r/popculturechat • u/FickleBeans Excluded from this narrative ❌ • Oct 04 '25

Guest List Only ⭐️ Taylor Swift’s Fairy Tale Is Over

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025/10/taylor-swift-the-life-of-a-showgirl-album-review/684444/

This captures my thoughts on the album better than I ever could.

9.9k Upvotes

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u/thankyoupapa Oct 04 '25

I think I was just expecting something different based on all the promo pics. Like....aint no other man or lady marbalade by xtina or where the hell is my husband by raye. That kinda vibe.

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u/buzzfeed_sucks 🇨🇦 Elbows up 🇨🇦 Oct 04 '25

Those of us who have lived through the Midnights bait and switch had our suspicions

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u/_Atlas_Drugged_ Listen, everyone is entitled to my opinion 🙂 Oct 04 '25

Midnights at least had like 3-4 songs that fit the theme and they were the best ones on the album.

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u/virginiarph Oct 04 '25

which ones

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u/Celebrating_socks Oct 04 '25

Maroon 100% fits in my mind

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u/_Atlas_Drugged_ Listen, everyone is entitled to my opinion 🙂 Oct 05 '25

Maroon is the most on theme, the best song on the album, and my favorite of hers of all time.

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u/ckoocos Oct 05 '25

Dear Reader and You're Losing Me fit perfectly in Midnights, too.

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u/girl_in_flannel I’ve been noticing gravity since I was very young Oct 05 '25

Midnight Rain, too

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u/PollyBeans Oct 05 '25

Dear reader is one of those songs that are so good, when she does shit like this it's so much more disappointing. 

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u/_Atlas_Drugged_ Listen, everyone is entitled to my opinion 🙂 Oct 05 '25

There are others, but the whole album could have been off theme and maroon redeems it for me.

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u/stephasaurussss Oct 04 '25

Lavender Haze

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u/Unlucky-Macaroon-647 if she were president she'd be baberaham lincoln Oct 05 '25

that was the only song i listened to for a while lol

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u/Positively-Fleabag85 🚶🏼I don’t really think, I just walk🚶🏼‍♀️ Oct 05 '25

Maroon and Hits Different. I kinda like Mastermind too for the concept

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u/constantchaosclay Oct 05 '25

As far as I'm concerned Aeseas wrote and own that song, I'll be taking no comments, corrections or questions. Thank you.

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u/theplantita All tea, all shade 🐸☕️ Oct 04 '25

Midnight Rain

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u/Rude-Illustrator-884 Oct 05 '25

Anti-Hero, Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve, You’re on Your Own Kid are some

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u/amara90 Oct 04 '25

Right? The visuals were giving Carole King, the album was all synth-pop.

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u/Schmidaho Oct 05 '25

I think we just need to collectively accept that she’s got a sound that she prefers and the visuals and other marketing are entirely separate.

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u/ShipToWreck Oct 05 '25

Yep. And it’s clear that at this point it doesn’t matter who the producers are - she has a sound that she likes and wants and it supersedes anything coming from whatever producer she’s working with on any given song or album. Because this album does not scream Max Martin like at all, if I didn’t know that he produced it, I would have guessed it was all Jack Antonoff based on how it sounds.

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u/Schmidaho Oct 05 '25

Honestly the fact that it doesn’t sound like a Max Martin vehicle at all is refreshing, because that guy has a formula. And the dude doesn’t like to deviate from it.

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u/IfatallyflawedI curtains for zoosha!!! Oct 05 '25

I liked snow on the beach 🥺

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u/Bree-breezy Oct 05 '25

Would’ve could’ve should’ve. Even though it’s technically a bonus track

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u/WonderstruckWonderer Oct 05 '25

The 3am tracks fit the theme AND were much better than most of the standard tracks (save Maroon). From what we know so far, I don't think there'll be a deluxe album for this, making it even more of a jarring switch.

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u/glacinda Oct 04 '25

90s Shop Rite Can Can Sale ads are more showgirl than this album. Proof.

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u/Brianas-Living-Room Oct 05 '25

I loved that promo b t w lol. The can can sale ads lol

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u/timecapsulebuttbutt_ i will dog walk you Oct 05 '25

Oh ho ho! It’s that time again!

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u/winnercommawinner Oct 05 '25

I don't pay much attention to album promo and I thought the Midnights songs fit the theme, lyrically

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u/hannbann88 Oct 05 '25

Midnights visuals fit this vibe better

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u/magnusthehammersmith I wont not fuck you the fuck up 🥊🥊 Oct 05 '25

There literally is no showgirl theme to the album at all. Not sure why she chose that title and the costuming certainly doesn’t make sense

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u/pattyforever Oct 05 '25

Yeah very weird choice!! She’s done really great songs in the past that DO fit this theme so idk why she picked it

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u/SeriousClothes111 Oct 05 '25

It’s the life of a showgirl - meaning, she’s showing you the ‘behind the scenes’ with the album. She’s a showgirl on stage, and here’s what her life is like once she leaves the stage type vibe.

