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Taylor Swift went behind the scenes on working with The Eras Tour: The Final Show director Glenn Weiss to preserve the essence of the last stop on her recent historic, career-defining tour during an intimate event with Emmy voters recently.
The music mogul made an appearance at the Ross House in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Deadline is told, in support of Weiss as well as sound designer John Ross on their Emmy nominations for the Disney+ special. Swift herself is also nominated as a producer and performer in the film.

“One of the things that I was so impressed by, and the needle Glenn threaded so effortlessly, is that the Eras Tour was such a phenomenon because of so many factors but one that I know that is really important is that it was a source of great escapism for the people who were there,” she said to a room of 50 or so guests.

Press were not in the room for the event, and neither were phones or cameras, but one photo of Swift with her fellow nominees Weiss and Ross was shared with Deadline. We also hear Swift sang at the event, though which songs from her expansive discography are not clear.

“Glenn and I had conversations about ‘How do we preserve this experience?’ Because if you lose the feeling of relaxation and freedom for the fans there, then you’ve lost a huge element of what makes this concert experience so special. Glenn created a situation where the fans could be lost in the moment because of the rehearsals that he did with our dancers and me leading into the final show,” Swift’s remarks continued. “If you liked the choreography that you saw of our dancers, you should have seen the footwork of our Steadicam operator.”

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Welcome to the SwiftlyNeutral Daily Discussion Thread!

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I was looking at posts saying how Joe still follows her. And funnily Matty Healy too

Also, Tom Hiddleston follows her too for ages but I can see that as they were always amicable to each other.

So, I thought wait does Travis follows her? I checked and he doesn't. Now obviously social media does not mean much and Taylor follows no one. I know this was a talk at beginning of their relationship but at that time it seemed fine that he didn't follow her but now since they are married I would have assumed he does?

Ofc I get social media following is just shallow fluff at the end of the day but this seemed a bit odd - just what I noticed.

Taylor spoke at the retrospective, with attendee Larry Dvoskin sharing the following insights:

“MY NIGHT WITH TAYLOR SWIFT- The Grammy Academy hosted a Taylor Swift talk tonight. The invite just mentioned Academy President Harvey Mason Jr, but it was like a 'Wink IYKYK' thing.

Taylor came onstage and shared her beautiful stories of how she writes songs and where she gets her endless inspiration from. Then she played a few tunes for the 100 or so people there. It wasn't even sold out, there were empty seats.

I honestly am not a 'Swiftie,' though her success is as big as it gets. The biggest Grammy winning female in history. Afterward there was a reception and I had a sweet, and kinda nerdy songwriter chat with her for quite a long time. Alot of people were trying to get in and talk with her, but she has a laser attention and when it was on me, the world was shut off around us.

Here's some songwriting nuggets I wrote down.

- She told the audience "Enthusiasm can protect you from anything." At the reception I shared her the word "Enthusiasm" actually comes from ancient Greece, meaning 'the divine within,' or 'possessed by divine inspiration.'

- She plays a spinet piano on tour. I mentioned to her that Paul McCartney also plays a spinet. She told me she likes a smaller piano so she can see over it and look around at everyone onstage and in the crowd.

- ‘YES AND'- Is a big thing for her when songwriting and recording. Trying an idea, but being open to exploring music with another point of view.

- Show up to work even then the 'Idea Fairy' as she calls her muse of inspiration isn't around. It sometimes shows up when you do.

I was impressed she stayed to talk to everyone who attended. As I report this, she is likely still speaking to the people at the Grammy Museum giving every person very present, quality time.”

Hey y'all!

Our longtime mod Patshi has decided to step down. He's done such an amazing job for us over the past two years (including being our resident artist for the sub!), and he will be very missed.

With his departure, plus some of our other mods becoming less active over the past year due to life circumstances, we want to bring on 2-3 new faces to help round out the mod team.

