I’m deeply sad I’ve missed my chance to go to the Eras Tour in London, but I’m not mad.
Her lyricism will stay close to my hopeless romantic heart but I wonder, do the haters even bother listening to her music before they attempt to annihilate her?
Unlike some people out there who drool over their screens with a fool’s smile to let their hatred towards her be known.
I love that Taylor Swift is so insanely popular, good on her for being a smart businesswoman but also an incredibly clever artist.
What must it feel like to achieve something so revolutionary through art that it brings you everlasting fame and wealth?
I feel slightly envious as an artist myself sometimes and I think we all do when we see her on our socials at least two times a day.
However, the jarring hatred she receives baffles me to bits. I wouldn’t call myself a hardcore Swiftie but I love her music, I can acknowledge an artist’s journey to this point and choose to be inspired rather than project my insecurities onto her.
I have a sense of humour and I’ll admit, some of the memes are actually funny. If it’s in good humour and the creativity of the shade makes me gag, I’ll have a laugh or two.
But if it’s down bad cruel and insensitive, I fail to understand the purpose behind it. What’s worse, it comes from her own fans occasionally.
Social media has become such a hotspot for people to help someone rise to fame, be proud of them when they do but also find reasons to drag them down when they get “too famous’.
The irony is ridiculous. What do people really achieve when they type negative comments about someone, to express a moment of anger on a complete stranger and call it a job well done?
They actually don’t realise that their hateful interaction is probably adding more digits to her bank account so, continue I guess?
Taylor Swift has had a target on her back the day she turned famous. She’s heard it all, she abandoned country music for pop, she’s boy-crazy, she’s way too opinionated, her music is average and she doesn’t deserve the recognition she gets.
I’m coming from a neutral Swiftie perspective when I say so much of what the media has fed us has made us believe she’s not a worthy artist at all. Which is FAR from the truth.
It takes away from the beautiful songwriter and producer she actually is. Her remarkable vocals, captivating stage presence and how she never fails to put on a fabulous show for her fans.
I’ve watched videos of her performances and heard a lot about how thrilling she is on stage from a few friends who pounced at the opportunity to see her.
I admire the passion her true fans have for relentlessly standing by who she is. She knows how to provide for them and they receive all that she has to give with open arms.
Isn’t that the point of loving an artist anyway? Aren’t we all in some way shape or form emotionally attached to that one artist or band that we just want to see conquer the world?
My loyalty lies with Lady Gaga and always will but when I see artists like Taylor Swift who has a palm on the world, I’m thoroughly impressed by the sheer guts it takes to achieve such a thing.
I’m not a marketing expert to tell you what she’s doing and state the facts on how exactly she became a billionaire after the Eras Tour commenced.
But what I can say as a writer is the consistency of her talent in all her songs. She takes me on a journey from what was perhaps a sad portion of her life and makes me see how she struggled but prevailed in a just a few minutes.
Her songwriting dances on the fine line between, “Oh my god did this really happen? Who is she talking about?” and “Oh wow that must have been so painful and confusing but good for her breaking out of it.” She is a genius storyteller.
The sister albums, Folklore and Evermore made me completely fall in love with her artistry for life. I can’t begin to tell you how brilliant these two albums are in terms of variety as an artist.
She piqued my interest most when she entered her villain era with Reputation. I was re-introduced to her as an artist gone rogue and I loved it. The release she found through that album was I’m sure, cathartic for her but also for the confused teenage me.
And she just didn’t stop after that, did she? She recorded Lover, she had the drama with her toxic ex-producers mooching off of her. She re-recorded all of the songs from her older albums while simultaneously working on new material for Lover, Folklore, Evermore and Midnights.
She works HARD for her art and her brand. This is a woman who knows her worth and will fight tooth and nail to stand up for herself while delivering exquisite pieces of music.
I didn’t entirely listen to the Midnights album but I have a few songs that I will listen to for the rest of my life. Anti-Hero being one of them that really helps me put things into perspective. When she says, “Must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero” that hits deep. I smile at the thought of being my own worst enemy so I truly ‘Shake It Off‘ and return to myself.
