Why do people hate Taylor Swift so much?

By Lilly McNally (she/they)

Taylor Swift has grown to be a household name in music. To be honest, no introduction is needed for the pop music icon. Like all musicians, there are bound to be outliers who dislike her music, but the hate around Taylor seems to go beyond that. I will not lie, I fell into this group for the majority of my life. Taylor’s songs dominated the radio and I was getting a little sick of “Shake It Off” and “Blank Space.” Anyone who told me that they loved Taylor Swift, admittedly, I found to be basic. 

I think that my vendetta with Taylor lied in my internalized misogyny. Internalized misogyny sits with a lot of women; it is basically women being sexist against other women. I still can’t identify what it was about Taylor that I didn’t like- maybe the fact that she was popular and stereotypically beautiful. Growing out of internalized misogyny requires a fair bit of introspection, but I can now say that I am much more open-minded to Taylor and her music. Many of my closest friends are big Taylor fans. I respect them, and they respect Taylor, so I decided to give her a chance. 

One of the biggest turning points for me was learning about why Taylor Swift is rereleasing her albums. From 2005 to 2018, she was signed to Big Machine Records. Under that contract, Big Machine owns her first six albums. When the record label sold to private-equity group Ithaca Holdings, music manager Scooter Braun sold Taylor Swift’s master recordings to another company for a reported 300 million dollars. This means that Taylor does not have autonomy over her music. So, Taylor has taken on the task of re-recording and releasing her albums. They are not groundbreakingly different, it is more about the principle of it all. I find her confidence in advocating for herself very admirable. 

Another reason that I found myself rethinking my opinion about Taylor Swift was the consensus of hate from men. Admittedly, if so many men hate something or someone, I don’t want to be lumped into that group. Especially, because the only reason they seem to dislike her is the fact that she is a woman. Generally, some of the men that I have encountered with strong opinions about Taylor carry an overwhelming air of misogyny. I’m not asking for everyone to love Taylor’s music (I don’t think that I am even in that boat), but respecting her as an artist and well-established individual is a different thing. Her lyricism holds men accountable for their actions and a generation of women who grew up listening to her music hold the same values, maybe that is what is threatening to so many men. 

I asked some of my friends who are more well-versed in Taylor than I am to help contribute to my playlist of favorites from her discography: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4oCPJgfpRkqbH5Ule4d3AX?si=f5e254abe2584a15