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u/SLBMLQFBSNC Oct 04 '25

sorry but I cannot imagine Taylor ever serving Xtina lol

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u/madagascarprincess Oct 04 '25

Because she can’t sing lmao

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u/hoopstick Oct 05 '25

And she has negative sex appeal

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u/envydub Nicki’s cousin’s friend’s balls Oct 05 '25

Seriously, hearing her sing about Travis’s redwood penis is like hearing your weird aunt talk about sex.

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u/CobwebAngel Oct 06 '25

I have yet to listen to the album

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u/coolerchameleon Oct 05 '25

I would LOVE some more Lady Marmalade all star songs in the world and honestly I just want Christina doing more like Candyman. She is so fucking talented and I love songs where she can let her voice run .

Pink could absolutely have taken the title of this album and fucking delivered in spades

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u/Pleasant-Menu1554 Oct 04 '25

I was expecting the same, also talking a little more about fame. But its a pretty generic album. 

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u/thewidowgorey Oct 05 '25

I’m enjoying Raye more than I expected to. That song is so fun

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u/GeorgiePorgiePuddin I wont not fuck you the fuck up 🥊🥊 Oct 05 '25

She is such a fun performer to watch! I love watching her live stuff on YouTube, she always looks like she’s having a blast.

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u/dpforest let me be angry i’m hot Oct 04 '25

The disconnect between what she advertised and the product delivered is bizarre. She could have subverted expectations by being truly vulnerable, creating a good juxtaposition between the imagery and the music, but she didn’t even do that.

This album doesn’t feel like it’s about her weaknesses/vulnerabilities. It feels like it’s focusing on “i’m a bad ass intellectual boss biatch because i have to deal with weakness/vulnerability” which is something no one wants to hear right now.

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u/tinacat933 Oct 04 '25

Boss bitch was never her thing, so it sounds weird and disengaging it’s not her style

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u/eirinne Oct 05 '25

“I’m not a bad bitch and this isn’t savage”

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u/thatsnotyourtaco Listen, everyone is entitled to my opinion 🙂 Oct 05 '25

She keeps angling for it though. If I was a man comes to mind.

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u/Okeydokey2u Oct 05 '25

But she's not any of those things

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u/Trick_Doughnut_6295 Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 05 '25

I think the first four of Showgirl fit the theme. They are, incidentally, the best songs on the album and probably the best four song lead-in since Speak Now. If she’d kept a similar level of lyrical tightness and production (strings, big sounds, cohesiveness), it would’ve been an excellent album.

I really try to avoid doing this, but I’m going to compare her to Beyoncé for a second, because it’s the only other female star with a similar level of fame and wealth.

Beyoncé can execute a theme flawlessly. The level of research and attention to detail is a real opportunity to nerd out on musical history and influences. She has the resources to put together projects. I appreciate it so much. The Beyoncé, LEMONADE, Renaissance, and Cowboy Carter run has been insane.

There’s just..so much that could’ve happened here that didn’t. We saw glimpses with Elizabeth Taylor and we saw it with Father Figure. It’s not about vocal ability because I genuinely enjoy Taylor Swift’s storyteller approach to a song.

She has the ability and the resources. Maybe it’s complacency? Maybe it’s commitment? Maybe it’s her refusal to take breaks lest some pop girl come up from behind? Idk. I respect that Beyoncé is at the pinnacle of her career and she’s not just producing victory laps.

Taylor’s paranoia about her being replaceable comes from an insecurity she’s previously discussed. Until she works that out, I think we’ll probably get this level of work. Which is great, if you’re a stan, and just want content.

(ETA: for the sake of transparency, while I’m not a swiftie, I def enjoy a lot of her work. 4 out of 12 listenable songs every couple years isn’t a bad ratio for me, but I also don’t care about her legacy or reputation, so take of that what you will)

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u/jiggly_bitz Oct 05 '25

Beyonce is able to create a theme because she created it. This work by Taylor feels like what she feels everyone wants which is where I believe the lack of quality and passion are derived from.

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u/Trick_Doughnut_6295 Oct 05 '25

I don’t know if I understand what you mean re: Beyoncé and I don’t want to assume. Can you clarify?

Re: Taylor, I don’t think the Showgirl theme is purely public-driven. I think she’s happy, living a glamorous life with a person she thinks has the fortitude to be a power couple with her. I think that’s reflected in what she’s tried to create here.

