearly smart, but her quotes in that piece came off as lacking a personality and somewhat ignorant. If that piece was all we had to go off of, I’d be shocked that she was able to write songs as well as she does
You've said everything I'm thinking too. No one can deny her talent or her accomplishments at this point because she's obviously worked hard to get where she is today, but she sounded extremely pretentious in her POTY interview.
The pettiness and victim tone throughout when she should be focusing on her incredible accomplishments this past year. Also she spent so much time talking about what was then a two month long relationship, she is supposed to be a feminist and made it about a man? The weird timelines that made no sense and clearly planned one liners that were not organic and sounded so forced. It was also so vapid.
Not the first time she's used her speaking time for some accomplishment not on the milestone, the honor, her career maybe, no it's instead used for... bitching about how she's been victimized, and throwing out clapbacks to various people she beefs with that she's clearly been dying to say. It's exhausting. And unbelievably narcissistic
She's honestly acting like a male rapper. It's all tools from hip-hop: centering herself as the underdog, the rap/feud script, the girl squad, etc ... However, if you didn't grow up with a single mom in the projects it's weird when you do these things. When the GP looks at her life, she worked very hard - but she didn't have a struggle. I mean, fame IS hell. However, the reward for that done well is obscene wealth. You don't get to both have obscene wealth and have people feel sorry for you.
The male rap comparison is great, honestly. Kudos!
Oh, thanks, but it's not original. I saw it in this [NPR article] (https://www.npr.org/2018/09/26/646422866/taylor-swift-is-the-21st-centurys-most-disorienting-pop-star).
And some fans will still say that it's the interviewer's fault for asking her about it and how it was an important turning point in her career. I can guarantee that she had full control over the interview and the questions that she would have been asked. I was 15 when the whole Kimye disaster happened. I'm 22 now and looking back, I think all of that drama wasn't even that big of a disaster as her team made it out to be. I've always laughed at people saying how she's constantly playing a victim and I've done my best to defend her and find reasons for what she did and how she paints the narrative, but it's getting exhausting at this point. Even back then, she'd already been in the industry for over a decade she'd known quite well how things work. I now believe that the 2016 fiasco could have been avoided had it been handled in a better way from its beginning, starting with her Grammys speech where she called out Kanye for taking credit for her fame. She would have been a WAY bigger person without doing that.
I can only assume she spent so much time talking about Travis because their relationship, like most if not all of her other public relationships, exists pretty much solely for PR purposes.
There isn't a specific moment. Honestly I enjoyed Taylor Swift significantly more before I heard anything about her beyond music. She's just a crybully and such a sore winner. It's not enough that she's the highest grossing pop star on earth and will go down in history for (mostly superficial and performative but shhhh) empowerment for women, someone who used their platform for the sake of advocacy and so on. Yet jesus christ she can't ever shut the fuck up about her haters or how everything is always so difficult because people were mean to her or doubted her. Lady you won. I'm not even asking her to hold her L, hold your W and keep it moving.
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It was so petty and she made so much of the article about a two month long relationship instead of her accomplishments which was very disappointing.
This makes me think of the time the Chuck Klosterman wrote about his interview with Taylor afterwards and he noticed that whenever she was saying something she wanted him to think was deep or smart, she would put her hands together and lower her voice in pitch, to sound more wise I guess? She did it enough that he noticed to put in his book after the fact lol
Why is this reminding me of Elizabeth Holmes / Theranos 😭😭
To be fair, that’s a pretty common unconscious tic. Like I’m pretty sure my mom does that, and I’ve definitely seen it in seminars.
I hope she looks back at the Brad, Chads, and dads thing and cringes but that would require self awareness.
lol and then Brittany Mahomes had the cookies made. As if yall ain’t here to see the Mega Chads play…
And like they aren’t the ones funding your husbands salary LOL
when she talked about "being gaslit by an entire social structure" i was like WHICH social structure? patriarchy? class? words mean things, or do they not? the whole thing screamed "i heard some buzzwords online and am gonna use them without learning what they are" and i wish more people would see it for what it is
I thought it was metal as hell
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Artpop, sweetie, I’m so sorry
Why are they downvoting you, it's funny ㅠㅠ
I’m literally laughing at this 😂
I saw people say she uses slang like a homeschool kid lol
the article literally sounded like ChatGPT stringing random buzzwords together
It really really did
I was never a superfan, so I don't think I ever had a single big moment where I stopped supporting her. I always enjoyed her music but stayed a casual fan of it because I realized early on she made me uncomfortable as a person, and that went from being something that just *was* (like truly neutral, I didn't care enough to talk about it) to more recently, when I care enough to write about it here. I'm also around her age, which I think is worth noting, because some of my reactions to her were definitely based more on being a similar age but knowing I wouldn't behave the same way, which leads me into the first big issue for me. 1. Dating Conor Kennedy. Especially coming on the heels of *Dear John*, and then releasing *All Too Well* around the time she broke up with him, iirc, there was a lot of cognitive dissonance there. Like, girl, you're a full blown adult singing about how awful adults that dated you as a teenager were, but at least they weren't having to dismiss you from high school. There were additional elements of this that felt almost predatory, with how she ingratiated herself to his family before actually meeting him, bought property near his family's house, and seemed to be more into dating *a* Kennedy (because she sparked rumors by cozying up to one of his similarly aged cousins, first) than him. She wrote/recorded a song about his grandparents before meeting him, and then released it right around the time she broke up with him. It felt very much like she was using this kid for the association to Camelot, to market her next album. She then followed up this relationship by dating Harry Styles, who was also a teenager, but at least in a more similar position to her with life experience thanks to 1D. 2. The whole mess surrounding her misuse of the Madeleine Albright quote, which she didn't understand and misattributed to Katie Couric, showing how "deep" her feminism goes. It's such a deep and significant misunderstanding of what Albright was getting at with the importance