Taylor Swift: Good or Bad?

Taylor Swift is one of the most recognized pop artists in the world. With songs like “Shake It Off” and “Love Story,” Taylor Swift has risen to the top in terms of popularity and money. However, not everybody sees her as a shining mirrorball the way that Swifties do, and I’m here to tell everyone why.

One reason her songs are not that engaging is that she constantly repeats words. For example, in one of her most famous songs, “Shake It Off,” the phrase “shake it off” is repeated 36 times, which is 1/10 of the whole song. I get tired of listening to the phrase “Shake It Off” more than twenty times. That is true of any other phrase, such as “this love,” which she repeats fifty times in “This Love,” making up 1/6 of that song.

Secondly, Swift’s songs get a little too cheesy. For example, “Today Was a Fairytale” is a song about a girl and a boy’s mushy love story. One of the cringiest lines in “Fairytale” is “Can you feel this magic in the air? It must have been the way you kissed me.” Although the purpose of the line is to further the point that the romance is like a fairytale, it simply makes everything feel over-perfect and artificial.  

“Love Story” is another example. The whole idea of the song is a ripoff of Romeo and Juliet, the basic plot of which is overused.  The lyrics follow Swift as she “meets someone” and falls in love, but her dad prevents her from seeing the “love of her life.” The theme gets repetitive and annoying.

When I listen to a song, I’m looking for beats, rhymes, and relatable, but fresh, content, not cliches. For example, Rihana discusses love, but their lyrics include, which has not only interesting imagery but a fresh take on a classic concept. 

On the subject of her fans, Swift’s fans can get Toxic with a capital T. There have been so many instances where toxic Swifties cyberbullied so many different artists. junkee.com, which is a website focused on pop star life, Taylor’s fans went as far as cyberbullying other stars who appeared in the album Folklore, such as singers like Anton, Iverf, etc., apparently to stay “loyal” to Taylor Swift. In another instance, Swifties sent death threats to someone just because they criticized the “Eras Tour.” 

And this isn’t the first time Taylor Swift fans have sent toxic death threats to different artists, so no excuses can be made about emotions running high after her tour hiatus during Covid. 

According to another article made by the Junkee, toxic Swifties sent multiple death threats to different artists, just because their albums were more popular.

Swift’s fans are okay with causing mental harm to other artists because they appear to criticize Swift. Although one could argue that Swift has nothing to do with how her fans act, she has not done much in response to her fans’ atrocities. Although she responded to her fans’ actions once, when toxic Swifties called out Swift’s ex-boyfriend, this is the only time she has ever spoken in response to her fans’ unforgivable actions; the rest have gone unnoticed by her.

Overall, Taylor Swift personally stands at the bottom of my list of “liked artists.” She doesn’t deserve her popularity; she’s unoriginal, and her fan base is toxic. But now I’m curious. What do you think of Taylor Swift after reading all of this?