Is America Turning on Taylor Swift?

[maxthewonderdog 300]

I hope so. I find her terribly boring and annoying. Also... try to hard.

[Whiskey Mouth 322]

which american? there's millions of us. 

[craig 680]

Last era Taylor was getting mocked for dating and dissing multiple boys, and she got sick of all the criticism and gossip.

So she decided to refocus on a Girl Squad of celebrity women and profess her feminist. She did this very publicly viia social media and interviews. This re-invention went over brilliantly at the start of 1989 era - it was novel and got positive press.

But now it's generating just as much gossip and negativity as the boyfriend thing. For example, this Australian women's site:

http://www.mamamia.com.au/entertainment/taylor-swift-girl-squad/

... Flash forward half a year and the images of Swift with her mates have become THE Taylor Swift story. While the use of the word “squad” to describe a group of friends has been around for decades, the phrase “#SquadGoals” is now synonymous with Swift and her celebrity pals.

Taylor Swift has a Girl Squad, filled with the best looking, coolest women around. A flick through her Instagram will show you how she rolls: She and her cool girl group are just hanging out being fun and carefree.

Her live shows are no different. There is a catwalk from the stage to the audience on which Taylor invites her pals to walk. Everyone from Heidi Klum to the American Women’s Soccer team to her cats (named after celebrities who now appear in her film clips) stride out to dance a little and be hugged.

Faces of other women from Swift’s Girl Squad flash up on the screen and say nice things about her: Selena Gomez, Karlie Kloss, Lena Dunham, the sisters of the band Haim.

The same goes for her music videos, which are a role call of 2015’s It Girls. The clip for Bad Blood was so celeb heavy that if the set had blown up, Hollywood would ever have recovered. 

 

Swift’s brand celebrates “the healing power of female friendship”, as the New York Times has put it. And Swift is clear: She IS here to make friends. At a recent performance, she spoke to the adoring crowd about her ‘rules for friendship’:

“Number one, you have to like me.”
“And number two, you have to want to spend time with me.”

Of course, everyone in the audience does want to spend time with Swift and is happy to scream their nomination to be in Swift’s Girl Squad. Nobody seems to notice that she doesn’t mention a rule number 3: That you will be liked in return.

And while there is absolutely nothing WRONG with having beautiful, famous friends, there’s something increasingly uncomfortable about watching Taylor Swift parading them around in every public aspect of her life.

There’s something uncomfortable about the way that she is appears to be hand-picking the people who can be in her club (Swift recently told veteran actors Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellan: “You two are ULTIMATE Squad Goals”).

There’s something uncomfortable about the girls in the squad congratulating each other on being clever enough to make a group like this. Swift girl squad member Lena Dunham has said of Swift: “I feel that Taylor has really take control and said, “I’m going to get us all together in the same place, I’m gonna make it very clear that friendship is powerful, and women are magic, and if anybody thinks this is a witches’ coven, they might be right.” She’s just made it her job in a very cool way.”

Taylor’s friendship is cool and powerful. Lena Dunham says so. Again, that discomfort creeps in.

Sure, watching Taylor Swift’s girl squad dominate does not upset anyone or make them angry, but it is disquieting.

Not alarming, but unsettling.

Or perhaps not. Maybe this whole thing isn’t uncomfortable for everyone.

Maybe it’s only uncomfortable for some people.

Maybe it’s only uncomfortable for the people who find this behaviour all too familiar.

Anyone who has ever been bullied by a group of girls or women has seen this behaviour before. There is a group and you’re either in it, or you’re out of it. More often than not, there’s a girl at the centre who decides who is in and who is out. She decides what is fun and what is boring; what is acceptable and what is not. ...

Read more at http://www.mamamia.com.au/entertainment/taylor-swift-girl-squad/#SFmSTCCggwih6yOp.99

[JeffSwift 314]

Oh dear, The PRISMATIC World Tour started a year ago. The 1989 World Tour just started this year. It's no wonder that it is being currently talked about.

No one was talking about the prismatic world tour even a year ago.... you tried it though. 

[Morphine Prince 106,250]

It bothers me that the title of this thread says AmericaN  Please change it for my sanity. 

