Yeah, the same way she can say she wants to be more politically active after the 2016 election when it’s more than safe to do so

Yeah that’s a good point, people keep acting like he’s not “deep” enough for Taylor when… she’s actually not as deep as people wanna think she is. Yes, she’s gifted at communicating her feelings via music, but she’s not some highbrow genius

Yes, exactly. Again, not that Matty didn’t say horrible things, but he also has enough good things in his past (ironically he has been way more outspoken about social issues than Taylor ever has been, despite also saying horrible shit) that they could’ve pushed that side of his image and he would be fine. Chris brown has people defending him left and right on the internet, and while he’s not ever gonna get a #1 radio hit, people ride hard for him. Which is insane because Rihanna isn’t even his only victim

This is kinda why I don’t agree with all the people who say Travis isn’t suitable for her. He’s actually perfect for her in the sense that she loves attention, going to social events, being seen, being adored, and being publicly praised by her man. Even if he’s got football player brain, he actually does give her what she wants. And he has pretty good PR politics wise, being a huge advocate for vaccines and having done lots of charity work in KC. He’s extremely suitable for her purposes, even if he’s also very annoying lol

The important thing here too is what you said about celebs who have actually been convicted of things, not just accused. I promise I’m not downplaying the things Matty said, because they were horrendous, but while words are damaging, talk is ultimately cheap. He didn’t do anything in the same way as, say, Armie Hammer. There are celebrities who have literally killed people (Matthew Broderick, if you don’t know, google it!) and got off scot free, and a lot of people are blissfully unaware of it. If Matty actually wanted to, he could’ve apologized for those things and eventually been sanitized properly by the Taylor PR machine, but he was never gonna do that. He’s too much of a natural born contrarian. But I’m sure Taylor had it in her head that if they really wanted to be together, they could fix his reputation.

I didn’t realize he started a label just for her, that rocks. I just like the work he’s doing with young singers. I feel like Jack doesn’t know how to let the artist’s voice be the star of the track, but Dan really really does

I didn’t say that I think she should based on optics, just that it would be stupid on their part to snub the biggest star in the world when broadway’s numbers are struggling

Well nobody should win based on optics, but it happens all the time. The grammys admitted to giving her the awards for midnights because “it sold well” and not the actual music

I actually think it’s the easiest one for her to get. Plenty of singer songwriters have been writing musicals lately, and to be honest, Broadway has kinda been struggling for a few years (too many movies turned musicals/biopic musicals, tickets way too expensive, allergic to accessibility, etc) and Taylor writing a musical would sell out in minutes, plus it would get more people watching the Tonys (hello, NFL) and it would be horrible optics not to give her a Tony if she’s nominated.

Plus, I think she makes her best work when she works with new people, and Jack can only do so much with a stage musical. It might not actually be too bad.

I don’t see Chappell working with Jack solely because his production style doesn’t work with her music. I’m not a Jack hater at all, for the record, but even my favorite things he’s worked on (Melodrama, NFR, Sling, some of CRJ’s songs) just don’t gel with her sound. I’ve found that Nigro’s production style is really good for pop artists who, sorry to say it, have really strong vocals. Lorde/Lana/Clairo are songwriters first, not vocalists, and Carly is smart enough not to work with one producer for an entire album, which wouldn’t work as well given her specific sound. Chappell has an insanely versatile voice, and if she worked with Jack, I don’t think that would shine as much as it does on Midwest Princess.

Not to mention, Chappell seems like she’s smart enough to know that the second she works with Taylor and co, she will never get out from under that umbrella. Regardless of the name an artist makes for herself, the second she gets pulled into Taylor’s cohort, there’s always this assumption of loyalty to her, and I don’t think Chappell is the type to play that game. She doesn’t really need the exposure Taylor can provide, she’s doing just fine. Associating with Olivia is way smarter because they’re peers. When young artists associate with Taylor, they’re automatically demoted to protege.

Edit I meant this as a response to the person who said Jack wanted to work with Chappell, oops

This is one of those times where I wonder if they have as much say in their guests now that they’re on a bigger network and everything. Matt I can totally see being swayed by it, but I did get the vibe that Bowen was… being polite. He just gave very vague and sparse “oh wowwww” and asked questions out of curiosity. I also imagine it’s easy to be convinced in the moment with a person like that, then think back on it later and be like “absolutely not.” Either way, unintentionally fascinating is the way to describe it

There is work involved here, truly. It starts with recognizing your own place in society and, while acknowledging that as a woman you do have plenty to overcome, your experience is just not the same as others’. And not just WOC, but men of color, too. Learning more about history helps tremendously with this, especially American history surrounding what Black people used to (and sometimes still do) get in legal trouble for. Not that long ago, Black men were arrested or lynched for smiling at a white woman. And white women could, and did, lie about it. That’s one example, but reminding yourself that your experiences are not the center of the universe is a huge part of it. Learning the difference between privileges is hugely important too. The privileges that come with race, wealth, thinness, etc are important to understand in full. Not just to prevent the victimhood syndrome, but to better understand the world around you.

