Taylor Swift’s album, Lover, comes out on August 23rd. That’s why she’s on the September issue of Vogue, that’s why she’s been posting so much stuff to social media, and that’s why she had a big, juicy summer beef with Scooter Braun. Regarding the Vogue profile, I’m guilty of speed-reading it, which is what I often do with big cover profiles I want to post quickly. So I missed this significant part of the profile where Taylor spoke about the months after the Receipts of 2016, the months after the #TaylorSwiftIsCancelledParty. Those were the months of Tom Hiddleston and the worldwide Tiddlebanging Love Tour, but sure, the narrative Taylor wants to create three years later is that she went dark and that she HAD to go dark, because Kim and Kanye and the world were all bullying her and cancelling her and calling her a snake.
Those heady late-summer and early-fall months were also the last months of the 2016 presidential election. Taylor notably did not endorse any candidate in that election, she waited until 2018 to “come of the political closet” as a LGBTQ ally and progressive-leaning voter. I always thought that Taylor didn’t do anything in the 2016 election because A) her then-enemy Katy Perry was Hillary Clinton’s big celebrity fundraiser/performer and B) because Taylor still didn’t want to shut down the neo-Nazis in her fanbase. But as she told Vogue, there was another reason she didn’t speak out in 2016:
I get a sense of the whiplash Swift experienced when I notice that, a few months into this ordeal, while she was writing the songs that would become her album Reputation—and fighting off Mueller’s lawsuit—a portion of the media and internet began demanding to know why she hadn’t un-canceled herself long enough to take a position in the presidential election.
On that: “Unfortunately in the 2016 election you had a political opponent who was weaponizing the idea of the celebrity endorsement. He was going around saying, I’m a man of the people. I’m for you. I care about you. I just knew I wasn’t going to help. Also, you know, the summer before that election, all people were saying was She’s calculated. She’s manipulative. She’s not what she seems. She’s a snake. She’s a liar. These are the same exact insults people were hurling at Hillary. Would I be an endorsement or would I be a liability? Look, snakes of a feather flock together. Look, the two lying women. The two nasty women. Literally millions of people were telling me to disappear. So I disappeared. In many senses.”
Did Taylor Swift really compare “being canceled on Twitter” to Donald Trump and the Russians manipulating the American electorate into voting (fake voting) for a white supremacist and sexual assailant? Don’t get me wrong, I would absolutely understand it if Taylor’s argument was “I was a Hillary supporter and I didn’t want Hillary to take the heat for my own personal drama.” That would be thoughtful political commentary. But that’s not the argument Tay’s making, right? It’s like she’s saying that what was happening to her – being called out for misrepresenting what she said to Kanye West – was the same thing Hillary was facing. And… I can’t.
(Also: it’s SO WEIRD that Taylor didn’t have to answer any Vogue questions about Tom Hiddleston and the Tiddlebanging Worldwide Tour, right? That doesn’t go along with the narrative she’s crafted about that moment in her life.)
Speaking of narratives, Taylor posted some photos from Vogue on her social media and the one about “borrowed” and “blue” has people convinced that she’s about to announce her engagement to Joe Alwyn. Tay-Tay Snake-Alwyn.
My heart’s been borrowed and yours has been blue. All’s well that ends well, to end up with you. 💙 pic.twitter.com/CECesxb8do
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) August 8, 2019
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) August 8, 2019
Photos courtesy of Vogue.
Eh, I like Taylor. For all the harm done in this world, I don’t know what I’m supposed to find so terrible about her. (that is not an invitation people).
I also don’t get it. She’s made mistakes, absolutely, but people act like she’s Satan.
I agree with you both. She seems normal and just trying to be herself. Never saw the harm other have seen. But I’m also older and view through a different lens.
Yeah I agree. I think what she says here makes sense. But you know, people will rage anyway.
I like Taylor and her music. That is all.
Clearly Taylor has felt the pain of SM bullying, yet remains oblivious to how her own actions and behaviors result in that same pain for others. Some thick skinned people can’t understand how awful being attacked with words can be, but for others it results in huge consequences such as anxiety and depression. She needs to reflect on her own bad behaviors too. I know Kanye was aweful to her. But how about all those others?
