#swift/healy (critical)

[khruschevshoe]

You know, it's rather interesting to me that Taylor Swift's parasocial relationship with her fans is honestly more akin to a YouTuber than a writer's. When I scroll through her tag on tumblr/Twitter, it's far more regarding the connection to her personal life/relationship developments than the actual metaphors/fictional story she might be telling. Everything comes back to how her songs reflect back on her relationships with Joe/Matty/Travis/Jake/insert ex-boyfriend here. And what fascinates me about it is that even though she complains about it, she leans into that very perception because it strengthens the parasocial bond.

The marketing for TTPD so clearly being about Joe Alwyn and the songs to Matty Healy. The marketing/video for Red TV so CLEARLY being about Jake Gyllenhaal, with so many of the new lines in All Too Well specifically being digs at him (I'll get older but your lovers stay my age, casting an actor that looks like him for the video, specific lines in I Bet You Think About Me). The fact that songs like Getaway Car and Bejeweled and Gorgeous and London Boy and Lavender Haze being picked apart at time of release and long after for signs of relationships crumbling. The way she uses surprise songs in relation to her relationship development with Joe/Matty/Travis. The damn TTPD "stages of grief" playlists where she deliberately undid/changed the meanings of old songs just to keep her audience speculating on her love life.

It's not sexist to point out that her wielding her love life is a marketing tool and that the strongest connection to her audience isn't the strength of her writing/the composition of her music- it's her deliberate crafting of a connection between her music and her personal life, leaving the audience invested in her music as an extension of Taylor the Person/Girlfriend rather than Taylor the Artist.

[that-was-a-bit-stupid-of-you]

the issue with ttpd personally is that I love some of the songs but sadly I've been force-fed her personal life so much, these details keep coming and leaves a bad taste in my mouth

You can't say "1830s without the racist" after writing an album about matty healy

"So high school" is a cute love song, but it's about our xenophobic racist king tk

"I can fix him" and "daddy I love him" have some elements I like but it's about mh and her getting offended she's being held responsible for her problematic actions

"guilty as sin?" is one of my favs, but it reads very different when you know (unfortunately) the context

"so long, london" is amazing, but just like "renegade" she blames joe alwyn for having mental health issues, but also out them to the world which is the worst part of it all

wishing I didn't know the context, but it is practically impossible to engage in any taylor swift space without knowing

[misalpav]

whoosh so taylor is releasing a song with ice spice of ALL people and you just know that some absolutely aloof swifties are gonna come out w some "see she's doing her best to salvage the situation" bullshit. this is a pr stunt at its best and it's way too fast to not be planned. before any of you say any of that they're trying to fix it, if healy even remotely wanted to fix his past then why the flying fuck is he making taylor do it for him? he's a grown ass man and if he truly felt any remorse he is fully capable of speaking for himself. if anything it's j taylor's latest version of performative activism.

edit: this post reached the wrong audience so I'm adding this bc i don't have the time to respond to everyone. #swifties dni

[sickness-stricken]

Gonna be honest with yall. I’ll be shocked if TTPD ends up winning AOTY.

Between Matt Healy, the lack of statement on Vienna, the only partially refunded tickets and now all of this Mahomes stuff… yeah if she wins again in 2025 I think she’s done. The Celine Dion incident already seemed to wake a lot of people up to her shit and I think her/her team know this. My prediction is they’ll pull back whatever strings they had yanked to get it the win, let her fans believe she was “snubbed” and then it’ll be “poor Taytay” all over again.

The people are fucking tired.

[prideprejudce]

i hope people realize that taylor swift did not just have some epiphany on a random monday about dating a known bigot and how telling it was for her own complicity that she was okay with being romantically involved with someone like that. TS is a capitalist and a business brand who knows that continuing to date this man would have eventually significantly impacted her revenue in future album releases and concert sales by continuing to piss off her fan base. and like any large corporate business, she cut out the weak link so it doesn’t impact her future. that being said, if all of m*tty he*ly’s previous comments about black women and other disgusting remarks had been swept under the rug more effectively, i can tell you with almost 100% assurance that she would still be publicly dating him right now

[biledrvr]

So I don't really post on Tumblr but I have a TikTok account where I made a video saying I hoped TS finally gets cancelled for the whole Matt Healy thing where I eventually had to turn off comments. Already uploaded these screenshots there but figured the hellsite would enjoy it, y'all seem a bit more open to "critical" posts

[fridayiminlovemp3]

you have to be another level of parasocial and invasive to be begging some random bar in london to go through their cctv footage for you so you can figure out which loser british man a taylor swift song is about. like how the fuck can ppl like that complain about the “media” only caring about taylor’s dating history and not her actual musicianship when you a fan are freaking out and turning into some shitty tiktok sherlock holmes just because you can’t tell if a song is about 1 out of 2 random men. like genuinely why can’t you just enjoy the song, why do you feel the need to insert yourself into her life like this. you don’t know her.

[isle-sehnsucht]

"Tell me with whom you associate, and I will tell you who you are." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Now I won't be speaking on the Islamophobic, antisemitism, or other accusations because I am not well versed on those. Other people are welcomed to highlight and educate the populous on those.

Up until three days ago, I was blissfully unaware of the abuse porn website Mr. Healy apparently adores and frequents. I'm horrified and not to be hyperbolic, a bit traumatized that men not only enjoy such disgusting material but are also allowed to do so publicly. This speaks volumes to me on the privilege white women have to ignore and condone such actions as throughout the last few days I've seen how many seem perplexed that his actions and comments are garnering such distain. It is frankly inhuman to ask people of colour why they are hurt that a man is LITERALLY orgasming to women being brutalized.

