DISCLAIMER: In case you're new here, I am not trying to attack Taylor. I have literally been a fan of hers since her debut album. I grew up with her. But as I've gotten older, I've found it increasingly difficult to ignore some aspects of her that rub me the wrong way. This rant is just my opinions and reasonings why I, personally have found myself disappointed in/annoyed with her.

If you find yourself getting angry at me at any point while reading this, close out of the chapter! Maybe make a cup of tea, sit outside, feel the wind on your face. Don't comment mean stuff. Thanks.

Okay. Here we go.

I will not go into my background of my history of being a Taylor fan (not really labeling myself as a "Swiftie" though because I'm not caught up on all of the lore/Easter eggs/etc. I don't know everything about her. I feel like some "Swifties" would call me a local or whatever.... which is funny considering how long I've been a fan, I just don't have the energy to dissect every part of her life/career.

I jotted down a list of things that have been bothering me, and I think the best way to go about this is to just list them all with explanations in-between. There's no rhyme or reason to the order of the list; it's not in chronological order or by order of severity,  it's just whatever came to my mind.

JET FUEL USAGE

I know everyone is talking about this, but there's a reason for it. The sheer amount of carbon emissions from her alone is insane. I watched a video that maps out all of her flights in 2023 and... my dudes. Homegirl was taking flights that were probably 15-20 minutes, flying home after every concert, etc.

People have argued that she is famous so she can't be on commercial flights because it's "dangerous," but celebrities fly commercially all the time. Harry Styles, Ryan Reynolds, Timothee Chalamet, Tom Holland, Olivia Rodrigo, Madonna, Miley Cyrus, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, and even Prince William and Kate Middleton have flown commercially. There are measures in place for high-profile people who choose first class or even business. Secret Service members will typically fill the seats surrounding politicians. Also, some airlines will let first class people get on the plane first, sometimes even entering the plane in a different way so the only people who see them are the staff.

Also, Taylor seemingly has no issue with being in huge crowds unprotected like she's been at Coachella. So like. ????

This is an issue that affects everyone, it's not just people whining that we aren't rich and are jealous of the things she has. It's doing damage to the planet.

I am criticizing her specifically because she emitted the most jet fuel usage out of any celebrity last year by an enormous margin, and also because of the lawsuit against that one college kid who was posting public info about her flights 24 hours after she took them. It feels like her team was trying to do damage control once people began criticizing her. In my opinion, it just made her look worse.

DECLINE IN QUALITY OF MUSIC AND OVEREXPOSURE

I honestly could not pinpoint the way I was feeling until I saw a post that a Reddit user on r/SwiftlyNeutral made (it's a great subreddit to explore btw— I referenced it a lot while brainstorming this rant, and will probably bring it up again). Here are screenshots:

And then a user left this comment which I thought was also relevant:

The reason I get to say that I "grew up with Taylor" is because she has been putting out music from the time I was a young child (5) to now. I got to experience the various "eras" as they were happening. Her debut came out in 2006. Fearless was 2008, Speak Now 2010, Red 2012, etc. Two years between albums meant that, to me, her older stuff felt much more polished and well-done. There's a reason why my favorites are among these older things and not really anything past 1989 (I do like Rep and Lover but they don't feel as great as the others to me).

With the "Taylor's Version" albums + regular albums in general, we have gotten less of a break. Fearless TV was released on April 9, 2021 and Red TV was released on November 12 of the same year. That's a 7 month gap. Midnights was released in October of 2022. This was followed by the 3am edition the following day and the Till Dawn edition which was released on May 23rd, 2023. Speak Now TV was released on July 7, 2023. 1989 TV was October 12. 3 months. Now TTPD 5 months later.

It feels like there is little buildup to these releases, and once they're out, she's paying little attention to them and just announcing the next project. I mentioned that Speak Now TV was released on July 7. Taylor announced the re-recording of 1989 on August 9. A month later.

There is no time to digest anything. It feels like a whirlwind because everything is happening at once. We had 2 albums last year + her movie + a new version of Midnights + the start of the Eras tour. It's starting to feel like the MCU. I can't keep up, nor am I really feeling motivated to do so.

