Critique of Taylor Swift's Activism

A while back, I got absolutely dogpiled on TikTok for saying that Taylor Swift could do more for

female artists, that that was some outrageous, unfathomable request. And yet here comes Olivia

Rodrigo, someone 13 years younger than Taylor Swift, doing exactly that. Olivia just announced

a festival with an all-women lineup with 100% of the proceeds going towards charities that are

advancing women's and girls' rights. 100%. So let's stop acting like Taylor Swift doing more

was impossible, that it was some unreachable ask. It's possible. It's been possible. Taylor

is choosing time and time again to do nothing. One of these excuses from Swifties that I see

over and over again is that it's too dangerous for Taylor to say something political, that she

can't speak out, that she can't do anything more because it's dangerous. As if Sabrina, Olivia,

Chapel aren't already doing that. There's threats, there's risks to them too. They're in direct

conflict with the administration when they call out ICE, but they're doing it anyway because that's

what bravery is. It's doing something while scared. It's doing something that's right in spite of

everything else, in spite of the risk. But again, Taylor has chosen to not take the risk because

it's bad for her wallet. And like enough with the argument that, oh, she has young female openers,

as if that's like something special that deserves an award. First of all, that's like focus tested

to make sense. Like that's not even like that is a capitalistic move. Second of all, it's nothing

special. Fucking Elvis was an opening act. Like it's not new. You don't get bonus points for having

someone literally warm up a mic for you. My original point in that video I made a while back

that they all freaked out about was that if Taylor wants to be in conversation and considered to be

among the greats, like the Beatles, if she wants to be considered among the greats, there has to be

a pre and post Taylor Swift industry, right? Like she has to have a definitive role in changing

something for the better. I'm like, sure, she has in the capitalistic sense. She's making more money

than an artist ever has before. But Taylor Swift's legacy is ticketmaster. It's variant sales. It's

suing younger artists. Olivia Rodrigo just proved once again that if a pop star wants to advance

women's rights, you can do it. It's not impossible. And Taylor Swift, one of the richest women on the

planet is choosing not to do it. So yeah, I'm just looking forward to all the excuses why a 23 year

old Disney star can do this, but a billionaire can't. Like, you know what, to be fair, she has a

lot more important things to do like getting married at Madison Square Garden. Like, come on.