It wasn't until Fearless that I started to dislike her. Of course, I had grown up a bit by then so, naturally, my taste had matured. I noticed Taylor's lyrics were getting very repetitive. I used to make fun of it (to myself, with no one else, because everyone still seemed to think Taylor was Albert Einstein of music). I've come to conclude that 1. Taylor enjoys kissing in the rain 2. That events in her life always happen around 2 am 3. She likes to stare at the driver while she sits in the passenger's seat of a truck. It was fun to dislike Taylor then because she was getting so much recognition and so many awards when all she wrote were diary entries of a young girl that rhymed. Eventually, after reading an article (which I am too lazy to look for) about why Taylor Swift is so horrible, I realized so many things that I wish I knew when I was younger. You see, up until I read that article a few years ago, I used to think Taylor was the messiah. Wow, the unpopular smart girl gets the guy. Yay! What I did not notice was how the current girlfriend was portrayed. She was popular and pretty, liked shopping and make-up. How was it that Taylor turned such harmless qualities and made us think that these qualities make someone the devil's spawn?
I like to make fun of Taylor, because even though she is an adult, she acts like a fourteen year old girl. I downloaded her album last night and started listening to it today. It was all good when Better Than Revenge started playing. I was honestly cringing the whole time, but I could not help but listen.
She's not a saint and she's not what you think
She's an actress, Whoa
She's better known for the things that she does
On the mattress, Whoa
Soon she's gonna find
Stealing other people's toys on the playground
Won't make you many friends
She should keep in mind,
She should keep in mind
There is nothing I do better than revenge
I don't know in what universe this is considered good. How could anyone want children to model themselves after somebody who thinks like this? For one, it shows that she is a bitter name-dropper, which makes her very immature, specially since she is famous (The song which was written for Camilla Belle. I might be a bit biased because I really like Camilla mostly for her amazing fashion choices. That's besides the point). What irks me the most about this song, aside from the obvious slut-shaming, is the hypocrisy. The main gist of this song is that Taylor is angry at a girl who stole her boyfriend (This whole boyfriend stealing concept is so baffling to me. Why do women blame themselves when it is the cheating man to blame? Taylor manages to portray all forms of anti-feminism). Now, in her other song, Speak Now, she is the one bursting into a wedding and stealing the groom. This just confuses me as to what Taylor's stand on "boyfriend stealing" really is. It just leads me to the conclusion that it does not matter to Taylor which is the wrong and which is the right side, what matters is which is her side. In both songs, Taylor manages to portray the other girl as some villain.
Another thing is her whole glorification of virginity (which I think a whole lot of "role models" are guilty of). In Fifteen, she talks about how Abigail is distraught after being left by the boy she gave her virginity to. Hey, Taylor. Guess what? Your virginity does not make you any less or any more of a person. "Abigail gave everything she had to a boy who changed his mind". Really? Taylor thinks your virginity is EVERYTHING?
Also, the whole Madonna/Whore complex that has been so widely talked about is a big factor. Just like I said, the unpopular girl should always get the guy (according to You Belong With Me, where I just realized, she also steals someone's boyfriend.). The girl who is virginal and timid and simple is better than the girl who has a functioning vagina, because, apparently, EW SEX! I cannot stress enough how ridiculous I find this mentality to be. I am so outraged by this because I have to deal with it every single day of my life- people I know in real life hurling insults at someone because that someone enjoys sex. I could maybe understand it if you are a Christian, but even then, you shouldn't judge people.
Also this music video is pretty much like any other teen movie from the 80s where- hell, I don't even have to explain the plot of this. Taylor, I'm sorry that you were such a freak in high school. I mean, you were a skinny, blonde, white female who wore glasses?!?! How did you even survive?
But really, the worst is that Taylor loves boys so much that she hates girls. That's the whole summary of Taylor's message. Better Than Revenge was about her hating a girl for stealing a boy. Speak Now was about her stealing a boy from a girl. So was You Belong With Me.
Another thing that I hate is that Taylor is 20 fucking years old and yet she insists on waiting for you prince charming. She insinuates that everything will be rainbows! butterflies! happiness! once the love of your life comes and when he leaves, everything is horror! sadness! meaningless life! Way to take a giant shit on feminism, Taylor! You're becoming dangerously close to Bella Swan 2.0! How about singing about independence? No, you wouldn't have any real life material for that.
Now, that seems like too much effort and analysis in what seems to be such a harmless thing- listening to Taylor Swift. But a few years ago, I used to be a Taylor Swift fan. I used to emulate her, thinking that it would make me the kind of person that people will look up to and like (I mean, isn't that what people feel about Taylor?). Then I read something similar to what I wrote (only more coherent and objective) and it opened my eyes (lol corny). And really, if I could save a young girl from having these TSwizzle values ingrained in her mind before it's too late, then this post has served its purpose.
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