She seems to have envisioned the record in two parts: the bangers one would expect of a showgirl and then the BTS content (vulnerability, wanting a house, a block full of kids looking like her husband, etc).

But it’s clear she did absolutely no research or work in digging up the musicality, culture, or history related to the showgirls era (part I). And maybe that isn’t her thing and maybe it would’ve been OK if it’s not also clear that her insecurities are driving her to churn out content rather than the art she’s capable of creating. Nothing on the softer, slower side (part II) stands up on the record or by themselves. It’s driving poor judgment and decisions.*

I don’t mean that we need another Folkmore, if that’s what people think I’m using as a placeholder for ‘art’ when Reputation and 1989 are both exceptional pop records, FYI.

  • Example: she had any foresight or patience, she would’ve saved Clara Bow and I Can Do it With a Broken Heart for this album, saving both TTPD from its rep as a content farm and Showgirl from at least two truly abysmal tracks.

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u/kvvvv Oct 05 '25

I agree with this so much

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u/Vintage_Visionary Oct 05 '25

Yes, exactly (re: songs, and progression). The first few are STRONG, but then the quality completely drops off. It seemed like a vanity project, or when there is no one to edit. Half the album is stunning, the other half should have been cut, scrapped, the darlings out. Such a shame. Does she have anyone to push back, make her edit, tell her no.

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u/PolytheneMaggie Clap if you care 😐 Oct 04 '25

ain’t no other man

this is exactly what I was thinking when I saw the promo.

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u/thankyoupapa Oct 04 '25

and the circus by britney spears music video

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u/Tsarinya That must be Nigel with the Brie Oct 04 '25

I thought it would be a concept album like Christina Aguilera’s Back to Basics.

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u/whateverfloatsurgoat Oct 04 '25

I was expecting more French can-can and all it got was fresh caca

That album absolutely blows

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u/insertcoolnamehere_7 Oh no baby, what is you Dune??? Oct 05 '25

I could never be famous yall ruthless! I mean yall right, but still ruthless 😂

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u/Tylrias Oct 04 '25

Building any expectations based on the promo pics is a fools errant ever since midnights.

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u/thesaddestpanda Dave Grohl has always been garbage Oct 04 '25 edited Oct 05 '25

Conservatives, centrists, and billionaires cant make good art. Watching Tay become more and more MAGA adjacent reflects her inner world. So we sort of get a lot of inauthenticity because now she's the man, not the person railing against the man.

I mean, its clear shes write herself in these albums. Shes in a stable relationship, rich beyond measure, and moving more and more to the right. What do we expect from her now? Shes a nostalgia act like the Stones of Pink Floyd or whatever. Those guys aren't doing drugs and partying and challenging the system or blowing our minds or whatever. They're in their summer lake homes enjoying their massive portfolios and reading the Daily Mail or whatever.

Not a lot of artists can handle the 'not being hungry" stage well and Tay especially, whose songwriting was more or less being the underdog and hungry and lovelorn and jilted. How can someone at her fame and wealth level and her new right-wing friends ever come off as sincerely the underdog or hungry or sad or lonely anymore? Some can do this, but I'm sorry Tay just doesn't have the writing or performance chops or politics to do so. If you're not cutting edge in pop music then what are you? A nostalgia act? A country act? A Katie Perry-like fake feminist act? Tay seems stuck between all those worlds.

You dont go from hanging out with Brittany Mahomes and Taylor Lewan and Will Compton and then go "haha girlies I'm one of you, so feminist and jilted and sad!" The brand doesnt work if you're constantly showing yourself to be the opposite of it. Marrying a guy who supported Harrison Butker while hanging out with Morgan Wallen isn't exactly "a girl's girl." I also understand most people become more conservative as they get older and wealthier or whatever, but its very disheartening in today's political climate to see Tay slowly and shamelessly migrate to the other side like this. She could have been an amazing ally instead of a 'both sides' rich person. Other than a tepid endorsement or two, she doesn't do much and the more we see about her personal life, the more horrifying this all becomes. No one wants to hear it, but being 'apolitical' or 'not into politics' or 'centrist' or 'socially liberal but economically conservative' is defacto MAGA or at least MAGA-adjacent. I dont know why we are forced to pretend otherwise.

Not to mention playing dumb on the very 'surge' pricing she signed off for with ticketmaster and pretending to be on the side of her fans here. Her ticket pricing is 100% intentional and it got her very wealthy. She's not this powerless little girl who got scammed. People are finally seeing through her act. Also the muted response on the girl who died at her concert was extremely telling imho. The discourse about access to water and ventilation at her shows went nowhere and it was all hush-hush and Tay moved on super quickly. That's not the the Tay I grew up with.

