Taylor Swift Has Explained Why It Took So Long For Her To Get Political

Last month, Taylor Swift released the second single off her new album Lover, You Need To Calm Down and very quickly established herself as an LGBT+ ally in the lyrics. The music video confirmed this, with cameos from many, many of our favourite queer entertainers. And yet, she received backlash. Why? Because she has been relatively quiet with her support of the queer community since her career began and so naturally, people were suspicious.

The problem was, and has always been with Swift, that she has historically refused to get political – that is, until the 2018 US midterm elections. To release a video that centres a straight woman being adored by queer artists felt uncomfortable for many, and because of that somewhat misguided judgement on her behalf, some feared that it was simply an attempt to profit off of appearing ‘woke’. Because ultimately, she’s selling something here and it’s a well-known marketing tactic that getting behind one particular social justice cause can increase consumer loyalty.

In a recent interview with US Vogue, Taylor addressed concerns about her allyship head on, explaining that actually, she has always been an LGBT+ ally and was ‘devastated’ to realise fans might not see that. According to the publication, the realisation coming to her during a conversation with friend Todrick Hall. She said:

‘A year or two ago, Todrick and I are in the car, and he asked me, “What would you do if your son was gay?”. The fact that he had to ask me . . . shocked me and made me realize that I had not made my position clear enough or loud enough. If he was thinking that, I can’t imagine what my fans in the LGBTQ community might be thinking.’

Of course, this was two years ago, so why did she wait until now to release music that proudly, and loudly, expressed her support? ‘Rights are being stripped from basically everyone who isn’t a straight white cisgender male,’ she said. ‘I didn’t realize until recently that I could advocate for a community that I’m not a part of.

‘It’s hard to know how to do that without being so fearful of making a mistake that you just freeze,’ she continued, ‘Because my mistakes are very loud. When I make a mistake, it echoes through the canyons of the world. It’s clickbait, and it’s a part of my life story, and it’s a part of my career arc.’

Given her reputation following the infamous Kanye West/ Kim Kardashian feud, and the public vitriol towards her during it, it’s no surprise she has spent so long concerned about saying the wrong thing. In fact, in the interview she went on to explain what it’s like to be ‘cancelled’, comparing the experience to receiving death threats.

‘A mass public shaming, with millions of people saying you are quote-unquote cancelled, is a very isolating experience,’ she explained ‘when you say someone is cancelled, it’s not a TV show. It’s a human being. You’re sending mass amounts of messaging to this person to either shut up, disappear, or it could also be perceived as, Kill yourself.’

Apparently, it’s why she restructured her entire life – to regain control -, made music about it -to preserve her mental health – and interestingly, why she was so silent during the 2016 US Presidential election, explaining that her support for Hillary Clinton then would have done more damage than good, she said:

‘People were saying “she’s calculated”, “she’s manipulative”, “she’s not what she seems”, “she’s a snake, “she’s a liar.” These are the same exact insults people were hurling at Hillary. Would I be an endorsement or would I be a liability? “Look, snakes of a feather flock together”, “Look, the two lying women”, “The two nasty women”.’

It seems that actually, despite her open and honest image, a lot more has been going on behind the scenes than people realise when it comes to how authentic Taylor feels she can be in the public eye. Perhaps now, with her new album and burgeoning reputation rebirth, she will shout even louder about the things she truly believes in.

READ MORE: A guide to all the amazing stars in the You Need To Calm Down video...