I barely know who Hailey Baldwin is. This is what I know about her: she’s the daughter of Stephen Baldwin. She’s trying to do the nepotism/Instamodel thing but it’s not really sticking. And she dated Justin Bieber for a few months this year. Oh, and she’s tight (sort of) with Kendall Jenner and the Hadid sisters. That’s all I know about her. Honestly, I still find it difficult to pick this girl out of a line-up. She looks like a dozen other blonde Instamodels. She probably knows that too, which is why she’s trying to break apart from the pack. What’s one of the easiest ways to do that? Pick a fight with a BIG target and hope to mobilize some social media interest, I guess. Hailey Baldwin is picking a fight with Taylor Swift and the Swifty Squad. I hope Hailey came to play, because Tay-Tay has a long-ass memory for petty grudges.
While some of her close pals such as Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner have been linked to Taylor Swift’s famous girl squad, model Hailey Baldwin wants nothing to do with the Shake It Off hitmaker’s star-studded friendship circle. Speaking to Be, the 20-year-old who has launched her own range of cosmetics with ModelCo, says: “I don’t understand the Taylor Swift squad at all”.
“I don’t know what having a squad means. I just have my friends and that’s it,” adds the daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin. “I don’t think that you need to create a public squad. I don’t know what that proves. So I don’t really understand the Taylor Swift squad at all.”
This is basically the Instamodel version of the more nuanced and thoughtful position that Rowan Blanchard took a year ago – Blanchard’s argument (which she made when she was just 14 years old) was that “the ‘squads’ we see in the media are very polarizing. Feminism and friendship are supposed to be inclusive, and most of these ‘squads’ are strictly exclusive. It makes feminism look very one dimensional… ‘Squad goals’ can polarize anyone who is not white, thin, tall and always happy.” I think Hailey’s argument is more about how she doesn’t get the whole idea behind performative friendships, the same performative friendships that seem to be at the heart of Taylor’s squad in particular. Who cares if you’re true-blue friends if you can’t Instagram your friendship and publicly perform acts of friendship and walk on stage during Tay-Tay’s tour? Is it really friendship if there’s a performative aspect to it?
If Taylor is smart, she wouldn’t even bother to shun Hailey. Hailey can be manipulated. She can be “turned” and brought into the squad of doom. Olivia will have the application faxed over, Hailey.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Nobody does.
Oh it’s perfectly understandable.
Taylor needed to rebrand herself as the feminist cool girl, and the squad members needed publicity. It’s a win win situation. Or was because now people can se trough it.
Eh, just probably butt-hurt she’s not part of it.
In a tough competition, she manages to be one of the worst nepotism models.
But I do agree, this type of performative friendship is strange. And you can’t be close to 30 people. Half of those friendships must be very superficial.
meh, aren’t we all like this? we have maybe 3/4 friends who we’re really close to and the rest are more acquaintances we hang around with. the difference is that taylor publicises it.
The difference is most of us don’t call our coworkers that we have lunch with or go to happy hours with our BFF squad. We acknowledge that they are people we like at work or something but they aren’t our close friends. And the thing is it’s smart to do this it’s networking.
Look for me if Taylor wants to do this it’s fine and her business, and if it works for her marketing then go for it I guess she is just approaching her network differently but it’s a different business.
‘The difference is most of us don’t call our coworkers that we have lunch with or go to happy hours with our BFF squad.’
have you ever been on facebook? i see tons of people doing exactly that, even people doing it to me, calling me friend while i barely knew them.
But who named it “the squad”? Was it Taylor or the media? Either way there is no need to have so many friends…you only need one or two good ones. The more “friends” you have, the more drama. That being said, I can’t take anything Hailey says seriously…she is in a “squad” of her own with Kendall, Gigi, etc. They all seem like snobs to me.
“I don’t think that you need to create a public squad. I don’t know what that proves”
Has she been living under a rock for the last couple years? It proves Taylor is the most popular, the most powerful, the most wanted, the most beautiful princess in the world. Well, at least according to Taylor. There is no need for her “squad” otherwise. I don’t care if Taylor is friends with all of them genuinely (which she is not), but what annoys me is the constant showcase of it all. I wonder if she’ll continue this in her 30’s.
She had some sort of one sided drama (aka, her throwing shade ) with Selena a while ago over Justin, so her comments are not surprising.
Is Ok Hailey , we don’t Understand you being a thing either… so we’re all confused together
She has Daddy’s “duh” face.
Ahahaha! Some things you are just blessed with at birth.
yeah, it’s weird! it’s like looking at a younger stephen baldwin, except with a slightly feminine twist to his features!
Bahaha, buurn.
Does her squad still exist? I don’t really see them together anymore etc
I just thought squads were exercises that trainers fromNew Jersey yell at you to do when you’ve eaten too much cake since your last session.
LOL!
So basically a squad is a bunch of friends but it upsets people to hear that because why?
I call my friends my squad sometimes. It’s literally just another word for friends. I don’t get why people make such a big deal about it.
And the comment criticizing Taylor for having a big group of friends. Can somebody explain why this is a bad thing?
Yeah it’s just kind of become a trendy word – like ‘tribe’ or ‘gang’ or whatever… I don’t know why anyone is asking this girl what she thinks of it though. At least Taylor and her squad are mostly people with actual jobs…
“….she doesn’t get the whole idea behind performative friendships,…”
Men do build careers with “squad” help all the time. Most just prefer to keep it more under wraps than Taylor. Exeption- Leo’s pack.
“…Feminism and friendship are supposed to be inclusive….”
I don’t agree. I may demonstrate and fight for the equal rights of my neighbour but I’d socialize with her when the hell freezes over.
“…Feminism and friendship are supposed to be inclusive….”
I don’t get this either. Just because I believe in gender equality doesn’t mean I have to like or be friends with all women. I don’t like all men either and don’t want to socialise with those I don’t like.
It’s about choice not about being friends with everyone.
Everyone is just exhausted with how fake Taylor is. The Pussy Posse is gross but at least they’re all actually pals. Taylor collects people when they’re relevant and drops them when they’re not.
Yes! Some people you just don’t get along with or want to hang out with. Nothing against them, you may just not have anything in common with them, or anything to talk about, or your personalities may not mesh…or a million other reasons. No big deal as long as you aren’t cruel to them. You are allowed to be picky with who you allow into your life!
Considering the serious issues that Selena Gomez is trying to wade through, Hailey Baldwin is never going to be a part of that squad.
She will never be in “the squad” because of Selena and their Bieber connection. If she had never dated him, she would be in with that group right now and probably more famous than she is.
lol does this girl exist to make the lesser hadid look like a thing?
They just want their own club, like the Rat Pack. Which also got pretty large as everyone wanted in. It’s harmless.
…but its tough being out of a squad your friends are in…feeling lov for pia mia….I know theyre all ok financially but still….
Hailey keeps bringing this up. Get over it girl, you look so desperate to join