Canadian tennis pro Eugenie “Genie” Bouchard is seen by many as one of the future stars of the game. She’s got “the look” of a tennis star – she’s blonde, adorable and bouncy, and she gives off a puppy-ish energy that is definitely endearing. She’s currently ranked 40th in the world, but many expect her to really step up to the plate in the coming years. And like so many youngsters (Genie is just 22 years old), she’s very in tune to pop culture. I mean, so is Serena Williams, but Genie is still so young, she’ll talk on the record about celebrity gossip in the middle of her press conferences. Case in point: Genie was playing the Citi Open this week in DC, and at her press conference on Wednesday, she was asked about the ongoing Kimye-Taylor Swift controversy. Genie has previously professed her love of all things Taylor Swift, and has even met Swift backstage at one of Swift’s concerts last year. But Genie is tired of Swifty’s perpetual-victim shtick. Oh, Genie! I heart you. Start around the 5:55-minute mark.
A tennis star with a HUGE backhand directed at Taylor Swift — says she’s sick of the singer always portraying herself as the victim … just like she’s doing in the Kanye West feud. The tennis star is 22-year-old Eugenie Bouchard — who’s a huge pop culture fan — and was asked about the Taylor vs. Kanye situation after she was knocked out of the Citi Open this week.
“This is probably the hardest question all day,” she said. “I love Taylor Swift and I went to her concert and I love her songs and everything, but I feel like sometimes she portrays herself as the victim a lot and she did this time around, and that she said she wasn’t aware of that specific line. The B.I.T.C.H line. But she heard the other line about having sex so, I’m like really, what’s the huge difference? You approved the thing where Kanye said he’d have sex with you, but you didn’t hear the time he said b****? Come on. It’s all the same thing for me. I think she just way overreacted. I think she just tried to get attention by saying she didn’t approve of that. But it’s the celeb world, and it’s just entertaining. It entertains me when I’m on my own in D.C.”
Dear Taylor Swift: when your core audience – white women in their teens and 20s – turns on you, it’s time to pack it up and go silent for a few months. No more emails to TMZ. No more implicit racism to People Magazine. No more words. Just drop it, take some time off, get a massage, go for a run and regroup. I mean, half of the #Taymerica squad won’t even publicly defend her!! And now her high-profile fans are saying that Tay is just acting like a thirsty liar with the Poor Innocent Blonde Child act.
Best. Night. Of. My. Life. @taylorswift13 pic.twitter.com/Vu1g67r3JK
— Genie Bouchard (@geniebouchard) July 8, 2015
Photos courtesy of Genie’s Twitter, WENN.
You’ve got an image problem when something about you has turned from general gossip for the fandom and anti-fandom into received wisdom/universally understood fact for people in entirely different fields.
Yes. She should go dark for a while and write some music or get other people to write some music and pretend she wrote some music, or whatever it is pop stars do when they’re not originating gossip.
Mm ‘rumour’ has it that Ed Sheeran ghost writes her songs for her. Now if that were true and that came out it would go so seriously tits up, Pete Tong, Kaput to the point of dark forever. Either way, LEGS needs to leg it.
I don’t buy for a second that Ed Sheeran writes her songs for her. I don’t like her much as a person at this point (though I like some of her music), and I’m definitely Team Kim over Team Taylor all day every day. That said, I think she’s as real as Joni Mitchell in terms of being a songwriter. It’s crappy that people have to start rumors about how a woman’s talents aren’t really her own but are in fact the work of some dude. I’ll drag Taylor for many things but this isn’t one of them.
If anyone is in a position of being able to provide receipts, I’ll change my tune. Until then, I’m not giving Permanently Friendzoned Ed any credit.
My general impression is that none of them – pop stars generally of either gender – actually sit in darkened rooms and come up with songs that are all their own work. It’s hand-holding from actual musicians and lyricists all the way. But then, I am also a cynical old bag and know little about pop, so I might just be being crusty about it.
Either way, if tennis players are now giving interviews in which your fake victim status is taken not as one side of a celebrity spat but as a generally understood and obvious fact, you’re not winning, are you?
Please, let’s not take it from Taylor that she is one of the most successful songwriters at the moment. She does not need a man to write her songs for her.
I was making a point – and a possibly ignorant one, I concede – about pop stars generally. Nothing to do with gender. AT ALL.
I think most of them (male and female) get help with their songwriting. Not every single one of them, but a lot. I remember reading an article about the process in The Guardian. I vaguely remember thinking that the people that had the responsibility of helping the big singers out with their lyrics and music had cool jobs — you get to be creative while also retaining your anonymity.
I honestly think she writes them – or at least the main bulk of them. I wouldn’t be surprised if she brings people in to tweak stuff, or help make it catchier- that kind of thing. But I do think she – and plenty others do the heavy lifting on their own music.
That said – there are also a TON of ‘artists’ out there that can’t write, or play an instrument, and who have super auto-tuned voices that have songs given to them to use. I think there are plenty of people who have hit it lucky with a decent or at least marketable voice, and the right look, and that’s all it took. But I don’t believe that all musicians have someone writing their music either. I think that largely depends on genre, and the band/artist themselves. The amount of work they put in, varies. Some people are there getting writing credits for tossing in a line or two. Others benefit from a line or two done by writers.
I don’t think Ed ghost writes her songs. There is a term “third for a word” in the songwriting field, but that’s generally whispered about Bey.
Liz Rose was a co-writer on Taylor’s early hits. It is often written that she served more pf an editor to shape the songs. See also, Nathan Chapman. This was written about him on the blog SavingCountryMusic back in 2013
“Nathan Chapman is a session musician, songwriter, and record producer. If you wanted to point to one individual behind the sonic success of Taylor Swift, it would be him. The first record Chapman ever produced was Taylor Swift’s first, self-titled release in 2006. Swift picked Chapman because he produced her first demos when Swift was only 14. He believed in her when nobody else did. Since then Chapman has been the primary producer on every one of Swift’s albums. He also plays much of the music that makes it onto Taylor Swift records: drums, acoustic and electric guitars, piano and keyboards and synthesizers. Nathan has won 2 Grammy’s, a CMA, and ACM Award as Taylor’s producer, and been nominated for several more. If you hear a Taylor Swift song, you’re hearing just as much of Nathan Chapman as you are Taylor Swift….except to when it comes to Taylor’s last album Red.”
Slate had a great article on this controversy. Basically everyone assumes that every woman that has a co-writer doesn’t write their work but if a male has a co-writer its just termed a collaboration. I’m pretty sure Taylor is writing her songs. Bjork who is a much more talented and pioneering artist says she faces the same criticism so I do believe it’s an across the board stereotype.
I think she writes most of her own songs but then again I don’t think she is as gifted a songwriter as lauded. She’s decent, bordering on very juvenile, but not the second coming.
I believe she writes her songs, mainly because they’re so terrible (i.e “shake it off”, “out of the woods” sung 100 times in a row, “he’s so tall and handsome as hell”).
I don’t question that she writes her songs; I question why she’s considered to be a prodigy of some kind when it comes to music.
I think it’s similar to Beyonce where she works with a team to write the songs. There was an article about it somewhere a while back, but I can’t find it.
The conversation about pop artists writing songs is interesting to me. I like metal, and those bands would get laughed at if they *didn’t* write their own songs.
I don’t know about this Ed guy, but Taylor does have help writing her songs. If I remember right Adele even spoke to that fact not to long ago.
Didn’t she write this latest album with Max Martin the Swedish producer/songwriter to all the big pop stars Britney, Justin, all the boy bands? He is the real hit factory and has written dozens of pop radio hits.
I remember hearing this because I was so put off by it since well he writes for everybody! There’s nothing special or personal about it. Just guaranteed pop hits and that what Taylor wanted I guess. I really liked her early country flavor so I was disappointed.
I believe for zero seconds that Taylor’s songs are ghost written
She has been playing the wrong type of mean game but her work is her own
She leaves me cold BUT my girls love her and I think she has talent for a certain type of audience
You say that as if it should be something for Ed to be proud of.