I’ve never thought about her much one way or the other but yes, I don’t think she’s a horrible person.
I don’t think she’s a horrible person. But I do think she needs to be more open and honest about how her own actions inform a situation. I’ve never once heard her publicly admit to any of her own less than ideal behavior. She hasn’t accepted that she started the public feud with Katy, it was “the media.” She hasn’t accepted that she mishandled the Kanye receipts thing from the get go – she may have been angry about being called that bitch, but she wasn’t honest about how the conversation went because she didn’t know she was on video when she spoke to him. She hasn’t even accepted responsibility for writing rude song lyrics about people – she pivots and says that “Ed Sheeran doesn’t have people saying things about him writing about relationships” but Ed Sheeran also didn’t leave liner notes that let you clearly figure out who the song was about.
I don’t think she’s Satan or a terrible person, but I think she’s a bit oblivious to her own actions.
Kimye, Katy and Taylor are all wealthy privileged people. I just can’t get worked up about their interactions and supposed bullying of each other, I’ll save my concern for people who need it. It’s all for publicity anyway.
I mean, it’s celebrity gossip and we’re on a celebrity gossip site, so…
Right, I’m just saying I can’t get irate about how they supposedly treat each other.
I like her a lot. My daughter and I have been to two of her concerts and they were fantastic. I’m giggling though because I can picture Kimye getting ticked that Anna put Taylor on the cover.
I can’t speak for others, but for me, she’s the personification of cultural double standards. I don’t hate her, but find her exceptionally frustrating.
Bingo.
Agreed. I think she was saying that she didn’t want her mistakes to impact the HC campaign. I don’t think she compares her issues to that of the Russian interference. Let’s not forget DT literally told the country he was for the people and celebrities who
Challenged him were all senseless liberals.
She’s too banal for me to have feelings about her either way. But her non endorsement of Clinton is irrelevant. Clinton had the endorsements of virtually every other dipshit in the entertainment industry and what good did it do her?
Well, she’s right to say she got similar insults as HRC. But she’s ignoring the context behind the insults. And that HRC was also accused of things like murder and child sex trafficking, and the propaganda behind those accusations. Ultimately she ignores that HRC had it much worse. Still has it worse.
But her point is she simply didn’t think endorsing HRC would help her win. And I think that’s a valid point. But probably also not true, cause I’m pretty sure the real reason she didn’t endorse HRC was because she thought it would hurt her (Taylor’s) brand, not vice versa.
I think saying that she “couldn’t” endorse Hillary because it might hurt her is a total cop-out. Of course she was more worried about her brand and not Hillary. Which is fine, so she should have probably jus kept her mouth shut instead of coming out with this tortured rationalization.
And yeah, her not acknowledging how much worse things have been and still are for Hillary is pretty ignorant. So many people truly believe that Hillary has a “kill list” and a team of assassins taking out her enemies left and right, ffs. I can’t.
If only the last were true Esmom. lol
I meeeeeean….she didn’t want a target on her back. Coming out put it there. She was right. Kid Rock just said she wants an acting career so bad she’s aligning Democrat and sucking d to get it. People think she has a victim complex, but she’s not making it up
I think your last sentence is dead on. She didn’t endorse Hillary because she thought it would hurt her, Taylor Swift. And that’s okay – but don’t pretend otherwise. All the nonsense about “celebrities supporting Hillary” and how that was a bad look – only bc Dems let it be, Trump was just jealous the celebs weren’t turning out in droves for him.
Like someone said below, Taylor was thinking of the Dixie Chicks.
I can’t with the “dancing” pictures. I cringed so hard when I saw those.
I can’t with the way they photoshoped her legs in those pictures! In the blue one, it seems like her left leg is coming out of her vagina :/
Thank you! The inward turned foot. The wonky side arabesque thingy. The graceless arms and struggle mouth (I recognize it because that’s how I always looked in class — because I sucked!). Totally cringed!
It’s so cheesy! And her hair is awful.
