Taylor Swift is crazy rich. Her records sell like hot cakes. She’s inevitably the #1 in iTunes downloads. Her tours are incredibly successful, by any measure. But you can never be too rich, so of course Taylor has incredibly lucrative endorsement deals with Diet Coke, Keds, Apple and now AT&T. Tay-Tay has teamed with AT&T for something called Taylor Swift Now. I don’t know what it is or how it works, but yeah, the ad is pretty cute:
It’s cute. Here are some “outtakes” where she’s talking to her cat, Olivia. Olivia is such a grumpy kitty! It’s sort of hilarious.
Meanwhile, did you know that Taylor Swift’s favorite video director Joseph Kahn is kind of awful? Kahn directed Bad Blood (the Mean Girl anthem), Blank Space (Tay trying to be self-aware about her boy drama), Wildest Dreams (neo-colonial nightmare), Out of the Woods, and most recently, Look What You Made Me Do. Kahn is also something of a Swift surrogate, sent out to do some of the weirdly thin-skinned and racist work of Team Swift. Well, Kahn is still mad that people thought he and Taylor were homage-ing Beyonce’s Lemonade/Formation. So he said this to the LAT:
“It’s not ‘Formation’ at all. They try to say she’s wearing a black crop top and Beyoncé wore a black crop top. But they don’t realize in 2015 in ‘Bad Blood,’ Taylor Swift was wearing a black crop top. I really do think, by the way, that Beyoncé copied ‘Bad Blood.’”
No. NO BEYONCE DID NOT COPY BAD BLOOD. For the love of God. Beyonce “copies” a lot of artists, Beyonce homages a lot of artists, and Beyonce doesn’t always give credit to those artists. But Taylor Swift is not one of those artists. And let’s not pretend that the “Taylor is doing a cheap imitation of Formation” complaints are just about crop tops.
Photos courtesy of AT&T and the ‘LWYMMD’ video/WENN.
OH HELL NO HE DIDN’T
Maybe he was joking? Cos its insane to freak out over piece of clothing. Which people did.
Kahn is a bit of a trollish dick, and Yh he was just trolling the Beyhive . He replied to Perez Hilton on twitter that he was, he seems to like drama on his feed.
Maybe, but I can’t appreciate any joke coming from this particular piece of sh*t.
It’s obvious he was joking. He’s commenting on how silly it is to say something is copied when it’s a very common thing, like dancing in a line or wearing a black top.
Beyonce did bring back that triangular dance formation though. It’s definitely become a thing because of her. When was the last decade you saw that, hands on hips, before she did it at the Superbowl?
First of all I think you guys have lost it!! Triangular dance formations have been done forever. Let’s see Britney, Michael, Bruno, J.Low and if anything Taylor’s crop top triangular dance line looks like Robert Palmer satire to me. Yes people beside Beyonce have been doing it with dancers recently, not just at the Super Bowl. No one needed to bring it back it didn’t go away!! Watch Dance Moms and see how many groups perform in a triangular formation. Yet Beyonce brought it back. Sure, if you think so.
I find the Taylor commentators and stories so funny, as it is obvious you guys hate her and want her to fail. That’s fine, but you overanalyze everything. The reality is she is like every other pop princess that came along before her. Whether she lasts longer it’s hard to tell. Cause honestly, I think a lot of people thought Madonna was going to flame out when she came out too. I lived through all of that, and the ones who say I’m wrong and Madonna was great and critically amazing are full of it or total Madonna loonies, and you are talking to someone who went to her Like a Virgin tour. Ironically the Swifters will be saying the same thing about Taylor in a few decades. One similarity she has with Madonna, aside from the lack of vocal chops, is she is a good marketer of her brand. Either her or her handlers seem to know how to do that.
@WeAreAllMadeofStars
Madonna wore black and knee high boots at the 2012 Super Bowl halftime show. She utilized the V formation with hands on hips, as did her female dancers. Janet Jackson did it in 2004.
Just get her off the sides of UPS trucks.
LOL. Yes!
lol as much as I wouldn’t mind her being on ours , I did see one today in the UK , and she isn’t on them . I’m in Birmingham, but I don’t know about anywhere else .
I saw her on one yesterday parked over by North Station. I’m glad you warned me, LP!
I would LOVE to see Miss Olivia Benson Swift on the side of a UPS truck though 😀
My horrific experience was in front of DSW in Downtown Crossing. I might have to give up shoes.
I’ve been waiting on an important package for two weeks because of Harvey, so at this point I’d kill to see one of those trucks with her goofy mug on it.
I will never use UPS again. Mercifully I have been spared a sighting thus far.