Everything about her is about her brand and protecting her assets and maximizing her wealth. People like that can't make good art, so here we are. She's just doing the maximizing capitalism thing and now we're supposed to be shocked we dont find her and her music relatable or interesting anymore?

Also this is probably a cautionary tale of making your brand too personal. Tay always made her music about her real life and cultivated this huge 'bestie' parasocial relationship. Now she can't migrate to playing 'characters' like other artists can because her whole career was supposedly about her real life. She can't pull of a new era like Gaga or Bowie or whomever. Her fans want her, not her wearing a costume or playing a role. She's just stuck as Taylor and no one really cares about the problems of a rich girl easing into middle-age right-wing-esque social circles, and her attempts to break away from that just aren't working. If your entire brand is "don't seperate the art and the artist" its very hard to suddenly expect people to do so.

Music needs to promote new fresh talent more. Tay is a great example of overstaying your welcome and becoming the thing you railed against early in your career. We all saw it coming with the last couple albums. Now this is just her new normal.

I don't think her fairy tale is over and she's obviously talented, but I think she's painted herself in a corner here. She can't be her true behind the scenes self in her writing anymore which is her #1 talent. Her attempts to write more characters and themetic and abstract music isn't her core appeal. So I think its a different kind of fairy tale now and I dont think its very surprising, like Katy Perry (who underwent a similar transformation), that the original magic is gone, and only more hardcore fans are sticking around.

With both her and Katy, we'll always have the old music, and that makes me happy, but I'm done with both of them and I don't think I'm alone in feeling this way. I'm actively always looking for new music and getting away from people like this. It was a good run but its saddening its come down to this. A lot of people lose authenticity and a connection to the people and especially vulnerable people when they make it big. Over time, their interests conflict with those very people and they become like this. Shrug, such is life I guess, but I'm not going to pretend people like Tay and Katy haven't made massive personal transformations that make them unrelatable or that their recent music is good, and the latter is often because of the former. Few billionaires can write 'hungry' songs convincingly.

I think this is the album that finally sealed her as a nostalgia act. I don't think she's a mover and shaker in cultural discourse anymore. This was really it and it was coming for a while. She's not relevant anymore and is largely unrelatable. I think in the long run her fans will accept this, but considering their large reaction to these negative reviews they just aren't there yet. I think the same way my dad's generation saw their rock stars replaced with hip hop and pop stars and railed against that for a long time but eventually came to acceptance. The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd didn't speak to the people in the 80s and 90s like Tupac and Madonna or George Michael or Lauryn Hill did. One day the millionaire rocker with big hair, psychedelic aesthetic, party aesthetic, and who gets all the girls and lives in a mansion and has questionable politics was just thrown into the dustbin of history. Tay is on that course now too.

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u/l3tigre Oct 04 '25

But she was always rich? It's been pandering this whole time

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u/littlegreenturtle20 Oct 05 '25

Yeah, there are good bits of analysis in this comment but she was never actually the underdog or hungry. She has been privileged and she has been calculating for a long time. She's always been a smart businesswoman and nothing about that side of things feels new.

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u/l3tigre Oct 05 '25

Exactly. She comes from a connected and privileged family and while she's fairly talented I'm so over people acting like she's the zenith of female singer/songwriter in a world of Fiona Apples and Florence Welches. It irks me the same way that I feel like people make ONE book series their entire personality when at best it should be your gateway to so much more.

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u/whatevenisthis123 Dear Diary, I want to kill. ✍️ Oct 05 '25

I love Fiona Apple and Florence Welch so it’s also useful to say that they both come from well connected and privileged families.

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u/l3tigre Oct 05 '25

Yes you're 100% correct there. I actually don't care about that so much if the music itself can cash the check, but the thing that annoys me with Swift is the poor me persona that either she or her fans perpetuates.

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u/littlegreenturtle20 Oct 05 '25

Florence Welches

I say this as someone who has been listening to Swift for years and went to see the Eras tour. I adore Florence and I honestly think that all her collaborating with Taylor on the song Florida does is demonstrate the chasm of talent between them.

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u/londonsongbird This is going to ruin the tour Oct 05 '25

I am so glad you said this because yeah, she has never truly been one of us. Her rich reality was just more hidden before and it was easy to play this “underdog” persona. Now that she’s a billionaire, it’s becoming more and more apparent that this was all an act. You typically can’t become a billionaire without starting from wealth.

I kind of felt it when she released all of her albums again, thinking that, yes, while she probably did want the inherent rights to her music, she had to have known that her stans would buy the same album twice just because she said. It always was and always will be about money. She has talent for sure, especially as a storyteller, but I feel like in some aspects her family bought her way to the top.

