#she just makes it look easy

[thepalmofyourfreezinghand]

Btw between the second half of 2019 and the end of 2021 (when Red TV was released), I lost count of the amount of times I read stuff like “she’s never gonna re-record her music, she’s just bluffing”, or “she’s doing this to get the upper hand and make them sell her her masters, but she won’t go through the hassle of re-recording the music”, or “it’s just too much money and time, she won’t do it”, or “she only did Fearless to scare them, but that’s it, she’s not doing the rest”. It was only after Red TV was released that a lot of people changed their minds.

And initially I thought it had to do with fans generally not believing Taylor and thinking she’s lying 99% of the time (which is upsetting in itself), but now I believe it was more about fans not believing that the project could be successful, and therefore not believing it could be worth her time (which is why the opinion changed when Red TV became a phenomenal success). And I think it’s sad that, despite the fact that Taylor told us MULTIPLE times “I recorded this song because I’m proud of it and it’s personal, but I wasn’t sure you guys were gonna like it”, or “I recorded this album because I wanted a change, but I wasn’t sure it was gonna top the charts”, or “I chose this as the lead single even though I thought it was too much of a risk and it wasn’t gonna be successful”… a lot of fans still think that whatever Taylor does she does to seek success.

Does she love the accolades and the prizes? Sure! But some of her most successful releases EVER have been passion projects (the TVs), huge risks (1989 and folklore), songs she had to beg her record label to let her release (some tracks from 2012-2014), or songs she thought were too personal and nobody was gonna like and yet she chose to release as singles (Anti-Hero, ATW). Not to mention The Eras Tour, which is in many ways the kind of tour you simply don’t have when you’re at your peak.

Soooo much of what she does she does without even thinking about how successful it will be (beyond the obvious caveat of “I need to make enough money to pay my employees”).

She happens to have a lot of successful ideas, that’s true. But so many fans believe that she wouldn’t do anything unless it brought her more fame and money, even though she constantly takes risks and she constantly proves that what she does is first and foremost a passion for her. And it’s sad.