a little blurry
I have become a huge Swiftie during the pandemic. Huge. Like to the point that I’ve ranked every single one of her songs in a Google doc and I watch endless #swifttoks and regularly text my friend Ashley about any and all of the above.
I don’t have that nostalgia lots of my friends have from being fans of Fearless during high school, but I’ve been a casual fan of hers since the Red era. 1989 was the soundtrack to my first year of work out of college. And while I fell for the whole Kim/Kanye snake thing, I liked Reputation enough to buy concert tickets.
And while it turns out that Taylor had every right to be furious at Kim and Kanye, I still can’t get myself to love or even like her ultimate grudge song, “Look What You Made Me Do” (though it did come out before we knew the full story). It’s probably unfair of me to dislike how petty it is, because she’s been through a lot and all of her feelings are valid.
But I’ve really enjoyed how over the past few years, she’s soared above the drama, starting with Lover’s “I Forgot That You Existed” and culminating beautifully with evermore’s “long story short”:
Past me//I wanna tell you not to get lost in these petty things//Your nemeses//Will defeat themselves before you get the chance to swing
That’s why I was partially surprised when Taylor tweeted this on Monday:
My first reaction, honestly, wasn’t great. I was like, ugh, why does she even care at this point, isn’t she above this? But after talking about this with Ashley (again, the best Taylor Swift friend to have), I realized that was unfair of me. Taylor is human and she’s been hurt before and yeah it probably is really upsetting to have to deal with this entirely sexist Taylor is boy-crazy trope after all of this time.
So I felt bad for being annoyed at her. But then I read this piece by Heather Schwedel, and my mind sort of changed again. Because when Taylor tweets, her fans go into overdrive.
… the inevitable happened when Swift posted this tweet. She awakened her vast fan army, and they instantly took things to DEFCON 1: Swifties are currently spamming social media with calls to “RESPECT TAYLOR SWIFT” everywhere they can, from replies to Netflix’s tweets to the Instagram account of the actress who says the supposedly sexist line in Ginny & Georgia. It was pretty funny when Swift sicced her fans on the Carlyle Group, and Netflix can handle the criticism, but the individual harassment that this tweet was bound to bring? She should know better.
So I’m conflicted. Taylor shouldn’t have to put up with stuff like this, and she should be able to express her feelings and not get criticized for that. But it’s really tough when you have such a big platform, one that you really can’t control. So I guess the main question here is what’s worth speaking out about? It’s definitely a downside of celebrity to have to think of the consequences of absolutely everything you do.
what i’ve been watching
I’m been a huge fan of Billie Eilish for years, like I was there in 2017 on her very first tour, me and a crowd of mostly 14 year olds screaming out the lyrics to “bellyache.” So I’m obviously a big fan of her new documentary, “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry” (you can stream on Apple +)
It’s a deeply personal look into Billie’s life. She doesn’t shy away from sharing details about her mental health or her injuries or her relationships. And it’s a commentary on the immense pressure celebrities face. I was obviously already a fan before this, and this just made me love her even more and just hope that she’s doing okay.
what i’ve been listening to:
this: over and over and over again. who KNEW taylor’s voice could do that!
also:
Claud: Super Monster
Julien Baker: Little Oblivions