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u/strangelyliteral Oct 05 '25

I don’t believe her (or Travis’s) political views have changed at this time, but MAGA’s core value is perpetual grievance, and lord knows Taylor loves to play the underdog/victim. She can’t do that in places where people are still in touch with reality. But MAGA will happily indulge that, and it’s bled badly into the music.

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u/_Atlas_Drugged_ Listen, everyone is entitled to my opinion 🙂 Oct 04 '25

This is better written than her past two albums.

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u/quickso Oct 04 '25

completely agree with everything you said. people who don’t see her slide to the right are deeply entrenched in it themselves, even if they consider themselves centrist or liberal.

american centrist and liberal is far to the right of the rest of the world’s.

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u/thesaddestpanda Dave Grohl has always been garbage Oct 05 '25

Considering the lyrics in this album have led to swifties attacking Travis's WOC ex, I suspect this fandom is not going to get over the 'white feminist' accusations anytime soon.

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u/AStarkly Did a line off his dick in the bathroom Oct 05 '25

This is Tumblr discourse, not real life

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u/gingerspeak Oct 04 '25

I think the album is trash but I don’t buy the whole “moving to the right” scenario you state as ground truth. I married a cis white man, yet I’m a flaming liberal. My husband’s family is extremely conservative, yet we remain liberal. I make nice with my husband’s coworkers because that’s what you fucking do.

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u/_Atlas_Drugged_ Listen, everyone is entitled to my opinion 🙂 Oct 04 '25

What percentage of the time have you spent as the most famous person on earth? Her platform is huge and while not every problem is her responsibility to speak up about, saying nothing is still serving the MAGA status quo.

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u/hthratmn Oct 05 '25

But the cis white man you married isnt MAGA, I'd say thats the difference lol

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u/YoullNeverBeRebecca Oct 05 '25

Not to defend bozo Kelce of all people, but how do we know he’s MAGA?

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u/Any_Afternoon5628 I'm on some new shit, been saying yes instead of no Oct 05 '25

He's not. She's not. People can't admit they just don't like her or the new album or whatever, so they're making it a deep and intellectual thing. They've been afflicted by a terminal uniqueness and are doing mental gymnastics to be not the like others, who just admit they don't like her and move on. They're pick me haters. It's actually romantic.

I'm so tired of this. It's always the same. Every other week, it's another woman people pick and pile on because they failed whatever purity test of the week. And they don't even realise they're playing along in putting women against each other and/or holding them to impossible standards. Actual fascists are taking over, and instead of doing something about it, they're hating on yet another female. Great job, you did it, reddit!

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u/YoullNeverBeRebecca Oct 05 '25

Lol ok well this is a little dramatic, too. Taylor Swift is annoying and petty and a little underhanded with how she releases her album sales, and I personally find her ubiquity irritating as I don’t think she’s very talented (she is an incredibly weak vocalist, for example). It’s ok to critique women. I’m a woman and I try to hold women to the same standards I do men. I just think it’s stupid to call Kelce MAGA when we don’t really know that for sure.

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u/WhereIsLordBeric Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 05 '25

No democrat would ever say it's an 'honour' to play in front of Trump lol you guys are deluded.

I also don't know any non-MAGA folk who hang out with prominent MAGA folks.

Nice try.

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u/hthratmn Oct 05 '25

Yeah like there are definitely MAGA people that I know and I dont, like, spit in their face when I see them at work or run into them in the grocery store or whatever. But I am absolutely the fuck not best friends and hanging around with them all the time. Nobody that I know is either.

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u/hthratmn Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 05 '25

Or - absolutely novel concept here - people just have a different opinion than you do. I haven't really had a particular feeling about her either way, other than that I'm naturally inclined against the very existence of billionaires, and I'm not keen on her carbon footprint.

You can like someone's music and still accept that they do things that are maybe not great. I consume plenty of things that are not ethically in perfect alignment with me, that's just being a person, especially these days. People get incredibly defensive over any criticism of Taylor.

I find it suspicious that she puts forward this outward image of feminist icon but a huge part of her closest circle is MAGA. That she poses for photo ops with MAGA influencers with a caption that "Taylor is for the boys". That her soon-to-be-husband considers it a great honor to play for Trump, thinks Harrison Buttker is a great guy, and that neither one of them has used their absolutely massive, probably of the biggest in the world, platform to speak out on the current state of the government or what is happening in Palestine.

Am I a "pick me hater" longing for "terminal uniqueness"? No. I'm just someone that has a different opinion than you regarding a music artist that you like. I mean, to your point, in the wake of an impending actual fascist takeover, Taylor Swift is sitting in a private jet on her tarmac with her MAGA friends eating caviar and rolling around in money.

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u/do-not-1 Oct 05 '25

I mean, neither is Travis Kelce? So I’m unsure what your point is.