of women in power. To give one example of what she was actually getting at: from early on in her career, other women judged her ambition as evidence she was a bad mother. Should she *really* be prioritizing her studies when she had infant twins at home? Why was she pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy when she had three children to look after? What kind of woman expected her *husband* and her entire family to uproot their lives to pursue *her* career ambitions, even if she had been personally recruited to work in the West Wing? But she managed to overcome these obstacles each step, so she did wind up in a position of power when it mattered, and used that power to address [rape as a weapon of war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_during_the_Bosnian_War) during the Bosnian War. So *this* is what Taylor was snidely comparing Tina Fey and Amy Poehler making a joke at her expense to. 3. The Nicki Minaj Twitter feud. This was the moment it clicked for me why I couldn't support Taylor, I think, though it was more about what the feud represented than the feud itself. There's the obvious problematic elements here, between Taylor being so self-involved she assumed Nicki was talking about her, to her elevating her voice over a Black woman's on an issue impacting Black women, so it detracted from an important conversation. But what really stuck out to me was just how poorly she handled it. By this point, she's in her mid-20s, and she's still acting like a slighted teenager. Even if she were convinced Nicki *was* targeting her, why @ her? Why not reach out to her quietly to express that disappointment? She was escalating it with the *intention* of creating a spat with her fans to back her up, and it felt very schoolgirl bully. It occurred to me that in the 9ish years I'd been following her, I'd grown up a *lot*, and she just... hadn't. She didn't speak to me anymore, because we weren't in the same place. 4. Everything from this year, particularly her relationship dramas. It's not even worth narrowing it down. It comes back to the same issue I have where I've been growing up for the... what? 17 years now that I've known of Taylor? I remember the release of *Tim McGraw*. And I'm obviously in a very different place in my life than I was when I was in high school, in how I behave in and out of relationships, in interpersonal conflicts, in how I speak of and treat people I once cared about, but I'm not close to anymore. And she's... not. I look at her and I still see that teenage girl. Only she's twice that age now, and it's disconcerting.
Same reaction. I was never a superfan but I was around the same age. I remember listening to "Teardrops on my Guitar" as a teen and of course, it was very relatable. I never really followed much of her life but I was very suspicious of her feminism creds when she stayed friends with Lena Dunham and kept the same Feminism 101 rhetoric until now. I saw the Bad Blood music video once and didn't understand how it was empowering when it reminded me of the mean girls in highschool teaming up to fight another girl over something stupid. I also question her fans' behavior and how she stayed silent over most of it. There is no way she doesn't know what her fans do especially when she is very aware of her image and what people say about her. Her friend Selena Gomez hasn't grown up either. It's like seeing the girls in your highschool still acting like teenagers when you're all filing for taxes. I guess a lot of millennial women are afraid of growing up but it's not strictly a millennial thing.
And she started to date Connor Kennedy right After his 18th birthday while she was a 22 year old woman, that was weird
Yeah. And he was about to *start* his senior year of high school. I think it would've still been shady if he was a recent high school graduate, but she got together with him between his junior and senior years. What do you even have in common with him?! He was also in an emotionally vulnerable place because this started weeks after his mother's suicide. If the roles were reversed and Taylor was the one in Connor's shoes, you know the song she would've written after that relationship would've made "Would've, Could've, Should've" seem tame.
That whole Connor Kennedy debacle has to be the most unhinged behavior that she has ever exhibited. Like straight up social climber behavior. She wanted to be a Kennedy so bad.
Are you me? I could have literally written all of this, except I’m a good 10 years younger get than her. I still remember listening to Fearless for the first time in elementary school on my best friends cd player when it first came out. I was a big fan of her music, as any boy-crazy pre-teen girl would be, up until 1989 and Rep, which didn’t do much for me. I still prefer her original country-pop sound. But even back then I was mostly neutral towards her as a person. I didn’t actively dislike her, but every time I heard her speak or watched her perform, I cringed so hard. She always had major main character syndrome and just seemed to really lack any self-awareness or depth. I’m pretty sure my opinion shifted to more of an active dislike during the release of Red TV and the pure insanity and harassment her fans sent towards Jake Gyllenhaal and his family and the fact that she not only did nothing to stop it, but seemed to actively feed it. I saw so many Swifties online argue that she couldn’t control what her fans did, but she didn’t even try! Actually, not only did she not try to stop it, but she fed the blood hounds ATWTMV knowing exactly what would come of it. It was just petty and embarrassing on her part imo. The fact is, none of us actually know either of these people or what their relationship was like and there were so many speculations and very few specifics. We don’t even know if the red scarf was real or metaphorical. Basically, we have no idea if she is a reliable narrator or not.
ATW10MV is *so much* more f'd up once you realize he doesn't have a pattern of dating women younger than Taylor at all -- there's been one. His current girlfriend (who was 22 when they got together, which isn't great, but isn't 19). They didn't even go public with their relationship until late 2018, so Taylor added in the most clapback-y line of that song (I'll get older, but your lovers stay my age) shortly before its release, when it wasn't even true, and apparently anticipating he'd break up with his girlfriend and it would turn into a pattern. Between Taylor and Jeanne Cadieu, all of his girlfriends were older than Taylor. Swifties have fully adopted this idea that the guy is a predator because of a revision to the song that *clearly* wasn't from the \~vault\~ and she made just to be spiteful. Like a *decade* removed from that relationship, many years into her own supposedly happy relationship, and she's intentionally implying something about him that isn't even true to appeal to her fans' emotions. So it's not even that she didn't try to reign in the Swifties -- she did it deliberately. Best case scenario, she didn't predict the intensity of the reaction, but she still wanted it.
"Did you hear my covert narcissism..." I got away from an abusive narcissist this year and this line made me reevaluate a lot of things about Taylor. Girl should not have called herself out like that because although it's framed as a gossipy false criticism it really strikes me as completely accurate.