I’m still working on the Tortured Poets Department because let’s be real, 30 songs?? I love her but I don’t love her All Too Well (okay I’m going to stop with the Taylor puns).
I’m taking it day by day and listening to perhaps 1-2 songs, giving them all of my attention so I can fully take in what she’s trying to say.
But this is what I mean when I say, she feeds her fans and she feeds them WELL. I’ve never once heard a Swiftie tell me they’ve had enough. This woman is making her fans tweak the tectonic plates! That kind of energy is monumental.
I’ve had conversations with my Swiftie friends recently, we’re all kind of on the same page with how much we love her. We agreed that as much as we adore her, we want to see more and not just the break-ups or the boy troubles. For instance, when she spoke about how she dealt with her mum’s cancer in ‘Soon You’ll Get Better‘, that was an invite into another side of her vulnerability that we were aching to see.
She goes into intricate details about relationships which could either be real or fictional, who knows? And the boy-crazy songs may not be entirely for me but the way she sees love and how she heals after a separation resonates with me on a human level.
Ultimately an artist’s purpose is to feel seen through their work and hope for people to find themselves in it. Taylor Swift has done precisely that on an enormous scale and it was not overnight.
She has been around for over a decade, her growth was erratic but she continued to wear her heart on her sleeve. I mean let’s not forget she has 14 Grammys to her name.
Unfortunately the dark side of the internet will find reasons to dehumanise her relevance in the world. Scrutinising her relationships, the private planes, the snot coming down her nose and the list goes on.
But this is a message from a neutral Swiftie who sees and appreciates her art for what it is and promises to not shame her for what I don’t know.
She makes the teenage girl in me very happy and the woman in me sees the woman in her. She’s a girl’s girl but not just any girl, she’s a woman who stands on business and is a legend in her 30s, that’s pretty iconic to me.
Here’s a few of my favourite Taylor Swift lyrics that I appreciate as a fellow poet:
- Song: Exile by Taylor Swift and Bon Iver. “I think I’ve seen this film before, and I didn’t like the ending. You’re not my homeland anymore, so what am I defending now? You were my town, now I’m in exile, seein’ you out.” (Excuse me miss Taylor and Bon Iver, you’re not allowed to know how I see separation, get out of my head but stay in my heart)
- Song: My Tears Ricochet. “And you can aim for my heart, go for blood. But you would still miss me in your bones. And I still talk to you (when I’m screaming at the sky), and when you can’t sleep at night (you hear my stolen lullabies)” (Sobbing, I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels this deep)
- Song: Cowboy Like Me. “Now you hang from my lips, like the Gardens of Babylon. With your boots beneath my bed, forever is the sweetest con.” (How does she manage to take me on such a dreamy, romanticised journey and snaps me back to reality at the same time? It’s simply sensational)
- Song: False God.“But we might just get away with it, religion’s in your lips, even if it’s a false god. (We’d still worship..) We might just get away with it, the altar is my hips, even if it’s a false god, we’d still worship this love. (I didn’t ask for this biblical sensuality but okay, take me to CHURCH)
- Song: Guilty as Sin? “What if I roll the stone away? They’re gonna crucify me anyway. What if the way you hold me, is actually what’s holy? If long suffering propriety is what they want from me, they don’t know how you’ve haunted me so stunningly. I choose you and me…religiously.” (The way she makes biblical references is intriguing because that’s how much she views love, like a union of two souls praying for harmony against forces that try to tear them apart)
I might be a total Swiftie in denial but it’s against my morals as a little monster to exclusively call myself one.
The haters can hate all they want but Taylor Swift will continue to serve exceptional music, poetry, love, entertainment and pure talent as always and we will always be, ready for it. (I had to)
Here’s a link to the rest of her Eras Tour dates around the world if you can make it https://www.taylorswift.com/tour/
Don’t tell me about it, thank you.
2Shades Magazine 