TAYLOR SWIFT (Makes Even More History)

We are definitely SWIFTIES on this account. We love Taylor Swift’s music and her image — and we are so happy to report that her latest CD “The Tortured Poets Department” sold some 1.6 million copies… in a single day! (*Billboard). 700,000 of those were actually vinyl sales!

And next week, the album will become Swift’s 14th #1 album — making her the only female artist in music history to score 14 #1s on the album chart.

The Beatles, with 19 #1 albums, hold the world record for hit albums.

But Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” is already breaking all of Taylor Swift’s own past sales records (which were pretty impressive to begin with) and now seems poised to make her a serious contender to the Fab 4’s record from the 1960's.

“Considering that she’s earned seven №1 albums in the last four years — not counting TTPD! — it certainly seems like she could catch up to The Beatles in a few years,” Keith Caulfield, managing director of charts & data operations at Billboard, told CNN in an email on Monday.

We’ve been listening to the CD non-stop, and though there’s no earth-shattering growth or changes to her music, there’s a ton of great songs on this CD and the music videos are the one area where we do see big growth from Taylor as she’s definitely tired of the world seeing her as some Barbie doll of bubble gum Pop with no edge!

Taylor Swift absolutely does have an edge!

The lead video “Fortnight” (featuring Post Malone as her leading mean) is directed by Taylor Swift herself. It is shot by one of the greatest cinematographers in film history — Rodrigo Prieto — who has long been Martin Scorcese’s favorite shutterbug.

“Fortnight” is hands down one of Taylor’s most creative and arresting music videos. It works not only as a film — but as a vehicle for Swift to highlight the long history of women being forcibly treated for mental illnesses they don’t have. We see her at the beginning in a mental institution — then as an overworked/under-appreciated secretary — and finally we see her being given electro-shock therapy.

Taylor says of the video:

“When I was writing the ‘Fortnight’ music video, I wanted to show you the worlds I saw in my head that served as the backdrop for making this music,” Swift wrote on social media. “Pretty much everything in it is a metaphor or a reference to one corner of the album or another. For me, this video turned out to be the perfect visual representation of this record and the stories I tell in it.”

Many people are saying that Swift’s new CD would be the ideal replacement for therapy. It’s that psychologically acute! And what much of the public doesn’t understand about “Swifties” is that our interest in Taylor has a lot to do with her Psychology of Life takes — her fearlessness in looking at the thread lines and shadows of this terrain called life and reflecting back to us that gratitude, understanding and the power of response are the proof that resistance is never futile.

Taylor Swift’s message and music celebrates the ‘winner’ in all of us. It encourages us to choose love, not bitterness, and to be that winner by also being a giver!

There are 31 songs on the new album — so I’m not going to try and single out what I feel are the best (everyone will have their favorites and their duds). There’s quite a few great songs here.

My personal favorite is “Clara Bow.” (*For those who don’t know — Clara Bow was Hollywood’s first major sex symbol, a box-office superstar of silent films known as the “IT” girl.) The song brilliantly expresses how so many people (especially men) don’t really ‘see’ women as people but as caricatures based on other more famous women or as archetypes that fit social Patriarchal standards.

Pictured: Clara Bow

Of course there is the infamous Kim Kardashian diss track (“thanK you aIMee”). Their feud has been going for quite a long time.

For those who don’t know — Kardashian (as Kanye’s wife and a ‘wannabe Black so bad’ type chick) used to bully Taylor Swift. Kardashian tried to publicly discredit and humiliate Taylor amongst her considerable fan base.

As a feminist — I haven’t been too keen to join in cheering it.

But as a “Skinny White Girl” — something that Taylor and so many of us are constantly derided for and written off as ‘fluff’ for — I quite enjoyed hearing Taylor Swift give a nice middle finger to all those spicier people out there in the ether who despise and disparage us for no other reason than we are …skinny White girls.

Shit gets old. And we White girls and Swifties are tired of it. We are tired of BEYONCE fans trying to goad us into a fight for no reason.

Taylor Swift and Beyonce are friends — not enemies. They are two women who are both setting this world on fire with their fierce talents and there is room for us to love and celebrate both female artists.

The ridiculous comparisons and the attempts to pit Taylor and Bey against each other (especially on racial grounds) needs to stop. We love both. We support both. We don’t have any reason whatsoever to put down and dislike either one.

Finally — the cultural impact of Taylor Swift is undeniable at this point. She has become the subject of academic studies at colleges and universities not just in the United States — but also Europe and Asia.

In the words of rapper Drake, Taylor Swift really is “one bad ass bony White girl.”

This latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department”, is yet another new frontier — yet another beginning for what has already been a remarkable and vibrant cultural music DOMINATION in that the music and the message is actually for everyone. Go Taylor Go!

NOTE: This story originally appeared on my Medium page HERZ magaZine.