Omg, does it matter?? Musicians copy other musicians and have always done so. Who cares about any of this?? Urgh 😠
They all need to give credit to Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul for those video moves.
And Paula was actually the Jacksons choreographer too.
Yes they do! Paula did so much back in the day.
It does matter–when Beyoncé took Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s choreography in Countdown it felt like Pepsi putting the Girl with the Pearl Earring on the side of their cans.
But of course Swiftie and surrogates deflected responsibility. That’s part of the new/(old) persona, right? Look what lemonade made me do…
I’m confused – weren’t you just talking about Beyoncé stealing an entire choreography routine? What did Tay Tay steal?
It really doesn’t matter and I can’t believe adults are taking part in a “me first”, “no me” arguement.
I’m wearing jeans, a tshirt, and sneakers today. I’m sure I am copying somebody 😉
Oops I commented above and forgot Janet and Paula so true, but Paula will tell you she stole from Michael who stole from Bob Fosse, and so I’m sure he stole from someone too, just not old enough to know who.
I am so glad you mentioned Bob Fosse, its so rare to find anyone who will acknowledge that Michael copied Fosse, and the fact I’ve not found any video/text where Michael credits this man makes me not so into Michaels videos as I used to be. “Rich Man’s Fugg” is one of the most exciting performances. I’ve got it on my phone and watch it often.
Kahn is the worst. Just the worst. One of the reasons I started giving Swift major side-eye (rather than just finding her annoying) is because she’s so close to that douche despite him regularly putting his misogyny and racism on full display.
Really do tell! I hate celebrities with mouth pieces like Kim K (Jonathan Cebran?) and Taylor (Ruby Rose, Joseph Khan etc) either have the balls to speak up publicly or keep it shut like Beyonce who never acknowledges anything.
Just add his twitter. It won’t take long.
He’s constantly showing his ass.
I would find it cute if I didn’t find everything she does annoying or secretly terrible.
Agreed, it would be cute if she wasn’t everywhere, at all times. I think she’d get even more popular if she just realized she doesn’t have to slam our faces in the Taylor cake 24/7.
She doesn’t know any other way. Its the ego
This formation rumour copycat is so stupid,i cannot believe i am about to defend her..but come on, this is a very common stance that singers and their dancers take. You can youtube any Madonna, Janet Jackson,Jennifer Lopez etc video and see the same ‘formation.’
It’s not just the ‘formation’, it’s the setting and some of the dance moves.
All very Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul.
And Donna Summer’s old videos. And Pat Benatar’s.
The body only moves in so many ways
I would like to actually hear his comment. Does anyone else think he may have been sarcastic to make a point about recycled imagery in general? Neither Bey or Tay own crop tops or standing in line with dancers.
No the snake emoji can’t be funny.
Terrible person, horrible music.
I think he is just being sarcastic. I checked his Twitter and he seems to be trolling 99% of the time
I still think she’s trying to be Kesha.
Her hair is a bigger disaster than malibu
A) Kahn is a troll. He says these things because he knows people will get riled up and talk about it. Don’t feed the troll people!
B) “Are you just a melting snowman?” made me laugh lol
C) How successful can something like Taylor Swift Now be? I get that right now it would be because the album is about to be released but realistically, in like a year, what will they be playing on it?
Of course she named her cat Olivia (eye roll). She’s so basic, the name Olivia has become like black leggings and pumpkin spice latte. I swear every other little girl is named Olivia right now. Go ahead, get offended, but people NEED to stop naming their kids Olivia and Jackson. If she gets a dog it will surely he named Jackson.
My son started preschool yesterday. In a class of 14 three-year-olds there were THREE Jacksons. Come on now! Just one Olivia, so she was lucky to probably be experiencing the only school year of her life when she’s the only Olivia in the class.
Taylor! You basic! No amount of money can buy away the basicness.
Olivia is a pretty name and here it’s a hommage to Olivia Benson. And what’s wrong with black leggings? And with you, btw?
Alright Babs, it’s ok if you like black leggings. I wear them too. I’m just joking around about how something becomes basic if every single person has it going on.
And what’s wrong with ME? Hmmm surely you don’t have all day for me to tell you about it haha.
Yeah…she has two Scottish Folds named after Meredith Grey and Olivia Benson.
I don’t get why this is so enraging to OP?
Also, my friend’s son is named Jackson and I happen to really like the name. Better than the boring-ass Toms, Peters, Mikes, Davids etc that I grew up with.
Well my brother’s cat is named Olivia too, so it’s not even a unique cat name! And Avas, Jacksons, Emilys, Sophias, Chloes, Jaydens, Bradens, Aidans, and Cadens *are* the Toms, Davids and Peters of today.
