Sixty-four percent of global consumers listen to pop music, making it the most popular genre in a 2018 study, according to Amstat News, a monthly magazine from the American Statistical Association. With over half of the world enjoying pop music, it only makes sense that many people have listened to the so-called “Queen of Pop”, Taylor Swift. Making quite the splash in the music community with her newest album, she has been accused of being a white woman feminist, a micro-aggressive strategist, and a dog whistle-blower clout chaser. But could it be possible that she simply wrote what she felt without the intent of hurting minorities? How hurtful could talking about her fiancé’s “wood” be to the underrepresented population?
“Taylor Swift’s new album is many things: Good is not one of them. The problem is Taylor Swift is aging out of being a white girl,” Said sotfogsotfog, a political commentator, on TikTok. In a 6-minute video, a deep dive analysis of her new album claimed that this album was her attempt to be seen as a now scandalized, risqué woman. With the claim that she is aging out of being a white girl, this video amassed over 1.4 million likes and a growing total of 7.5 million views. I can’t help but ask the question: Does every album introduced by a popular artist have to be some sort of political message? Perhaps a money grab? Or at least an attempt to rebrand? The answer is no.
The album, consisting of 12 songs and a total play time of 41 minutes and 40 seconds, has songs featuring references to her new fiancé’s “hard facilities” and promoting the idea of her new, happy life with NFL star Travis Kelce. The album itself doesn’t seem to be different from her other music. It has some pop-centric beats, guitar melodies, and poetic lyrics (at least in a few of the songs).
The album is nothing amazing. When the announcement was released, many people got their hopes up for a Pamela Anderson in The Last Showgirl vibe, and were disappointed when an artist who has released strikingly similar albums for the last 3 drops didn’t step into a full brass and percussion orchestra. I am not a huge Swiftie. In fact, I don’t prefer her music. I find it to be bland and simply cannot get behind the idea of beige melodies with lengthy, unrelated lyrics. In my opinion, she should have just released a poetry book. However, these opinions don’t equate to me finding her newest drop to be the cultural slap in the face to minority people that people are claiming it is. With Swift becoming a billionaire in 2023, it appears that the woke TikTokers view everything she does as harmful.
I struggle to get on the hate train because when other successful women, such as Oprah Winfrey (who became a self-made billionaire in 2003), simply exist in their wealth, no one has a problem with it. Taylor Swift is not blowing her nose in people’s faces with a dollar bill; she is simply a woman with money. People have been especially harsh with their hate because she came from money, but we must think critically. Many people’s favorite artists are not the rags-to-riches story that many people love to support. Lana Del Rey came from wealth, as did Billie Eilish, Clairo, Rihanna, Beyoncé, Ariana Grande, and many more. The truth is, the people with money are the ones most likely to be noticed. Because of wealth, they have more opportunities to have connections, and have money to spend on things like EPs and singles, the thing that is to be many artists’ starting point.
“I think that Taylor Swift’s new album is a case study in narcissism and a total collapse in empathy, pathological self-involvement, and perpetual self-victimization,” said istherightword on TikTok, a commentator on TikTok who spends many videos “breaking down” and “criticizing” Taylor’s music. I don’t care for her music, but the self-proclaimed feminists and leftists are taking too much time away from things that actually matter to tear down a woman doing her job.
Even if the album wasn’t done well, the backlash reflects a much deeper issue that social media is promoting, that everything nowadays is a dog whistle, a microaggression, and a dig or attempt to hurt a marginalized community. The fact is, ten years ago, before social media was as much of a cultural force, people were able to speak more freely and live their lives without the fear of something being recorded, posted, and leading to them getting canceled or hated on. Since COVID, people have gotten bored and zeroed in on things that don’t matter nearly as much as they hope it does. Cancel culture does nothing, and typically, creators can have their platforms once more after even three months of public shaming.
Because of social media, people have become too obsessed with people’s “wrongdoings.” Canceling someone doesn’t last. It doesn’t change anything someone has done, and although there are absolutely things that should be done when it comes to extreme actions, as far as an album goes, bad writing and tasteless tunes are not the offense they are being made out to be.
Taylor Swift’s new album is not a political statement or an artistic breakthrough, not a hidden anti-feminist tune roll that promotes white women on top or cultural reflection; it’s simply bland.