Hate to defend Taylor but I don’t see anyone else but her writing those girl in love and mean girl lyrics. Especially not a guy.
I doubt Ed Sheeren writes her songs, she does work with a multitude of song writers as do all pop artists, every single one of them writes with other topliners. And let me just say a giant NOPE to the Joni Mitchell comparison. Nope.
Don’t compare Taylor to Joni Mitchell. She’s not in any way close to Joni.
I don’t know if she writes the music, but she definitely writes the lyrics. Just read them (or not, there are better ways of spending your life I know), they’re g-damn awful. Teenagers word their diary entries better.
Oh you know she writes her own music, all that teenage drama, rainbows and unicorns can’t be written by a serious adult!
She’s the real version of Samantha James without the violence
It’s very hard to transition from teeny bop pop star to a more lasting career. I personally doubt she has the ability to buckle down and come up with a solid wagon, as Dippit puts it. She seems too ego-driven and lacking enough humility to do that successfully.
It’s going to be interesting to see where she is within just three years, let alone five or ten.
I believe she truly writes most of her music, given she was prolific at writing from a young age. I actually think she got her start as a songwriter in Nashville first, if I remember correctly?
I think her best move would be to avoid writing about this drama in her next album. I know it’ll draw a lot of attention, so it’ll be mighty tempting. But I’d really respect if she avoided it all together and went in a different direction with her writing. She’s at a crossroads right now in her career. Now is the time to go in a more mature direction.
her first deal in Nashville was as a songwriter. This is common practice for singers who can write songs because it gets them connected. They have songwriting sessions in Nashville where there are brainstorming sessions that lead to songs. I wouldn’t be surprised if Taylor participated in those when she was younger to network, and picked up some more tricks of the trade.
She might not write epic songs in the same way that Joni Mitchell, Kris Kristofferson and Leonard Cohen write, but she is really good at writing songs that are catchy to a large enough segment of the music purchasing population to maker her a hit maker and allow people to forget how much they disliker/don’t love her. It’s a different kind of talent, and one that fits our culture right now.
She is able to change her public image – she spent months doing the NY sidewalk fashion show for months a few years ago to transition from country girl to pop star. I hope she does it again, and this time uses Tom and time to grow up.
@Ohdear “…and this time uses Tom and time to grow up.” I COMPLETELY agree. The stars are pretty much aligned for her to make this transition, if she so chooses (and she 100% should, or she’s going to have a real problem sustaining herself). She can turn this negative into a positive if she plays her cards right, and while this whole debacle was clearly a huge misstep in which she flew a bit too close to the sun and got burned, she generally plays the game excellently and with ease. She also is on break, which gives her all the time she wants/needs to regroup and make a “comeback,” so to speak (even though she never went anywhere, but that’s how the media will paint it).
Really, if you think about it…if Tom is indeed “the one,” she could get engaged/married during her downtime. That would be the perfect way to transition into a more image—a married woman rather than a vengeful teenybopper.
@ohdear: I also think that during those early days of workshopping, she may have have absorbed (subconsciously or not) how to craft a lyric to hook a demographic – in this case, a young female fan base. The underdog really works with young kids, especially girls. Then it slowly morphed into the victim role that is coming back on her so hard. But that underdog/victim served her well in the early days. She was pure teflon for a long time – even when her “unreliable” singing was questioned from 2008-2010 (as she was winning VOCALIST of the YEAR awards at the CMAs) , Scott Borchetta, her label manager @ Big Machine Records actually used the “maybe they’re just jealous” defense in the print media.
Narcissist don’t have it in them to mature, they merely alter the level of self-regarding, typically upwards, with advancing years. This is especially true of those who find some success in life and are, by virtue of that, surrounded by vested interests and ‘YES’ people reluctant (or scared) to burst the ego-bubble.
It’s clear TS lacks the depth or capability to consider herself in the wrong or in any way flawed in anything. No contract boyfriend/fiance/husband deployed in timely fashion for damage limitation will ever alter her basic incapacity to reflect on herself and develop (mature) as a person. She may try for some of the trappings of ‘maturity’ but doesn’t have the character wherewithal to sustain it in actual essence.
There’s a reason the vast majority of her fans are young children/tweens/special snowflake teens/arrested development twenties – her music appeals to such cohort mainly because of it basic lacking in depth and maturity. She might be a big most manufactured and curated artist du jour, but there’s little to indicate (unless written for by others) she has the capacity to continue as a developing artist beyond this point. She doesn’t even want to acknowledge someone else taught her guitar fgs.
When the wheels fall off such an ego, that ego doesn’t get off the wagon and fix the shafts and axle; that ego blames the horses and orders up an exact replica of the faulty wobbly-wheeled wagon with different horses pulling it. The journey is all the bumpier.
@Dippit. Well said. While I like to believe someone is capable of self-actualization, in this case, it’s gonna take all the king’s horses, all the king’s men, and all the therapists in the kingdom to make that happen,.
Lol someone needs a PR person. She’s really pretty though!
Lmao right? I hope she’s obscure enough and doesn’t pop up on a hardcore Swifties’ radar.
Genie listen girl. One Canadian to another stick to tennis and not tabloid crap.
her response is so nicely Canadian though! “I really like her, I’ve seen her in concert, sometimes portrays herself as a victim a lot.” But yeah, I hope she learns to say no comment to those questions!
But so unCanadian towards her opponents… she refuses to say good luck before a match because she said she didn’t want them to have good luck. Say what now? Nobody means it, child!! But I suppose it’s that honesty that has her giving Swift some deserved shade so…
@Feebee – that’s not cool : (
I don’t follow tennis closely, just the headlines if they come up. Why can’t it be cool to be gracious again? le sigh.
Good answer and I think a great reflection of what a lot of people think. Like, yeah her concerts are fun, and her songs are fun but DAYUM, her Schtick is getting old.
Also, as we’ve all noted, the real problem for all of us seems to be the clearance of a married man saying he might still have sex with her? Ewwww. I mean, at that point I would have been all, gee Kanye thanks so much for the consideration, but please don’t ever sing we might still have sex. Ever. Never ever.
Even if she couldn’t muster it in the actual phone call because she was put on the spot, she could have contacted him the next day and said, I’ve been thinking about it and it’s just not a great idea.
I like this girl though, she’s an eager little beaver and simply adorable. I wish her luck at her sport.
I don’t think it was a good answer though. This is what she said:
“she said she wasn’t aware of that specific line. The B.I.T.C.H line. But she heard the other line about having sex so, I’m like really, what’s the huge difference? You approved the thing where Kanye said he’d have sex with you, but you didn’t hear the time he said b****?”
I’m sorry but why does anyone think they have the right to decide this for Taylor? Maybe the insertion of the words “that bitch” turned something that could have been funny and tongue in cheek to her into something she heard as mean spirited and deeply disrespectful. And WHY are we all acting like it’s NOT misogynistic to call women bitches? Just because it’s common place doesn’t mean it’s right or defensible! If this scandal is good for anything, maybe it should be for calling a moratorium on referring to women as “bitches,” “whores,” or “hos.”
I don’t think it’s a “decision” we make for her, but more the actual facts that we know of this gossip.
She knew about the song, she said it was cool. She gave him permission to use his creative voice and then also said he didn’t even have to call her and tell her. She said she would laugh about it at the Grammys. That is all recorded.
The moment it dropped she attacked that she “cautioned him not to release it blah blah misogyny”. The Grammys come and another pointed statement about the fame part.
Ummm…??
Also, you can’t pick and choose misogyny. Kanye is and always will be misogynstic in his rap, and maybe personal life. Remember when he said you could be my black Kate Moss tonight? If Taylor was indeed upset about the misogyny, it would have started and ended with the sex part, because that is misogyny in its purest form.
The word bitch, being called one, as annoying, disrespectful as it is, it’s commonplace and just doesn’t carry the same weight. It simply doesn’t.