I know that “basic” is the go-to insult for successful female performers (of all races and ethnicities) but do stop to consider that it isn’t the all-consuming insult you think it is. Taylor Swift really does not care if you, person on the Internet, thinks she’s basic.
Why would Taylor care when she already has you caring far too much about a silly comment on a gossip blog?
Oh I don’t know, because ThirsTay has a proven track record of caring what absolutely everyone thinks about her all day every day?
Yes, you caught me. I fully admit that I very much care when people use intersectional feminism to disguise what is mostly just plain old-fashioned misogyny. It demeans the good work of intersectionality to keep using it as a way to justify people’s unwillingness to accept that they have been socialized to hate smart, ambitious, successful women.
Judging someone for naming their cat Olivia? How old are you?
Her family dog is a Great Dane called Kitty , so nope not Jackson 😏
If she could tap into her less petty, victimized , white privileged self, I think she could reach Jay Z level of business success. I think she’s insanely smart and seems to have a talent for that kind of thing. She falls short bc she’s so damn petty all of the time. Yes, Jay wasn’t always an angel, but he woke up and knuckled down big time. I’d love to see TS do the same
So….basically then she isn’t that smart, right?
I love Beyonce’s music. Does she contribute to the song writing in any way? She sings the crap out of it.
I don’t like Taylor’s music, but give her credit for writing it.
Either way – pop stars can’t really complain about people copying their style as they roll in their millions. They get churned out of a cookie cutter. Blah blah bland.
Plus – cute kitty. Respect for your kitty love Taylor. Hope you throw some money at Houston’s homeless furballs.
Nobody is talking about her kitties for whatever reason so I will. As some of you know, I love them because I have two Scottish Folds as well.
They are the sweetest cats and have so much personality. ♥
I just came on here to say I’m here for the cats. No matter how problematic Taylor can be, her love of (and sense of humor about) her cats warms my cold bitter soul. Lol.
Same! Cat people need to stick together 😀
I agree. Watching the second video, I felt a flicker of … warmth? love? in my cold, black heart. Now I wish I had a kitty to snuggle.
I’m a cat people too. Hers are really cute. Two days ago, I put my 14-years-old beloved kitty to sleep and my heart is broke. She had pancreatic cancer and started suffering and stopped eating. I feel horrible.
I will never forget her. She hated other cats so she was the only one in the house. Living without a cat is…an empty life. I’m waiting for her ashes and then I will go to the pet shelter.
Sorry to derail but I just thought I could talk about it here because it’s eating me inside.
@Babs, sorry for your loss.
My little one devoured the contents of her food bowl this morning in one swallow, then proceeded to vomit all over the house. But I can’t imagine the world without her.
I’m so sorry for your loss Babs. It’s heartbreaking to lose a pet. Thinking of you.
Oh no Babs…I’m so sorry. My oldest is 9 and I can make myself cry just thinking of her passing. You gave her a long life and I’m sure she was grateful for that.
*hugs*
That’s awful, I’m sorry Babs. You gave her a lovely long life and made a really tough decision when the time was right. You did good by her.
What was she like?
Thank you all for your kind thoughts. Yes it’s really awful when they leave. She was, I don’t know how it’s said in English, a house cat, no particular breed. A big beautiful brown tabby and a true boss. I got her in 2003, the very Day I left my parent’s house for my own place. I was 20 and she was with me this whole time. Now she’s gone and there’s a hole in my heart.
What do you feel about the Scottish government considering putting a ban on breeding Scottish Folds because of their genetic mutation that causes them to have short and painful lives?
TBH I wish a lot more was done to stop over breeding of cats/dogs that are so say the “hot” breed right now. My mum has a rescued Persian male Ambrose who is not even 2 yet , and if it wasn’t for a great insurance policy and fantastic vets i would have Broke parents, and a dead cat. Sadly the British government would rather cruelly punish innocent dogs that look a certain way than doing anything constructive.
How do I feel?
I feel like I should suggest that you do more research.
As long as they are bred British Shorthair to Scottish Fold or folded-ear Scottish Fold to straight-eared Scottish Fold they are found to be 100% healthy and extremely sturdy cats. The only time they are born with genetic and musculoskeletal issues is when they are bred folded-ear Scottish Fold to folded-ear Scottish Fold.
Again, go to a trusted breeder, read reviews, meet the cat’s parents etc. I met both sets of parents of my kitties so I could see that my girl’s mom was straight-eared and her dad was folded. My boy’s mom was a British Shorthair and his dad a folded-ear Scottish Fold.