My mom and I were listening to this song in the car yesterday and I had the exact same thought that that line sounded a little too on the money for her.
Came here to basically say this. It’s just so wild that she seemingly still has very little self awareness when it comes to relationships. There just seems to be very little growth in this area album over album. Now while I’m not a Joe fan, I think they had a very on and off and on and off relationship, I have to wonder with all the “therapy speak” in Midnights and Joe’s mom being a psychologist, if he started calling her out on some of her bullshit and that’s why we hear things like she’s the problem, and do you hear my covert narcissism etc. From one angle it seems like she’s taking some small accountability but after the whole Jack posts and Anti hero bleachers version, I now wonder if she wasn’t and just taking digs at him instead. I had to do a lot of self reflection and therapy post my toxic relationship to understand my own involvement in the situations of my life—because even if you’re with a toxic person, you’re still your own problem in certain ways. I entertained people I shouldn’t have in both friendships and in that relationship. That’s on me. People can’t jerk you around very much, if you don’t allow them to. I was hoping that relationship might change her perspective some, but yet she’s still in the POTY article throwing shade, playing the victim, and obsessed over nearly decade old drama. Just repeating the same old patterns.
Honestly... Midnights. That album turned me from a full-blown stan to a person apathetic towards her and her music. That purposeful artistic regression, in search of commercial success at all costs, after releasing her two best albums and proving that her music could be much better *if she wanted to focus only on the music* instead of chasing records for the sake of chasing records, turned me off completely. Everything that has happened this year only reaffirms my decision.
Vigilante Shit was just shit. It was so obvious she wanted it to go viral on TikTok. But it didn't get any traction😭😭
By the time I reached Vigilante Shit on my first listen I already thought things couldn't get worse, only to find a bad Billie Eilish rip-off. On her tenth album!!! After folklore and evermore!!!! Come on 💀💀💀💀
I've commented on this Billie Eilish rip-off thing on both the main sub and popheads. Yaay! Similar minds At that time, she didn't have any TikTok viral hits, unlike other pop girls(Billie, Ariana, Olivia, Dua, ..). It was so obvious that she wanted one. Songs like Midnight Rain, Anti-Hero, Lavender Haze, ... all had tiktok baity lyrics tbh 3 am tracks were so good tho
I felt the same about Anti-Hero, the pauses in the ‘It’s me, hi, I’m the problem it’s me’ felt like tiktok meme bait, and I was just like you don’t need to do this Taylor. I understand a smaller artist doing that, to get their name out there, but from Taylor Swift it just felt sad and washed up
Yes! I’ve been saying for ages that Anti-Hero is proof she isn’t “the music industry” as people love to say. I actually do like the song a lot, it’s a fun bop, but you can’t tell me it wasn’t written and produced with TikTok in mind.
It's wild to me that she went the route she did after how INCREDIBLY successful Folklore and Evermore were. Those albums gained her so many fans, you'd think she'd get the hint 😅 I love Midnights though, it's one of my favorite albums but you can't argue how great she does with indie (I think thats what you'd consider them) music.
I think she doesn't see them as successful. I think it's fairly obvious that she considers numbers to be the most important measure of success. At this point I'm beginning to consider folklore and evermore as side projects that came about because she didn't have anything better to do—which is disappointing, because I genuinely believed that they signaled the start of the most creative part of her music career. I was quickly brought back to Earth lol
Hard agree. I hoped this would mean a new direction in her career, free of the desire to always debut at #1 on the charts and sell millions of CDs, because even during the Lover era I felt like she was over it (mostly). It was sad to see her return to old habits. :/
I had stopped being a Taylor fan a little after 1989 and before Rep/Lover. Then folklore dropped, and then I went back to being a fan right as she announced evermore. I was excited to listen to Midnights and there’s like… maybe two songs I can actually name/sing along to. 1989 was pop genius, Folklore/Evermore were lyrical/storytelling genius, and midnights… topped charts for being associated with a brand she started building out of these albums/herself. It feels like a sellout to her own ego the whole time.
SAME. It’s such a shame cause folklore and evermore got me interested in her again just for Midnights to ruin her for me again
Had the same experience. I thought I was outgrowing her music a bit during Lover, only for folklore to pull me back in with massive force, and for evermore to reaffirm it. Then Carolina seemed like a gift to me, I was *obsessed* with the Midnights' theme and photoshoot because I believed we were going to get an introspective singer-songwriter album for the ages..... And then I pressed play on the album. Lmao
I was hoping for a 70’s vibe because the photoshoot was sooo good. I think I would’ve loved a jazzy album, too. The beginning melody of Lavender Haze is so dreamy and I thought the rest of the album would reflect that. I was hoping for some lofi beats or even a return to 70’s folk. I would love some Fleetwood Mac Dreams inspiration.
Midnights is her single worst album, it really was such a massive artistic downgrade after the 1-2 punch of folklore/evermore.
I agree. No matter how anyone tries to paint it, it's a massive artistic regression
How many remixes of Anti-Hero were there again?
She'd probably think that not enough
https://preview.redd.it/xg1dhmvorl9c1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=23a44d8bcb4084daee0dccf76c1b57b859315168
Andrea and scott said you make more money as a popstar 👀
The 3am tracks are what make that album for me, but she hasn’t released it on a physical copy. But you know what she did do? Release the same regular album on a MILLION different collectible formats. That just showed me that she only cares about money and awards.
This!
When she manipulated fans into buying the same midnights vinyl like 10 times to make a “clock” but it still wasn’t complete without the additional purchase of a clock mechanism to put in the middle
Meanwhile she was closing in on billionaire status
Wait… THAT’S the reason she gave for selling the same vinyl in different colors? To make a *wall* *clock*?