Aside from her being the annoying type of millennial Swiftie who is too old to be acting like that, Joanne sounds like a fun hang

Damn Joanne catching strays

I say this as a white woman fan of hers, you’re exactly on the money here. But it goes deeper than that. It works because, if we can be real for a second here, white women love to be the victims. We’ve been doing it, historically, for a very long time, and it has caused a lot of damage. The amount of feminist essays I’ve read by women of color that boil down to “white women cry because they feel bad about their whiteness and I’m expected to comfort them, performing more labor” is staggering. White girls love feeling like we are the main character who is pretty, lovable, and fawned all over the second we feel threatened or sad. It feels good to indulge in this, societally and interpersonally. Feeling like the victim and the victor all the time is addictive for the average person. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to experience that on a large scale.

I know, and frankly, Olivia has done a great job separating herself from Taylor in her body of work more so than socially. Guts is a lot more influenced by the works of artists like Fiona Apple and Alanis Morrissette, who aren’t afraid to make themselves look bad or address their own immaturity and shortcomings in their work.

I need to listen to Guts again in light of TTPD, but the album TTPD actually made me go back to was Fetch the Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple. The way she writes about her experiences as a 30something woman feels so much more real and honest. If you haven’t, I highly recommend giving it a listen!

I always find it important to remember that of all singers, Dolly should be a billionaire. The reason she isn’t is because of how generous she is. She didn’t give it a second thought to make sure all Dollywood staff got paid during the pandemic shutdown. She gave tons of money to vaccine research. She gives away millions of books to children for free. Let’s not act like Dolly is “cutthroat,” she’s an extremely smart businesswoman but she’s ultimately very generous.

Whether or not she meant it as a reference to this… it’s the exact thing she did on her debut album when she was a literal child. I remember getting the album for Christmas and reading the lyric booklet and noticed random letters would be capitalized and it would spell out the name or a message. She obviously continued to do this as the years went by on other albums, but more cryptic. Not on debut. On debut, she uses government names and dedicates the album to “all the boys who broke my heart” or whatever. Which is expected behavior for a 15 year old girl. But from a 34 year old woman, it’s pathetic.

This and the Scooter Braun of it all are the topics I am begging her to stop writing about forever. She looks like a sore winner all the time. We get it, you felt victimized by these people. But you WON. Over and over and over again, you won. You were POTY, you won a Grammy for an album that sucked just because you were the most popular princess and the party that year or whatever excuse the grammys used, you’re a billionaire. Kim is a punchline half the time and scooter is a grown adult named scooter who lost all his clients. Girl, you won!! When will it ever be enough? Do you need to publicly step on their throats and get a tearful, begging apology? It’s endlessly confusing to me how she refuses to let anything go.

especially when like, it means the same damn thing? it reminds me of an old john mulaney bit from his standup where he says how embarrassing it feels to say “girlfriend” in your 30s. it’s truly not that deep

bless you, i came here to see if i should even bother listening to las cultch if i don’t think taylor is literally jesus

You’re not wrong, but Hannah Montana was huge even if you didn’t watch grow up watching it on Disney. New Disney stars now don’t have the same level of fame they did when it was Miley’s time. I would say it’s because Disney got more and more “little kid” over time. Miley was still seen as cool when she was HM, but the shows on Disney now are so painfully lame, they can only be popular with children, and so can their stars.

I can never understand their meanness trajectory. Because they were not at all sympathetic to Anna when that was all going down, going so far as to have one of their moms who does something with art come on their patreon to talk about why Anna’s photography art series was stupid. They were not even a little bit kind toward her. And they’re also being awful to Olivia Munn, so I guess they’re just dicks?

What’s cool about Olivia though is that most people hadn’t heard of her when she was a Disney star. As someone who pays a lot of attention to pop culture, I wouldn’t have known her by name even after watching the HSM show (in which I was impressed by her, but still didn’t care enough to IMDb it lol). Olivia became a household name with Driver’s License, it was only after that song blew up that people realized that she was on Disney. So where Miley was specifically known for only being Hannah Montana, Olivia didn’t have much of an image to shed. Probably because Disney stars don’t occupy the same lane they once did in pop culture. I think that’s why she was able to find her musical identity more easily than Miley did.

Totally agree. On the one hand, if you’re upset, you should speak up. On the other hand, part of choosing a partner is choosing someone who makes you feel seen. And when the person you love no longer sees you, it’s heartbreaking. It’s not a conscious effort, but it’s a side effect of a person pulling away emotionally. When they used to always pick up on your negative (and positive, but that’s not relevant) emotions and now they seemingly don’t (or don’t care enough to do anything about it), it’s usually a bad sign.

I’ll be honest, SGJ’s short fiction is so much more engaging to me than his novels. I also couldn’t get hooked on My Heart is a Chainsaw, but his short story collection Bleed Into Me is much more enjoyable to me