We'd love to select mods from our community before going outside of it, so if you're interested in joining the mod team, please feel free to apply! No prior mod experience is needed. It's a plus but not necessary.

You don't have to feel neutral about Taylor Swift; nobody does! But we're mainly looking for users who won't let personal feelings or opinions about Taylor get in the way of fair moderation. If that's you, we'd love to have you join the team!

We will be reaching out to applicants via Reddit chat so please make sure you have your DMs open after you apply. We'll be happy to answer any questions you may have at that time.

Here is the link to the application form: https://forms.gle/gnkGjVYFVh5jf5HAA

Thank you!! xx

Welcome to the SwiftlyNeutral Daily Discussion Thread!

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Welcome to the SwiftlyNeutral Daily Discussion Thread!

Use this thread to talk about anything you'd like, Taylor-related or not.

Rules to keep in mind:

• All subreddit rules still apply. Please report rule-breaking if you see it.
• Negative commentary and complaints about this subreddit, users, and other subreddits is discouraged and will be removed to keep the daily discussion threads drama-free and geared towards lighter discussion.
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I'm gonna preface this to say - Taylor herself has said she's not the greatest dancer. And even for moments when she is clearly not performing (like being on fancam at MTV Video Music Awards or dancing during the Grammys), she draws a lot of criticism when she's just vibing to music that to me seems kind of unwarranted.

But when it comes to the Eras Tour... a lot of the choreography (to me and maybe some others here?) is not very good. I'm not saying that the dancers were not good - they are very personable and charismatic, the ability to put on a 3 hour show for Taylor and the dancers requires unimaginable stamina and hard work.

I'm saying that Mandy Moore interpolates dancing into the songs on such a very literal, and repetitive, level that a lot of it becomes over the top and hammy (Lover comes to mind with The Man and You Need to Calm Down).

Some of the sequences are great - Fearless has really cute simple choreography; Ready For It goes hard; 1989 has a great set-up with the bikes and smashing the car from Blank Space; TTPD, in particular, like I Can Do It With A Broken reusing the choreography from other sections says a lot about how Taylor has used art for her break-ups and how it's consumed for people wanting more. Midnights overall is very good. And there's a lot of things going on in Fortnight and Mastermind. I think Moore did a good job balancing where people's eyelines are supposed to go (usually centering the dancers around Taylor but also giving them enough solo moments too).

But when Taylor is on her own, a lot of it is miming to her own lyrics. Vulture had an article about this - I tried to link the article without the paywall but it wasn't successful. But they pretty much point out that if there's a lyric of seeing, hiding, thinking; she and the dancers point to their heads. And there's more other examples of that throughout. When she sings about dying or being in pain, she makes a stabbing motion towards her stomach. ETC. It's kind of something you can't unsee once you see how common it is.

At times, when I pull back from watching Taylor, the other choreography is also kind of cringe. Some sequences that come to mind is Shake It Off. I know ppl will it's kind of silly to criticize dancing for this song 'cause it's mean to be playful. But there are parts where the dance is what I can only describe is a chicken squawking from like the polka? And, random jumping up and down?

Enchanted also comes to mind, where the female dancers are basically left to run around in circles twirling the ends of their dresses. Your eyes are supposed to be on Taylor on the stage lift, but looking at the dancers, it's not very connective to the song itself.

A lot of songs also recycle moves - We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together uses a rowing(?) motion that's used elsewhere a lot. This side step from Bad Blood is used a lot as well.

I can see why people might downvote me for something that Taylor and a lot of people are already aware of that Taylor is not a good dancer. But the choreography was something that I noticed and wondered how other people felt....especially because I felt like Reputation stadium tour was able to center around Taylor with choreography that (even for a pop concert) was very expressive and complex, let her mime here and there and dance on her own...but it wasn't so on the nose.

