Said as a Swiftie: The over-saturated dominance of Taylor Swift has finally got too much

Life as a Swiftie is often a long slog. With Taylor Swift’s career trajectory having a tumultuous journey of ups and downs – from her debut as country pop crossover girl next door to global pop domination, from being cancelled to redeeming her image and gaining critical and commercial acclaim at new heights after the Folklore and Evermore eras and the beginning of her Taylor’s Version rereleases – you never know as a fan whether it’s cool to declare you love blasting The Swift in your headphones or not. Swifties have a ferocious online reputation and there’s a general culture of insanity tied to being a fan of the biggest artist on the planet. Being such a big artist comes with criticisms – whether that be her talent, her vocals, her consumption of fuel on private jets and her estimated now-billionaire status. But one thing that’s always made loving Taylor Swift easy for me was that the music always speaks for itself. I hate to say it, but after the Grammys and the release of her new bloated and middling album – even as a huge Taylor Swift fan, I’m burnt out.

Those who dislike Taylor Swift and her near universal domination for the past few years make no secret of the fact they’re sick to the back teeth of her. You don’t need to scroll for long on Twitter / X for long to find some disdain towards her. For years and for obvious I’m-a-big-fan reasons, I have ignored such complaints. Taylor Swift might be prolific, but she’s also incredible. Folklore and Evermore are two of the greatest albums of the last decade and feature the best songwriting of her career. The Taylor’s Version rereleases of Fearless and Red helped shine new light and acclaim on two great albums that now sounded as mature as her later career did, with new additions that won over new fans of those albums who didn’t really care for them when they first dropped – including myself. All Too Well (10 Minute Version) was a cultural phenomenon and deserved all its acclaim. For my money, it’s her best song. These couple of years at the start of the 2020s were an imperial phase, but then for me things started to shift.

I’d say my Taylor Swift fatigue kicked in with Midnights being a bit of a mid album. Despite huge chart success and some genuinely great songs, the whole record admittedly does feel a bit phoned in, Swift-by-numbers. It sounds worse after the game changing triumphs of Folklore and Evermore. Couple Midnights not being up there with her later great work and a huge tour that you couldn’t escape clips of and two Taylor’s Versions releasing that didn’t quite match the excellence of her first two and you can start to understand why the Taylor Swift fatigue has begun to kick in. Even for those of us who worship the ground she walks on.

When Taylor Swift won at the Grammys this year, even as a fan I had mixed emotions. When Midnights won the Best Pop Vocal Album trophy, I was at peace. It was the best album in that category and Midnights was such a huge record I did expect it to get some nod of recognition in last night’s ceremony. But when Midnights won Album of the Year, I think the world let out a collective groan – fans included. It’s exciting Taylor Swift has become the artist most awarded that trophy in history now, but she should get that accolade when she makes a record that deserves the award. How anyone can say Midnights is Album of the Year nominated in the same category as Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, SZA’s SOS and boygenius’ The Record is beyond me. You can’t help but feel that whenever Taylor’s name is in the mix, the award is hers – even when she’s not at her best. It’s hard to maintain enthusiasm for that – and if I’m saying that as a lover (pun intended) of Taylor, then no wonder her naysayers are at their wits end.

And then of course came the announcement that on April 19th, Taylor Swift will be releasing the cringe inducingly titled record The Tortured Poets Department. It’s… a lot. The name is jarring, the album cover is bad –  it was a shame that one of my most streamed, favourite artists ever was releasing a new album and my reaction is not one of giddy glee but one of exhaustion. I am burnt out trying to soak in new albums all the time.

And now here we are: New album but the same shit, different day. Not content with one lengthy album, Taylor surprised everyone and made The Tortured Poets Department a double album that in total now has 31 songs and runs at over two hours. Like I’ve said, if my reaction to this is “for fuck’s sake”, I can only imagine the reaction of those who don’t even like her a little bit.

I say this with all the love of a huge fan who paid a hell of a lot of money to see Taylor Swift on her Eras Tour come August, and who’s very giddy for it, but I very much wish she’d have a restful, long hiatus. Give us all time to miss you, Taylor – and come back and show us why you’re the biggest artist in the world. It’s easy to overlook someone’s talents and deserved acclaim when you take them for granted. “Taylor Swift is the music industry”, her stans declare – but you only need to look at the reaction to the Grammys last night to see why that’s probably not the best thing in the long term.

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• Sorry, Taylor Swift shouldn’t win Album of the Year at the Grammys for Midnights

Featured image via Shutterstock.