If you still hate Taylor Swift in 2022, your misogyny is showing.
Hate to be the one to break it to you, but it’s true.
Taylor Swift is one of the most successful artists of all time and has the awards to prove it. Yet, the hatred of Taylor Swift still prevails in the media and online. The saddest part is, that the hate that Taylor Swift gets, is in fact covert misogyny. Swift is more successful than most men in a male-dominated industry. There are always going to be men who are jealous of her, but the women who hate her for seemingly no reason inspire even greater disappointment in Swifties such as myself.
Not only has Taylor Swift won Album of the year three times at the Grammys (the only woman solo act to ever do so) but she was awarded Artist of the Decade for her undeniably positive impact on the music industry. But…that’s not what this article is going to be.
I could sit here and name all of Swift’s accomplishments and every award she has ever won, but that won’t prove to you that the dislike of her and her popularity is rooted in a hatred of successful women. So, let’s go through it.
Reasons Why You Don’t Like Taylor Swift:
- Because of the Kanye Drama
- You don’t like her music
- You just don’t like her
Let’s go through these one by one.
The Kanye Drama
It can all be traced back to that horrific night……the 2009 VMA’s. Yeah, you know what I’m talking about.
That night when Kayne raced onto the stage and took the mic out of the nineteen-year-old Swift’s hands while she was accepting the award for Best Female Video. He then preceded to tell the entire world that she didn’t deserve the award and that Beyonce should have received it instead. Oh yeah, and West was thirty-two at the time.
At that moment, Swift became a victim. Something happened to her and rightfully so, she was portrayed as the victim. That was her label, but here is the thing: labels stick.
All of this led to, in 2016, the releasing of an illegally recorded and edited phone call that ruined Swift’s reputation. Pun intended.
West called Swift to supposedly ask for her permission to use her name in his song, “Famous,” and said that he got her permission. But when the song came out and West referred to Swift as “that bitch” and claimed that he was the reason why she had any success in her career at all. Well clearly, Swift was not cool with this and stated that she never gave West permission to use those lyrics. However, their phone conversation was recorded (which, by the way is illegal) and posted online. In this recording, it appears that Swift does give her blessing.
The full, unedited recording would be released years later, proving that Swift was telling the truth, but the damage was already done.
When once again, Swift was a victim of West’s cruelty, society no longer tolerated her being the victim.
The people that once supported and adored her, now completely turned on her. And for what reason? Because she lied about giving approval for Kanye’s song? When the truth was brought to light, did Kanye get the same heat the Swift got? Nope. Nothing. Smells like misogyny to me.
Swift’s reputation has yet to be fully repaired from this incident, something she was completely honest about. How is that fair? This is sadly just one incident of dozens where women get ridiculed for things that if men did, would be ignored, would be completely fine. In Swift’s own words in her song, “The Man,” there is a different level of acceptance for certain behaviors between men and women. If Swift were a man, she believes that “They’d say I hustled, put in the work/They wouldn’t shake their heads and question how much of this I deserve.” The “they” she is referring to is the media, but also the public. If you look at Swift’s experience, this is undeniably true, but the real problem, is that is happens to virtually every woman, not just in this industry, but in every industry.
Her Music
Swift first began getting backlash for her music when critics claimed she sang too much about boys and love.
Now I would like to ask you a question, what pop song isn’t about love or a relationship in some aspect or another?
Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Most pop music (obviously not all) focuses on romantic love and the dynamics revolving around that. So why can’t she?
But other point is that to say you don’t like any of Swift’s music is pretty crazy considering how diverse her discography is. Name another artist who has written songs in these genres: Country, Country Pop, Country Rock, Country Punk, Pop Rock, Pop, Contemporary Country, Alternative Country, Soft Rock, Folk Pop, Indie, Folk, Electro Pop, Synth Pop, Disco, Dance Pop, Hip Hop, Jazz, Indie Rock, Folk, etc.
Yeah…Swift has written in over 60 genres in her albums alone, which is a feat that few other artists have accomplished.
The New York Times has even been quoted as saying “By making pop with almost no contemporary references, Ms. Swift is aiming somewhere even higher, a mode of timelessness that few true pop stars… even bother aspiring to.”
And yet, the narrative exists that all Swift does is sing songs about her exes.
I won’t even mention all the songs that you love that Swift has actually written, because yes, she does write all of her own songs, something that most artists today cannot say.
If you truly think that you don’t like Swift’s music, I implore you to find a Swiftie, they will guide you. They will find the album that fits you best, don’t worry, there are ten albums to choose from.
You just don’t like her
I have a question, why don’t you like her? And if she were a man, would that be a dealbreaker for you? That is what I mean when I say hating Swift, at least in my humble opinion, can usually be associated with misogyny. But this idea that we can dislike successful women for more reasons than we can men, can be applied to all women, not just Swift and not just artists.
When looking at women pop artists versus men, women get teared down exponentially more than men, for more than just their music. Just take a moment and think about how many times you’ve heard negative things about a female pop artist, and then try to think of one instance of a male pop artist getting any kind of negative media attention that has actually stuck with him.
In all seriousness, if you don’t want to listen to her music, I can’t make you. Obviously. But the next time you decided you don’t like a successful woman, please make sure that the reason that you don’t like her would still be valid if she were a man. This world has too many successful women who are teared down for no good reason other than the fact that they are women.
Also, stream Taylor’s Version please & thank you:)