So glad you commented about her awful ‘dancer’ poses. I think that is how she self identifies and we are supposed to go along with it unquestioning.
I am bored by her never accepting she is sometimes an arse who messes up.
Imagine if Beyonce acted like TS. With the lying, accussations of bullying and hounding from all and sundry, rewriting history and endless drama. She would have been annihilated
I hate the double standard TS enjoys.
Also these standards prevent her from being forced to change or grow into a better person. We enable her tbh
I think she’s also saying Donald Trump was using Hillary’s celebrity endorsements against her (and doing so successfully). I noticed that as well. I’ve really liked this interview. I still roll my eyes at her version of the Katy feud but I suspect we’ve all had to tell ourselves a story to justify behavior we’re not proud of.
I agree…the Trump campaign DID successfully weaponize Hilary’s celebrity endorsements. If Taylor had openly supported HRC, Trump would’ve tweeted something about the KimYe recording and it would pull focus from HRC’s campaign to Taylor’s public and personal life. It would have been a detriment to both HRC and Taylor, who would have been accused of hitching her wagon to a presidential candidate to change the public narrative.
Wow this makes a lot of sense !
Yes she in particular seems doomed to be damned if she does damned if she doesn’t.
Why does celebrity endorsement matter? I understand that they can have a powerful voice and can lend valuable support to minority communities but when it comes to the endorsement of a political candidate I don’t understand.
Polling shows celebrity endorsements actually have a negative impact on a candidate, so yeah, it is pretty silly. Chris Matthews of MSNBC even once speculated that Clinton campaigning with celebrities like Katy Perry in Pennsylvania may have handed the state to Trump.
It’s a big mistake to NOW be addressing the 2016 drama and with such a ridiculous narrative to boot. She had three years of silence to come up with something mature and she does this crap instead? I don’t see how “her people” even allow this. She needs media training on how to take some responsibility from time to time.
I’m no expert but Taylor has a lot of influence over a segment of people who’ve never voted before because they were too young. I’d guess they would take an endorsement from her seriously.
Don’t yell at me, but I kind of get her point.
If she had endorsed Hilary, nobody would have thought it was genuine and I could totally see the “snakes of a feather” thing happening.
On the other hand, she would have been just one of many, many celebrity endorsements. She’s overestimating her importance, but I kiiiiiiind of get what she’s saying.
@Maddy, I agree with what you say here. While I’m like, there were a lot of endorsements and hours would have been one of many; I can see why she just stepped back.
What I don’t get is why she didn’t condemn white nationalists. I heard platforms like Briebart news were using her as the face for their ideals. I’m sure her team was aware.
They were aware. Her lawyers sent stuff to a woman who wrote an article specifically about that and her not speaking up against it. I don’t know how this article didn’t ask her about THAT.
To be fair her lawyers also sent cease and desist letters to white nationalist sites (dunno if they sent one to breibart) but that wasn’t as highly publicised as the ACLU case. iirc the Atlantic had an article about that.
I feel like celebrities are so often in an unwinnable situation with social media. When she sent that C&D letter to the blogger who was trying to connect her LWYMMD video to hitler (lol) people criticized her for drawing attention to a small blog and were like “why did she bother no one has ever heard of that blog anyway”. I don’t think Breitbart was actually saying she was an Aryan goddess or whatever. The platform who started that was an actual neo-nazi website (as opposed to breitbart which is not an actual nazi site). Breitbart was just reporting on it (or “reporting”…don’t know if you can actually call that site journalism) IIRC.I think it would have been wise for her to shut it down but I wonder if her team advised her against drawing attention to it.
alternative fact: I’m just not buying that her team didn’t want her to draw attention to it, being she isn’t shy about drawing attention to other things in a very big way. But maybe you are right. Because the only other reason I can think of I don’t want to mention as it’s quite awful & it’s based no facts at all.
She didn’t endorse Hillary because she can’t own criticism without taking it personally and she was already wearing more criticism (much of it earned) that she felt overwhelmed by.
I don’t like it but it’s not my mental wellbeing to preserve. It’s hers.