But that’s not really what she’s upset about, if you go over Kaisers write ups. She’s backpedaled a few times before settling on the word bitch as the MOST MAJOR offense.
Exactly Southerngirl. What bothers one might not bother another. And we don’t get to decide for someone else. What people are constantly missing is what came with the bitch line – I made her famous. Compare the lines. Someone wanting to essentially have sex with you and someone calling you a bitch and claiming your fame. I can see why the first line didn’t bother her as much but the second did. Come on. Taylor has been very clear since all of this started that she is p*ssed Kanye keeps trying to claim that her made her famous when he did not. She worked for what she has. That’s what her whole Grammy speech was about – not letting anyone claim your work or talent- which why would anyone have a problem with that? It’s a valid point and the truth! The whole thing is a mess and as far as I’m concerned no winners. I’m no fan of Taylor, yes she is problematic, but I’m not lumping all my issues with her on to this situation. This whole thing has been completely blown out of proportion.
But if that were the case then why not immediately come out and say,
“You know I talked to Kanye about this I really thought the sex line was funny and could be relevant and when he stuck the word bitch in I could no longer endorse it.”
@littledarling – I have no idea why she responded the way she did, but I have a feeling it’s because SHE felt she was blindsided by what the song ended up actually being and she in turn over reacted and tried to save face. Think about it. This is a woman who carefully cultivates her image, controls everything, and here she is involved in something she partially agreed to (yes I said partially because she had not heard the whole song, she was not told all the lyrics and it’s context ,which is important here) and then there was a PR disaster going on about the song because people were responding to the song as a whole. Yes I agree she messed up. And I agree that she should have said “hey I agreed to these lyrics but not those and here’s why” but she didn’t, so now when she tries to tell the truth people are just dismissing it. But it still doesn’t make it all lies, like people are dragging her for. What I said in my first response is all valid and important and as usual, the media gets a story, it gets out of control because our society isn’t the nicest and somehow Taylor is this crazy “baby kicking” monster and Kim and Kanye are the saints. Which doesn’t make sense either. You think they didn’t manipulate this whole situation from day one or do certain things to form a narrative? Kim makes a living off of drama,creating storylines and issues to stay in the press and get ratings for her tv show. I mean Taylor’s no victim here, she also clearly wasn’t prepared to deal with sneaky loose cannons, but the way this has exploded is completely ridiculous. People are literally taking enjoyment in someone getting ripped apart. When the fact is we don’t even actually know any of these people, just the gossip we are told which in turn does change our perceptions to what is being said. That’s why I said they are all at fault and this whole thing is messy.
@tify I guess I don’t think she was blindsided. Maybe regretful but not blindsided.
I also think Taylor has had a crazy control/mean girl kind of behind the scenes reputation for awhile now, with more than one celebrity mentioning it.
The K’s kind of stay within their own jungle playground and exert their energy on keeping those they choose to oust (ex boyfriends mostly? people who want to say bad things about their family?) They’re all ME ME ME but they don’t hide it. They calculate and aren’t afraid to show it. Kim, in particular, has grown into her own in the past few years. I think she knows very well what she is, how we see her and is completely okay with all parts of the narrative.
We might not know them, but again, this is about the public perception, the *image* of the stardom, what they present to us. She’s getting ripped apart because she did a very public thing which affected not only HER image but another artists’ image. I think she IS the sneaky loose cannon in this instance, and she kind of blew her barrel out while aiming at somebody else.
ETA: I actually like Taylor’s “art” much, much better. The only things I like about The K show is when Kim gets thrown into the water by Kris and she cries and freaks out. Taylor, on the other hand, I can sing along with her tunes for days and be cool with it.
I’m really just fascinated in the way this story played out since seeing the Mic steal live and having my jaw literally drop to the FLOOR.
@missdarling , I do agree with some of what youre saying, and Taylor for sure is a mean girl in many capacities. However Kim isn’t straight forward either, she has an image she is trying to control as well. She does hide how calculating she is. Many times she has Jonathan and khloe do her dirty work behind the scenes and in public and she does manipulate what you see and what the public knows about her. So in that capacity she is the same as Taylor and she also isn’t completely open about it. What is shown on her show isn’t reality, it’s mostly all scripted. She gives just enough to make people feel like they know her, she claims enough to make it seem like she is showing her true colors but her and her family are very calculating. I think that’s why I just couldn’t get behind this whole thing. You have three horrible people finding a way to screw each other over. No one is innocent here or the victim.
Yessss to all of this….and notice the Hiddleston Photo Opps have all stopped. He must be clawing at the door. She must be mortified. Yikes!!! Hopefully his career can come back around and he can just reference that fling as a vulnerable moment in his life…
Sometimes, Taylor, Karma is a bitch. I can’t stand the Kardashian Klan or Kanye, but this was pretty awesome.
Well I think it’s of note that HE stepped out, changing the story for him from Taylor’s handbag to, oh LOOK it’s Tom, and he’s posing with fans! What a great guy.
That was interesting to me that in light of the scandal he’s out taking smiling photo ops. I don’t think that was unintentional that it became news for him.
That fan pic was, I believe, from before Snapchat Gate. Neither has been seen since KUWTK aired.
Haha…I totally agree. Massive Damage Control. It is wonderful and glorious to watch, for so may reasons! I actually think if he does it right he can get out without too many scares and she will also keep her mouth shut about it and let it blow over (no songs or bad press written), considering all the bad timing around this image implosion 🙂
im laughing so hard at Hiddleston. he probably thought “what could possibly go wrong?”
Genie is a babe.
Yeah, she is got of adorable.
Oh Genie, Genie, Genie…. The quality of the questions during that whole post-match press conference is so bad I can’t even find words. The fact that someone got credentials to ask those vapid questions is upsetting.
As for the fact that she preferred to elaborate on what taylor swift does and not on her disappointing results… this just speaks volumes. She was number 5 in the world and now is number 40. A star of the game she is not, I’m afraid. But as long as the WTA marketing geniuses keep pushing her to our faces, we’ll still read about her endorsements, karaoke gigs, just not about her performances.
I’m getting Anna Kournikova vibe from this all. I really don’t care what some mediocre tennis player thinks about this sitch.
Well, at least Kournikova had a good doubles career. She won Australian Open twice if I’m not mistaken.
wow – 40th in the world and she’s mediocre? She’s made it to the Wimbledon final….and was once 12th or something. And she’s not allowed to voice her opinion when asked a question? V. harsh….
…you can disagree with what she said without maligning what is a young woman’s excellent professional career, surely?
Thank you, I know that Genie was pretty hyped a while back and then she suddenly wasn’t.
I also remember she has a habit of putting her foot in her mouth and in one of her Fed Cup press conferences she refused to shake the hand of her Romanian opponent saying she only shakes hands when the match is done. Of course, she only offered the explanation after her opponent stood there embarrassed. Good thing she lost that match.
I know the questions in this press conference were dumb but in the beginning she actually yawned. Doesn’t appear smart at all.
YES! Like WHAT??? Who cares about Taylor Swift. WHY are we glossing over the fact that they’re asking her these ridiculously vapid and irrelevant questions?
Ugh so insulting. Then again, less divisive than politics I guess.
Maybe they only asked her having known that she was an outward spoken fan who posted the pic of them backstage etc?
There’s been a history of reporters asking Genie Bouchard vapid/irrelevant questions and making a huge deal out of what she wears.
She was a victim of too much success too soon and it went to her head but she is not an insignificantly talented tennis player. She is also only 22. And she sounds it a lot of the time. But she’s only answering the questions she’s asked, no? You are right though, the quality of those are in need of an upgrade. In Australia she was asked to twirl and I think which celebrity she’d most like to date. (Eyeroll)
Taylor is a lying wolf in sheep’s clothing, sure. But the naked glee with which people are celebrating her downfall/come-uppance makes me uncomfortable too.
(Not referring to the tennis player, more the Twitterverse)
Agree. It’s starting to get a bit creepy.
