Barely into her 30’s, Taylor Swift has already had the kind of breadth of career that most artists – even most stars – can only dream about accomplishing over the course of their entire lives.
Since 2006 she’s released nine full studio albums, starred in several films (including a rather infamous stint in the bizarre 2019 Cats adaptation, but that’s another story), and has generally sold out stadiums all over the world and just about has a swimming pool full of Grammys.
But none of that star status has stopped her from speaking her mind pretty frankly on whatever issues come her way. Here are ten times Taylor Swift just went for it.
10. Ginny & Georgia
Apparently Taylor’s getting pretty tired of this bit.
Hey Ginny & Georgia, 2010 called and it wants its lazy, deeply sexist joke back. How about we stop degrading hard working women by defining this horse shit as FuNnY. Also, @netflix after Miss Americana this outfit doesn’t look cute on you 💔 Happy Women’s History Month I guess pic.twitter.com/2X0jEOXIWp
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) March 1, 2021
9. Scooter Braun
It may seem bizarre, but artists will often lose legal control of their own work, leading to duplicitous messes like these.
Been getting a lot of questions about the recent sale of my old masters. I hope this clears things up. pic.twitter.com/sscKXp2ibD
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) November 16, 2020
8. The post office
It’s not in the news cycle anymore, but we’re still feeling the ripple effects of this transparently horrid policy decision.
Donald Trump’s ineffective leadership gravely worsened the crisis that we are in and he is now taking advantage of it to subvert and destroy our right to vote and vote safely. Request a ballot early. Vote early.
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) August 15, 2020
7. Rock the vote
“I stay out of politics” is only a viable option until things get truly bad.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BopoXpYnCes/
6. Confederate monuments
Why do we celebrate who we celebrate?
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBWQOzjDNc2/
5. Pay up
Speaking up for smaller artists, Swift was none too happy about Apple’s policy of not paying artists for streams that were accessed during a user’s three month trial period, saying,
“Three months is a long time to go unpaid, and it is unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing.
I say this with love, reverence, and admiration for everything else Apple has done.”
Photo: Glenn Francis / Wikimedia
4. Healthcare
During 2020, she pulled no punches, saying,
“God, you hope people would respect [healthcare workers’ trauma] and would understand that going out for a night isn’t worth the ripple effect that it causes.
But obviously we’re seeing that a lot of people don’t seem to have their eyes open to that – if they do, a lot of people don’t care, which is upsetting.”
Bravo!
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
3. Bullies
In this case, she was referring specifically to Kim Kardashian when she said,
“In my experience, I’ve come to see that bullies want to be feared and taken seriously.”
Photo: David Shankbone / Wikimedia
2. The market
She was none too happy about Spotify’s treatment of artists either, saying,
“Music is art, and art is important and rare…It’s my opinion that music should not be free and my prediction is that individual artists and their labels will someday decide what an album’s price point is.
I hope they don’t underestimate themselves or undervalue their art.”
Photo: Wikimedia
1. The census
Seems a strange thing to get political about on its face, but Taylor was calling attention to the fact that the most recent US Census did not survey for transgender or nonbinary people.
Said Taylor, “We need to make sure we elect people who care about all communities.”
Photo: Wikimedia
One thing’s for sure – T. Swift has proven she will remain a force to be reckoned with for quite some time.
What’s your favorite Swift song?
Tell us in the comments.