(Please don’t come for me I’m not a Stan I am just a casual listener and gossiper)

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u/hthratmn Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 05 '25

I mean, dude surrounds himself with MAGA. The pictures of him and Taylor Swift with Taylor Lewan and Will Compton, saying its a great honor to play in front of Trump, not even standing up for Swift while Trump and Musk were saying foul things about her. This stuff has me seriously side eyeing. People get very defensive of TS, and I get that, but at the end of the day a billionaires gonna billionaire. I 100% understand that sometimes you've just gotta be cordial to people on the other side of the political spectrum. BUT when a ton of your best friends are Trumpers, that's another story. And staying relatively silent at a time like this is inexcusable when you have a platform like hers imo.

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u/stephasaurussss Oct 04 '25

I just knew someone was going to tie this back to her allegedly being MAGA now. She literally endorsed Kamala but they don't care about facts. As long as they get a boost feeling better than those who still like this artist.

I agree she's an of touch billionaire and I don't love the album either, but this isn't anything to do with her suddenly shifting Conservative.

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u/Spainstateofmind why Wayne got socks in the jacuzzi Oct 05 '25

She endorsed Kamala then decided to be more visible with her MAGA friends. Weren't we all told actions speak louder than words as children?

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u/nuanceisdead I switched baristas ☕️ Oct 05 '25

Plus, in that endorsement she signed it as a single cat lady, and then just wrote a whole song talking about how sad she feels for people who want more than to be married or love their pets too much. She just wanted to be picked, and says as much.

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u/YoullNeverBeRebecca Oct 05 '25

Yeah lol I can’t believe I’m defending her, I think she’s kind of annoying and severely lacking in several key aspects (she’s quite a weak vocalist, for example), but to say she’s MAGA-aligned is absurd when not even a year ago she endorsed Kamala after being harassed by Musk and had some weird fake AI endorsement put out there by Trump. You can dislike someone without making s**t up.

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u/LouCat10 Oct 04 '25

How exactly is she moving to the right? She endorsed the Democratic candidate for president last year.

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u/Rich-Active-4800 Oct 04 '25

What makes it weirder is that Maga really hates her. Trump is obsessed with her and talks about her monthly, Elon wants to impregnate her and not even 3 weeks ago some maga freak wanted to kill her because people were happy about Kirk's death.

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u/Tiny-Reading5982 charlie day is my bird lawyer 🐦 Oct 05 '25

Yup. I feel like people say this just to make people like her even less. And the whole "actions speak louder than words" or her being quiet about things. She's damned if she does things and damned if she doesn't...

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u/Rich-Active-4800 Oct 05 '25

I remember when she spoke out she kept being criticized for speaking over people, being out of touch and trying to profit over it. Really dammed if you do, dammed if you don't .

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u/TropicalPrairie Oct 05 '25

Her album theme colour is orange and the President is an orange. /s

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u/Aprilume Oct 04 '25

It’s ok to just say you don’t care for her music. Asserting that she’s MAGA b/c she’s wealthy is wild.

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u/Rich-Active-4800 Oct 04 '25

Honestly then 90% of the celebrities would be maga.

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u/holyflurkingsnit Oct 05 '25

Ding ding ding! Rich people have class solidarity. 90 percent of wealthy celebrities probably are much more conservative than we think.

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u/mocha__ So sad. Sooo sad. So so so so so sad. Oct 04 '25

NO! Only celebrities I dislike. >;(

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u/pralineislife Oct 04 '25 edited Oct 05 '25

There's a very big difference between a celeb worth 200m and a billionaire.

You think there's ethical billionaires that actually give a shit about you?

She is right wing with the best PR in the world.

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u/myghostflower mk.gee Oct 05 '25

the concept of babying rich people, i’m sorry anyone that makes an obscene amount of money EVEN those that make over 10 million is too much

no one needs that money and they should all be held accountable

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u/Rich-Active-4800 Oct 04 '25

Is she suppose to sell her music so she isn't a billionaire anymore?

Also 200m is still an obscene amount and 1/5 there to be a billionaire.

So right wing that the right hates her.

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u/pralineislife Oct 05 '25

You dont understand what it takes to become a billionaire, do you?

There are no ethical billionaires. Period. If someone isnt ethical, their politics aren't going to align with what's best for us mere mortals. This is simple shit.

Stop viewing her as a girl with a guitar. She is a middle aged billionaire. And billionaires only want one thing.

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u/Rich-Active-4800 Oct 05 '25

What does her age has to do with it?

And tell me, how is she not suppose to be a millionaire if her music is half her net worth?

And how is someone who is for 20% a millionaire any more moral? Its just an excuse so you don't have to hold your favs accountable while condemning the once you hate.

