We need to talk about Taylor Swift

It is becoming downright exhausting to not be a Taylor Swift fan today. Generally, when you don’t like some thing or is not in your interest you just avoid it. It’s incredibly hard to avoid Taylor Swift and her obsessive fan base. Turn on the TV and you will be met with television commercials, even Saturday Night Live can’t go an episode without mentioning her. Who she dates becomes headline news, even though there are wars going on. No, I’m not saying you can only care about one thing, but why do we have a have to make someone’s love life national news? America especially is obsessed with celebrity culture but I don’t think in my entire life I’ve seen this level of celebrity obsession. The only other person I can think of that remotely touches the fixations is the late Princess Diana, and those two are on completely levels of humanity.

Now, I will admit there was a brief period of time where I drank the Kool-Aid, pretty much around the 1989 album original release. I enjoyed some of her songs at the time and even tried to enjoy Diet Coke. I tried to immerse myself and her fan base, but found it difficult to connect with a group of people who refused to find fault in someone. Now, I’m not saying everyone should look at everyone else negatively, but I also think it’s a little weird to never assume someone is ever in the wrong. I wasn’t a fan for very long because it wasn’t hard for me to realize that she wasn’t as great as her fans wanted others to perceive her. In 2015, she took Nicki Minaj calling out MTV personally, but Nicki was making a valid point. Her Anaconda video was iconic to say the least, it was everywhere, discussed often and mimicked regularly. Given that, she was furious she wasn’t nominated and states that if her video featured basic skinny girls or different themes it would have been nominated. Of course, Swift took it personally and in her white feminist glory said, well maybe one of the men took your spot. She could have said nothing, she could have said something in support of Nicki in spite of, or even with leverage of, her own white privilege if she really needed to say anything. Either way, the situation rubbed me the wrong way and I had to stop and look at this artist I was following like a lemming. However, when I tried to speak to anyone about her in any way that wasn’t praise, I was met with absolute disdain. My loved ones were often so quick to criticize me for just about anything, but god forbid I tried to call out anything Taylor Swift did. I was always met with statements like “You’re just being mean!” or “It wasn’t that serious.” I remember one time being weirded out by her dating 17 & 18 year olds and a friend told me it was perfectly normal in her circles and I needed to not be weirded out by it. It was definitely bizarre to be told what I’m allowed to be uncomfortable with, and it made me realize her fans really have no desire to ever hold her accountable. It’s strange to me to see , but, I guess to each their own. However if it is to each their own, why can’t people be allowed to dislike Taylor Swift?

I’ve had other friends who just don’t vibe with or listen to her music, she’s simply not on their radar only to have people around them say they’ll get them into her one way or another. As if people don’t have different music tastes. Not everyone listens to Elvis and no one has a problem with it. No one yells at anyone for not listening to Tina Turner either and Tina Turner was and is someone worth raving about. We’re all allowed to have different tastes, except when it comes to Taylor Swift apparently. I’ve even seen comments to artists I do listen to and follow on socials, begging them to please listen to Taylor if they don’t already. I just don’t get it. Why force someone to like something instead of letting them genuinely and organically enjoy it? And if they don’t, let it be. Some of her fans have turned to downright bullying other people. I myself witnessed Swifites bullying autistic folks on twitter for discussing rampant ableism in her fandom. I myself have been harassed on my tiktok for merely saying I didn't listen to her, I will not repeat the words and phrases thrown at me but it wouldn't be hard to figure out.

It’s also baffling to me that Taylor Swift is able to be the Disney corporation of human beings with seemingly no judgement. Everything boils down to money. She knows her fans will buy it, so she’s going to sell it. Different colored paper in CDs means buying 6 versions of the same thing. I can understand buying a couple different versions of a pressed vinyl but… CDs? Eaten up like candy for her hungry consumers. Even her movie was priced more than the average ticket, even seniors and child. There were also NO discounts allowed, and again, her fans gladly paid extra money to see her concert on the big screen, and of course had to get the matching cup & bucket. Of course there was her whole Ticketmaster debacle, where all the blame seemed to fall on Ticketmaster as she also pointed the finger at them, never taking the blame for her fans needing to spend ridiculous amounts of money on her merchandise in order to increase their chances of getting into one of her shows. Swifties fought Ticketmaster and won in some cases, showcasing their power. But Taylor couldn’t utilize this power when people really needed to see it. If she told her fans that registering to vote got them access to special merch or concert footage, registration would increase. If she told them to protest Trump—or God forbid white supremcists—for an exclusive song, we’d see them en masse fighting for change. Imagine if she asked her fans to donate gifts for the holidays for a chance at concert tickets, post offices would be flooded with people sending out toys. Her impact is all personal profit in the end, it’s all about how much money she made and her fans just don’t seem to care. They’re eager to get what they can from her, because the more you have when it comes to her fandom, the “better” fan you are. The more money you spend, the more likely you are to have access to a small sliver of her.

Call me mean, call me a hater, call me whatever you want, I’m just being honest. One thing though? Stop calling Taylor Swift perfect, because she’s not.