Why Do So Many People Hate Taylor Swift?

Written by Ryan Freeze

Edited by Becca Lewis

Photo Credits: Ronald Woan

In 2024, Apple Music decided to release what they believed to be the “100 Greatest Albums of All Time”. Included on this list were legendary albums such as Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, and Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city. The online discourse created by this list consumed the internet, but one selection threw social media sites such as X and TikTok into incendiary vitriol against one artist, Taylor Swift. 

Taylor Swift is a name that everybody knows. She is a pop culture icon, and her reach spans far beyond music. She has roles in several movies and even makes it onto NFL broadcasts from time to time.

It seems like Taylor Swift is inescapable, families nationwide debate and argue over her legacy over dinner tables. Is she more iconic than The Beatles? Madonna? Maybe even the king of pop, Michael Jackson? These questions may someday be answered, but it seems like much of this dinner table talk is actually just about how sick everybody is of seeing her. But why has much of the discussion surrounding Taylor Swift been about this? Why are people sick of seeing Taylor Swift? 

One reason people are sick of seeing Taylor Swift is because she is successful, and people resent success. Coming off of her Eras tour, the highest grossing tour of all time, Taylor Swift was praised for her record-breaking attendance as well as her commercial success from the tour. It seemed like wherever you were, people were talking about her, and that can get annoying quick.  

Photo Credits: CNN/Getty Images

When an artist such as Swift gets this much spotlight, press, and attention, it starts to feel as though she’s the only artist that exists. People generally tend to get sick if one person is talked about for too long on social media, in the news, or just in overall conversation, whether it be at work, at school, etc. In addition, people outside of her fanbase have an apathetic attitude about Swift’s music. 

Taylor Swift started out as a pop country singer, but has since transitioned into becoming the biggest name in pop, abandoning her country sound that made her popular when she started. Taylor Swift is a prominent singer-songwriter, but her critics all pretty much say the same thing, she only sings about her boyfriends or ex-boyfriends. Generalizations of Swift’s music are not uncommon for female singer-songwriters in the music industry, and shows the striking contrast of how male singer-songwriters are praised for their layered and nuanced songwriting. 

The criticism that Taylor Swift only sings about her ex-boyfriends is a misrepresentation of her actual body of work, it’s like saying that Lil Nas X only writes about old towns and roads or that Sabrina Carpenter only sings about espressos. Do you see how dumb that sounds now? Taylor Swift’s critics cherry pick these songs because, frankly, they are among her biggest hits, thus making it easier to point them out. To make these generalizations about any artist, not just Swift, is overall lazy and does not actually explain why a given artist is not good in the eyes of the critic. 

I think it’s time to address the elephant in the room. So far it’s been established that Taylor Swift is successful, and sure, “haters gonna hate,” am I right? And yes, there are massive generalizations about Taylor Swift as a singer-songwriter, but that does not actually serve to critique her songwriting abilities. But I think people more or less do not like Taylor Swift because of her fans. 

Photo Credits: Variety/Getty Images

Taylor Swift’s fans are innumerable. She has hundreds of thousands, if not millions of fans worldwide. These fans are on every social media site, they provide Taylor Swift with a large majority of her income, through merchandising and ticket sales, and practically watch her every move. Taylor Swift has a genuinely cult-like fanbase that is unnerving to casual listeners. To be a Taylor Swift fan, it’s almost like you cannot be casual. 

It is written in the by-laws of the Swiftie constitution that you must know every ex-boyfriend, every era, and know where Taylor Swift is at all times. Taylor Swift’s fans, or the “Swifties” as they are known, defend her at every turn, and even will go so far as to dox and harass people on the internet who criticize Swift. These toxic behaviors and the large parasocial relationship Swift’s fans have for her characterize the vast majority of Swifites online, and the negative perception of Taylor Swift’s fans directly reflect back onto Taylor Swift herself. 

In general, I believe a majority of the criticism thrown Swift’s way is forced, and borderline misogynistic. Most of the online criticism surrounding Swift’s work is not substantive, it is oftentimes clickbait or misleading. Swift’s image has also been contorted into that of being demonic, or being Satan-like. These posts on the internet are primarily done by trolls, and overall, trolling Swift, or any other female artist for that matter, does not contribute to anything constructive and is just hateful for easy likes and interactions. 

While sure, Taylor Swift’s music is not going to be for everybody, that gives no person the right to diminish her, nor diminish the experiences of her fans who follow her work and feel personally attached to her music. Her commercial appeal has been a net positive on the music industry. She has inspired many to start their musical journey, and has helped the careers of many other female musicians such as Sabrina Carpenter, Phoebe Bridgers, and many others, introducing them to new audiences who can appreciate them for their stories and their specific sounds. I would conclude by saying that I feel personally apathetic to Swift’s music, but I can respect her impact on the music industry, as she has inspired many others to innovate and create new music for everybody to enjoy.