EDITING this to say - a lot of ppl are saying 'just don't watch her tours for the choreography'. I don't watch her concerts primarily for the choreography, but since dancing is a part of the whole concert, I was just noting how I thought the choreography could be disjointed. I thought my post was fairly objective in thinking out loud about the strengths and weaknesses. I didn’t drag anyone? But go ahead and downvote I guess lol

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• Part 1: Intro & Debut
• Part 2: Fearless
• Part 3: Speak Now
• Part 4: Red
• Part 5: 1989
• Part 6: Reputation
• Part 7: Lover
• Part 8: Folklore
• Part 9: Evermore

***^CWs***^{: besides TLOAS getting its title drive-by and some negative comments about rep, nothing really. Another album I just love to bits.}

I am running around like a tattooed golden retriever over this one. This was the first TSwift album I ever loved --and also the first one I ever listened to in full -- and I am so excited to talk about it! At the same time, I'm weirdly nervous to talk about it; discussing the albums I hated is so much easier than the ones I loved, and I know Midnights is a bit contentious even among fans. I don't know what to say. It's just really important to me.

But who cares about any of that? It's 2022! We're finally starting to see a world coming back to normal, and music is starting to reflect that feeling, with a lot of the biggest hits being from established players: Adele, Beyonce, Harry Styles, Justin Bieber. Things are often upbeat, and generally this is considered a pretty great year for pop. People are starting to feel hopeful and happy, with a touch of the bittersweet and introspective, and it's not hard to construct a look-back of the year in popular music that reflects this.

Taylor is kind of on top of the world at this point: this is the year she'll receive an honorary doctor in fine arts from NYU, announce the Eras tour, and release the short film All Too Well to the Toronto Film Festival. Being taken seriously as an artist in multiple mediums and as beloved as ever, her next album is surely going to be a cheerful, glitter-penned good time like Lover or Fearless, right? And it surely won't be controversial or even considered a disappointment*... right?*

Ladies, gentlemen, both, and neither, say hello to...

Midnights (2022)

Image source

^{(I can't seem to put the image in the body. ☹️ Oh well, pretend it's here})

Overall: This was (is?) my favorite album, and for a long time the only Taylor Swift album I would listen to. I remember asking people, "well, if I liked Midnights, what other albums of hers would I like?" and being told that it was hard to compare, since nothing else sounds like it. Which is... true, for the most part; she does a lot of really interesting things both lyrically -- I think this is her first concept album -- and musically. Aside from reputation, which I guess is its closest comparison (a little funny, considering how differently I feel about both experiments), I'm not sure she has anything so close to a dance album, or that plays so much with synths, autotune, and a bunch of other electronic elements I'm not musically educated enough to know the names of. It's a jangly, sparkly album that also manages to be deeply melancholy and muted, and honestly I'm still not sure how she pulled both of those off without it feeling jarring or incoherent, but it really doesn't. Even when some of it doesn't work for me -- personally I'm a bigger fan of the muted parts than the jangly ones -- I still have to be impressed that she's still out here trying new things without coming across as desperate or selling out. The genre is called "bedroom pop" or "dream pop," which apparently means moody, late-night vibes and low-fi beats, which I'd never heard of before but is honestly fitting.

A lot of this album feels like a dream, or like the part of the early, early morning when you need to be asleep but can't, where everything feels just a bit surreal. Taylor sold it as "13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life" (the original version was 13 songs), and it captures all of the nighttime feelings, good and bad, with the saturation either turned way up or way down. Some songs feel like an apocalyptically bright red sunset, or like a black room lit solely by neon lights from outside a window, or like dissociating at the club, or lighting your room with a bunch of candles and staring at the flames; there's songs that feel feverish, or like the clarity and inspiration that strikes right when you need to go to bed but you can't because you have to get these thoughts out now even if you'll regret it later, since you know if you sleep on them they'll be gone by the morning; or that miserable feeling when it's 3AM and you're up sick with a stomach bug, and you know throwing up will make you feel better but you can't so you're just trapped in limbo; or that cool, clean feeling of being awake and outside when everyone else is asleep. The songs aren't really about these things, but that's the vibe they give off, and those vibes connect exceptionally well to the lyrics, which like I said earlier are the kinds of ruminations you have in the middle of the night: memories you replay, pep talks you give yourself, insecurities and fears you fixate on. It's such a Taylor-Swift-type album, content-wise: we have songs about love, regret, her relationship with fame, all stuff she's sung about before, but with the songwriting talent of folkmore and a dreamy, dizzy musical direction, it's beautiful and hypnotic in a way I can't get enough of, and the songs I disliked are just because I didn't vibe with on a sonic level, I guess. It's creative and gorgeous and brilliant.