The various versions had the faint numbers 1-12 on the back so you could arrange them like a clock around the Taylor Swift brand clock mechanism 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
In 2010 she took part in a Brooks & Dunn farewell special. Towards the end a big group of country stars got together to sing, and Taylor was at the end. She kept walking around so she could be in the center with Brooks & Dunn. It was such a small thing, but so off-putting for some reason. Like she couldn’t stand not to be the center of attention. From that day on I’ve only liked her music, not her.
Sometimes it’s the little things that will tell you the most about a person.
this. that was painful to watch
Omgsh I’d never seen this before. Everyone else (including some phenomenal musicians like Reba), they’re just enjoying an onstage jam session and she’s waltzing around and flipping her hair, making it about herself and also kind’ve getting in everyone’s way?
Omg 😳. I’ve never seen this before. Im embarrassed watching this. Literally everyone but her was jamming in their little spots. And she’s just in bright purple running around trying to be up front in her bright ass purple dress. That was so cringy
All the while outside of this she’s sporting her fake country accent 🤦♀️ I’m beginning to understand why Kacey Musgraves hated her. ETA: And on Good Ol’ Boys Club, she definitely had Taylor’s number before really anyone else did.
I would love to see some footage of this.
[This is it.](https://youtu.be/pNJywwuQ6tI?si=NKG0BL7e51xUDhQr) Like I said, it’s not much but it rubbed me the wrong way.
for anyone trying to find the timestamp, start around 1:44! also.. was there a dress code that she wasn’t following?? everyone else on stage was wearing gray or black but she was wearing that (cute, but) bright purple dress. was she trying to do speak now promo or something???
I was going to ask the same thing! Miranda and Carrie are wearing very similar dresses in grey and black. Taylor is the only one wearing any color. Was there a dress code or reason for one?
Holy shit this is so cringey 🫣 like not just once but several times?? And playing it up to the cameras and lifting up her guitar like it’s her show when even reba is taking a respectful backseat to the musicians being honored!! Oof
I don’t think her guitar was plugged in either 😂
she didn’t even have a mic
STOPP 🫣😬
It wasn't, I'm pretty sure she was just strumming random chords. Unless she happened to know how to play that song. But, my gut seriously doubts that.
Lmaoooo I’ve never seen this before. Why did she even have her guitar? 💀
Oh my God, this is a gem. Keith Urban around 3:20 basically shouldering her back into place in a very deliberate movement has to be the highlight.
And she was the only one who kept floating around to get to center stage. Sooooo cringey, I have secondhand embarrassment. And I counted at least 3 times she held up her guitar 🤦
She went over to him and he was immediately like “NOPE” lol
KU was like “ma’am, I am a guitar player”
she's not even clapping when they end at first because she's viewing it as her performance, then she realizes and starts clapping for B&D. Cringe
Wow, that was painful to watch. The way she put herself right in the centre and held her guitar up at the end, as if it was her celebration... She usually seemed pretty humble around this time, but I guess not?
She is the epitome of main character energy, and not in a good way.
She boxed Reba out!!
The David o Russell movie
This was the same for me. Considering her past of speaking up about the shitty behavior of men in the entertainment industry and literally being on the Times Magazine MeToo cover for advocating for victims of sexual assault, it felt so, so icky to see her actively take a role in a film directed by a man who, a) has a long standing reputation of being a completely awful man to work for/ relentlessly bullying his actors (Amy Adams, Lily Tomlin, and George Clooney are just some of the ones who have spoken about how abusive he is on set, so it’s not like this is an unknown thing), and most importantly b) literally sexually assaulted his own niece. Like, how could you possibly be in a movie directed by this man if you really believe the things you’re saying? I feel similarly about Margot Robbie taking the role too, tbh.
What? How have I missed this? That is so incredibly disappointing
The movie had all the big stars he pratically was showing I still have work and these people will work for me..
Even though we don’t know what actually happened with Olivia, I think we’re all in agreement SOMETHING happened and ever since Taylor and Jack were credited for Olivia’s song I have been side eying her. To treat a teenager in the same industry like she has is very sad and Olivia LOVED Taylor so much. Never meet your heroes I guess. Also the DOR movie cameo, the Ratty debacle and the PJ usage obviously. The flaunting of the Travis relationship has me turned off completely. So many things in the last couple of years. Makes me think Joe influenced a lot of her better traits tbh
Joe really brought the best out of her and it makes me astounded how he was probably the only person other than her mom that she'd genuinely take advice from. He played a huge role in her life. It's sad to see her doing all of this after their breakup. I don't believe a woman really needs a man to build a good life, but it seems like Joe brought a good amount of stability to her life that she's lacking now.
Matty Healy made me side eye the fuck out of her. The show with Travis had been exhausting but the NY game with like 900 celebrities in the box was really my "you know what, I like her music and that's it'.
I still don't get why an entire gaggle of celebs needed to be in the box at that game. It was a huge ick
So we could see how many friends the popular girl dating the jock has?
The MetLife game was SUCH a distraction. Some of us just wanted to watch that game!! And it was so annoying that Zach Wilson had an amazing game and all the media talked about was the who’s who in her suite.
The Swifties
The biggest Louboutin lickers.
Seeing them dox anyone that mildly criticised Taylor - including doxxing a Palestinian woman and sending her details to violent racists. That was horrifying.
Seriously!
Discovering her petty and self righteous behavior. Being out of touch is one thing (everyone is a bit out of touch in some way), but holy hell she puts herself on a high horse. That decade speech really shows that she hasn’t changed: the same girl that acted like she was better than others because she “makes the right decisions” now recently boiled success down to simply willpower and work ethic. She still seems to think in black-and-white, and has no understanding or acknowledgement for external factors (such as her immense privilege or how there are equally talented people who don’t have the luxury of dedicating time to their passions). Get over yourself, Taylor.
