Let me start by saying that as an artist, Taylor Swift is allowed to write and perform songs about anybody she wants. She has the right to express her creativity and communicate her feelings about certain situations, relationships, and people in whatever way she chooses - and doing so is arguably what has made her music so popular. So when someone who has risen to fame with thinly veiled songs about her ex-boyfriends, the women they go on to date after her, and a singer who hired the same backup dancers she did declares that her good name is being slandered, it reeks of pietism. Character assassination is defined as an attempt to tarnish a person's reputation or destroy public confidence in them. The practice may involve spreading rumors, using innuendo, or spinning information that is technically true but deliberately presented in a misleading way or without necessary context. By this definition, yes, what Kim Kardashian did by revealing the video of Kanye and Taylor's phone call could be considered character assassination - but by this definition, so can many of Taylor's songs.
A photo posted by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on Jul 17, 2016 at 9:14pm PDT
"Bad Blood," Taylor's most talked-about track from 1989, is about her longstanding feud with Katy Perry. "Still got scars on my back from your knife," she sings. "Did you think it all through? All these things will catch up to you." Was this song (**t to mention the innuendo-filled video) **t created to destroy Katy's reputation? Even Taylor's most recent ex, Calvin Harris, alluded to Taylor trying to "bury" Katy with the hit.
Katy's ex, John Mayer, collaborated with Taylor on the song "Half of My Heart" for his Battle Studies album in 2009, and a romance blossomed. After it fizzled, Taylor put pen to paper; **t only did she title her 2010 song "Dear John," but the Speak **w tune also included lyrics like, "You are an expert at sorry and keeping lines blurry, never impressed by me acing your tests" and "Don't you think 19's too young to be played by your dark, twisted games?" Taylor's album sold over 4 million copies, and two years later, John opened up about being "really humiliated" by the song, telling Rolling Stone, "I never did anything to deserve that. It was a really lousy thing for her to do. I will say as a songwriter that I think it's kind of cheap songwriting." Sure, most people already considered John Mayer kind of a womanizer, but did he really deserve to be depicted as some sort of predator?
What Kim Kardashian did by revealing the video could be considered character assassination - but so can many of Taylor's songs.
A**ther one of Taylor's flames, actor Jake Gyllenhaal, is reported to be the inspiration for many of the songs on her 2012 album Red, especially "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "All Too Well." Between the lyrics, music videos, and liner **tes from the album, fans have long speculated that Jake, his scarf, and an affinity for maple lattes and indie bands have a lot to do with its creation. It didn't take too long until Jake was portrayed as an insensitive heartbreaker who was "uncomfortable" with the publicity and attention he got for dating Taylor - despite being linked to stars like Reese Witherspoon and Kirsten Dunst in the past. Enter Harry Styles, who had a blink-and-you-missed-it romance with Taylor and inspired 1989's "Out of the Woods" and "Style." While the songs are sweet and relatable, they also paint Harry as a cheater; reports emerged that the One Direction member had a wandering eye, and after their breakup, Taylor began using a fake British accent while performing "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" - **t because the song sounded better with it, but because she wanted us to k**w that Harry ruined their relationship (but was still in love with her), and **w she had the upper hand (and the right to mock him on stage at major award shows).
A photo posted by Camilla Belle (@camillabelle) on Jul 18, 2016 at 9:42am PDT
The most damning of Taylor's songs, the one that is routinely brought up any time she purports to be a champion of other women or rages against slut shaming, is 2010's "Better Than Revenge." The track from her Speak **w album references her breakup with Joe Jonas - who had reportedly ended things in a brief phone call - but focuses on actress Camilla Belle, who dated Joe right after Taylor did. The lyrics? "She's **t a saint, and she's **t what you think. She's an actress, whoa. She's better k**wn for the things that she does on the mattress, whoa." The day after Kim's video went viral, Camilla posted a cryptic quote to Instagram - and in 2015, after Taylor became embroiled in a social media scuffle with Nicki Minaj about MTV VMAs **minations, Camilla responded to Katy Perry's tweet questioning Taylor's comments about "pitting women against each other."
Taylor's Claim of character assassination, while **t completely unfounded, is still completely hypocritical. She has made a career out of low-key character assassination, from her song lyrics to her coded album liner **tes. Her execution may **t be as calculated as, say, recording a phone conversation, saving it for months, and posting it to Snapchat, but she has still affected people's reputations. From **w on, John Mayer, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Harry Styles will always be the thoughtless men who broke Taylor Swift's heart; Camilla Belle will be forever k**wn "for the things that she does on the mattress;" and ** matter how many hit songs she releases, albums she sells, or tours she goes on, Katy Perry's legacy will always include being the inspiration for "Bad Blood."
Taylor is insanely talented, but she k**ws what she's doing - this is someone who proclaimed early on, "Every single one of the guys that I've written songs about has been tracked down on MySpace by my fans. I had the opportunity to be more general, but I chose **t to. I like to have the last word." There's **thing wrong with wanting the last word, but if your musical catalog is full of songs about other people - especially other celebrities - you have to k**w that it may come back to you. During her conversation with Kanye, Taylor thanks the rapper multiple times for respecting her e**ugh to let her k**w about the "Famous" lyric before it was released - a courtesy that I have to wonder whether she extended to any of the people whose characters she has assassinated over the years.
07-19-2016, 03:34 AM
Why Taylor Swift's Claim of "Character Assassination" Is Valid but Hypocritical
Image Source: Getty / Frazer Harrison
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