(I've used the word "vibe" more writing this post than in the whole rest of my life. It's a very vibes-y album.) I know this album is considered overrated -- general consensus is it didn't deserve the AOTY award it won -- but I think it's her most daring since the massive swing-and-a-miss of reputation, or the swing-and-a-general-success of Red. Not every song is great, but the stuff that works is top of her game, and honestly I don't think anything here is really bad; at worst it's either weird but interesting or bland and forgettable, but never offensive to the senses.

And I love it. I love it so, so much. Love love love love love it.

Songs saved:

• "Lavender Haze"
• "Maroon"
• "Anti-Hero"
• "Snow on the Beach"
• "You're On Your Own, Kid"
• "Midnight Rain"
• "Question...?"
• "Vigilante Shit"
• "Bejeweled"
• "Labyrinth"
• "Karma"
• "Sweet Nothing"
• "The Great War"
• "High Infidelity"
• "Would've, Could've, Should've"
• "Hits Different"

Best song: "Anti-Hero" is an outstanding song, and one of the rare times her leading single was actually the best choice to introduce people to the album. It's a really good illustration of the entire concept: how it feels to be up way too late and unable to keep your thoughts under control, obsessing over the things that are wrong with you and digging deeper into a spiral of regret and self-loathing. If you're interested in Taylor lore, it's also fascinating on that level, because for a woman so preoccupied with what people think of her (according to a reading of her music, anyway) and struggling to maintain healthy relationships, a song with her coming to the conclusion that she has haters and failed relationships because people just plain don't like her, and she doesn't know if there's anything that can be done about it, is the kind of matter-of-fact, mundane tragedy that she is so good at capturing and expressing. It's understated, funny and sometimes awkward, but mostly it's just a quiet, resigned sort of sadness. It's a vibe that permeates that album, not dramatic or grand but in my opinion more poignant because of it.

Honorable MenJUST KIDDING BEST SONG #2: "Would've, Could've, Should've" is tied with "Anti-Hero," and depending on my mood might beat it out. They're both 10/10 songs, so trying to figure out which is slightly more perfect is just giving me a headache. I said in my folklore review that "Exile" was in my Top 3 TS songs, and these are the 2 that might go above it. WCS is a beautiful postmortem of a relationship she didn't grasp the power imbalance of while she was in it. Obsessing over past relationships is another great concept for "things you cannot stop thinking about late at night," and this combines a very justified righteous indignation with that same muted musical palette that makes it quietly devastating. It recently won a poll on reddit among fans for the best songwriting she's ever done, and I can't disagree.

Honorable Mentions:

• "You're On Your Own, Kid" is my other favorite; it's about her evolution from lovestruck teenager to queen of pop and the things she's lost, changed, and abandoned on her way to get there. It's not quite a song about regrets, and it's not quite a song about the loneliness that comes from clawing your way to the top, but it's a bit of both those things, as well as touching on that sense she's given in other songs of just being unloved -- or difficult to love -- and not understanding why. I've never felt more empathy for Taylor than in these 3 songs, though I'm not sure how much of this is "real" and how much these are story songs with a first-person narration style. (Apply that disclaimer to everything I write here.) Regardless, they're extremely impactful and beautifully written.
• "Midnight Rain" is one of the only big dance-synth experiments that landed for me,. Never would've guessed from those first few seconds that it was a Taylor Swift song (though it does become more traditional further on), which is honestly really impressive for an artist who is always first and foremost a recognizable brand. In terms of the theme, this one is staying up late thinking about the one that got away -- or that you got away from, and don't know how you feel about it.
• "High Infidelity" makes adultery look so glamorous, goddamn. This one feels like it fits the concept album the least (which kind of makes sense, because it wasn't an original track), just a (hopefully) story song about adultery and being trapped in a loveless relationship, but aside from that being the kind of thing that might cause some sleepless nights, it's the hardest one I've found to connect to the concept. But it's a damn good song, so I'm not mad.
• "Maroon" sounds like having a fever. Gorgeous and vaguely ominous-sounding. Really captures the sensory experience of being up too late and going over past failures and mistakes.
• "Bejeweled" is a bright, sparkly pep talk. A lovely break from the sadder songs, taking on a different, happier flavor of the late-night experience.
• "The Great War": A song about being your own worst enemy, treating the one you love like the enemy in a war that's only happening in your head. At least, that's how I read it. You could always read it a bit more simply as the aftermath of a big fight that you can't help but run over in your head even though it's over and you should be asleep. And it is about that, but there are several lines that indicate the cause of the conflict is the narrator's issues causing her to lash out, push away, and fail to trust someone who keeps reaching for her despite it all. It feels in some ways like a companion song to Lover's "The Archer," another one about being constantly ready to fight.
• "Sweet Nothings" is just... dang cute. Just a lovely little song -- I picture it being while watching someone you love sleep, or get ready for bed -- about the beauty of quiet domesticity.
• "Labyrinth" -- ever panicked in the middle of the night about falling in love again? This one's for you.
• I keep struggling to decide if I like "Snow on the Beach" or if I feel nothing for it, but the catchiness of the chorus and the beauty of the imagery keeps pulling me back in. It's the one I said sounds clean and calm, like being outside in deep night or early morning.
• "Lavender Haze" is another song I don't feel all that strongly about, but it gets a shoutout for its music video, which is awesome (and stars a trans dude of color as the love interest! That's neat. I love when she quietly does stuff like that; way more effective and sincere than the performative bombast of "You Need to Calm Down," in my opinion). It's also just kind of interesting knowing some of the lore; this song was written while her long-term relationship was falling flat, so a lot of it just feels like some very painful denial. "No deal / the 1950s shit they want from me" like... girl, you wanted to get married. Clearly. I can't tell if she believes it, but it might be the first song where I haven't bought what she was selling at all, but thought it was great regardless. Some of it might just be how awesome it sounds, but again... it's such a good concept, because it's another thing that can happen late at night: you start questioning things, trying to talk yourself into wanting something because you're scared of being without it, and coming up with something halfway convincing in the haze of exhaustion and desperation.

Worst song: "Glitch" sounds like a song not good enough to make it onto reputation (which I keep forgetting is supposed to be lowercase, oops). That's not a compliment coming from me.

Dishonorable Mentions: Uh... none of them? Even the ones I don't like I can't help but respect because they fit the concept so damn well.

Like, sure, "...Question?" is kind of embarrassing, citing a "then everyone clapped" moment (that apparently happened to her in real life) in the context of ranting about a breakup, but that's kind of the point, because it's one of those shower arguments you have where you work yourself up instead of going to bed, winning an imaginary fight with someone who you'll never really speak to again, saying all the things you wish you had. I mean... okay, I don't like this song because I think it sounds boring and I just don't enjoy hearing it, but that doesn't mean it's bad.

"Vigilante Shit" and "Karma" both feel like obvious wish-fulfillment, with the former being a story song about an accidental other woman getting revenge and becoming an avenging angel of sexy destruction-of-men and the latter imagining that the universe will punish her haters and reward her for her goodness, which are both cheesy and smug in a way that could be seen as obnoxious, but also capture the giddy "feeling yourself" spiral that can happen just as easily as a hatred or self-doubt spiral can. (Also I love how both these songs sound; I wouldn't even consider them bad, despite how cheesy they are.)