Yes, I’m on the same boat. I don’t think Kanye got this vilified after 2009 VMA like Taylor is being over this.
Someone sabotaged her wiki, There is a huge drawing of RIP Taylor in Australia etc.
What about Kanye acting like an unprofessional douche? I wonder how many music people will hesitate to pick up phone when Kanye is calling!
I think Kanye got plenty vilified. Even the President weighed in on the matter and said Kanye was a “jacka– for what he did to Taylor.
@Zandy
Why would they the Kanye reordering thing is known in the industry it and he’s not the only one to do in why in the studio.
Kanye got vilified not only on Twitter or tabloids but by the music industry, the Country Music awards, legitimate news casts and by the President of the the United States. Also lots of death threats. In Addition Taylor won so much good will that they were just throwing awards at her feet. Some deserved and some as apology for Kanye embarrassing her. Wake me up when Taylor goes through all of that.
I don’t agree with the Australian mural and think it should be illegal to paint stuff like that about anyone.
Also I will believe Taylor is truly apologetic for the Camilla Bells whore lyrics when she stops any further distribution of that CD both the physical and electronic sales. Until then stop with the she was only…16, ..17, …18….19….20….21…22…23 defenses. Suffering consequences for poor behavior as a child is the way to raise good children, otherwise they become brats who think they rule the world.
Kanye West had to also go on Jay Leno and apologize. Jay even brought up his mom possibly being disappointed in him, and what she would have said about how he acted. I think Jay almost made Kanye cry.
@perplexed & flowerchild- He deserved to be criticized for what he did at the 2009 VMAs and most definitely needed to apologize for it because he did something wrong.
@Original TC- Unless someone commits a heinous crime, like murder or kidnapping or rape, they do not deserve death threats. Kanye did not deserve it then, Taylor doesn’t deserve it now. Let’s reserve the vitriol and bad will for people that truly deserve it.
Don’t like Taylor Swift? Don’t listen to her songs, then. Many artists write about experiences in their own lives, about broken hearts and sometimes, write nasty stuff, all in the guise of art. Again if you don’t like it, don’t buy it.
“@perplexed & flowerchild- He deserved to be criticized for what he did at the 2009 VMAs and most definitely needed to apologize for it because he did something wrong.”
I never claimed that he didn’t deserve to be criticized. I’m pointing out that he was indeed criticized and the length of time for which he faced criticism was fairly lengthy. I’m responding to this comment: “I don’t think Kanye got this vilified after 2009 VMA like Taylor is being over this.” Perhaps you should go back to the original comment to which people are responding.
Just like a lot of people were uncomfortable when it was her trying to take down others and inflicting damage. Karma is a bitch.
Exactly, Bluebell. The verbs ‘dishing’ and ‘taking’ come to mind. She’s fired plenty of shots and inflicted plenty of damage, as you say. Now she’s surprised and hurt that people are firing back. For that underhanded and insidious Grammy speech alone, she deserves everything she gets.
Agree. Taylor has dug her own grave in this situation, and people are calling her out appropriately. But a lot of it feels like people just jumping on bandwagon. The piling-on is a bit much, I think. People are acting like the Wicked Witch is dead, and that’s…uncomfortable.
The piling-on was uncomfortable 37 Taylor Swift posts ago IMO.
I just can’t seem to muster up the same amount of enthusiasm as everyone else.
Then again, I’m just not invested in the Kanye-Swift feud. It all seems like a bunch of adults acting like children to me.*shrugs*
I think the reason this thing keeps having life is because Taylor’s friends keep weighing in with stupid Twitter posts about Kanye being like OJ Simpson.
With Kim, she released the video and then let the video do the work. Except for a few “inside sources” talking to People about why they chose to release the video, Kim and Kanye don’t seem to be augmenting the conversation beyond what’s actually in the video.
With Taylor, her friends are weighing in and making inflammatory statements about murder cases from 2 decades ago where Taylor gets compared to Nicole Brown, thus doing her no favours at all, and prolonging this PR mess. She could shut some of this down, at least what’s coming from her friends — I don’t know why she doesn’t. Maybe she’s afraid of being away from the media. I always thought of her as smart and savvy, and someone who used the media as a means to an end and was able to maintain a level of objectivity about how to use it, but maybe she has as much of an addiction to the media as everyone else.
@Kitten – ^^^^ This.
@perplexed – what is the difference between “inside sources” and Taylor’s friends weighing in? Unless Taylor is telling them what to post and give opinions (which she may be doing – but who knows at this point), they are just like “inside sources”.
“@perplexed – what is the difference between “inside sources” and Taylor’s friends weighing in? Unless Taylor is telling them what to post and give opinions (which she may be doing – but who knows at this point), they are just like “inside sources”.”
To clarify, what Kim and Kanye’s “inside sources” are saying about why they posted the video is actually relevant. People want to know why this was the straw that broke the camel’s back and why Kim would go this far to prove that Taylor lied — the “inside source” directly answers that question, the whole reason for the why this is such a mess in the first place.
When Taylor’s friends weigh in on about the OJ case somehow being like the Taylor-Kanye situation and talk about the Kardashians supporting someone murdering another innocent blonde woman, they’re bringing up something totally irrelevant to the situation. What do OJ and Nicole Brown Simpson have to do with any of this? What does someone praying for Kim’s kids have to do with Taylor having an issue with the song? None of what Taylor’s friends are saying bears any relevancy to the situation at hand.
So there’s the difference — relevancy. Kim and Kanye, and their “sources”, appear to be answering questions related directly to the situation and are answering questions about why this mess hit this level, whereas Taylor’s friends are going all over the place, totally out of context, and hurting her in the process. Her friends aren’t helping her – they’re making things much worse for her.
@perplexed As long as people keep clicking the articles on Facebook, it’ll continue having a life. People love to hate Taylor. People love to hate Kimye, too, which makes this whole story so dramatic. As long as writers keep finding new ways to spin the story, people will continue reading, regardless of if there are any new developments in the story or not.
Very few articles I’ve seen around the web have been about what the “squad” is saying, honestly. Though I do agree that her friends are doing her absolutely no favors with their mostly stupid comments.
I do think the tweets about the Kanye/OJ comparison did give life to a whole series of articles about the racial dynamics involved in the Kanye/Taylor situation. So, in that regard, I do think Taylor’s friends are hurting her PR-wise. I think what you see depends on where you go on the web, or what magazines/newspapers you choose to peruse. To make clear, it’s not like I really care what happens to any of these people. But they do pride themselves on how they handle the media, and right now I think Taylor is sucking (which I never thought would happen, because I’ve always given her props for being smart, savvy, and the ultimate Harvard business professor in the making).
@perplexed – thanks for the further explanation. I agree, Taylor is not handling this well.
@perplexed- Joseph Kahn and only him was the one tweeting offensive nonsense. Most of her squad that commented either tried to steer the conversation away from this feud. Maybe her PR team is telling her to stay quiet and disappear for awhile until this dies down. I am sure she will address this when she regroups, she was caught completely off guard, so I imagine she is taking the time to figure it out. Who knows?
“@perplexed- Joseph Kahn and only him was the one tweeting offensive nonsense. Most of her squad that commented either tried to steer the conversation away from this feud.”
What he did was enough to get journalists to write whole articles about race and how this plays into the narrative of what is going on. So, yes, I stand by the opinion that her PR right now is terrible and is giving larger life to the mess. She may regroup, but at the present moment, her friends, even the ones like Selena Gomez who are telling people to worry about more pressing matters or the other lady who said she prays for North and Saint West, aren’t doing her any favours. They’re calling more attention to her mess rather than re-directing attention away from it. I never said this was a career-ender for her — I simply am of the opinion that I have no idea why her friends are making this situation worse for her than it needs to be and prolonging its longevity.
The same naked glee with which she basically told talk shows about how Joe Jonas has wronged her or made such a huge event out of her Bad Blood video ?