Most Scottish Fold breeders are extremely ethical and careful in terms of how they breed. Nobody wants to sell a sick cat to someone. It’s hard enough to get a decent-sized litter with Folds but it would surely be the end of a breeder’s career to breed sick cats.
Also, if you think they live “short and painful” (lol) lives perhaps you should follow Maru. He’s a ten year old Scottish Fold and arguably the most popular kitty on the internet aside from Grumpy Cat and he is happy and healthy.
@ Jaii-Scottish Folds have been around forever. I had a million cat books as a kid and even though I grew up with rescues, I always loved Folds. They have always been an incredibly rare breed that is in no danger of being overbred.
I am totally going to call my cat the Princess of Meowtown now.
Wrong spot
Hear hear for the kitties, although I have to say Olivia looked pissed off at being handled…and Folds are generally sweet affectionate floofotters.
I’m so sorry for your pain Babs, doesn’t matter whether it’s 2 legs or 4, the death of a family member is painful. Hope you’d be giving your heart some healing and saving a fur baby soon.
I’ve no problems with stricter regulation regarding high risk breeds. Being a rescuer and foster fur mom, the things I’ve seen people put animals through for money can be depressing. But Folds are not inherently faulty as a breed, it’s the greedy, ignorant and unethical breeders trying to ensure maximum success for the coveted triple fold ears by breeding Fold to Fold that’s damaging the cats and polluting the gene pool. My aunt has had Folds and straights for decades and they have always been sturdy and lived long generally healthy lives up to mid or late teens.
Oops, took to long to post this, so editing to say YES to kitten for the thorough explanation
It is also important that people research and pick the animal whose needs will fit into their lifestyle or personality. If you don’t have time to brush a cat regularly, don’t get a Persian cat, no matter how beautiful you think they are, is one of the easier examples of this. One of my chores as a kid was to brush our Persian daily. Mats would form very quickly otherwise. If you must have a long-hair, look into a cat like a Maine Coon whose fur is a bit coarser and doesn’t tangle as easily, but be aware that you’re now considering a much bigger cat. There’s even more problems with dog breeds. Dalmatians become trendy ever time Disney does a 101 Dalmatian release and then shelters get abandoned Dalmatians. Another breed that gets chosen for the wrong reasons is the beagle. People think “cute, small dog” but beagles are really big hunting hounds in a compact body. They howl, they tunnel, they dig, they chew through doors, they need outside space, they’re really smart and stubborn and organized and need to be in charge. One of my brothers is involved with beagle rescues.
Agreed completely Lightpurple.
The trends regarding live animals REALLY REALLY are a bane for us. The huskies are now being at risk because they look a lot like the dire wolves from GoT, just like owls from HP or Dalmatians you mentioned.
I hate it when animals are bought for their looks without proper research and then abandoned or abused when the people can’t be bothered to do the work. And dogs suffer far more because of their extreme loyalty. Bless your brother for his kind effort.
I do bengals and exotics especially because they need a bit more work before re homing, but plenty of regular domestic breeds get abused too simply because people don’t read up prior or believe horrid myths like rag dolls being ok with excessive rough handling just because they re so sweet and tolerant.
“it’s the greedy, ignorant and unethical breeders trying to ensure maximum success for the coveted triple fold ears by breeding Fold to Fold that’s damaging the cats and polluting the gene pool.”
EXACTLY. I think that happens less and less these days though, honestly, and I think a big reason for that is that you can’t hide from the internet.
Breeders have websites and customer reviews–people will find out very quickly if they are breeding sick cats. FYI, http://www.catsandkittens.com, http://www.animalnetwork.com/cats, and
http://www.breedlist.com are all great resources for breeder referrals.
Honestly, the triple-folds are adorable but the straight-eared Folds are just as cute and the double-folds as well.
My girl is a double-fold and my boy is like a..half-fold haha. He just looks like a Brit Shorthair with semi-floppy ears.
This has been the most excitement I’ve had all week! Yay for cat talk. I rarely get to talk to people who know anything about Folds so thanks for the convo, LokiGal 😀
@LP-My friend has a rescue beagle and she is a nice dog but oh my god the health problems! She has separation anxiety and is constantly on meds. She also eats EVERYTHING–and I mean, EVERY. SINGLE. THING.
In addition to Dalmatians, some bully breeds like bulldogs can have very serious health issues.
I think a lot of them have just been over-bred.
Me too kitten, I don’t get much opportunity to talk Folds for fun online either.
Your Folds sound adorable. The half and doubles are very cute to me, they look like owls.