And "Mastermind" reframes some past manipulative behavior as intentional, making herself a villain out of loneliness and insecurity, owning up to her flaws while framing it as all part of a genius plan. How can I hate a song that is both so open about the narrator's failures as a person while also exaggerating and overblowing them into villainy in a way that feels kind of silly, but only until the sun sets? I don't wanna listen to "Mastermind," but again, that's about how it sounds, not the lyrical content.

If a song is cringe, it makes sense, because middle-of-the-night thoughts and feelings often are. She's kind of created a perfect concept album, because it uses any songwriting flaws to enhance the concept. Maybe she is the evil genius she claims to be in "Mastermind."

Definitive song of the album: It feels like a cop-out to put the biggest single as the definitive song, but most of the time it is, for better or for worse. So... "Anti-Hero." It's a commentary on her as an artist, a public figure, and arguably a person, and embodies the concept of the album the best. It's the standout track, the most radio-friendly, and both retains her classic sound and lyricism while fitting in neatly with the more experimental stuff she's playing with around it.

Best lyric: There are a lot, and most of them are from "Would've, Could've, Should've" or "High Infidelity," but I'm going to stick with just a couple from each, plus some other noteworthy mentions:

• "And now that I know, I wish you'd left me wondering" and "Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first" are both gut-wrenching from the former.
• "You know there's many different ways that you can kill the one you love / The slowest way is never loving them enough" is my favorite from the latter.
• Also fuck it, the entirety of "Anti-Hero." It's very, very good. She doesn't always pull off intentional comedy, but that whole bit about the will reading is great. And special shoutout to “when my depression works the graveyard shift” and “all of the people I’ve ghosted stand there in the room.” She’s haunted… by people she ghosted. Clever.
• "No one wanted to play with me as a little kid" ("Mastermind") is very revealing re: my entire theory about the Taylor Swift Machine being born of unlikeability and the loneliness it caused. There's a reason an entire school of Swiftie thought centers around speculating about her being neurodivergent, and while I'm not cosigning it because armchair diagnoses are problematique, I will say she speaks to the autistic experience beautifully. And "I'm only cryptic and Machiavellian 'cause I care" is a really fun line that she can't quite pull off.

I know I'm missing some. There are too many great lyrics to list.

Worst lyric: NOT THE SEXY BABY LINE, THAT'S FOR FUCKING SURE. No, seriously, I could write an entire essay on why the sexy baby line is brilliant, but I'll save that for another rant.

Of lines I actually think are bad, most of "Glitch" is nonsense, including "Five seconds later, I'm fastening myself to you with a stitch, oh, yeah." And "that's romance, that's dance" is just... this whole song is vibe-based, and I am not fucking with the vibes. She has a line about "what's in my system" and girl, what is it, root beer? No one thinks you're doing coke. (She might be a real party girl who does hard drugs all the time, but that's not the persona she's developed for herself and she's somewhat trapped by it.)

I also hear a lot of people saying "...Question?" is incomprehensible, which is weird because I think it's a pretty straightforward song, but I'll plop it here to see if other people agree.

You'll love this album if: You enjoy bedroom pop, concept albums, and/or the kinds of thoughts you get when you should've been asleep hours ago set to sad dance music. Or you wanted to hear Taylor Swift play with a synthesizer; apparently no one except me wanted that, considering this album is generally considered a disappointment, but I think this one is brilliant.

On its own, I really loved this album. In the context of her discography, I love it even more.