She was like 17 or 18 when the Joe Jonas thing happened and she actually had a decent apology for the Camille Belle situation. She said something like she was 18 and she thought people could steal boyfriends at that time and she now realizes you can’t steal anyone who doesn’t want to leave in the first place. I also believe she said it was wrong of her to do so. Granted, the Camilla Belle thing was truly nasty and cruel while her other blind item songs tended to be more mildly mean….so I totally get Camilla basking in the karma.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Taylor f*cked up big time. I just believe that the glee, as the OP said, is over the top.
She might have said something about learning boys can’t be “stolen” but I don’t think she implictly apologized for dragging Camilla. If so, I doubt Camilla would have been so quick to chime in her opinion.
@Div It was probably more pivotal that she apologise to Camilla Belle which she never did. And I do not understand how being 18 excuses her from it ? 18 is still a grown age. Also its not like she wrote the song on impulse and released it. It went thru an entire production process so it wasnt like oops made a maistake. I was also not talking about Belle at all but about Joe Jonas and how she dumped her with a 27 second phone call.
@CornyBlue
She definitely should have apologized to Camilla Belle in person even if she publicly acknowledged the sentiment and lyrics were wrong.
I guess I just have a different opinion. 18 year olds are technically adults but many still rely on their parents and haven’t experienced real life (obviously not all 18 year olds). They can’t even drink here in the states. I’m more inclined to give an 18 year old a break for saying or doing dumb sh*t than a 24 year old. I would hate to have every stupid thing I did or said as a teenager held against me on a constant basis and I suspect most people feel the same.
Honestly, I feel like that’s why the public is also coming down so hard on her. All of this, plus the bad blood stuff, was done in her mid 20s. In her late teens and her early 20s, most people excused it (even if they were critical) because many of us were drama queens or still a bit childish at that age. By the time someone hits 23/24 though people stop giving them that leeway.
@CornyBlue. And let us not forget the opening monologue for SNL, aka the “La La Song”. Delivered with smug flat vocals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ5GN1s6nys
@Div- I did not realize she actually acknowledged the sentiment and lyrics were wrong.. funny how the TS haters leave that out.
@CornyBlue- I suspect even if she had apologized to Camilla in person, there would still be people dragging TS. And if she publicly acknowledged that the sentiment and lyrics were wrong, I am not sure what she can do at this point would change people’s opinion about her.
Um, I’m 19 and when that song came out I was fairly young and thought Taylor was being absurd and gross. Age isn’t an excuse.
@Birdix – This is unfortunately indicative of life in the 21st Century Digital Age where people air everything on social media and in the press. It goes viral and circumnavigates the globe faster than you can say Magellan. To play Devil’s Advocate for a minute, it’s fair to say that Taylor Swift has a l-o-n-g history of NOT just playing the victim but victimizing her exes and anyone she felt did her wrong. The Camilla Belle episode was mean, nasty and low. Taylor used her Pop Princess Pedestal to dispense her own form of Mean Girl Justice. Most of the targets of her ire were way over-matched and suffered greatly. A lot of those incidents flew under the radar.
So of course, there’s going to be great joy in the land when Taylor is taken to task. It won’t stop anytime soon. Taking Taylor down could well become a new national sport! Hiddleston could be casualty by association. Of course, they could just keep traveling the world on her private jet ’til it all blows over…
As for her lyrics — especially the last one “This is What You Came For”, I’d be ashamed to put my name to such inane, puerile drivel. Of course, my horror would be soothed when the check hit my bank account, LOL!
It’s her hypocrisy, not the glee in a takedown of success, that people are losing it for.
What she did wasn’t innocuous. It wasn’t innocent. It didn’t only pertain to her image. It was an intentional lie throwing a colleague under the bus. NOT cool, and definitely not what she is selling.
@Little Darling that last paragraph resumed everything that happened here SPOT ON.
Seconded.
I agree.
I agree she’s obviously in the wrong but there’s definitely a pile on aspect to the whole thing that’s creepy. I wish she would just stop fanning the flames and I hope we don’t get any statements from her reps or close friends few weeks.
The use of the word ‘creepy’ is a rather underhanded way of – once again – turning Taylor into a innocent angel with pigtails and anyone who criticizes her into old men with vans and signs for free candy.
Kanye is ‘creepy’ for fixating on her. Kim is ‘creepy’ for releasing the tapes of her. The media is ‘creepy’ for speaking out about her questionable behavior. We are ‘creepy’ for not just ignoring her hypocrisy and moving on.
It’s another way of turning her into a victim.
Here we go again I can’t with this parsing and twisting of my words. Taylor Swift doesn’t deserve more heat on her than Johnny Depp. I think that’s creepy. I didn’t call Saint Kim and Kanye creepy. (But he’s still a mysogonist).
Except Kanye is very much CREEPY in the way he treats other women. It’s almost as if someone can find Kanye creepy and still think Taylor is NOT a victim (shocking concept, I know).
This is the same guy who made ninja from Die Antwoord super uncomfortable when they were in the recording studio together. But don’t take my word for it: http://www.celebitchy.com/486443/die_antwoords_ninja_has_a_terrible_story_about_working_with_kanye_west/
“I had this idea for a track and, as I’m about to say the sh*t about the track, Kanye just turns on an anal sex video. Like a random anal sex video,” said Ninja. “And then Kanye says, ‘Why is this guy putting his whole hand in her ass with his dick?’ And then he turned back to me and said, ‘Sorry, what were you saying?’”
Let alone the fact that he put a NAKED drugged up looking TS in his music video next to Bill Cosby so yes, I’m calling Kanye CREEPY, super CREEPY.
Taylor is VERY shady and manipulative but that doesn’t negate the fact that Kanye put her naked in his MV in a super inappropriate way.
@LadyLoo I’m sorry, but I feel like I need to stick up for Luca on this. This is a more nuanced situation than simply saying, “Oh, if it’s creepy to pile hate onto Taylor, you’re making her the victim and demonizing anyone who criticizes her.” That’s not it at all.
There’s a level of criticism that is EXTREMELY valid for what Taylor has done. She needs to own up to her mistake. She did something childish and underhanded and deserves to be called out on that by Kim, Kanye, the media, and the general public. That criticism is 100% warranted and she needs to accept that this is a case where people deservedly aren’t too happy with her.
But when it turns into a “Let’s bash Taylor on every form of social media, hold against her every crappy thing she did as a teenager, and make her synonymous with snake emojis”—yeah, too far. Way too far. I don’t know about you, but my Twitter and Facebook feeds downright rejoice in taking her down every time the opportunity arises, and I think that is ridiculous. And saying that such behavior IS creepy doesn’t mean I think she’s angelic or deserves a pass whatsoever. What happened shouldn’t be ignored. But it shouldn’t be a universal celebration of her mistake, either. It’s just not that black and white.
The punishment should fit the crime, basically.
You’re seeing a decade plus of people starting to turn against her, feel she was phony, and then be told what an awesome innocent role model she was and how if they didn’t worship her they were a hater.
She literally has people who’s reputations she trashed from the start of her career agreeing with people she insulted last month. I’d say that naked glee is a long time coming realistic reaction to being told someone is all things good that the world needs when she was every bit as manipulative and conniving as anyone else.
I completely agree. I find the glee with which people are speculating on the demise of her relationship with Tom because of this – that he’s being held hostage, trying to “claw” his way out, etc. etc. – to be especially distasteful. Fwiw, I think comments like that reflect much more poorly on the speaker than on Taylor herself.
Taylor’s apologists seem to LOVE the ‘rubber and glue’ approach to argumentation. I’ve seen dozens of comments about how our responses to TS’s lies and manipulation somehow speak poorly of US and not HER.
That’s crap, 100%, grade A crap.
Of course people are delighting in her possible downfall (sadly, I don’t think it will happen). For many years, she has exhibited terrible qualities and acted in an obnoxious fashion, all while avoiding any negative consequences for those qualities and that behavior. Are you then surprised or disappointed that, when her hypocrisy is laid bare, people feel vindicated and are eager to voice their feelings and opinions? That’s human nature. Humans hate hypocrisy, so when we see it exposed, we celebrate.
