In which I make a painful admission

Posted on by Luther M. Siler
Taylor Swift’s new song isn’t completely terrible.

Although I admit I’m not sure I have the courage to watch the video:

It’s not that I have a blanket dislike of bubblegum pop, mind you.  My affection for Avril Lavigne has been confessed enough times that it hardly even feels like a confession anymore.  But Taylor Swift?  God.  Taylor is the worst, and her single before this one was like the ur-Taylor Swift song.  Shake it Off is literally everything about Taylor Swift that sucks concentrated into four minutes, and I hate it so much that I have to turn off the radio when it comes on.

This one, on the other hand?  I knew I was in trouble the first time I heard it, when this line floated through my ears:

Oh my god
Look at that face
You look like
My next mistake

And I thought “Heh, that’s kind of clever,” and only a minute or two later realized that I’d thought something complimentary about a Taylor Swift song.  It’s amazing to me that these two tracks are on the same album; one of my biggest gripes about Swift is that she seems unable to write about anything other than herself and how everyone’s always picking on her/doing her wrong/mean/insufficiently worshipful, and Blank Space actually betrays a sense of humor about herself, which to my knowledge she’s never done before.

I’m not about to buy the album or anything.  But yeah, this one?  Not bad.

Published by

Luther M. Siler

Teacher, writer of words, and local curmudgeon. Enthusiastically profane. Occasionally hostile.

13 thoughts on “In which I make a painful admission”

  1. I don’t understand why people hate Taylor Swift. You may not like her music but there’s not any logical reason to hate her as a person. She has donated tons of money to different organization, and is a genuinely nice down-to-earth person. A lot of people use the excuse “ugh she just writes about her boyfriends”. Like, OH NO, A SINGER? WRITING ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES???? WHAT HAS THE WORLD COME TO? Ed Sheeran does it (love my bae Ed Sheeran), Bruno Mars does it, literally no one talks about them. She hasn’t even dated that many people either. But, even if she has, so what? Her music may not be my cup of tea but I don’t think there’s any reason to hate her- or any celebrity really.

    One of favorite youtubers, TheThirdPew, made a video about this recently. You should totally watch it 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vZ6gqMa_SE

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    1. The difference is that I can’t name a Bruno Mars song. For whatever reason, Taylor’s obnoxiousness keeps reaching my ears no matter what I try to do to stop it. Now, in a lot of ways that’s to her credit– she’s big enough that I literally can’t avoid her. And she’s got fuck-you money at this point so it ain’t like she’s got any reason to care about what I think.

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    2. I mean, hell, I CAN NAME MEN TAYLOR SWIFT HAS DATED. Please believe me that I do not want this information. And for whatever reason, society has decided that I can’t not have it. I don’t like that.

      (I’ll drop this now. I hope this is obvious, but it’s fine with me if YOU like her. Like whatever you want. 🙂 )

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I think that’s what bothers me too. She IS everywhere and the only thing you actually hear about her are the men she’s dated (like I care- honestly). She could write a song about cats and people would say it’s about Harry Styles. And her songs are beyond over-played but I don’t hate her.

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  2. I live in a house full of Taylor Swift fans. Even the 4yo asked for some of her songs to be put on her tablet yesterday. The 8yo and 7yo often have a Taylor Swift sing-along.

    I just… can’t…

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  3. So I live under a rock. I don’t know who Taylor Swift dated, and I wouldn’t have been able to pick her out of a line up until I saw your video, but I know that “Shake it Off” song from Zumba class and I kind of like it. In fact, I downloaded it for my run list. Did I just one-up your confession? Do I now have to do three Hail Marys to your two?

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  5. I have Taylor Swift’s first three albums and love them. I was disappointed with her fourth one, Red, because I missed her country style. The new one, 1989, well, I didn’t have high hopes, but I actually love it, which was a lovely surprise. Sure thing, she is everywhere, but she isn’t the only one and I don’t understand the hate. I don’t find that she only wrote about her love life either. Some songs are about other subjetcs. I understand that some people don’t like her or her music, but I don’t get the hate.

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  6. Don’t care who she dates or whether they end up being the inspiration for a new hit single, that girl knows how to turn personal disappointments into big bucks! I have absolutely no reason to “hate” her or her music. The past 4-5 hits are great energy boosters while working out in the gym or home!

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  8. I’m not a huge fan of hers or anything, but I just cannot help singing along to her songs when they come on the radio.
    Also, Avril Lavigne was one of my first concerts in high school. 🙂

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