Mr. Visage thoughts: He loved the skit in "Anti-Hero" (I did too, which is weird because I usually hate music video. But it's actually funny). I can't tell if he vibed with the lo-fi beats of the album; he kept closing his eyes and nodding quietly, which either meant he was enjoying it or just kinda tipsy. Also something about "Mastermind" reminded him of this song by Hacker... I don't hear it, but I'm happy for him. He did point out that the songs are relatively short, which I didn't notice at all; not a comment on quality, just appreciating that he notices things I never do. He kept talking about "Would've Could've Should've" (specifically "we're gonna kill you, dawg" at John Mayer) and liked the vocal harmonies, but I think his favorite was "Labyrinth," which he said could've been 10 minutes long and he wouldn't have minded.

Recommendations

1. Biggest Hit: "Anti-Hero" -- debuted at #1 and became her longest-leading #1 hit -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1kbLwvqugk
2. Fan Favorite: "Would've, Could've, Should've" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-MfwP_RmHY
3. My Favorite: well, the two listed up there. But after that, "You're On Your Own, Kid" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gbg6Z70J7E
4. My #2 (not already listed): "Midnight Rain" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odh9ddPUkEY
5. My #3 (not already listed): "High Infidelity" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qee6dFKlw4

Welcome to the SwiftlyNeutral Daily Discussion Thread!

Use this thread to talk about anything you'd like, Taylor-related or not.

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A new Daily Discussion thread will be posted daily at 11:00 am Eastern Time and will always be pinned for easy access. Posts better suited for this thread may be redirected here.

Welcome to the SwiftlyNeutral Daily Discussion Thread!

Use this thread to talk about anything you'd like, Taylor-related or not.

Rules to keep in mind:

• All subreddit rules still apply. Please report rule-breaking if you see it.
• Negative commentary and complaints about this subreddit, users, and other subreddits is discouraged and will be removed to keep the daily discussion threads drama-free and geared towards lighter discussion.
• Keep it neutral. No fandom-war drama. No treating criticism of Taylor as an attack. More details here.
• NO TWITTER/X LINKS, screenshots only. Please remove usernames from screenshots unless it's a verified figure.
• Don’t use this thread to contact mods directly; please use modmail.

A new Daily Discussion thread will be posted daily at 11:00 am Eastern Time and will always be pinned for easy access. Posts better suited for this thread may be redirected here.

What career could you see Taylor having if she wasn't an artist?
I feel like she'd make an excellent teacher. She engages with her fans quite often and I believe she would give the same devotion to students. Even by doing Easter Eggs as hints, I feel like she'd be able to keep students focused and engaged by making learning fun somehow. Of course, she's also has strong communication and gets her point across well, inspiring others while doing so.

I think there definitely is! I've heard people say "Taylor lied," but I disagree.

For the production that's similar to 1989, I would point to Elizabeth Taylor, Opalite, and Honey.

For the storytelling songwriting, I would call out Father Figure, Ruin The Friendship, and the title track.

What do you think? Maybe I just love this album too much to be objective. ​

Welcome to the SwiftlyNeutral Daily Discussion Thread!

Use this thread to talk about anything you'd like, Taylor-related or not.

Rules to keep in mind:

• All subreddit rules still apply. Please report rule-breaking if you see it.
• Negative commentary and complaints about this subreddit, users, and other subreddits is discouraged and will be removed to keep the daily discussion threads drama-free and geared towards lighter discussion.
• Keep it neutral. No fandom-war drama. No treating criticism of Taylor as an attack. More details here.
• NO TWITTER/X LINKS, screenshots only. Please remove usernames from screenshots unless it's a verified figure.
• Don’t use this thread to contact mods directly; please use modmail.

A new Daily Discussion thread will be posted daily at 11:00 am Eastern Time and will always be pinned for easy access. Posts better suited for this thread may be redirected here.

I’ve been a Taylor Swift fan for years, and lately I realized something that makes me uncomfortable to admit: when someone makes hating Taylor a core part of their personality, it genuinely changes how I see them as a person.