Great comment, SouthernGirl. I couldn’t agree more.
IMO there’s a difference between commenting on her mistakes and wishing her ill.
LadyLoo, excellent comment and so on point. I don’t see a downfall for TS either, but the victim act that she’s been perpetuating for years thats made her very rich and famous has gotten old and won’t be a selling point for her anymore. Time to find a new schtick…….I predict she’ll be zen and new age on the next record.
@ Zandy
You must be living in a fairy Tail land to make that statement about Taylor getting scrutinize more then Kanye did in 2009😂😂😂😂
As I said in another post.
“I fun it funny that Kim/ family and Kanye have had years of this type of scrutiny from the media and public plotting their down fall while taking joy in it and no one says a thing.
Yet poor Taylor is getting a 5th of this type of scrutiny and her fan/supporters are freaking out and saying it’s ridiculous.”
Yes. Especially because everyone involved is awful and a huge douche, from Taylor to Kanye. Taylor brought this on herself and is a bully, yes, but so are Calvin, Kim and especially Kanye. But now people are even defending Kim and Kanye’s antics.
The only times I recall such a bad time for the person involved was when Kristen Stewart cheated on sparkles, or Anne Hathaway’s Oscar campaign, which in my point of view, both things were blown over proportion too.
I think is like an angry mob-type of actions but in internet, some people are reacting “violently” just because they don’t like her but are protected by this crowd who are calling her out. Anyway, I’m not enjoying this.
No lies told, we’ve all said it a million times before. Still living for the celebrities turning and being open about their general disdain of Tay-Tay. Has she said anything since her “character assassination” notes update?
I think she is just literally incapable of walking away from all this-at this point she is so invested in this image and narrative (I think I have used this word more in the last week than I have the whole previous 6 months combined) that she is terrified at seeing it all crash and burn as badly as it is doing. I mean, I feel like by now even her legal/PR counsel are probably telling her “Look, you COULD pursue this, but……..” and she is just taking this and running with it. All evidence seems to point to that she could pursue a case if she really wanted to, but it would probably be costly and drawn out and actually may have some very long lasting impact on her brand,
not only that she cant really change her image now. it would be too obvious and could backfire even more.
its a tough situation for her PR team but they have trashed so many other people i wont feel bad for them.
I mean yikes. But this is exactly what I’ve been seeing in the swift fandom. Some are digging in and some are pissed that she lied and made them look like idiots. She needs to go away for a bit (like JLaw does whenever she’s not working) and come up with a new strategy. It’s hard to say this is a case of tearing down the IT girl when she engages in that behavior in regards to others. Anne, JLaw, Alicia yes. Taylor nope.
All this has made me realise just how smart JLaw is. She has never had problems with an ex, never been manipulative, gets a bit too much around awards season but then just disappears.
Never been manipulative? What?
Has she ? I cannot recall ?
Yea manipulate how? Homegirl is a GHOST outside of her contractual promotion. And when she doesn’t think its her “year” awards wise she does the bare minimum. The heaviest year for her was CF production that led into Oscar season for which she won. Otherwise she shows up when she needs too and is gone when she doesn’t have to be.
I feel like it’s a combination of “tearing down an it girl” (the media loves to build them up and tear them down) and backlash for her drawing other celebrities into her little games in the past. One of the few things celebrities seem to do is have a “code of silence” of sorts….you rarely hear them trash other celebrities and if they do they are generally super vague and don’t name names. True, she never really named names besides Katy but she made her blind item songs ridiculously easy.
The problem with Taylor is that she’s considered to be a “role model”. Thats probably why the reaction to her getting into this mess has been so huge. It’s been revealed that she plays at the level of the Kardashians, and of course people will find that upsetting in a “role model.” If someone like Christina Aguilera had gotten caught up in this most people would shrug, despite her also being female, white and blond like Taylor.
@Perplexed
True, having the “role model” reputation can be both a blessing and a curse for celebs. At times, it allows them to get away with antics other celebrities would never get away with…but it can also backfire big time.
Yea I agree there is a culture of tearing women down but that’s why I made the comparison. Anne and Alicia were “too eager” for the Oscar. Jen syrocketed to fame on the back of her Oscar win and followed that up with a billion dollar take for Catching Fire. They don’t court press that we see outside those moments where that IS their job. People tore them down because they were the IT girl of the year. Nothing more.
Taylor on the other hand seems to invite paps with each new relationship rollout, sell the dramatic best bf ever fantasy, then drags them through the mud when they realize just who she is as a person. Eventually that was going to come back and bite her.
I read a comment that I thought summed up this whole mess beautifully. Taylor Swift used to benefit from the media infantilizing her and treating her with kid gloves. In one way, it illustrated the negative side of how the media bends over backwards for traditionally feminine white blonde straight girls. Kanye West was the recipient of the ugly side of the media in how they treat male black celebrity. Now, Taylor is bringing out another negative side of the media (the hyperbolic ways they treat female celebrities who f*ck up) but this time it isn’t for her benefit.
This scandal was fun for a hot second but I’m seriously RME at the media, as in non-entertainment media, continual coverage and people asking tennis stars of all things about it. It is so over the top at this point. It reminds me of ridiculous time when journalists asked President Obama about Kanye rushing the stage…except there was a racist angle to how the media covered Kanye.
Taylor needs to go away for a while and not get papped. Maybe release a non love song single, perhaps something to benefit a charity, in a few months.
I think of people like Britney Spears who were completely dragged through the mud by the media for years on end, and I’m not really sure if the media bends over backwards for traditionally feminine white blonde straight girls. I understand your point widely and the racism that exists in the media, absolutely. But I also think there’s that other side of it where the media (and consumers) just revel in watching people take a tumble after reaching a certain level of fame and success.
@K.C.
I mostly agree with what you are saying. My point was that these girls benefited from being white straight feminine blondes….but they can also face the sexist, ugly side of the media. Basically, I was trying to argue that the media can turn on anyone (even the most privileged). I also think this is the product of social media/internet blogs/internet clicks for non-entertainment sites: every scandal gets blown way out of proportion because of how easy it is to disseminate news and get clicks.
I agree, @Div. These young women certainly have a lot of doors open for them because of their identity. Their respective industries more willingly accept them, and for a time, they’re bolstered by the press because they fit the “ideal” of the media. But when the switch flips, it flips quickly, and often painfully.
Also totally agree re: social media/clicks. I feel like that aspect is something that gets lost on many readers. Part of my job is handling social media, and I feel like people on the other side underplay just how much coverage simply stems from what gets clicks. When you distill this situation down to the facts, it’s really not THAT big of a deal. Taylor messed up and should own up to it, but she certainly hasn’t done anything career-ending. It’s being blown way out of proportion simply because people on the internet love to gossip about her—not because she has actually ruined herself in any way. The internet skews situations in very strange ways.
@K.C. There’s a difference in how the media treats women who are seen as more sexual (see e.g. Spears) versus those who are not seen as such (see e.g. Swift), though, even if they are both “traditionally feminine white blonde straight girls.” The “good girls” get the benefit of the doubt a lot more. Though I don’t disagree with Div’s point re: media turning on people.
It’s funny that you characterize Spears as sexual because when she first started she was the good girl who was coy with her sexuality and Christina Aguilera was the bad girl. Spears did get the benefit of the doubt until things started going wrong for her and then suddenly she was crazy, literally, and then a Cheeto mess.
Taylor benefitted from playing the same coy role being sexual but only in a little girl way which is acceptable to society. Now that the facade of nice white girl is starting to crack, the public is going after her hard core. She didn’t play by the good girl rules and must be punished.
@Nic919: “Taylor benefitted from playing the same coy role being sexual but only in a little girl way which is acceptable to society.”
On a related note, this reminds me how my friends and I scratched our heads over her mixin’ literary references in the hit song ‘Love Story’:
“Cuz you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter”
We called it Sanitized Nashville 16 & Pregnant
Yep, I think you covered everything here, Div.