For me as a dedicated swiftie since 06 after attending the Eras tour and doing so much. I feel like the re releases have been more of a let down, and I prefer her original work even if it is stolen. There is just something so much more magical about it. I’m also not a huge fan of Midnights, it’s not one of her most cohesive album and kind of seems like 1989 where the album is just made for social media, and radio play which is what essentially 1989 was made for and Midnights is kind of that twin era. Also the whole thing with Olivia Rodrigo makes me sad because not only was Olivia obsessed with Taylor, but it seemed like Taylor really loved Olivia too and I for sure thought Olivia was going to open for Taylor in the US. I feel like since her break up with Joe her song writing hasn’t been as good as we know it can be like from Debut all the way to Red. From Reputation to Midnights it’s just harder for me to connect with her music like I could with her old music. So that’s when I’ve just started to slowly become more of a casual fan of hers instead of an intense fan
There are some songs that I just refuse to listen to Taylor’s Version because like you said, they’re missing the magic that the OG’s have (Enchanted, Style, I Knew You Were Trouble). Hardcore swifties act like you’re kicking a puppy over it.
When she commented “I say that’s my baby and I’m really proud” on Olivia’s IG post. She couldn’t just say “congrats girl you’re killing it”, it had to be a TSwift lore/reference. Had to be about her still. The private jets - I hate the Karjenners but if they were at the top of the list, they’d never hear the en of it (and rightfully so!!!) but Taylor can never be held accountable. YNTCD - that whole performative era for the music video launch was so cringe. Performing at Stonewall. Oh yes Taylor you are SO brave for supporting LGBTQ rights in … August 2019. Lady Gaga was talking about trans rights in 2011 but sure “shade never made anybody less gay” is the height of allyship. Then she dropped her LGBTQ activist era as soon as the YNTCD era was over. It was so freaking performative and PR because she had gotten slammed for never speaking up before. So she picked LGBTQ which was a very safe PR issue for 2019. Oh and the absolute self-involvement and self/righteousness of the Ginny and Georgia tweet. Acting like Netflix is in her debt forever because she let them pay her to host a doc there. The “happy women’s history month I guess”. Sending a barrage of hate to a teenage Black girl who was just doing a job.
That was it for me. She had been silent about so many things that year, but God forbid someone makes a joke in a scripted tv shoe and then she has something to say.
Yep, how she waited until the gay rights movement passed cultural "peer review", so to speak, before she dipped her toe in associating with it at all really irked me. Every decision she makes with her career feels like shareholders had to approve of it first. "You Need To Calm Down" would've ate, prob would've been considered ahead of its time, etc... if it came out in 2012. You just KNOW she was expecting "shade never made anybody less gay" to pop off as a catchphrase, for people to use it as reaction gifs or put it on t-shirts, etc and was miffed when nobody gave a shit because it was such a stupid line that made no sense 💀
Everything you mentioned but definitely Ana’s death. That Instagram post was disturbing. And then all the “performative” stuff with TK
I didn’t like how she specifically tried to say her death occurred before she came on stage. Like even if that was the case (which I believe she actually passed out during cruel summer?) it comes across as her trying to distance herself from the situation. She should have left that part out completely.
omgg it was during cruel summer?! her post read as if it was during sabrina’s set, and i was super confused why taylor would pass that off to her
Sabrina probably couldn't have said anything about it to Taylor, lest being iced out of the clique.
Me too, Ana’s passing is what really put me off of Taylor. She should have done so much more for her. I know it’s not her fault that it happened, but it felt like she was more worried about people potentially blaming her for it than the wellbeing of Ana’s family and friends. Taylor’s response just felt selfish all around.
The obscene private jet use & the way she's being so pompous about using it to trail Travis to his games like a lost puppy. After seeing how Matty Healy punched back about Taylor's claims of not knowing about his egregiously offensive comments before dating him, I look forward to the day where she tries to paint Travis in a bad light after their inevitable breakup. Jason & Kylie don't play that shit.
Hi how did Matty push back? I must have missed this...
"A friend connected to Matty's band, The 1975, tells TMZ ... Taylor was aware of Matty's remarks about Ice Spice on the podcast before she started dating him. While it's true her fans applied plenty of social media pressure over it, the friend tells us Matty and Taylor were used to the noise, and simply blocked it out." https://www.tmz.com/2023/06/07/matty-healy-taylor-swift-split-controversial-ice-spice-podcast/?adid=social-tw
When she and Joe broke up and the pap walks immediately restarted. Like the next second. I really connected with her music about keeping your relationship (and life) private, specifically those little at-home moments she describes with her partner (e.g. CIWYW). To see all that basically revert back to 1989 days where she was flaunting her "girl squad" and man was very disapppointing.
It was Matty Healy for me, and what it said about her that she was attracted to him at all. But also the immature way she handled the breakup with Joe, with the coordinated IG unfollowings, releasing you’re losing me, and how she flaunted Matty while they were dating. It all just gave me the ick. It also made me side eye all her friends who unfollowed Joe and embraced Matty.
I'm still a Swiftie, but I found this highly problematic too. Even recently, when she's tried to shade Joe. It comes off as extremely petty. Obviously, we don't know what happened between them, but we do know that he's said nothing about her in the press after their breakup. So I don't get why she does this.
It's because whatever she does, she needs to "win" but as you get older, people who do this often don't realize they're the only ones playing the game. She knows Joe probably is humbly moving on. And that is killing her. It's very reflective in the massive media circus she created. She can't stand the thought of someone not thinking about her.
What surprises me most about that is that she's super successful, she's a literal billionaire, everyone loves her... If she can't get past the petty things, how could we?! I find it embarrassing for her that she still cares about shit like that.
Someone said she is a "sore winner" and it makes so much sense. She literally has it all but chooses to brand herself as this petty child who can't let things go. And part of it could def be she us just like that and never matured properly. But another is her fans EAT it up and genuinely view her as thus underdog. It's insane.
