Following the release of a mega-pop star’s album, social media always provides insight into what narrative the culture wants to be true. Women in particular are continuously criticized and poked at by society for not being good enough. Taylor Swift released her twelfth studio album “The Life of a Showgirl” on Oct. 3. Within a week, the internet was out for her head. Is it just bad lyrics, or is Swift a racist nazi? Or is this just another example of society spending too much time hating on women?
In her song “CANCELLED!” Swift says, “The situation could be saved of course / but they’d already picked out your grave and hearse / beware the wrath of masked crusaders.” “CANCELLED!” was one of multiple songs to receive criticism for lyrics that fans did not enjoy. Some listeners also theorized that this song could be about one of Swift’s acquaintances who have been “canceled” for political reasons – such as Brittany Mahomes. Mahomes, who received backlash last year for allegedly being a Trump supporter, has often been spotted with Swift. Without confirmation on who the song is about, fan speculation will continue to run wild. Swift’s use of popular internet language, such as “girlboss” is expected to receive criticism, however within a matter of days Swift’s entire album and promotion was picked apart by internet users who had no reason to listen other than with intentions to find distaste in Swift’s work.
Track three, “Opalite,” on “The Life of a Showgirl” has one particular lyric in the chorus: “You were dancing through the lightning strikes / Sleepless in the onyx night / But now the sky is opalite.” Did this line spur swift claims of her being racist or pandering to Nazism? The answer is both.
Racism allegations are to be taken seriously, not in a joking manner… when there is actually evidence to back up a claim. One user stated, “I saw a lot of people were saying that this song Opalite was giving that Swift was getting jealous and insecure about the fact that her boyfriend had previously only dated black women.” The video continues to explain how this symbolism feels “fishy” as Swift is comparing Travis Kelce’s life before her with a black stone, and his life with her as a white stone. The user points to Kelce’s prior public girlfriends, none of whom were white. Interestingly enough, Swifties prior to the album release theorized that “Opalite” would be about Kelce because of his eye color being similar to the stone.
The internet was not united in this allegation of racism. Another user responded to the backlash saying “Do I think that Taylor had racialized intent in this specific Opalite metaphor? No, I don’t.” The user continued, saying, “I think that she is a silly white girl – older woman, okay who has been surrounded by whiteness her entire life and has never in her life interrogated issues like race and identity, so she does both have a conscious awareness of how metaphors can be interrupted.” A comment under this same post read, “She may not have meant anything by that but the fact that no one around her caught that and told her not to release it is also an issue.”
In a video titled “Is Taylor Swift Racist? A Black Swifties Perspective,” a TikToker stated, “From the very beginning of her discography she was always referenced daytime to nighttime.” The user continued in another video, analyzing Swift’s entire discography looking for when Swift has compared day and night. In the song “Daylight” Swift says, “I’ve been sleeping so long in a twenty-year dark night / but now I see daylight.” It is clear that Swift has continuously compared her love life to day and night. It is not out of her lyrical pattern to compare her lover’s life to being nighttime before and daytime now. The TikToker posted a comment on her post saying, “The fact that people say this album is surface level shows they can’t see past the pop sound.”
When speaking about the song “Opalite,” Swift told Capital FM in an interview, “Travis’ birthstone is opal – I’ve always loved that stone and I thought it was kind of a cool metaphor that like it’s a man-made opal and happiness can also be man-made too.”
Swift still had not beat the listeners who came with shallow understanding allegations as they continued onto track eight “Wi$h Li$t.” In this song Swift sings about her lover and how she wants to settle down and have kids to live her dream life. “I just want you / Have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you / We tell the world to leave us the fuck alone and they do.” The problem? This lyric sounded to some people like white supremacy. One TikTok video said, “Wait am I too woke but why did this line feel like a dog whistle for a completely white suburban neighborhood and like lowk white supremacy coded?” Or perhaps, Swift is a white woman engaged to a white man who she wants to have kids with.
The danger of accusing Swift for having all these “tone death” lyrics is that it takes away from the actual problems in our society. It is trendy to jump on a bandwagon and tear apart Swift’s lyrics for being racially motivated, but is that productive? In a world where so many are still facing injustices and persecution, is arguing about if lyrics from a billionaire are micro-aggressions going to change anything about the racism we see today? To call yourself “too woke” yet spend so much energy analyzing an album that sold over four million copies in its first week is a waste of valuable time.
Accusing people of being Nazi’s has also become a trend under the current Trump administration. While certain allegations may have more merit than others, Swift received backlash for selling a necklace with a lightning bolt. The necklace, sold in her store for a short period of time, was said to be a dog whistle for being a Nazi because of the shape of the lightning bolt. SS Bolts are symbols of white supremacy, derived from Nazi Germany. While many users were quick to call out people for reaching with this allegation, Swift did remove the necklace from her website.
If you do not like Swift’s music or Swift’s ethics as a billionaire, and therefore herself as a person, then why are you listening to her music? Other artists receive backlash for their music being cringy, such as Sabrina Carpenter with her new album “Man’s Best Friend.” While Carpenter was heavily criticized for being hypersexual, the internet did not critique her album with outlandish thought pieces as they did with Swift. “Wood” by Swift was arguably very cringy and very lyrically challenged, with lyrics such as “Forgive me, it sounds cocky / He (Ah!)matized me / And opened my eyes.” However, watch as I simply choose not to listen to that song and go about my business. No accusations of homophobia because Swift is not a lesbian here. It is possible to review an album that you do not like, and do so in a way that doesn’t make one wonder if you have an agenda behind the review.
Racism in America continues to be an issue. To be an actual activist against racism in America, do your research on your community and vote for elected officials who will support marginalized communities instead of criticizing Swift’s new album. As Trump continues his dehumanization of immigrants, focus less on love songs written about Kelce and focus more on the world you live in. If you find yourself engrossed in popular culture’s picking apart a woman, ask yourself why? Is it because we want to hate her as a woman, or are we bored with the challenge of fighting against injustices?
During the press tour for “The Life of a Showgirl” Swift told Zane Lowe, “If it’s the first week of my album release and you are saying either my name or my album title you’re helping.” When criticism dies down and fizzles out, it is clear that there was barely any backbone to start with. What is worth talking about is why society attacked this album as they did. It is inherently because of boredom. Life is short; if you hate Swift and her music don’t listen to it. If you are the ally against racism as you claim to be, be productive, don’t pull at strings. Seriously, you’re not “too woke” you’re just not spending your time being productive.