Well done.
For the media these three (two?) and their subsequent images, could not be more polarizing. It isn’t just a takedown, it’s heavily layered and full of so much rich history, and because it was Kim K, obvious famewhore known for lying and manipulating, and mostly caring about her whatever she cares about, image?, and then Tay Swift, who everyone kind of knew was an image manipulator, maybe tiny fibber, but had been just been relegated to probable mean girl (no real proof) on top of a being known for leading a fairly altruistic life. Polar opposites.
Because of this layered history between all of them, and how hard Taylor publicly hustled this image of purity and gal pals and the innocent constantly being dark clouded by everyone else, to be clapped back at so loudly, it causes so much more impact than all of Taylor Swifts individual fights combined. That’s why twitteruniverse is going crazy.
Sure, we cared and listened when it was Katy, Calvin, Nicki, but it was far less impactful because the incidents were singular ones that just played out in the media. The Kanye and Taylor drama ebbed and flowed for years without real juicy gossip that had much bite beyond the initial mic incident. Finally, after years of much ado about nothing, this “gossip” delivered a deep well of conversations and think pieces about hypocrisy, image manipulation, public perception, feminism, racism, misogynistic blame, self awareness and damage control. I mean, it’s so much more than just the three bozos involved. That’s why everyone can’t stop talking about it media wise. It’s amazing. The media, and everyone else, is going so hard not because it’s the takedown of a woman, but it is illuminating the truth behind said woman who has portrayed herself VERY, drastically differently than she does in private and everyone seems to be getting hip to it. It’s the hypocrisy, not that she’s a successful female.
I think the real reason Kim is going so hard is because I genuinely truly believe Kim and Kanye thought they were cool with Taylor. They overestimated her and then she waaaaaaay underestimated them.
I guess you are right in that this hits a lot of hot button issues. I doubt Taylor’s career is over, but it’s going to be hard for her with all the mainstream media (even USA Today and Daily Beast are dragging her) going hard against her. If she releases just one love song I have a feeling they’ll be scathing in their reviews.
I agree. I was fascinated at the number of think pieces that were written in response to this latest chapter in the Kimye-Swift feud that covered those larger topics you mentioned in bold. It went way beyond simple gossip and the pleasure of seeing the prom queen unmasked for who she really is.
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 Great comment!
Loving your reasonable and well thought out comments!
Great analysis Little Darling.
I think Eugenie needs to focus on tennis because she has had nothing but terrible results. She is a mental case on the courts and she is in a downward spiral. She used to be considered the future of tennis, but not so anymore. Her head is not in the game.
+1000. Guess running around half naked on court wasn’t getting her enough attention anymore. She needs to sort out her own backyard before inserting herself into crap that literally could not have less to do with her.
Thank you for saying this! She was such an embarrassment this year in Wimbledon, acting ridiculously, that I’m really not sure why we need to discuss her quotes seriously…
I read on another site that Uzo Aduba publicly stood up for her when asked about it on the red carpet. She didn’t directly address this situation, I don’t think, but just said that she’ll overcome it because she’s a strong and beautiful person.
Coming from her friend, I thought it was a really kind thing to say. So many of her friends have put their foot in their mouth trying to defend her and made the situation worse. Uzo just commented on what she broadly thought of her as a person, which is (IMO) the only thing you can do when your friend screws up—say they’ll overcome it, and reiterate why you’re their friend. She handled it in a classy way that didn’t involve any mudslinging or particularly taking sides on the specific situation.
Aw, that’s nice of her to say about her friend.
Uzo always comes across like such a genuine person in interviews.
Yes, that’s a great tone for Uzo to take in defense of her friend. Doesn’t excuse anything, simply says that she supports her. Tommy, take notes!
Very classy and nice. I respect that. I think we can all appreciate people who stay loyal to friends in crisis, even if those friends made a mistake. I hope the rest of Taylor’s squad takes note: *this* is how you can show support without making it worse, people! LOL
@K.C
Uzo Aduba and Taylor aren’t friends taking a picture with some does not make them friends. They are more like acquaintances.
I thought she attended her parties and such? But ok. It was a nice and classy way to handle the question about her acquaintance, then. Many would not have handled it as well, but I thought it was a lovely thing to say without getting involved in the drama.
I think UA has appeared on stage at one of TS’s concerts – that seems to be the way TS intros someone into the squad. The only other interaction was that UA was a guest at the July 4th party.
Maybe that makes them ‘friends’ but more likely it means that UA is a ‘squad member’ and those are not the same.
@LadyLoo
Appearing on stage dose not make them friends nor does going to one party. Taylor has her “squad” of people that she hangs out with all the time and Uzo is not one of them. There are photos of Catlyn Jenner and Uzo and she public said some positive things about Catlyn that doesn’t make them friends.
She doesn’t seem to be the type of person to say anything negative about another celebrity friend or not, which is smart she doesn’t need to get involved in drama.
Flowerchild, I was agreeing with you. My last paragraph says “maybe that makes them friends but more likely it means that UA is a squad member” which is the furthest from an actual friend!
Most of America already knows this though, eyeroll.
Yeah but it can’t hurt to point it out seventy or eighty more times, can it?
eugenie bouchard is one of the more thirsty players currently on the tour. she will twirl in a dress or talk about her love of bieber. this girl needs to focus on her game if she wants to be a player and not a poser. she dropped in the rankings like a rock.
While I agree Eugenie needs to figure out her game …. she only twirled in a dress or said anything about Bieber because A REPORTER/COMMENTATOR ASKED HER THOSE THINGS.
When was the last time a reporter/commentator asked Federer to “twirl” or Raonic who he wishes was his celebrity girlfriend?
Does she need to figure out her game – definitely.
But the fact that their is a complete double standard in the questions that male and female athletes are asked has NOTHING to do with the female athlete’s thirst, lack of focus or need for attention.
Why the hell would she ACTUALLY twirl though? That’s ridiculous. I can’t understand any situation where that would be appropriate for the reporter, or her.
Double standard, sure. But she could easily take those opportunities to turn things back to her sport. If she keeps answering them, and performing for them, of course they’re going to keep asking.
It was a stupid thing for the post-match interviewers to ask the tennis players to do. And more than one of them did it – I think because they were so shocked by the request, they had no ready repartee to resort to so they obliged. Eugenie was 20 or 21 at the time. Serena Williams, who is in her 30s did so, too, when asked. So don’t judge the 21-year old too harshly when even the more seasoned pros couldn’t think of a smooth WTF to brush the idiotic request off.
I know everyone keeps saying things will be okay for Taylor soon enough but it’s things like this that make me wonder. Like Kakser said when your core base turns on you that’s when things look like there’s going to be a lasting effect.
The problem with Taylor is as much as she’s tried she’s very one dimensional. She tried to court the hip hop cool kids but couldn’t do it, she tried the sexy persona but outright had a VS model say she wasn’t sexy (funny how the poor girl got fired immediately), she tried to write music that wasn’t about ex boyfriends but funny how they always just kept slipping into the lyrics.
I think take away Taylor’s good girl anachronism and you have someone who has very little talent to fall back on and entirely needs their image. Right now her image took a grenade to the face so she’s gone dark and is in what I imagine to be major damage control mode.
Well, I’m with the others who say that the one thing you can’t take away from Taylor is her songwriting ability. Might not be your cup of tea, but it’s no stroke of luck that she’s won accolade over accolade for that very talent. One anecdote that I particularly liked came from Imogen Heap, who helped her with the song “Clean” on 1989. Imogen confessed that she assumed that Taylor didn’t write her own songs and that she would have to do most of the heavy-lifting on the song. She was surprised to learn that Taylor not only came with most of “Clean” already written but that she had great instincts for catchy hooks and was a very fast worker in the studio.