I personally feel the criticism would have been well worth it. Some of those 52% of white women who voted for Trump could have been influenced or at least maybe taken a second look, had a seed planted had this idealistic version of white womanhood used her experienced and viewpoint to be an advocate.
And yes, Trump and Fox News would have had shit to say but she has a whole anthem for the haters, right? The Snake army would have defended her.
Honestly, the Dixie Chicks are real reason she didn’t do it so….
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head!!! I forgot about the HUGE blow-back they got from the republiTHUG base.
I can’t believe I’m defending Taylor again as I’m not even a fan, but I get what she is saying even if she phrased in an awkward way. Trump was absolutely using celebrity endorsements against Hillary. Hillary obviously endured far more serious abuse which had a far deeper impact than celebrity drama, but she’s right in that both were often deemed “snakes” in the media and I can absolutely see Trump tweeting out some dumb shit like “snakes back snakes.”
But how would that have hurt Taylor in the long run?
Did Taylor say an endorsement from her would hurt Taylor or Hilary?
Okay, so how would it have hurt Hillary?
@DS9 she literally explains how it would have hurt Hillary in her answer.
That’s a ridiculous excuse. I just can’t.
Also she and Joe look like twins which is weird because I think she’s gorgeous and he’s well… not.
So I find this sort of believable, if a bit simplistic in its reasoning, and absolutely in line with what I imagine is the advice she would have gotten from a crisis manager or publicist at the time. Because, yes, while Taylor and Hillary got similar insults for very different reasons, the reality is that online commenters are just not that nuanced. Would they have decided to pile on both of the women for the others perceived wrongs? Yes, that would have absolutely happened (though I’m sure it would have bothered Taylor much more than it would have bothered the campaign, I can respect that Taylor didn’t want to bring that kind of heat on at that point).
Add to that the fact that Kanye was doing the whole MAGA hat thing back then and you’ve got yourself a story that would.never.have.died. It would have been a chaotic story with so many moving parts and something tells me the last thing the Clinton Campaign wanted was for reporters to ask her her opinion on the Taylor/Kanye feud or on the Tiddlebanging Heard Round the World (can you even imagine but they totally would have asked and Fox News would have eaten that stuff up).
Like most things with Taylor, I agree with her general premise but the way she discusses it provokes an eyeroll. Shrug.
That being said, the borrowed and blue lyric is from a song called Lover on her new album, they mentioned that in the Vogue article. She put up another picture with another lyric from a song called The Man that they mentioned as well.
She probably didn’t want to be pitted against Kanye by Donald Trump. Trump has NO boundary. And his ardent supporters, like Kanye, are insane. They would have been burning her in effigy.
Kanye actually didn’t come out as a Trump supporter until the summer of 2017, after the election and once he was already president, if I remember correctly. It was definitely AFTER the election because he said something like “I didn’t vote, but if I had I would have voted for Trump”
Kanye didn’t become pro-Trump until AFTER he had already been elected so…NOPE.
What you actually mean is that Kayne didn’t come out publicly as pro-trump until after the election. It is somewhat to highly likely that people who knew him personally knew he was pro trump long before. That would include Swift.
So…in other words it was all about her and her perpetual victimhood. Shocker.
Yes. To fight white supremacy and nationalism, white people are going to have to risk a little comfort but they won’t, so here will still are and evermore will be.
To be clear, Taylor made a choice of comfort for herself. I do not blame her per se. I can see why she would. She’s under no obligation to do anything else.
But as a biracial woman raising boys of color, one who is the child of an illegal Hispanic immigrant, I have a ton of disdain and frustration with the unwillingness of those who have great privilege being afraid to exercise it. Trump is calling many women nasty women and so much worse as they go about the business of fighting his fascism tooth and nail. And this one here is just, yeah, that would have been like really really hard, guys, to be the butt of an internet joke…
If Swifty never made another dime, she would still remain wealthy and privileged for the rest of her life and yet, she couldn’t bring herself to do this one thing that might have cost her a little popularity but little else.
It’s frustrating but not nearly as frustrating as the inevitable comments in this thread of people not understanding why so many of us find Taylor Swift problematic on virtually every level. I don’t want her gone. She’s not a damned tragedy but she’s is a poor example and a justifiable source of frustration for many.
