Taylor Swift is being dragged on her views on American history in her new album referencing the 1830s, including the ugly part.
The singer dropped “The Tortured Poet’s Department” Friday and, while many fans are jammin’ out to the tunes and diving into hints about Matty Healy and Kim Kardashian others took aim at her song “I Hate It Here” … which includes some eyebrow-raising lyrics.
In the song, Taylor Swift sings, “My friends used to play a game where / We would pick a decade / We wished we could live in instead of this / I’d say the 1830s but without all the racists / And getting married off for the highest bid.”
Basically, it seems Taylor’s trying to make a statement about nostalgia … but, her listeners didn’t like the way she tried to convey it, and are straight-up annihilating her on social media.
Check out the “1830” trend on Twitter … it’s a mixed bag of people genuinely outraged at Taylor’s tone-deaf comment, even in trying to distance herself from the negative connotation and others who are just mocking Swift for a fairly weird/oddly specific sentiment.
Those who are actually outraged are making two major points … first, intolerance in America during the 1830s went further than racism — and slavery was at its peak during this time, which many people seem to think Taylor doesn’t fully understand.
Others point out Andrew Jackson signed the the Indian Removal Act into law in 1830, which resulted in the genocidal march of many Native Americans from the American Southeast to Oklahoma known as the Trail of Tears.
Taylor Swift seems to qualify the nostalgia in later lines but, many people are stuck on the first line and don’t seem interested in hearing this follow-up explanation of hers.
Obviously, Taylor’s been all over social media feeds today, with many lauding her for her new album while a few reviews have trashed her new effort. This, however, is one of the songs that’s genuinely getting side-eye … because a lot of folks just can’t justify it.
Taylor’s been the talk of the town over this new album, and this is just the latest convo.