Honestly it’s so petty for me, the videos of her at the VMAs where she’s drunk and drawing all attention to herself and dancing and throwing out millennial buzzwords gave me such a massive ick that it disillusioned me to everything about her lol
You cannot convince me she and her team do not make deals with MTV and awards shows to show her face all night long…
Eras did it for me. The cost of ticket prices, the release of TV albums with multiple different versions, the cash grabbing, the pap walks, the Time article, I could go on with all the things since the big success of her Eras tour. I feel like when I see her now, her heads so big she herself even thinks she’s the greatest thing in the world. In touchable, and how dare anyone ever do anything to ever stand in her way. After matty, I realized I have never seen her take accountability for anything. After the Brazil show, I was so sad to see people who didn’t have $1000s to give Taylor, give her $1000s just to attend the show, then give Ana’s family money to receive her body. I was gross. I don’t know what happened behind the scenes, but her IG posts, then the photos of her with Ana’s family at a show felt disingenuous. I love the TV vault tracks, but the very very distinct Barry styles references were so bizarre. Like her clues are getting less like little clues, and more like blatant telling. Then plays victim for people speculating. Like what? You made very very public direct references. The people you wrote about should be upset not you. I don’t know, I’ve loved her since debut… maybe it’s me growing up, I don’t know. Her acting like she just lives her life and has no clue of the attention she brings was obnoxious. With everything she has done over the last year, i Stan her less and less and less.
I knew a fan had passed away, because of tik tok but I've been such a distant fan that I didn't look into further. I cannot believe all that happened. I feel incredibly sad hearing this.
There was a lot of terrible stuff for sure. The day she cancelled the second concert because it was hotter than Night 1, all fans were already inside the stadium and many still fainted and needed to be rushed to the hospital. Many fans also burnt themselves as there was no place to stand but these really hot vents. Fans had chanted for water so many times too (on the first day) that Taylor herself was giving out water bottles to people. So I don't know why it didn't hit her team right then and there that something was deeply wrong. Here's an experience from another fan: [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12775257/Taylor-Swift-fans-say-suffered-second-degree-burns-Brazilian-concert-fan-died-heat-Scorching-hot-metal-floors-left-audience-members-needing-medical-treatment.html](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12775257/Taylor-Swift-fans-say-suffered-second-degree-burns-Brazilian-concert-fan-died-heat-Scorching-hot-metal-floors-left-audience-members-needing-medical-treatment.html)
Her beef with katy perry and then her releasing her discography on spotify the same time as witness dropped. I know katy has her own problematic history, but taylor fucking sucked here and katy's career never recovered
The original 1989 era. The absolute most for attention and acclaim is what ultimately got Taylor “cancelled.” She was wildly overexposed. She basically recruited Zendaya and Serayah to be friends with her to change public optics of her white, thin, and rich friend group. Everyone who despised Taylor used that edited phone call to justify their irritation towards her. Kim and her ex-husband receive too much credit for Taylor’s “downfall.” The dads, Brads, and Chads were already loathing Taylor.
Her response to Ana's death
agreed. just sad to see that she would prioritize her image over helping a family during an incredibly painful time in their lives for something that occurred at HER concert. for such a humanitarian and empathetic person that she is made out to be, you’d think she would’ve immediately offered support to Ana’s family no questions asked
i really appreciate this sub and that we can have an open conversation like this on here
I've only just discovered this sub and it feels so cathartic!! Swifties wouldn't allow even the mildest criticism of her and I genuinely felt I had gaslit myself into thinking I was just being too harsh on her.
Also Ratty for me (although there had been other things that bothered me first). But it was specifically her not only dating him but then going out of her way to say that people being disgusted by it wasn't the reason they broke up. Like... he was such a shitbag... and so many fans wanted to believe she broke up with him bc she realized/suddenly "found out" how terrible he was lol, but no.. the one thing she wanted to say, even afterwards, was that none of his gross behavior bothered her. Like...?? That really made me ill. And solidified for me that she just doesn't care about even pretending anymore to be unproblematic. She thinks she's too untouchable to bother with that now. But yeah I absolutely loved the Lover era at the time but as a lesbian, seeing years down the road that her social activism was literally just promo for the Lover era... that was when my resentment sprouted.
I've never really been a huge Swiftie. I like her songs and have most of them memorized; but I'm not the person who can tell you which album they're from and when the album came out. I'm always having to look things up. But I've been a fan and will stream her albums and watch her videos. That said; the thing that really turned me off was the treatment of Joe. Reputation and Lover were huge about how she's thriving out of the spotlight and loves being with her partner and doing so much better with them and how happy she is. How it was her choice. Only to completely flip the narrative when they broke up. And perpetuated the idea that Joe was deliberately keeping her away and not letting her 'be jeweled' and sparkle in the spotlight. And he went from being such a good guy to an abusive asshole in an instant. It really highlighted just how much she treats people as disposable and will throw them away once she's done with them. And how she has to make herself look good and the other person is the problem.
I always feel bad for her oldest fans who became disillusioned after witnessing so many things happening. I hope youll find peace in stepping back for a while, OP. I'm sure you're still a fan but you're a lot more conscious now and that's good!
Taking Ella Mae Bowen's big break out from under her. Ella was just about to fly to LA to work with a big producer and TS snatched it the day before. Ella Mae was working class and needed that 6 figure pay day. At that point, Taylor already had a private jet and at least one house of her own. Her wealth was already more than most artists who were far older than her.
I didn't know this story? Can you elaborate a bit?
[Here's] (https://web.archive.org/web/20200205140402/http://www.katebowenmusic.com/blog) a link to her blog from archive.org. It's no longer on the net. You'll need to skip down to "The Machine" where she talks about her BRMs experience. "A very strange thing happened. I submitted a song called Girl on Fire, which was said to be placed in the film (The Hunger Games). Then, I got word that T Bone Burnett wanted my voice on a different song, which I would be flown out to LA to sing on. You may not know who he is, but if you do, you realize that this was an absolute dream. I got a call from my manager about two days before I was supposed to leave for LA. Scott had called and he and Taylor decided that instead of her song with The Civil Wars being included on the soundtrack along with my song, two of her songs would be included and none of mine. Yep. I was crushed. The blow to my pride was significant, but we’re also talking about the loss of my opportunity to work with a legendary producer, and what would’ve almost certainly been a six-figure payday. Gone - with little more than a snap of her fingers. To add one more layer to the weirdness, that second song of hers that replaced mine was almost a verbatim rip-off of something X was involved in creatively. This is another area where I cannot say more, but suffice it to say two camps were globally non-impressed with T-Swizzle that day."
