![]() With 2012’s Red, Swift increasingly made her very public love life part of her musical mythology, through songs like “We Are Never (Ever) Getting Back Together,” and “I Knew You Were Trouble,” which played into public speculation about her relationships with Jake Gyllenhaal and Harry Styles. I was raised by parents who brought me up to think if you work as hard as guys, you can go far in life.” When asked point-blank whether she was a feminist, her answer to the Daily Beast was most revealing about her desire not to appear divisive: “I don’t really think about things as guys versus girls. Critics started pointing out the limited nature of her songwriting, and specifically the gendered conservatism of her songs - with lyrics about white horses and Prince Charmings - as well as what many people interpreted as slut-shaming. And indeed, with irresistible pop songs like “Love Story,” and “You Belong With Me,” Swift played up her agency, asserting her point of view as a young woman.Īs she transitioned from the country stardom of her self-titled debut album, questions began to arise about Swift’s cultural politics. “When someone breaks up with me, I like to write about it, because I feel like I have the last word,” she told one journalist in 2009. Both she and the press, through her early career, emphasized her songwriting as a kind of women’s empowerment. Swift’s first public tussles with any kind of politics were about her feminism. And it’s also a very specific kind of damage control for a multimillion-dollar brand that must retain relevancy in a changing pop landscape where you ignore politics at your peril. Swift’s current coming-out - in a social media post, rather than in a song or a performance - is part of her long history of being forced to grapple with the implicit politics of her persona and music. After Trump’s election, which made questions about race and gender front and center in cultural conversation, Swift’s silence seemed to be turning her into an inadvertent alt-right poster girl, and her inability to situate herself in the cultural conversation carried into the release of her latest album, Reputation. But after her 2016 feud with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, Swift was called out on the way that supposed empowerment was actually dependent on a long history of white feminine victimhood, and she got locked into that narrative. As Swift transitioned from tween country princess to full-fledged, mainstream pop queen, she made her narrative about the kind of blandly universal women’s empowerment that nobody could disagree with. As one dissatisfied Fox News talking head put it, “This is what I used to love about Taylor Swift, is she stayed away from politics - she was all about music all about, you know, female empowerment.”Īnd this is true. Unsurprisingly, it has also prompted a conservative backlash (as well as President Trump making it known that he “like Taylor's music about 25% less now”). It has already inspired everything from thinkpieces about whether she can mobilize young voters to jokes juxtaposing woke Taylor with MAGA hat–wearing Kanye West. Given Swift’s famous reticence on electoral politics, the statement has been taken as her big coming-out moment. ![]() “I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love.” “I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country,” she wrote. ![]() ![]() In the statement ( posted on Instagram), Swift made the post about values rather than partisanship. Right before you go to post something, click the "Advanced Settings" option and then enable "Turn Off Commenting.On Sunday night, Taylor Swift announced her intention to cast her vote for the Democratic candidates for the House and the Senate in Tennessee. If you want to give Swift's advice a try, disabling comments on your Instagram photos is simple. "I think it’s healthy for your self-esteem to need less internet praise to appease it, especially when three comments down you could unwittingly see someone telling you that you look like a weasel that got hit by a truck and stitched back together by a drunk taxidermist. I’m also blocking out anyone who might feel the need to tell me to 'go die in a hole ho' while I’m having my coffee at nine in the morning," she wrote. "I’m showing my friends and fans updates on my life, but I’m training my brain to not need the validation of someone telling me that I look □□□. 'I think it’s healthy for your self-esteem to need less internet praise to appease it.' The singer went on to explain that while disabling comments might seem like a small action, it has a profound effect on her mental health. Taylor Swift graces the cover of Elle UK with powerful essay about pop music
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