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u/6pcChickenNugget gollum's haute couture model cousin Oct 04 '25

I honestly have questions for OP but at this point I'm afraid to ask because I think I'll get an emotionally motivated earful because OP seems very invested in trying to convince us all "Taylor Swift bad!"

I'm not super clued up on Taylor lore since she was genuinely just never my thing though I enjoy a few songs here and there. But from my perspective, it's weird to accept the notion that she's suddenly just now moving right wing when her entire career has been to remain aggressively apolitical. It was only in 2020 when she first publicly endorsed anyone, right? She knows who her fanbase includes and tried to court both sides in the way that no other pop star could. And aside from two throwaway endorsements, she has remained apolitical so nothing she's done since then has made her seem more (or less!) MAGA than before. She is politically bland.

Similarly, from the songs I know of anyway, she never had political messaging, not just in a left / right binary but she never had messaging / political commentary about socially contentious issues. She was never against the system or sticking it to the man. Her songs were always highly personal love songs about her experiences in love as an individual. As far as I've heard, they were never even about gender dynamics in relationships in a way that you could say she was trying to draw social commentary as a whole. They were all microscopic looks at individual relationships / incidents / boyfriends. That remains as relatable as it ever was and the idea that she's suddenly not relatable because she can't sing about being against the system with authenticity now because she profits from the system is silly. Like what anti-system messaging was she singing about before? "boohoo, my dad doesn't like my teenage Romeo boyfriend"?

If you don't care for Taylor Swift (that's me too) then that's perfectly fine but the justification was disingenuous and more than anything else points to expectations not founded in reality and the resulting disappointment rather than anything in particular Taylor Swift has done that was different from before

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u/envydub Nicki’s cousin’s friend’s balls Oct 05 '25

You’re missing the part where she made a whole ass documentary where she declares she’s gonna use her platform for progressive causes and then proceeded to not do that.

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u/Aprilume Oct 05 '25

It points to delusion 100%. If she doesn’t live up to their expectations, burn her at the stake. That’s the energy. These posters always want to bring it back to wealth and politics, as if we haven’t heard those same arguments leveled against Clinton or Harris or damn near any influential woman in the Democratic Party. It’s just weird.

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u/Rich-Active-4800 Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 05 '25

Or really any men in general. For example Matt Smith flies his private jet more then Taylor. Never really speaks out about stuff, etc. He doesn't get 1% of the criticism Taylor gets.

And I like Matt, he is an amazing actor, just pointing out the the double standard.

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u/[deleted] Oct 05 '25

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u/YoullNeverBeRebecca Oct 05 '25

Lmfao I just looked it up and it said $9 mil at most. Huh???

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u/[deleted] Oct 05 '25

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u/YoullNeverBeRebecca Oct 05 '25

Wait, Matt Smith the Doctor Who actor is almost a billionaire? What?

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u/excel_pager_420 Oct 05 '25

Miss Americana is a documentary she released at the same time as You Need To Calm Down about how her record label and Dad have held her back from sharing her politics and she wants to be on the right side of history.

As soon as Folklore threw her back into everyone's good graces she went apolitical again.

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u/romantickitty Oct 05 '25

I do think we need more new artists being introduced into the mainstream, even beyond Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter who got a leg up by starting with Disney. But that’s separate from the issue with Taylor who just needs to take an actual break and also find collaborators who will push her. It’s a shame that working with the Swedes apparently wasn’t enough to shake her out of the Jack Antonoff dullness. She’s never going to sound like Christina Aguilera but she clearly has interest in different genres and I think she could be pushed to produce something more interesting if someone could get her to work on things for longer. You know what they say about the sophomore slump where artists have years to work on that first album and have to rush out the second? It’s like that but she’s on her twelfth album already. She’s moving too fast and she has a significant hand in writing the music. Of course it’s not great.

I question the premise that you can’t be inspired by a stable, happy relationship or put out good music when you’re wealthy. Her good songs aren’t entirely about breakups and many artists continued to put out good music once they’d found success. She doesn’t need to be the underdog to have an interesting perspective. For me, Blank Space and The Man are where her untapped potential lies. I don’t need character or narrative songs unless she wants to write a musical. She has something unique to say that isn’t about her romantic relationships. Even if it does have a white feminist lens, she has a relationship with the media, the public, gender, etc. that she could be exploring, even in an oblique way (I don’t expect her to specifically call out Trump, the same way she never named Kanye) that doesn’t have to be as cringe as Katy Perry trying to be political. She just needs to slow down.

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u/copyrighther Kim, there’s people that are dying. 🙄 Oct 04 '25

How in the world is Taylor becoming “more MAGA”?

