Just A Little Fandom Gremlin

it’s like she said in her time interview. Being seen isn’t really not being private, it’s just not hiding. A lot of celebrities in high profile relationships have this same balance.

this has been living in my draft for a while, but since it's topical again... why do people hand-wring about the "power dynamic" between female songwriters and their male partners? it's a multifaceted issue (right to privacy is one that i don't touch on here), but i genuinely believe A LOT of people are just uncomfortable that a man is "at the mercy" of a more powerful woman.

i genuinely believe A LOT of people are just uncomfortable that a man is "at the mercy" of a more powerful woman.

"where's an example of a couple with inverted roles, in which the male part is as famous as Taylor and the female part walks in Joe's shoes, where something similar happened and nobody criticised the superstar simply because he was a male?" Anon must know literally nothing about the history of uh, all art, because powerful men build their careers off sliming women literally every day. Justin Timberlake kicked off his enormous solo career with a song that makes Britney Spears out to be a cheating slut whose whorish ways ruined their relationship. Ted Hughes spent decades erasing the ways he abused Sylvia Plath and carefully framing her as a crazy little storm of her own making and became one of the most celebrated poets of the century. I can't even begin listing the Golden Age Hollywood break-ups that amounted to "man did heinous thing to woman, made woman out to be a crazy/stupid/evil bitch, her career ended, he became an icon" because I will never stop. (And none of those are even comparable to Taylor, because she literally only ever writes songs about shit that happened. But I hope you take my meaning.)

It's because most people already made up their minds that Taylor is a witch who lures men in her web and chews them up and spits them out and uses her music as a weapon. Of course these people who never liked Taylor in the first place so it's even more disheartening to see swifties people who are fans falling into the same narrative the media painted her entire career!

Obviously this is going to suck for Joe on a personal level because having your personal business be discussed by the entire world is scary. I don't think anybody would want to be in that position. BUT this discomfort does not mean that it is morally wrong for Taylor to make art about this. We can talk all day about the power dynamics at play (e.g. Taylor's intense and partially vengeful fanbase), but ultimately Taylor is an artist creating art, not a politician who has to find The Most Diplomatic And Least Harmful Way through this situation. "Oh no will my fanbase attack him over this line?" is not a fruitful thought to have when trying to write a raw, vulnerable song. This is about art. Not about writing a tweet or Instagram Story statement.

While I totally understand the privacy argument, I just don't see how that only affects Joe (or any of the muses she sings about). Not that anyone here is doing it, I just meant in general people seem to forget that Taylor is also airing out her dirty laundry? Like I don't know has anyone consider that it's also embarrassing and horrifying for her as much as him. I know people are gonna say well she's telling the story so of course she gets to paint herself is a better light but like honestly when in the past 6 years of her music has she's paint a pretty picture of anything other than her love for him. Every awful thing has been related to something else meanwhile he gets to be her savior and her stars and moon.

as if her music has not made her calling her a whore who has been dumped by multiple men,body shaming, slut shaming etc publically acceptable. her being vulnerable and open about her feelings has made people extremely comfortable to mock her in every way. there are dedicated hate forums on every platform for this woman. when she is going to release music a soft there is not going to be a push back and people aren't going to have a field day taking her lyrics out of context and mock her. these men eventually after a week of stupid immature comments are fine but taylor is the petty boy crazy woman forever for certain sections out for blood using poor helpless men.

The number of people who seem to equate art with revenge porn is astonishing. Taylor Swift, date only your fellow songwriting billionaires (ha), or there is a power imbalance and you are evil. Or maybe you're just evil because we've internalized that women are not supposed to be the most successful creative genius on the planet. Signed, your loving stans.

My theory is that a lot of people thought Joe caused Taylor to “mature” instead of giving her the credit for her growth the last few years. It’s not coincidental that a lot of the critiques started happening the minute she wasn’t a settled women who quietly stayed at home.

The thing is, Taylor tends to be fairly truthful in her music. It’s not like she’s going to frame Joe for murder and tell everyone where he hid the body and cackle as he’s hauled off to jail. I just can’t take some of this pearl clutching seriously. If Joe has been an A list asshole it might actually make him more interesting. And he knows the deal…he’s been entwined with her art and is profiting from it.

Not to generalize but I feel like a lot of this oh poor joe etc comes from people who became swifties during folkmore they never really liked her before but they liked folkmore and also she wasn’t explicitly talking about anyone so they could be like oh she “matured” so it’s acceptable for me to be a fan now but they don’t like the essence of who Taylor is which is what she will always return to so they feel the need to critique her over banal things

Who do they think is a good role model of a mature indie darling? MH? Cause lol. I love folklore, but I don't understand how either she or her art is immature compared to anyone? She's basically the same style of writer as Noah Kahan and he is praised and she is questioned at every turn. It's maddening.

the obsession ppl have with desperately needing the famous person they stan (lol) to despise the limelight/even the *concept* of fame..................

i dont think some people understand that they can like certain albums of an artist but that doesn't make them a fan of that artist and they don't have to be why force yourself to like someone who you don't actually like