The age old question: do we love to hate Taylor Swift because she is whiny and unlikeable or do we love to hate her because she is a woman expressing emotions in the music industry? The vast majority of people who strongly dislike Taylor Swift claim that it is because she is whiny, obsessive, and solely focused on the business aspect of her music. People claim that she is a serial dater, boy crazy, and that she is out to get any man that she ever comes in contact with.
However, there is the possibility that the public opinion of her is actually shaped by the gendered perceptions of artists in popular culture. There is a trend that emerges in music where gender dictates who is seen as a genius and who is seen as weak and uncreative. By this, I mean that the same feminine characteristics that cause women’s art to be subpar are the very characteristics that men’s art is revered and praised for. If a man is emotional, or even subject to madness, he is considered innovative and noteworthy. However, if a woman expresses even a hint of that same emotion, much less madness, she is deemed as bitter or crazy.
The first example of this phenomenon that comes to mind is the public hatred of Taylor Swift. From the beginning of her career, people latched onto her romantic life. People scoured her songs for any hint of her romantic partners and obsessively connected her singles and albums to various men she had been linked with in the news. Then, when she was dumped, or broke up with someone, people would mock her as being boy crazy and accuse her of having too many love interests in a short period of time.
This causes us to ask a new question — why don’t people hate men who write that same style of music? The Weeknd recently released a new album titled My Dear Melancholy, which features…sad love songs. The album was released after his public breakup with Selena Gomez, another talented musician. However, even when people found alleged references to Gomez, they did not call him desperate or clingy. Rather, they took pity on him and praised him for showing such a depth of emotion.
Even the headlines of countless news magazines reveal the public’s differing opinions of the two artists. When the Weeknd is pictured closely with several girls, people may assume that he is dating or hooking up — but no one calls him crazy or desperate. However, each time Taylor Swift is seen with a new man, people speculate about how long it will last or how she got someone new already. Furthermore, Taylor Swift, within her first few years of popularity, had countless articles criticizing her “intense” love life. On the other hand, The Weeknd’s romantic life is not the obsession of his fans. While people love to see him happy with someone, or are curious about his current love interest, they also focus on his music and successes.Most of all, they rarely, if ever, demonize him for his choices in women.
I never would have pictured myself defending Taylor Swift, as I have never been a fan of her brand or music, but it is clear that she has suffered a gendered treatment from the music industry, the news, and the public.