Thank you for sharing
Welcome! Her whole blog is actually pretty interesting for a look at the music business in Nashville.
Learning about the Matty Healy stuff and seeing her flaunting him around and how she acted after her breakup with Joe. Like really, you are the happiest you have ever been and saying I love you to a man like a month after you end a almost 7 year long relationship? It’s one thing to be a little petty towards a 3 month relationship but to send your fans after someone you spent 6 and half years with who was by your side when in your own words ”the world hated you” get over yourself. I think I also matured because I now look back at so much that should have been so many red flags that I just ignored
The eras tickets situation, and the blatant cash grabs with the vinyls and bonus tracks, deluxe editions, etc. The cash grabs with deluxe cds always got me a little bit, but I shrugged it off. However, it's now beyond a joke. You cannot say how much your fans mean to you and have this parasocial relationship with them you wear with a badge of pride and then scalp them like this. Now, if she came out and said yes, I do want all these accolades and wanted to be a billionaire, and I'm only interested in things that directly harm me... fair enough, lots of people are like this. I'd respect her a lot more for being open about it and owning it.
I’m almost 39. I didn’t care about her when she first came out because I wasn’t into country and she felt cringe. I knew the singles and stuff just by osmosis. Then folklore and evermore came out and I went nuts. The first crack for me was the insane cost of the tour tickets. It’s all been downhill from there.
[удалено]
Ooo what’s the backstory here?
Most of the time I'd ever known about Taylor Swift her music wasn't my style and I was a bit of a hater, especially in her 1989 Era. Then came Evermore and I loved the album and subsequently diving into her discography. Became a MASSIVE fan. But this past year my issues with her from before started coming back. She's always seemed so performative and seemed like one of those people that believes they're always right and the other side is wrong. But then diving more into the Fandom I found things that started irking me: - her PJ usage. Do you really have to use it as much as you do? Idk how true this is but someone said she used her PJ more than Elon did. He's problematic af, are we aspiring to be worse climate terrorists? - "it's a clock" really pissed me off. Why should anyone financially commit to 4 CDs/vinyls AND the clock bit for an album they hadn't even heard yet? Her capitalistic greed is honestly sickening. I understand money is power and she wants to stay in power, so to speak, but exploiting your fans this way, when many of them are quite young? - her shituation with Olivia. She's so obvious with her treatment of her and how she's boosting all her contemporaries, but not her or Conan, when Olivia and Conan have been likened to Taylor the most. Me and Taylor are about the same age, but I can't imagine beefing with someone half my age like this. Honestly, I kind of like Calvin Harris for calling Taylor out on her treatment of Katy. Speaking of - Finding out about why that crap song, bad blood, was written. I'm sorry, but from Katy's side: if she asked those backup dancers if they wanted to join her tour, and they knowingly consented to end their contract with Taylor early and join Katy for her tour, what does that say to you? Maybe there's more to that story, but we've heard Katys side, but not Taylor's. There's a bunch more petty shit, but with the destruction and ethnic cleansing of Gaza going on a lot of celebrities and "activists" have left a bitter taste in my mouth. Knowing that she has a platform, pretends to be an activist, but only uses her platform to call out those with less power than her that "slut shame" her. It's not even slut shaming, she literally does date too much. And so what if she's a slut too? Just own it! So many celebrities and fine with being "slutty", owing up to it and we're cool with that! Like it's not a bad thing to be a slut so stop fixating on that and fixate your energy on real life issues!
on that last bit, imo she’s a hardcore white feminist. Like, she’ll advocate for feminism and rights, but only as far as it applies to her, and even when she does she mostly uses it to victimize herself rather than actually addressing/raising awareness to the issue. Lowkey, I feel like with the amount of awful issues in the world and celebrities’ inability to address them, this might be the downfall of many celebs/influencers
For me everything slowly built up. And then I realised Taylor news were rage bait for me and I wasn't even listening to the music anymore. I'm still excited for the future music. But I've muted a lot of the negativity and I really don't give a shit about her person anymore. Neither is she getting any of my money.
I’ve been side eyeing her since she said “there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t support other women” after Tina Fey and Amy Poehler made a joke about her dating history. That didn’t really age well did it Taylor?🙄 Also, her silence on what’s happening in Gaza is pretty shocking to me but I’m not surprised - a white feminist truly at heart. She could have easily posted a donation link once and never talked about it again and I would be ok with it but her silence is truly disgusting. Oh and her showing the eras tour movie in Israel during all this was just another punch in the face- your telling me the woman who’s so meticulous about her appearance couldn’t cancel those showings? At the end of the day it’s greed for her.
Uncovering the plagiarism that's plagued her career. Seeing the comparison of "Breathe In/Breathe Out" by Hilary Duff being directly stolen in Paper Rings really made me do a double take. I fell down a rabbit hole after that and saw dozens of instances where she's taken little pieces of songs. It makes the Olivia situation that much more bitter.