[Redstreak 6,653]

The fact that you're even going out of your way to find negative press pieces days after your original post...

[Kacey Elizabeth 900]

No one was talking about the prismatic world tour even a year ago.... you tried it though. 

Sure, Jan. The only reason The 1989 World Tour might be even more talked about this year is because Taylor brings other celebs on stage every single night so she can distract the audience from the dull production of her tour and her lack of talent, stage presence, charisma, and star quality. 

[Kacey Elizabeth 900]

Last era Taylor was getting mocked for dating and dissing multiple boys, and she got sick of all the criticism and gossip.

So she decided to refocus on a Girl Squad of celebrity women and profess her feminist. She did this very publicly viia social media and interviews. This re-invention went over brilliantly at the start of 1989 era - it was novel and got positive press.

But now it's generating just as much gossip and negativity as the boyfriend thing. For example, this Australian women's site:

http://www.mamamia.com.au/entertainment/taylor-swift-girl-squad/

... Flash forward half a year and the images of Swift with her mates have become THE Taylor Swift story. While the use of the word “squad” to describe a group of friends has been around for decades, the phrase “#SquadGoals” is now synonymous with Swift and her celebrity pals.

Taylor Swift has a Girl Squad, filled with the best looking, coolest women around. A flick through her Instagram will show you how she rolls: She and her cool girl group are just hanging out being fun and carefree.

Her live shows are no different. There is a catwalk from the stage to the audience on which Taylor invites her pals to walk. Everyone from Heidi Klum to the American Women’s Soccer team to her cats (named after celebrities who now appear in her film clips) stride out to dance a little and be hugged.

Faces of other women from Swift’s Girl Squad flash up on the screen and say nice things about her: Selena Gomez, Karlie Kloss, Lena Dunham, the sisters of the band Haim.

The same goes for her music videos, which are a role call of 2015’s It Girls. The clip for Bad Blood was so celeb heavy that if the set had blown up, Hollywood would ever have recovered. 

 

Swift’s brand celebrates “the healing power of female friendship”, as the New York Times has put it. And Swift is clear: She IS here to make friends. At a recent performance, she spoke to the adoring crowd about her ‘rules for friendship’:

“Number one, you have to like me.”
“And number two, you have to want to spend time with me.”

Of course, everyone in the audience does want to spend time with Swift and is happy to scream their nomination to be in Swift’s Girl Squad. Nobody seems to notice that she doesn’t mention a rule number 3: That you will be liked in return.

And while there is absolutely nothing WRONG with having beautiful, famous friends, there’s something increasingly uncomfortable about watching Taylor Swift parading them around in every public aspect of her life.

There’s something uncomfortable about the way that she is appears to be hand-picking the people who can be in her club (Swift recently told veteran actors Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellan: “You two are ULTIMATE Squad Goals”).

There’s something uncomfortable about the girls in the squad congratulating each other on being clever enough to make a group like this. Swift girl squad member Lena Dunham has said of Swift: “I feel that Taylor has really take control and said, “I’m going to get us all together in the same place, I’m gonna make it very clear that friendship is powerful, and women are magic, and if anybody thinks this is a witches’ coven, they might be right.” She’s just made it her job in a very cool way.”

Taylor’s friendship is cool and powerful. Lena Dunham says so. Again, that discomfort creeps in.

Sure, watching Taylor Swift’s girl squad dominate does not upset anyone or make them angry, but it is disquieting.

Not alarming, but unsettling.

Or perhaps not. Maybe this whole thing isn’t uncomfortable for everyone.

Maybe it’s only uncomfortable for some people.

Maybe it’s only uncomfortable for the people who find this behaviour all too familiar.

Anyone who has ever been bullied by a group of girls or women has seen this behaviour before. There is a group and you’re either in it, or you’re out of it. More often than not, there’s a girl at the centre who decides who is in and who is out. She decides what is fun and what is boring; what is acceptable and what is not. ...