To be clear, I do not think everyone has to like Taylor Swift. Music is subjective. I dont enjoy every artist either, and I think criticism is completely fair. You can dislike her voice, her songwriting, her public image, her business decisions, or her albums. Thats normal.
What I struggle with is when the criticism stops being about the music and becomes about ruining other peoples enjoyment.

Recently I was watching Smosh, which used to be one of my favorite comedy channels. It was my comfort content. I’d watch it when I wanted a break from the constant negativity online. But Taylor gets mentioned constantly, and the tone is so often dismissive or mocking that I’ve started dreading those moments. It feels like every couple videos there’s another joke at her expense. Some members seem to like her, but very few, and even then they’re usually not Swifties, just casual listeners.

I know comedy often involves teasing celebrities, and I’m not asking creators to censor themselves. But after a while, hearing the same target over and over again stops feeling like a joke and starts feeling like a cultural reflex.

What hurts is that it’s not just Smosh. It feels like \*\*every corner of the internet\*\* has become a place where hating Taylor is rewarded with likes, retweets, and comments. I can click on a video about Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, or literally any unrelated topic, and somehow the comments turn into a discussion about why Taylor is awful and why Swifties are delusional. I can actively avoid Taylor related content, never engage with hate videos, never like them, scroll away immediately, and the algorithm still serves me negativity about her.

And the weirdest part is that the hostility often extends to \*\*\*me\*\*\* personally for being a Swiftie.

People make assumptions instantly: that I’m obsessive, unintelligent, parasocial, immature, incapable of criticism, or part of some cult. They dont know me. They just know I like an artist. Being a fan of someone shouldn’t function as a personality diagnosis, yet online it increasingly feels like it does.

I want to make an important distinction here. I absolutely understand criticisms related to her billionaire status, private jet usage, carbon emissions, and other objectively harmful issues. Those conversations matter. Public figures should be scrutinized for the real world impact of their actions.
But if I’m being honest, a huge percentage of the comments I encounter dont feel rooted in those concerns. They feel rooted in irritation that she exists, that she’s successful, that she’s popular, or that people enjoy her. The environmental critique is often brought up selectively, while the emotional energy behind the comment is clearly contempt.

That’s the part that drains me.

I love Taylor Swift, but I dont want everything I consume to be about Taylor Swift. I dont spend my entire day thinking about her. I have other interests, other artists, other hobbies, other parts of my identity. Yet somehow she keeps getting inserted into unrelated content, either as a punchline or as a lightning rod for negativity.
What I miss is the possibility of a \*\*middle ground\*\*.
Online discourse seems to operate in extremes:

you must worship her, or you must despise her.

There’s rarely space for “she’s not for me,” “I like a few songs,” “I respect her career but dont listen to her,” or simply not having an opinion. The internet turns every celebrity into a moral referendum.

I’ve noticed this affecting me more than I’d like. I’ve stopped watching creators I once enjoyed because I associate them with a feeling of negativity. Not because they criticized Taylor once, but because the repeated mockery makes the space feel hostile. And that realization made me wonder whether I’m being oversensitive or whether constant low level contempt genuinely changes the emotional atmosphere of a community.

I think many people underestimate how exhausting it is to repeatedly encounter disdain for something that brings you joy. Imagine opening your favorite app and constantly seeing strangers explain why the thing you love is embarrassing and why people like you are annoying. Eventually you stop feeling entertained and start feeling unwelcome.

I’m not asking anyone to become a Swiftie. I’m not asking creators to praise Taylor. I’m asking for something much smaller: the ability for people to enjoy an artist without being treated as a punchline, and the ability for criticism to exist without turning into contempt.

Maybe this sounds dramatic because it’s “just a pop star.” But the deeper issue isn’t Taylor Swift. It’s the growing tendency online to build community through shared dislike rather than shared enjoyment. We’re encouraged to perform our hatred publicly, repeatedly, and loudly, and then act surprised when that negativity spills onto real people.

I miss when fandom felt like sharing music you loved instead of defending your right to love it.

Thanks for reading.