Taylor Swift, a fourteen-time Grammy Award winner and international celebrity, recently released her album “The Life of a Showgirl.” Her twelfth studio album goes through the ups and downs of being in the music industry, her new relationship with football player Travis Kelce and embracing her life as a “showgirl.” While many of the songs fell flat for me and I thought it was nowhere near her best album, I think it is worth looking into her so-called “downfall,” which has plagued the internet.Â
Fans and haters alike were quick to point out the flaws in the album, and more broadly, with Swift herself. Scroll through TikTok comments or Reddit threads, and you will find hordes of people calling Swift “manipulative,” “cringy” or “greedy.” While I think there are well-founded criticisms of Swift, it is important to explain why we feel so comfortable making personal and pointed comments about someone we do not actually know. Furthermore, would we be making these comments about men?Â
There are very valid criticisms of Taylor Swift. Whether it is her extraordinary level of wealth — so large it is hard to imagine — or her eight-minute flight (which she is liable for, even though she was not on the plane), there exist grounded criticisms of Swift. At the end of the day, she is a billionaire who exists within a generally exploitative society. Nonetheless, these criticisms of Swift have a solid backing. Many others do not.Â
Society holds women to unrealistic standards. They need to be confident, but also humble; sexy, but not a slut. Successful, but not overly proud of said success. These double standards for women, in that they are forced to simultaneously be two things, make it quite literally impossible to make anyone happy.Â
Throwback to Timothy Chalamet’s 2025 speech at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards after winning Best Male Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture for his role in “A Complete Unknown.” In this speech, he spoke about his desire for greatness, “I’m really in pursuit of greatness… I want to be one of the greats.” He also spoke about how he felt the SAG award “did not signify [greatness], but it’s a little more fuel to keep going.” Now, this article is not taking a turn onto the Timothy Chalamet hate train; instead, imagine if Taylor Swift had gone on stage after winning a Grammy and made the same speech. Would it have been received on the internet as well as Chalamet’s was? Would she have been applauded for her desire to be great?
I believe it would have gone wholly the opposite way. She would have been called “greedy” or “disrespectful” to the SAG institution and award. Scores of internet folk would come out of their corners to shame her for her lack of decorum. However, because it was Timothy Chalamet, a young and attractive man, doing it, the level of acceptance and tolerance spiked astronomically.Â
As a society, there can, and must, be valid criticisms of billionaires and celebrities. The people we often look up to have enormous wealth and influence, and therefore need to be held accountable for their actions. However, these criticisms must not lie along gendered lines. Female-presenting celebrities should not be held to impossible standards that are not evenly applied to their male peers. Here lies the true issue I have with the Taylor Swift hate: if it were Thomas Swift, this hate would not be happening.