Read more at http://www.mamamia.com.au/entertainment/taylor-swift-girl-squad/#SFmSTCCggwih6yOp.99

True. Taylor even said the reason she keeps her female friends close to herself is so the media and the general public would stop talking about her dating life. So they're essentially just there to fulfill her agenda, which is to revamp her image from a crazy boy-clinger. Not to mention that her girl squad consists of C-list celebs, rich kids with their careers bought for them, and barely relevant hangers who are holding on to the current top pop star. That's not a friendship group, that's a narcissist surrounding herself with hangers-on to boost her own ego. Many of the members of this girl group are not really that well known, and it does seem like a lot of them are all too happy to go along with Taylor's wishes because of her higher profile. It's a squad of hangers-on and other people who wouldn't have been part of the popular crowd at school and now are basking in the attention that comes with fame. I really do feel bad for Taylor as some of these people are really using her for some publicity, but she's using them too. Once Taylor's popularity slips, 99% of these 'friends' are out of the door without a glance backwards. 

[Whispering 18,865]

The fact that you're even going out of your way to find negative press pieces days after your original post...

And posts every single word of the article.  Who does that? 

I'm going to start doing this with all artists, Google their name and post every article I come across...and make sure I post every word of the article, even if it takes almost the whole page! 

[craig 680]

The fact that you're even going out of your way to find negative press pieces days after your original post...

When Gaga was on top 2010-11, people posted every scrap of negativity and backlash here and Monsters worried over it and debated it. And not just thoughtful pop cultural a--lysis pieces like I have here, but slanderous personal crap and lies about her sales.

[craig 680]

And posts every single word of the article.  Who does that? 

I'm going to start doing this with all artists, Google their name and post every article I come across...and make sure I post every word of the article, even if it takes almost the whole page! 

I posted the best half of it. I've heard some complain about only links to long articles being posted as threads, with no highlights excerpted. 

If you're a protective Swifty and love Taylor being top pop girl, like Gaga and Madonna once were, you should expect a higher level of a--lysis and criticism than (say) Arianna gets. Donutgate got more immediate criticism than anything Gaga or Taylor ever did, but as long as it's an isolated incident nobody cares a month later because she's not one of the top girls.

[Redstreak 6,653]

When Gaga was on top 2010-11, people posted every scrap of negativity and backlash here and Monsters worried over it and debated it. And not just thoughtful pop cultural a--lysis pieces like I have here, but slanderous personal crap and lies about her sales.

Exactly, monsters posted them to bad mouth and **** talk the articles, not squeal in glee at the prospect of Gaga having a fall out with the public.

[craig 680]

Exactly, monsters posted them to bad mouth and **** talk the articles, not squeal in glee at the prospect of Gaga having a fall out with the public.

There was also discussion, and Monsters who agreed with the criticisms and thought Gaga needed to pay heed. Not just trying to shut down any discussion by calling me "pressed" for starting the thread, or saying that because the album and tour continue to slay based on past good publicity, no worries.

Nobody interested in the Girl Squad as an innovative marketing technique,  which may have helped Taylor this era but may have a potential to backfire? I mean, the reason we hear so much about Taylor's tour is she keeps trotting out her famous friends on stage. The reason Bad Blood got amazing views was she featured tons of celebs. Taylor is marketing innovator. But it all undermines the "You Belong To Me" humble autheticity her imperial phase is built on.

[JeffSwift 314]

Sure, Jan. The only reason The 1989 World Tour might be even more talked about this year is because Taylor brings other celebs on stage every single night so she can distract the audience from the dull production of her tour and her lack of talent, stage presence, charisma, and star quality. 

HAHAHAHA The fact that you, a Katy Perry fan is calling Taylor Swift (A person who writes their own music and plays 6 instruments) untalented, is quite funny. Have a great day! 

[Kacey Elizabeth 900]

HAHAHAHA The fact that you, a Katy Perry fan is calling Taylor Swift (A person who writes their own music and plays 6 instruments) untalented, is quite funny. Have a great day! 

6 instruments? Let's see. Taylor plays the guitar, ukulele, piano, and banjo. Do you even know how to count? How is that 6 instruments? Anyway, Taylor cannot even play those instruments properly. All she does is playing a few basic strums and cords on those instruments. That's about it. Even though I do not think of the quality of Taylor's music and lyrics as great, innovative, creative, interesting, diverse, mature, amazing, excellent, or smart, I do give her the fact that she actually writes her own lyrics and composes her own music (maybe sometimes with other songwriters and producers).