Since its release last week, Taylor Swift’s new album, The Life of a Showgirl, has had mixed reviews from fans, with many Swifties taking to TikTok and Instagram to express their disappointment with the album.
Their issues were mainly focused on the perceived lower quality of the lyrics and production in Swift’s 13 new songs.
True to form, fans of Taylor Swift were quick to defend the artist against these opinions.
Listeners who choose to discuss their discontent with the album were then met with intense backlash from diehard fans. The comments berate the original poster’s opinions, accusing them that there is “something wrong” with them because of their opinion.
Oftentimes, lyrics like “Everybody’s so punk on the internet” from “Eldest Daughter” are employed, equating the criticism to being a “troll.”
The clear discrepancy here is that the videos are not “trolling” — They’re critiquing art!
Another common counterargument to videos expressing dislike of the album is that the original poster simply is not happy that Taylor Swift is happy. Therefore, they cannot be a true fan.
(While I would love to do a full analysis and examination of the comment sections of videos and posts mentioning the album, I instead invite you to take a look for yourself!)
Art, in its most pure form, is produced to spark conversation and interpretation. Art is subjective, and losing this fact rids us of our individuality and creativity.
There is a huge difference between critiquing art and attacking an artist. Increased polarization as a society has eliminated the lines between voicing opinions and criticizing others.
In a much broader sense, the rise of para-social relationships and cult-like allegiances to celebrities and public figures is concerning and weird. We don’t know these people! So, why is there an innate need to defend them?
Fans are not obligated to love everything an artist creates. It’s okay, and it’s needed to critique artists. It’s odd to blindly follow an artist.
Critiquing artists is also a necessary step in holding them accountable to their proclaimed values and missteps.
Frankly, The Life of a Showgirl was incredibly tone deaf. Ironic or not, it is widely frowned upon to proclaim that “I like my friends cancelled” after raising a platform on advocacy.
Similarly, a metaphor in which you compare your fiancé’s ex-girlfriend, who is Black, to onyx and yourself to “Opalite” in a targeted song about their previous relationship is a little too on the nose to shake off.
Was the intention to further racial stereotypes? Probably not. However, these microaggressions and double meanings—whether intended or not —could have been prevented by consulting other perspectives.
(The commentary on this particular issue is extremely interesting. I specifically recommend watching Chrisvolcy’s video on the implications of this use of racially coded language.)
An artist with a platform as large as Taylor Swift should be hyperaware of the stereotypes perpetuated in their work, and it is negligent to hide behind the argument that it simply isn’t that deep.
Considering this, a lack of criticism and accountability from the masses to public figures is troubling. This climate has much larger implications than musicians producing sub-par work, and it marks our current choosy juxtaposition of obsessive cancel culture and radical allegiance to public figures.
Particularly, however, when it comes to music, we need a gentle reminder that it is okay to critique, analyze, and comment! More specifically, it is okay and important for other people to do these things without receiving hatred for their opinions.