Exactly
I’m a geopolitical FIEND…have been one for DECADES…
And I TOTALLY get her point…and I agree with it wholeheartedly….What she did in the Senate race is the thing that stood out for me…a race that was thought would be EASILY won by Republicans…they had to pull out ALL OF THE STOPS and spend ALL OF THE MONEY to eek out a win…THAT made a strategic difference and something she can and will build on…
But let’s be real here. That wasn’t because of any political strategy she had. She – like a lot of other white folks post 2016 election – had an “oh, s*it!” moment. That’s literally it. She realized that s*it had gotten real. And her rabid stans all lined up behind her. Now imagine if she had had the moral courage to do that in 2016 and what a difference that would have made?. Im not handing out any cookies to her for what she did with that senate race. She spoke out a few weeks before the election with a few social media posts. Registration to vote had already closed by that point.
First of all…I am going to keep it 100% real…
I don’t have the ability to read minds…so I will not make a definitive statement about her motives for why she did what she did…
Now let’s imagine if EVERYONE acted from THAT paradigm….
What she did had a REAL impact on folks getting out to vote…folks who hadn’t voted at all…(remember…registering to VOTE…and actually VOTING is two TOTALLY different things) and it made the Republicans have to WORK THEIR TAILS OFF for a state that they had in the bag…I’m looking at THOSE facts….
Oh…and keep your cookies
@Lala lol.Oh I’ll keep em’. They’re tasty.
But in all seriousness I feel like in 2019 with the stakes as high as they are we need to stop congratulating celebs for doing the bare minimum of what they are capable of doing.
So many celebs have platforms and do shit-all with them so yeah, it’s notable when a celeb wades into politics when most feel like they have zero obligation to do so.
And it’s possible to say that it’s good that they helped without making it seem like they saved the world.
So yeah, I agree with Lala. *shrugs*
“…they had to pull out ALL OF THE STOPS and spend ALL OF THE MONEY to eek out a win…”
Well, if you’re referring to the senate race in Tennessee, Blackburn won by 11 points. That’s definitely not eeking out a win.
I’ll admit it: I don’t like Taylor Swift. I don’t hate her — I respect her talent and business savvy, and she’s not causing any harm. But I just don’t trust people with such carefully crafted personas.
Everything about Swift is so calculated and tightly controlled. She only makes statements and takes stances when they’re most beneficial to her. I mean, she waited until 2018 to come out as supporting LGBTQ+ people — and now suddenly she’s BFFs with all things rainbow. It all seems so disingenuous. Plus, she’s always pushing the victim narrative and holding grudges, which is narcissistic behavior. The way she burns bridges is a red flag to me.
Again, I don’t think she’s a harmful influence, and she supports a lot of positive causes and ideas. I just get the impression that she’s hidden behind so many defense mechanisms that even she doesn’t know who she truly is.
nothing is ever her fault huh
Well, the election results are definitely not her fault.
As a former dancer, these pics are killing me.
Same here.
Everyone who’s ever watched a video of her dancing knows her attempts at it are cringeworthy – but that they couldn’t even get still photos of her looking remotely like she has an idea what she’s doing…
Any other poses would have been better than that.
Cosign everything you said.
Same…
Lots of people in the world love to dance, even if they don’t do it particularly gracefully or well. The joy is in doing it, even if it’s not perfect.
She probably thought Hiliary had it in the bag so why bother. It would just hurt both of them. Plus her feud with Katy Perry wouldn’t help. Iirc, she did put out a message to get out the vote then. I don’t know why people are ragging on her. Hindsight is everything. She’s becoming political more and more, which I think is awesome. And maybe as nov 2020 nears, she may become even more so.