The motley bunch of cats I have personally are those not suitable for re homing. The one Fold I have was triple folded initially but her tips began pointing up shortly after we got her, apparently pregnancy sometimes does that for Folds. Anyway, she is unusually breed divergent, she is chatty loving with me but I think because she was dumped for being runty small and not great for breeding her disposition now is grumpy and unfriendly (with strangers) probably from her past before she was rescued. The biggest problem is that people want them for cheap and go to backyard breeders. Those are the biggest culprits for many cases for over bred and damaged lines I think.
Oh wow I didn’t know pregnancy could do that to their ears! I notice that my cats’ ears are floppier/tighter in winter and more pop-y/straighter in summer.
I’m not sure if it’s because they shed so much that their folds just *look* different or if their ears naturally turn up a bit when it’s hotter out.
Poor baby. Sounds like she had a tough go at the start of her life. She’s lucky to have you 🙂
I love sassy kitties, though.
Honestly, my boy is a bit like your gal. He gets very territorial/feisty with company but he’s a huge teddy bear/lovebug with me. My girl loves everyone though–super friendly.
Agree with you so much about backyard breeders. If people really want a fold they can try to find a rescue at http://www.scottishfoldrescue.com (I never have any luck-the rescues are never available around here) or expect to pay a decent chunk of change. The breeder where I got my boy just sold a triple-fold for $1200! O_O
@Kitten, sorry to hear your friend’s beagle has health problems. The one we had growing up had ear problems, which is common, and needed surgery for a slipped disc but otherwise lived a healthy 16 years. And yes, they eat EVERYTHING. Ours also chewed through a door and ate part of the carpet.
My Maine Coon seems to have a pica issue. Plastic bags or plastic wrap. She loves to chew plastic
Light purple, pica in cats can be a symptom for a whole range of things from escalation of wool sucking behaviour, simple curiosity and taste testing, to more worrying causes like deficiency in something they aren’t getting. I hope your cat is fine and it’s nothing serious.
Kitten, the ears do sometimes perk up in heat (literally as well as in estrus) and fold back down in colder temps for some cats, though it doesn’t happen all the time as a breed trait. I love them sassy as well, those tend to fight for survival better and make lively family members. Boys do tend to be like yours a bit more especially if they are intact or have BSH blood in them as they should since the latest practice is to crossbreed SFS with BSH for sturdy build and genetic enrichment.
Yup, triples do cost a pretty penny and I think my girl was bred too early when she was too small and rather than pay for the medical treatment etc, they dumped her especially after her ears unfolded, I think . The rescue connected with my aunt because of her SFS background and from there she came into my hands. I’m the lucky one. She is the princess over here.
God bless you for checking on the rescues, too many out there especially bengals and savannahs being dumped once they grow bigger. And they’re a handful too.
I thought it was established that home girl copied Britney’s Toxic look for Bad Blood?
I’ve blocked and reported AT&T and UPS and every ad featuring this fool of a woman from every social media account I have hahahaha It’s the little pleasures in life you know?
LOL! Yep, I do know 😉
khan maybe a troll but his vids are beautiful. Now a days western music vids are either bland or weird.
Yeah I’m a huge Taylor fan but no Joseph Kahn, no. Formation was not a copy of Bad Blood.
Nor was LWYMMD a copy of Formation either.
I think these are cute but I hate how she disables comments on all her IG posts.
He’s being sarcastic
Check out his twitter and you’ll understand his personality pretty fast
Hes funny too
These videos are clearly designed for you to see what she wants you to see. My opinion of her is unchanged.
Her sales have not had legs. Her songs have dropped in iTunes.
That video with Olivia slays me! I can’t hate on anyone who loves their kitty, and this is the most likable I’ve ever found Tay Tay.
She’s really not even dancing in much of the video, and to my admittedly untrained eye the moves seemed relatively generic, like, moves I’ve seen a million times in a million other videos. I think she’s even said she’s not much of a dancer. I have to say, the amount of overanalyzation this video has gotten makes her or someone in her team a total marketing genius. Maybe we all just needed the brief brain relaxation between worrying about hurricanes, Trump, fires and our actual lives. So hell, for that I salute you Tay, Katy, Kim, Kanye, Beyonce, basically anyone bringing the pretty much pointless gossip at this point.
Zac Efron’s hummingbird guitar from Ellen is just casually sitting in the back when her white cat enters the scene. That’s odd. I’m pretty sure it’s Zac’s guitar because on Ellen he was like; “You can use my guitar… And I’ll use your cool guitar…” Which was her “Baby Taylor” brand (overly signed) guitar he was using and she was using his. That guitar only was on Ellen.. Never seen after.. Pretty sure it’s Zac’s… Weird how she randomly pulled it out and makes it showcase in the video.. Despite not being apart of ‘Speak Now.’