Bronco 16,809 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 9 hours ago, LGAte said: I think this song dog whistles pro-whiteness. and I think people who say that’s a bad take….should consider how smart Taylor is…and how weird it is to write a song about this in that way. Let’s be very clear. because I know people will come for me….but even if “Opalite” wasn’t written with intentional racism, it is still deeply ignorant, and that matters even more when you are someone with the power, wealth, platform, and self-proclaimed “mastermind” status of Taylor Swift. Context matters. This is a song about a man whose dating history was primarily women of color. Then he dates Taylor. Suddenly his life becomes “opalite,” a white, translucent, glowing gemstone associated with purity and light. That framing is not neutral. The narrative becomes: he dates Black and brown women, then he dates Taylor, and now his world is luminous, rare, elevated, purified. You do not get to write that and pretend it exists in a vacuum. This is classic aestheticized whiteness. Not overt racism. Not slurs. But symbolic hierarchy. Whiteness as restoration. Whiteness as upgrade. Whiteness as glow. And before anyone says “she didn’t mean it like that,” here’s the thing: Taylor wants credit as a high-brow lyricist. She markets herself as hyper-intentional. She dissects metaphors. She plants easter eggs. She controls narrative. She literally calls herself a mastermind. A real high-brow lyricist thinks about cultural context. A real high-brow lyricist asks how this reads in the real world, what it implies, and what it reinforces, especially when you are a white billionaire writing about a man’s romantic past with women of color. She could have chosen literally any metaphor. She chose a white gemstone. That is not accidental in outcome, even if it was accidental in intent. And intent does not erase impact. What makes this worse is the privilege baked into it. Taylor lives in a bubble where she gets to romanticize her own desirability without ever having to sit with how that story lands for Black women. The song centers her elevation while implicitly downgrading the women who came before. That is textbook white feminism. It is also why people are right to side-eye who she’s aligning herself with this era. When your art starts leaning into purity imagery, hierarchy narratives, and romanticized superiority, people are allowed to ask questions. Especially in a political climate where MAGA aesthetics thrive on coded language rather than explicit statements. Dog whistles do not announce themselves. They arrive wrapped in poetry. So no, this is not about calling Taylor a cartoon villain or pretending she is wearing a hood. It is about acknowledging that she used imagery that reinforces a racialized hierarchy, failed to interrogate it, and released it anyway. If you want the praise of being a serious lyricist, you also inherit the responsibility. She missed that responsibility here, and that deserves to be called out. Analysis like this is always like "Think why she picked a white gem stone" Opal is Kelce's birthstone. Opalite is an artificial opal. If any theory about this song is correct. It's the Gaylor theory that they are each other's beard. The gays know how to party 1 2 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllusionLover 7,144 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 1 minute ago, Bronco said: Analysis like this is always like "Think why she picked a white gem stone" Opal is Kelce's birthstone. Opalite is an artificial opal. If any theory about this song is correct. It's the Gaylor theory that they are each other's beard. The Gaylors still exist OMG 13 | this is my dancefloor i fought for, your voice is louder, it echoes Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronco 16,809 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 Just now, IllusionLover said: The Gaylors still exist OMG They got quite after hearing the song about Travis' **** but they never give up. It's almost admirable. The gays know how to party 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegidadedios 3,285 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 8 hours ago, NemoMyName said: So she's really really hollow, only caring about the numbers. She have the artistry of a moldy wall. She is lowkey saving the art of music videos from dying... Now that streams on YouTube don't count anymore on Billboard do you really think labels will put out there efforts to keep MV a thing? I don't like her music but I'm glad she's looking up for new ideas to maintain music videos alive 5 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronco 16,809 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 6 minutes ago, elegidadedios said: She is lowkey saving the art of music videos from dying... Now that streams on YouTube don't count anymore on Billboard do you really think labels will put out there efforts to keep MV a thing? I don't like her music but I'm glad she's looking up for new ideas to maintain music videos alive If this works, it'll be interesting to see if people pivot back to music videos. The gays know how to party 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NemoMyName 1,575 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 6 minutes ago, elegidadedios said: She is lowkey saving the art of music videos from dying... That isn't even happening, delusional take Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegidadedios 3,285 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 (edited) 9 minutes ago, NemoMyName said: That isn't even happening, delusional take Delusional take? Why? I gave you a reasonable motive. We could enter an era where visualizers might end up being the only thing we get for music videos (as if it wasn't the case for several years now). And I don't know about you but I don't want Gaga to release those as MVs over and over. MVs were born to promote singles and effective rollouts. In the digital/streaming era, YouTube was pretty much the only form of consumption available. Now that YT numbers don't count anymore, why labels would still put their money in? Edited February 5 by elegidadedios 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegidadedios 3,285 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 7 minutes ago, Bronco said: If this works, it'll be interesting to see if people pivot back to music videos. Exactly! My guess is, from now on, we're in for a polarized situation. Big names on the industry will release more MVs than they used to and others will only stick to visualizers (if lucky enough). Music industry is definitely changing because of that new rule 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psyduck 1,628 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 This is The Dead Dance competition on next year's Best Dance category at the Grammys. keep on looking for Psyduck 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzbrandon 150 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 always good at manipulating rules Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirrion Rizzons 12,178 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 (edited) Wouldn’t it be funny if billboard decided to count each version of a song separately, all artists would stop variants immediately because they’d end up charting the same song 15 times over otherwise Obviously in this instance the vinyl isn’t a ‘variant’ but any remixes etc that come about Taylor would get a record like ‘Taylor becomes the first artist in history to chart a song 17 times in the same week’ Edited February 5 by Mirrion Rizzons 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mirrion Rizzons 12,178 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 Question: do video streams have the same weight as audio streams? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DESTROY UR DISEASE 14,839 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 well... at least I hope the video will be worth watching I can smell your sickness I can... Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManMan 2,945 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 2 hours ago, elegidadedios said: She is lowkey saving the art of music videos from dying... Now that streams on YouTube don't count anymore on Billboard do you really think labels will put out there efforts to keep MV a thing? I don't like her music but I'm glad she's looking up for new ideas to maintain music videos alive and making sure she's the first one to not premiere on youtube but AM & Spo I shine more in the dark. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyxGaGa 2,872 Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 13 hours ago, Teletubby said: Opalite 7" Vinyl Single: February 9, 2026 OMG SHE LOOKS AMAZING I RLY HOPE THIS BECOMES HER 13TH NUMBER ONE 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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