And if it is a joke, are we okay with a man joking about the abuse of women, especially marginalized women? Women who likely are not aware of what they are signing up for and are only doing so because they are so vulnerable that it seems like the only way to feed themselves or their children? That's funny?

As to why Miss Swift is embroiled in this unfortunate situation. Continuing to be so publicly connected with him after learning about his actions is where I'm having difficulty with the situation. The inaction denotes callous indifference. His action by watching or joking about watching women being brutalized trivializes and dehumanizes women, especially and specifically women of colour. By standing by his side either as his fling/girlfriend or as a fan defending his action you are condoning that. And it is not something I will forget.

I'm protecting myself and standing up for what I believe in. I don't care if it makes you uncomfortable. I know writing this insignificant post on tumblr won't change the world, but this is me saying that I won't be silent on situation that I think are wrong. If no one else is going to say women like me matter then I am.

I can't just post this and move on. Whether that is shifting the focus of my degree, volunteering, donating, or a mix, I can't stop thinking about the actual real life women who are being victimized in Mr. Healy's joke. So I guess that's one good thing to come out of an otherwise unpleasant experience.

[i-isa-i]

The songs are about me, actually …

I know swifties have been trained for years and years to read taylor swift’s songs as autobiographical. But idk it just feels so reductive and boring to look for clues about her personal and dating life in order to decode her lyrics. Even if you think the intention of the author is relevant in any way, swift herself said that her songs’ inspirations can’t simply be found via “paternity test”.

But I really don’t think we should care what swift intended the song to mean. I’m begging y’all to consider these lyrics as polysemic texts. First of all, let’s be honest and admit that the persona fed to the public isn’t actually taylor swift and we probably don’t know much about her personal life anyway. So people basically use a fictional character and narrative to apply these songs to. In that case, why not divorce the fictionalized author from the text in the first place? I know we throw around “Death of the author” in fandom spaces all the time but I think it’s something to consider here. Make your own meaning. The songs are about what you want them to be. The songs are about your OTP. The songs are about you.

[likeactuallygrowup]

i’ve never read anything more accurate. had to quit tumblr twice and twitter altogether this year. 2025 is for embarrassing stans. if one of these fandoms thinks they’re better than the other… no youre not, you are the exact fucking same just screaming about a different loser. and you’ve ruined my tumblr fandom experience all the same

[declanisms]

trying to avoid info on ts’ new album is like trying to avoid mosquitoes. virtually impossible. like I did not want to know that she wrote multiple songs on fucking matty healy of all people that were apparently positive?????? like I don’t like her but that doesn’t mean I want to view her as an awful person. she herself just keeps giving out info that depicts her as such

[that-was-a-bit-stupid-of-you]

Stop. Stop defending taylor swift for things she did. Stop defending her for associating herself with a racist, sexist, antisemitic piece of shit, and CONTINUING to surround herself with people like that. Stop trying to make excuses and put down the feelings of poc fans during that time. Stop blaming people for holding her accountable to the words SHE said.

If you sit at a table with 10 racists, there are 11 racists at that table.

[areptvclown]

Joe: Yeah I'm hurt, upset, and distraught she's moved on and with someone like Matty.

Taylor: Hold my Tennessee Whiskey.

[rowinablx]

Me at the Swiftes forgiving Taylor for dating a racist

[oh-hush-its-perfect]

i saw matt healy's "apology" about his remarks towards ice spice. to his credit he does genuinely apologize directly to her. but it's still really lacking and containing a lot of language like "misconstrued" and "perceived" and all the usual BS from PR apologies. like he doesn't seem to get that what he said was wrong; he just feels sorry about hurting people's feelings, which isn't getting at the root of the problem

[with-the-flickers-of-light]

I'm trying to collect all my thoughts on the Swift/Healy breakup, and I think what it all boils down to is that it does not erase or otherwise negate all the frustration and hurt of the past few weeks.

I've said before that just breaking up wouldn't be enough to win me back, and I stand by that assessment. From what I've seen, this was not a move precipitated by the realization that Healy was a shitbag. (Because for one, the information was already out there; and for two, it lasted a little too long for that to be believable.) And my anger over them dating was never really about the act of them dating, but about Swift having the mindset of being okay with Healy and what he's done. It was a wake-up call to show that she was perfectly fine with platforming a racist, sexist, xenophobic, etc. asshole. And no, breaking up with him is not the same as denouncing those beliefs.

(I was also a recent fan -- recovering from a purity culture that thought Swift was demonic and not-like-other-girls internalized misogyny that wanted nothing to do with someone who was popular -- so I wasn't around for her earlier dubiously moral choices. I didn't know about the swastika picture, or about the O'Russell movie. But the conversation about Healy brought it to my attention, and that just adds to the list of things Swift has to answer for.)

Not only will I not be forgetting Swift's part in this crisis of faith, I will not be forgetting the fandom response. The Swiftie community is so clearly not a safe space for so many members of marginalized communities.

So unless I see actual action from Swift to denounce the beliefs she's platformed these past weeks and months and years, no, she's not gonna be forgiven in my book. I will not be streaming her music or buying merch; at this point, I'm also not going to be listening to downloaded copies or working on arrangements or whatever. I'm a bit more at peace with the ways she's influenced me and my admiration for her work, but. I dunno. Still working through things.

Anyways, yeah. I dunno how to end this. But. Yeah.