When Taylor was younger, her confessional yet juvenile lyrics worked in her favor; she really did connect with her teenage peers and the catchy hooks certainly helped. Her lyrics might have been a little one-dimensional, but with this controversy, I think she has the perfect opening to evolve into a more mature artist, provided that she takes this as a learning opportunity.
Despite all the flaws that have been revealed in this episode, the other thing you can’t take away from Taylor is that she’s got keen business sense. Her willingness to take Apple and Spotify on, her control over her own career, etc. She gets a massive amount of help from her support team, but no journalist who has interviewed her has come away thinking she’s a puppet, like Britney, for instance. In fact, if they weren’t that familiar with her before, they’re surprised by how in control she is over almost every aspect of her career, from the music itself, business deals, tour design and execution, her personal touch with fans (which is totally by design but not insincere, I don’t think). I wouldn’t call this “little talent.” She has business talent; she’s effectively the CEO of her own brand. I would say that for all the bullshit surrounding Kim Kardashian, she’s also an effective business person in managing her own (superficial, effectively empty) brand.
At Taylor’s level of fame and notoriety, her image IS a core component of her business. It needs to be actively managed, but I think it’s unfairly reductive and dismissive to say that that’s all she has to fall back on.
+1
I really don’ t think Taylor is a pop star in the traditional sense. She’ll have a long career as a songwriter, even when she’s not the It Girl anymore.
But actually, I will add that her success as a songwriter will depend on how she is able to evolve. So far, I think she has done a very good job and seems to understand what her fans respond to. But this is clearly a crucial point for her image. Moving forward, I think it has become clear that people are expecting her to act like the 26 year old woman that she is and show more maturity. I think she’s plenty capable of it, and just hope she recognizes that this shift is necessary.
“She has business talent; she’s effectively the CEO of her own brand.”
That brand in it’s current form is effectively gone now. That means her “woe is me” schtick she uses on albums is gone too. And while business talent is great, it’s not as powerful as image + business talent is. The Apple and Spotify moves wouldn’t have been as powerful if she hadn’t used “Big Superstar cares about the Indie Artist cuz she’s just so nice” and her 1989 persona hadn’t been huge.
Her business team gives her the opportunity to do behind the scenes stuff for awhile, but eventually she’ll want to perform again. She’s a pop star now, and she’ll need an image. As someone mentioned above, it’s going to be harder for her to have an image change, because everyone is expecting one now. If for any reason the new Taylor Swift doesn’t feel 100% authentic no one outside of her hardcore fanbase will be checking for her.
That brings up the question of what she can transition to that will have longevity. As ESE, said above all the personas she tried didn’t take off the way being “Good and Sweet” did. She can do the whole “I learned my lesson and now I’m wiser” thing for the next album, but that’ll only last an album. She can write for other artists, but who’ll want that association? (Nevermind the fact that she’s ticked off some industry heavyweights.) Her own ego, won’t let her just be a business maven. She certainly can’t dance, and her vocals aren’t stellar the way Beyoncé and Adele’s are. What else does she have to fall back on?
@K.C.
Taylor has not “evolve” in her music. She is still singing the same as types of song that she always song. she hasn’t shown any growth or maturity music wise or in any other departments.
I agree with KC (yet again). She co wrote ‘this is what you came for’ which is a god awful song but a hit in a completely different genre so he’s she is evolving . She has a talent for hit making. It’s not necessarily my cup of tea of musically but that’s not easy. I totally think she will stay huge because of that. One of the biggest reasons why pop stars fade is because the big songwriters won’t give them material.
TIWYCF is a hit not because of the lyrics, but because of the arrangement, the music, and Rhianna’s vocals. CH did the music and arrangement. And because once the Swifties found out TS wrote it, they all ran to mom and dad to ask permission to download it. The lyrics are sparse and none too deep.
@eternal
https://www.buzzfeed.com/elliewoodward/these-old-taylor-swift-quotes-show-how-much-she-feared-a-bac?utm_term=.wuK1LyzJk#.hjAzNgrWx
This is a Buzzfeed article about how much she cares about her image. Nothing majorly new, but it clearly is something she’s absolutely obsessed with.
When you craft such a shiny, everygirl image and try so hard to protect it and block others from tarnishing it, and then it comes out that you’re not really, REALLY like that image at the root of it, but you are definitley in the THOUGHT that you ARE your public image… well, you’re not left with a lot beyond trying to figure out who you are beyond this image.
I think Taylor is going to be in that place of figuring it out for a little bit. I don’t *think* she can continue on with this present one.
ESE, I hope the term ‘face grenade’ makes it into the daily parlance. Has it already? If not, copyright that mutha quick!
She will reinvent herself, make an album in 1-2 years and she’ll be fine. And when that happens this situation will work in her favour, Taylor biggest fear became true and destroy her fake good girl façade, so she has nothing left to cover. General public forget fast especially when you have a hit song, best example of this is Justin Bieber, because most people don’t invest themselves too much into gossip.
Anyway, we will enjoy a rest from Taylor Swift for a few years.
How long before we get the very special Diane Sawyer interview , “America’s Sweetheart Under Fire “?
I am a huge tennis fan and a Canadian, and I can’t stand Eugenie Bouchard. It sucks to route against one’s compatriots… but I do.
I am curious about what Taylor will do next. I only read here and over at Lainey Gossip ( I’m guessing a lot of people here do the same when its about gossip), and I will take her word for it when she says Swift will come back just fine. I am not good at gossip prediction so I will leave it to the experts. The only thing that I wonder about is whether or not Swifty is capable of not playing innocent victim with the media. In other words, we all know what she SHOULD do, (lay low for a long while, come back quietly, stop with the innocent princess role, etc), but can she? I wonder if her personality will let her do that, especially over the long term.
Honestly, I can understand why she would “okay” the line “I’d have sex with you” but not be okay with calling her “b!tch. One is flattering (at least to her) while the other is offensive…or should be. But I do think she was aware of all of it and all this hoopla is just for attention.
Swift and Hiddleston are banging each other while everyone else is still talking about this issue….laughable. Btw, why are Swift’s teeth so big? And white? I love great teeth but her teeth look so fake. And why can’t she close her lips? Is this being called the Swift pouting? Btw, if I were a Tennis Player and someone would ask a question like this one, I would ask the person to get lost. Embarassing.
Most celebrities’ teeth look creepy to me. When they get veneers, their teeth start looking too big for their mouth.
I might have weird taste, but I think crooked teeth often look nice. I don’t even like the perfectly white Hollywood teeth colour.
For example, I preferred George Cloney’s old set of teeth much more than the current one.
If she had any character or personality, she’d have just laughed at Kanye from the start and treat it as no big deal & as a joke. Heck, if she had any brains at all she’d laugh at all of this and at herself and move on.
But I guess that’s the problem, she has no character or personality, wisdom, humility or (god forbid) self-deprecating humor.
You’re not important Taylor, just another person who won’t contribute to the world or humanity in any real, profound way, so just enjoy the pot of gold you won and keep quiet.
I agree she needs to use her energy right now for some incredible sex with her new boyfriend instead of making Kim and Kanye more famous. Get out of the limelight for a bit and enjoy your time off. Then come back in a year with some new songs. We need a break from you
Vulture published a Swifty think piece for anyone interested:
http://www.vulture.com/2016/07/when-did-the-media-turn-against-taylor-swift.html?mid=twitter_vulture#
I don’t know anything about tennis or this player but I think she answered the question okay. I mean, I would have told them to shove it and ask me something about my game, but this is why no one puts me in the spotlight for anything.
I wanna know how many of these Swifties who are throwing around words like misogyny and sexism in rap and specifically by Kanye to defend their queen bee have rap albums in their collections and rap songs on their iPod, because I bet a LOT of them do
At this point, anyone trying to hang on to the “Tom knocked her up and is trying to do the right thing” narrative have to pretty much give that up. (For the record, I never believed that) I think that would be front page news at this point with stories about how she is busy gestating their love child, and all of this drama is causing so much pain and suffering for her that it is making her pregnancy soooooooooo difficult.