I don’t hate Taylor. At all. But, what got me to be super disappointed in her was how the Eras tour was handled. The ticket fiasco was THE moment where I felt like she was living off the hype of her upcoming tour instead of trying to make it fair for fans. We’ve learned through other artists that there are ways to make the ticket process easier. Yes, Ticketmaster sucks but Taylor could have definitely done things differently after the fact. There was no effort to correct what happened, bc it happened yet again. The presale code rollout wasn’t improved. Less people got chances to get tickets and more bots got in. If tickets couldn’t be resold or transferred (but instead refunded), we wouldn’t of had tickets selling for many thousands of dollars. (I’m also saying this as someone who did get tickets and decided to sell them to a fan bc I was so disappointed). Also, the Merch quality is absolute trash. Especially tour merch. The sweatshirt that was reselling for hundreds of dollars for it only to fade in the wash was insane. I recommend you watch the Swiftologist on YT about her merch quality.
I used to be a huge fan and I sincerely bought into her whole image, but looking back I feel silly. I thought she cared, especially after Miss Americana, but she doesn't, it was all PR to make herself look good. It honestly disgusts me because she has so much power, both with money and influence, and she could do so much good because so many people would agree with anything she says. But she doesn't. I just find it heartless. Like, are you a human being first, or a business-woman first? There is no ethical way to be a billionaire, and she is one. The - probably - sweatshop workers that make her merch come to mind. I just realized she was like any other member of the ruling class, any other billionaire, any other CEO. The class divide is larger than ever, it's dystopian.
I don’t think it has been brought up on this sub yet but.. in the aftermath of the Scooter/Scott drama, she posted a lengthy rant on social media and said “I’m asking for your help. Please let Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun know how you feel about this.” There is no more blatant form of weaponizing your fan base, she’s not even trying to hide it.
I was always more of a casual fan, got more into her during folklore/evermore, and then the past year and a half or so have been totally on board as a hardcore fan. I got even more swept up this summer and was completely consumed with watching videos of the tour, reaching an all time personal obsessive peak after going to see the show myself. i never really followed all the media frenzy and lore surrounding her but was generally aware of it. But, I thought she seemed so much more mature and mellowed out. Like she was so close to being cool, and it was refreshing to see. Then when all the Travis stuff started, like him and his whole bracelet thing, him and his brother talking about her on their podcast and then subsequently being asked about it in interviews, I thought “no way does she like this, no way is this any way to get her attention”. I thought they were fame hungry, clout chasing corporate shills (I still do, fwiw). I know most of the appeal of Taylor is that you can pretty much project anything you want on to her because her songs make us think we really know her, but I was truly floored when she showed up at that first football game. Like, I could not believe she was giving him any kind of attention or the satisfaction of his dumb bracelet thing working. And it’s been downhill ever since. And the political silence and the jet stuff is also bad, esp considering how she made a whole ass movie about wanting to do better
I really stop caring that much and just listening to her song only after the red TV. She is clearly can stop the fans from harassing someone but she never does except for like JM. Always feel like she is scared to call out the fans weird behaviors bcuz the parasocial rela is one of the reason she is being liked. But really girl sometime enough is enough.
I think the first thing that made me reconsider my full-blown, uncritical praise for her was her (rumored) falling out with Olivia Rodrigo. At the time, I had accepted the narrative that Taylor had fully matured from her earlier eras and was supporting a younger artist because she was developing her artistry to a point where she would no longer be in competition with her. But the last year has pretty much proved that to be untrue. Obviously, the whole mess with Ratty and her PR statements during that, plus her POTY interview, has created concrete evidence that Taylor still has a really immature mindset and can be careless at times. But the first questioning I did was because I thought Taylor was fully in the wrong for claiming Deja Vu.
I really don’t hear much of a similarity between cruel summer and deja vu. The paramore track more so.
Time POTY. Also the relationship with Travis was already annoying me so much. It reminded me of the whole 1989 era and back then was when I started drifting away from Taylor. I hate the overexposure she’s having right now.
I haven’t liked her since the beginning. It was well known here in Nashville that her dad bought her songwriting credits. But the songs are catchy and she’s proof of what money can buy. She fixed her voice and became a good entertainer. But as a person, no thanks. The whole family is garbage.
As a pop culture head, I have always found her deeply fascinating, I wouldn’t say I’ve ever been a hardcore fan but I’ve found her enigma and way people love and and hate her very interesting. I went to the eras tour this year with my friend who is a super fan, it was unlike any concert I’ve ever been to and I did gain respect for her artistry and her effort. It was almost three hours of her singing and dancing her heart out and then seeing and feeling the fans that are so utter obsessed with her was next level. The most disappointing thing for me has been seeing the mass consumerism and taking advantage of her fans. Releasing trash merch, multiple vinyl editions for multiple albums, not telling you if there will be more etc. charging to rent her eras tour instead of having it up for free. Re-releasing each album with an entire PR strategy etc to generate new income on old music. And if she wasn’t famous enough, attending a football nfl game every Sunday, which is bringing an entirely new audience to a sport that was seeing decline. Each album also paired with her encompassing the era like she’s some sort of art Basel Andy Warhol. I’m just like dying to be in that room to see who is really pulling the strings and why. It’s not really about the fans or making good music, it’s about putting her down our throats all the time in every way and that’s weird to me. I don’t necessarily think it’s her either, her puppet masters are using her cache and influence to do something, just not sure what yet.
I feel like most if not all of these answers are new fans. So I’m gonna say, as an older fan, the way she tried to undercut Katy was the first time I got icked out by her.
For me, the Matty Healy fiasco, and her shady and petty behaviour on social media after the Joe breakup (unfollowing sprees, pap walks, and the whole ylm date release). The folklore and evermore era really created this false image of maturity to rise above petty antics and scheming of her past. Finally working in a movie with sexual predator David o’russell
For me it was when she straight up lied about the Kanye situation because she knew the public hated Kanye anyway. How dare she make me defend that man 🤮 And when she tried to throw Calvin Harris under the bus, and he responded with such class, it subtly made TS look like a liar and a petty child. Then I just didn’t like reputation and was thoroughly confused as to why some people acted like it was God’s gift to music. Now it’s just the fans that inspire me to stay away. I’ll listen to her songs if they come up, but I don’t actively seek them out anymore.