I also agree with the OP who said there's been a decline in the quality of her music. I think this has to do with her being in complete control of what is released/included on her albums now. She has nobody saying "no" to her anymore. Nobody to suggest edits. And this can be great for an artist, but also damaging. She can release whatever she wants!! But also, she can release whatever she wants.

I HAVE NOT LISTENED TO TTPD YET. But releasing 15 "bonus tracks" is insane. Those aren't bonus tracks, that's a whole ass separate album. And from the feedback I've been seeing about the album (not great) she definitely should be pickier with what goes on her albums instead of just releasing everything that crossed her mind while recording because she knows people will listen.

LACK OF POLITICAL ACTION

Remember when the Miss Americana documentary showed her crying to her dad because she wanted to make a political stance and couldn't just sit by and watch what was going on? And then she proceeded to just like... not take a political stance ever again?

Miss Americana was released on January 31, 2020. Then, while a ton of celebrities were being vocal about the Black Lives Matter movement, she was notably silent. Taylor is someone with incredible sway (as seen when she encouraged a bunch of people to vote and there was a boom in young voter registration/turn outs at the polls) and influence and she doesn't do anything with it. When Roe v. Wade was revoked, she made a tweet about it (cool) but neglected to sign a petition that a TON of celebrities (such as Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Megan Thee Stallion, Dylan O'Brien, Shawn Mendes, Wallows) signed.

Link: https://twitter.com/popcrave/status/1525123385092673537?s=21&t=skwoXLN8nA-fEsgvuotnog

(Note that you don't have to sign a petition to be taking a stand, but a lot of these artists  — and even ones not listed as having signed — have been more vocal about these issues and done more than Taylor has. That's why I brought it up.)

It's like... I see limited real action from her. Even posting a petition on her Instagram story would make a difference. She poses herself as a "feminist" but doesn't really bother to put up a fight about things unless they affect her or people are critical about her. If anything, when people are critical, she typically overcorrects to make herself seem better to the public eye. Which brings me to my next point...

THE MATTY HEALY AND ICE SPICE DEBACLE

I horrified that I have considered myself a fan of The 1975 since their first album and did not know about what a gross disgusting horrific slime ball Matty Healy is. This man has publicly, on a god damn PODCAST, admitted to getting off on videos of black women being viciously beaten. What the ever-loving FUCK?? He's also had a history of racism and stuff. So like. Not great! And she had that fling with him last year.

I had no idea that the Matty Healy drama and Ice Spice collab were related. Last year, Healy said that Ice Spice, who is afro-Latina, is an "Inuit spice girl" and a "chubby Chinese lady" (Los Angeles Times). Then Taylor breaks things off with Matty and practically immediately has a very public adoption of Ice Spice into her friend group, inviting her everywhere, and has a collab with her. It felt very performative. She did not acknowledge that Matty is a garbage person or anything. It was just... that.

I honestly thought that the Ice Spice collab was so random and now that I know the reasoning behind it, it makes sense in the worst sort of way.

THE TOXIC FANDOM SHE DOES NOTHING ABOUT

Swifties are terrifying. They act like Taylor can do no wrong, that she's God, and anyone who criticizes her or wrongs her is a monster who must be viciously attacked. Of course, a fandom does not necessarily reflect the artist, but I feel like it's gotten to a point where Taylor should be stepping in.

Namely about how viciously (can I say that any more times this chapter? lmao) they have been attacking Joe Alwyn since their breakup. Holy shit. I've been through the eras and I've never seen anything like it, not even Jake Gyllenhaal. They somehow tie everything back to this poor man.

Swifties have a very parasocial relationship with Taylor. In posts about her and Travis Kelce, they'll say things like "look at how well he's treating our girl in comparison to joe" or "i can't believe we accepted someone who so blatantly didn't want to be around her, look how happy travis is to be with her in public." (paraphrasing some tweets I saw). This completely ignores the fact that we have no idea what went on between her and Joe. They were together for a long time, and assuming that all of that was a bad experience for her is wrong. Joe has expressed that he is an introvert. He doesn't like PDA and that's totally fine!

