Taylor Swift Negative Review Publishes Anonymously Because Of Her Fans, Critics In Actual Danger?
By now, we’re all aware of the fact that certain artists carry with them a massive fandom of ravenous supporters who would do anything to spread the gospel of their favorite song. Kanye West has inspired a wide array of people to embrace controversial opinions with his rhetoric, while Nicki Minaj fans became so invested in her beef with Megan Thee Stallion that they located the grave site of Meg’s mother and threatened to vandalize the cemetery. Now, Paste Magazine’s scathing review of the latest Taylor Swift album The Tortured Poets Department was published anonymously for fear of retribution from bloodthirsty Swifties.
Taylor Swift’s Massive Influence
Taylor Swift is arguably the biggest pop star on the planet today, with massive recording artists such as Drake admitting that they’ll move their release date to avoid coinciding with hers.
Political analysts have indicated that Swift has enough star power to singlehandedly sway the upcoming presidential election this November, simply by encouraging her fans to get out and vote.
Her ‘Eras’ tour has been known to boost the economy of cities along her route, prompting many local governments and tourism boards to court Taylor Swift for additional tour dates.
Music Critics Fear Her?
All this is to say, Taylor Swift is kind of a big deal. But, as every pop culture icon at the top of their game eventually learns, with great power comes great responsibility.
Swift’s peaceful rhetoric and lyrics which preach love and acceptance can only do so much to restrict the worst impulses of her angriest fans, leading to situations where music reviewers fear actual violence.
Paste Staff Review
As a result, we may never learn the true identity of the Paste Magazine writer who authored the overtly-harsh The Tortured Poets Department review.
Instead, the album breakdown, which refers to the lead single “Fortnight” as “a heady vat of pop nothingness,” which has “the most dog-water, uninspired synth arrangement you could possibly imagine” shows “Paste Staff” in it’s byline.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) Paste clarified that this precaution was taken after one writer received death threats for poorly reviewing Taylor Swift’s 2019 album Lover.
Inspiring Other Artists
This ravenous fan reaction actually serves as the impetus for the Donald Glover-created series Swarm on Amazon Prime Video, which premiered last year.
In Swarm, an overzealous fan of a massive pop star travels the country, locating and slaying anyone who dares to post negative comments about her favorite artist on social media. The fictional pop star in the series is based more on Beyoncé than Taylor Swift, but the point still remains all the same.
Fans Will Come For Those Who Don’t Say Nice Things
While Taylor Swift is obviously not responsible for the actions of each and every one of her millions of fans, it seems clear that the 34-year-old billionaire would not support threats or acts of violence against journalists on her behalf.
Still, things can quickly become dangerous when someone like Swift inspires such unshakable fealty from her enormous crowds.
Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department
Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department seems to be receiving positive reviews from most major media outlets, making Paste Magazine’s harsh tirade something of an outlier.
Still, you can never be too careful when dealing with the masses online, as people have generally become far too comfortable threatening acts of violence on one another in social media spaces.
Source: Paste Magazine