Beyoncé, a vocal proponent of BLM and PoC issues, endorsed her and didn’t care about any narratives being written about two strong nasty women 🤷🏿♀️
And where did a Beyoncé endorsement get Hillary exactly? Taylor isn’t saying an endorsement would have affected her (Taylor) but how an endorsement would have affected Hillary’s campaign. All of Hillary’s celebrity endorsements backfired. So while all these celebs were trying to help, in the end it didn’t do much of anything. Because in the states that flipped red, the Hillary campaign was being viewed as “out of touch,” with the amount of celebrity endorsements she had. For some unknown reason liberals get so proud when they get celebrity endorsements but the reality is that most Americans don’t care. Most Americans aren’t perched on the internet waiting to see who Beyonce or Taylor Swift endorse. They’re going to vote for the candidate that they feel best represents them OR they vote based on political party.
Not really the point Miles. The point is you either have the courage of your convictions or you don’t. Clearly Taylor made a calculated decision in her own self-interest to not stand up or get involved. She was a coward. And her comments in this interview confirm that.
Yup. But that’s because black women are used to being vilified. We never get over it but it essentially makes you fearless in a lot of ways because no matter what you do it will be criticized so you just do what you think is right.
Agreed.
Endorsing Hillary would not have helped out harmed Hillary, neither would it have helped or harmed Taylor at least not in any sort ig massive, tide turning way.
But it would have helped people feel seen and valued. It would have been one more voice of dissent, one more vocal woman on the news, a woman from the exact background of so many of that 52% who voted for that asshat, one more woman or girl who maybe took another look at politics or their first look into politics.
And if you believe that Tay Tay’s activism in the TN Senate race or whatever was good moves, then surely an endorsement of Hillary or just a repudiation of Trump or anyone rust who ran for lower offices in the cycle would have been good work too.
And I reject the premise that Hillary’s endorsements backfired.
Anyone who might have rejected her for them had already done so.
I thought she was simply saying that she felt her endorsement of Hillary would hurt Hillary’s chances. Sounds fair enough to me. I do think some celebrities can hurt politics more than help it (she’s not Susan Sarandon though). i don’t really understand how one came to the other interpretation given above.
I think she’s correct in saying she probably wouldn’t have helped. If you’re a person who bases your vote based on what Taylor Swift says, then nothing can help you as a person.
“Did Taylor Swift really compare “being canceled on Twitter” to Donald Trump and the Russians manipulating the American electorate into voting (fake voting) for a white supremacist and sexual assailant?”
No, no she didn’t.
I am not a Taylor fan, but come on. This is a stretch too far. She was just saying she didn’t want to attach her negative press to Hillary.
+1
I don’t get the T-S hate either. I’m not a fan of her music (I’ve way aged past it) but I have read so much snark against her that just seems overblown to the context. I remember some vitriol that she wouldn’t endorse a candidate in 2016 but I actually find it ok because it should be her choice and an endorsement of a singer FFS isn’t important nor is it owed to anyone (including fans and public.)
Did you see the disgusting thing Kid Rock just tweeted about Taylor? Yeah.
He is so f*cking vile.
Thanks for bringing that to my attention. Just another everyday ahole that I will
never contribute one penny to their success.
I honestly couldn’t care less about her as a musician or singer or whatever, but when I look at her behavior objectively as a person, she’s just always struck me as so obnoxious and deliberate. You say she seems like an intelligent woman, and she may very well be, but all that thinking she appears to do has always struck me as being completely one-note and one-sided.
I mean, a grown woman who had a “squad” with practically Turnip Toff-level “code of omertà” and feuds? I honestly would not have been surprised if there had been literal Regina Georgeesque Burn Books and color-coded weekend brunches…and if you wore yoga pants on the wrong day, woe betide you the shady lyric coming your way!
Guess which Democrats the billionaires are backing
https://www.google.com/amp/s/splinternews.com/billionaires-love-mayor-pete-and-hate-bernie-1836996172/amp
As a longtime swiftie, I also want to mention that it’s widely rumoured amongst the Snake Fam that her old record label had some kind of gag clause in her contract.
Because the 2018 midterms when Taylor finally spoke out definitively about her politics was also the last few months of her contract when she would have known she was leaving. It can’t be that much of a coincidence that she’s become more vocal since she signed a new contract with much more favourable terms.
Her old label owner is a trump supporter. And has donated to republican causes for years
I kind of get what she’s saying but I also don’t care enough about her to really have an opinion.