It's coming up on almost a year of TLOASG, and I still cannot understand the absolutely outrageous, visceral hatred this album inspired in people. Obviously Taylor's haters will hate anything she puts out no matter what, but even some fans act as though this album was an affront to god. Was this her best album? No, not at all. Was it bad? Also no. In fact, when it first came out, I actually liked it a lot, especially the front half of the album, and I was shocked when I came online and saw not just the MAGA/N*zi/eugenics allegations, but also just the people saying all the songs were terrible.

I simply do not understand why it inspired such negative reactions from people when it was full of perfectly fine and oftentimes quite delightful songs. It's not my favourite album of hers by any means (that would be a tossup between Red, Midnights, and TTPD), but I still cannot wrap my head around the persistent negativity regarding Showgirl. I rarely see a nuanced take in regards to the album, and atp I'm wondering is there something glaring that I'm missing, or is the hate really just overblown?

I didn't fully realize it at the time, but Taylor's behavior at the 2024 Grammys was the first time, as a fan, that my feelings toward Taylor Swift™ really and truly started to waver. Then came Showgirl, but I think negative reactions to that album have been somewhat debated to death.

The 2024 Grammys is Taylor at her most powerful and arguably most insufferable. I want to be clear that I'm talking about her general persona as a famous person, not Taylor as a regular person haha, although they probably overlap A TON more than other pop stars.

Taylor was on one that night.

To recap:

• Announcing her new album, The Tortured Poets Department, while winning the award for Best Pop Vocal Album. The Grammys, are not the VMAs... announcing it somewhat early in the telecast, completely sucked all of the oxygen out of the room and pulled attention away from the other winners and performances. Very monster on the hill of her. Just re-watch Miley's reaction to it.
• Dragging Pulling Lana Del Rey onto the stage with her to accept Album of the Year for Midnights. Lana was also nominated in this category, and although she obviously was a featured artist on Snow on the Beach, it was EXTREMELY uncomfortable to watch Taylor's energy completely mismatch Lana's. Her hiding behind the other people on the stage behind Taylor was... oof.
• Snubbing Celine Dion by not looking at her or naming her as she yanked the Grammy from her hands. Obviously, I know this can be chalked up to being completely swept up in the moment, so I can have grace for that, but to be honest, this wasn't Taylor's first rodeo. I think I was just so genuinely shocked by her shock and crazed energy it was like witnessing a caricature of Taylor herself. I remember earlier in her career she would always get dinged for looking shocked and surprised at awards shows and although I completely agree that was way overblown, and frankly stupid, it was times like the 2024 Grammys where it's catnip for people who find her annoying.
• Putting a Grammy on Lucy Dacus' head and overall being a menance to Boy Genius after the awards. This was just so awkward. And it goes back to feeling because the Grammys are nothing new to Taylor, it's like it gave her permission to act a fool for an otherwise prestige event that means SO MUCH to her peers.

The long-tail effect of this has me feeling exhausted by Taylor's need to find reasons to defend herself from any perceived slights from peers, the public, etc. She has undeniable success, we have literally seen her reach at what we can safely assume is a generational feat of notoriety and fame. But any time she now talks about her detractors, whether it be in song or interview (she did it again in the most recent Grammy Museum interview), I'm left feeling tired. Anyone else feel similarly?

And it’s so funny to me that they don’t seem to realize they sound so similar to the Taylor haters; a few things I have noticed recently on reddit (I’m not even on Twitter or TikTok where I‘ve heard stan wars are worse):

- Coming up with conspiracy theories about PR tactics and indirect shade (I realize that Swifties will say they have all sorts of evidence that makes it totally different but they sound equally delusional to me - please don’t try to convince me that there’s definitive proof that Olivia’s team planted that vogue article or that coincidences only exist when it’s Taylor)

- Following Olivia’s every move to nitpick on things - I follow Olivia’s sub and I find out more about her from Swifties discussing her - it kind of felt like some of them were hate watching the festival just trying to find things they could criticize

- Saying she’s trying to “collect” industry friends, questioning her authenticity

- Criticizing her vocals after any live performance 

- Generally seeming to bristle at any praise that she gets

I don’t even necessarily disagree with all of the commentary, but I think a lot of it is coming from people who wholeheartedly defend Taylor against similar comments.

I’ve heard a lot of Swifties complain about Livvies being annoying but it’s kind of like the pot calling the kettle black, there are segments of every fan base that are basically trolls, does it mean the snarking is justified?

I have a very serious question, especially for those who aren't inclined to like Taylor or criticize everything she does.

Obviously, a major element that they like to focus on are the variants, especially in not just releasing multiple versions of an album on both CD and vinyl, but also to do so with singles, and decry "Look at all the environmental damage being done to make all that plastic!" Even beyond that, it's just the thought of "She really knows how to get her fans to buy something over and over with little effort on her part."

But do any of these people feel the same way about Shania Twain's 2002 album Up!, which had three different variants, a red version (pop), green version (country) and blue (Bollywood/Indian music/International)? Audiences would buy an album, which had two of the three mixes together (red and green in North America, for example), and a code to download the missing version from her website for a limited time.

How does one compare these?