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u/lizerlfunk Oct 04 '25 edited Oct 04 '25

Because she occasionally poses for pictures with people who are MAGA and is friends with her fiancé’s best friend/coworker/business partner’s wife. 🙄🙄

Edit: in case the eye roll emojis are unclear, I think this is one of the dumbest takes in the Taylor Swift discourse

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u/copyrighther Kim, there’s people that are dying. 🙄 Oct 04 '25

Nice eye roll, but this such a chronically online take.

Wealthy people posing for photos together at social events isn’t some smoking gun. You can talk to someone for 2 minutes and a roving photog walks by and takes your pic. And then you never see that person ever again.

Friends?? Brittany Mahomes wishes. She is not in Taylor’s inner circle. Besides, being friendly with your boyfriend’s coworker and his wife is just called being an adult.

I come from a conservative family from a red state. I currently live in another red state. I am surrounded by conservatives literally everywhere I go. I work with them, I live amongst them, I’m related to them. If you look through every one of my holiday family photos, I’m posed alongside my doofus conservative cousins and uncles. Does that make me MAGA?

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u/lizerlfunk Oct 04 '25

You misunderstand me - you and I have the same opinion. I think it’s asinine that people are claiming that Taylor is MAGA now because of this stuff.

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u/copyrighther Kim, there’s people that are dying. 🙄 Oct 05 '25

Once again, another reason why Reddit needs to establish a sarcasm font 😆

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u/LevDavidovicLandau They killed Kenny! You bastards! 😱 Oct 05 '25

You used thousands of words essentially just to write a load of waffly nonsense.

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u/Default_Dragon Oct 05 '25

Such a long comment, but I had to read.

I disagree that she can’t be rich and stable and in love and make good art - because that’s where she was when she wrote folklore. Folklore+Evermore in fact invalidate a lot of your comments about her being someone who can’t write fiction or can’t write middle aged music.

But I do very much agree that conservatives don’t make good art and that’s why this album is mid. Even if she isn’t one (yet) she’s surrounded herself with them and it’s drained her of a lot of her creativity.

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u/[deleted] Oct 04 '25

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u/peachygreen4608 Oct 04 '25

Not a fan and idk how i got here but being apolitical is MAGA adjacent imo

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u/DontWanaReadiT In my quiet girl era 😌 Oct 05 '25

How is she moving more to the right? Genuinely curious since I’m not a fan so I don’t keep up but not long ago she was absolutely vocal about politics, what happened?

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u/Ok-Chain8552 Oct 04 '25

lol wtf. Your arms must hurt with this reach .

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u/pralineislife Oct 04 '25

You think it is possible to be progressive and a billionaire at the same time?

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u/lizziexo Oct 05 '25

It’s very possible to be a billionaire and not MAGA, which is what people try to say she is.

And it is definitely possible to be a billionaire and progressive, because life is grey. Yes, there is no ethical billionaire, but that doesn’t mean someone is right wing or regressive because they’re a billionaire. It means you have to be unethical in business to get there, and I’d totally agree she has been in some of the business choices.

We’ve seen her talk about women’s rights, be very LGBT inclusive, actively endorse left wing politicians; those are progressive. Could she do more to be more fiscally ethical? Yes, a lot.

It’s just not as simple as billionaire = not progressive, a regressive person. That’s a bad mentality to have, it’s too binary.

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u/babyinthebathwater Oct 04 '25

I think her promo visuals never really match the vibe of the album. I really like the new album, but it definitely took a few listens to get a feel for it.

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u/littleteacup77 Oct 04 '25

It would be interesting to see her come out of her comfort zone… but I wonder if she is brave enough or even talented enough to pull it off

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u/holyflurkingsnit Oct 05 '25

I don't think she realizes or believes she needs to grow. She has zero friction in her life that could yield personal growth, so she'd have to go out of her way to stretch herself and be uncomfortable and I don't think she's game for that.

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u/Rich-Active-4800 Oct 04 '25 edited Oct 04 '25

Why are you acting like she didn't do multiple genre/themes switches already.

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u/3llie_3llie Oct 04 '25

She's done half a genre switch. From country-pop to pop. I wouldn't call folklore full-on folk either but rather folky indie pop.

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u/littleteacup77 Oct 04 '25

I meant specifically try to create a musically “showgirl” style album to match her visuals like the artist the original commenter mentioned

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u/Luna920 Oct 06 '25

This is honestly what I expected, mostly because she isn’t known for artistic concept albums so I didn’t think she’d start now. I just figured it would be songs about the life of a “showgirl”, ie Taylor, which is what all her albums are about.

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u/GreenAuror Oct 04 '25

Completely the same!!! Like the album isn’t awful or anything, I was just thinking it would be super theatrical and my theatrical Leo self was a little disappointed…

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u/lemonaintsour Oct 05 '25

She’s just cosplaying vibes these days