I think that these Swifties are mostly happy with the fact that Travis and Taylor's relationship is so public because it gives them a lot of content. They can catch a glimpse of (almost) every single part of this relationship. It feeds into the parasocial behavior. Since Joe "hid her away" (didn't want every aspect of their relationship to be public) he's the bad guy.

And this has only gotten worse since the release of TTPD. People have been attacking Joe, nitpicking Taylor's lines and putting every little slice of negativity into the narrative they have about him. I think they've forgotten that songs are not necessarily all autobiographical. Like, do they think that Taylor actually murdered someone and got away with it? Why are they suddenly taking every song so seriously?

You know what Joe decided to do about all of the attention his Instagram page was getting? He joined a charity for Palestine and started posting about it on his story. King behavior, if you ask me.

I've also heard about a line from TTPD where she says something about her fans chanting "more" when she does something, which, if that's actually how she feels, she can probably just take a break or... ask them to stop? And also ask them to stop tormenting people they perceive as "villains"? I don't really like Ariana Grande, but she did ask her fans to stop going to people's pages and attacking them after her album came out. At least she said something. It seems like Taylor has no qualms about them going after others, but when anyone goes after her, it's war. You know?

Not to mention they infantilize her and act like she's a helpless little girl when she is 34. A grown woman.

Ugh. This has already been exhausting. But I have more.

BEING WEIRDLY SELECTIVE ABOUT DONATIONS

This is a relatively small point that I only have one example of. The header will make sense in a moment.

Basically Taylor donated $100k to a fundraiser to help a girl who, if I remember correctly, was killed in a shooting. Great! That's wonderful of her. But then she didn't donate to the fundraiser of the family of Ana Clara Benevides Machado, who died at her first show in Brazil, who had to rely on fan support to help bring their daughter's body home. That, in particular, seems so weird to me. It's oddly selective.

BILLIONAIRE STATUS

One person in one of my classes this semester is a huge Swiftie and, when my professor (who was also a Swiftie), expressed disdain over Taylor reaching billionaire status, my classmate said something like, "Yeah but girlboss."

I still maintain the belief that there is no ethical way to become a billionaire. Taylor becoming one doesn't magically make that belief go away. She's not an exception.

Not to mention that she releases so many different kinds of albums and vinyls to buy, and told people that they could celebrate her birthday by buying/streaming her movie when she definitely had the power to make it free on her bday... you know??? Feels like a cash grab.

NOT A "GIRL'S GIRL"

This is kind of similar to her not sticking up for the people that her fans unfairly attack but it's also different. She ignored when her fans have insulted Beyoncé, who has been nothing but kind to her over the years. Her fans have been ruthlessly attacking Kayla Nicole (Travis's ex) ever since they started dating him.... when all she did was date Travis. And once again, I will mention how she ignored the awful things Matty said about black women and then used Ice Spice as a cover.

Olivia Rodrigo used to look up to Taylor, and then Taylor's team sued her for "Deja Vu," which they said Olivia plagiarized. Now 50% of royalties from that song go to Taylor. I honestly do not see how that song is a plagiarism of Taylor????

Idk, it just does not seem like she is a girls supporting girls queen with how passive she is about the women who get attacked at her expense.

MENTAL HEALTH STUFF

Taylor has said that she's never seen a therapist as she believes she's totally sane. Yet she has described "depression" (as in Depression, not feeling depressed, which is an emotion) as "feeling sad sometimes" and apparently has a lyric about having manic states in TTPD? Which.... no, that is not how that works. It sounds like she's just using words from the psychology realm without care about how she's using them. Manic states aren't when you feel excited sometimes.

As a songwriter... she should... put more care into her lyrics, idk just a thought... lol....

Ok now I'm exhausted but I think I'm done. And if I'm not, I'll rant in the comments. Lmao bye enjoy this chaos. Peace.