Taylor Swift explained that she feels the music industry disparages women and teaches them they are just replacements for different women who did something great before they did.
Swift’s album “The Tortured Poets Department” featured a lengthy explainer for her songs that allowed fans to discover the meaning behind her lyrics, which are typically thought to be about her ex-boyfriends.
For the song “Clara Bow,” Swift explained that it was a “commentary on what [she’s] seen in the industry that [she’s] been in over time.”
The 34-year-old recalled her experiences as a child, when music industry representatives were “disparaging” other women while complimenting her talents.
“I used to sit in record labels trying to get a record deal when I was a little kid. And they’d say, ‘you know, you remind us of’ and then they’d name an artist, and then they’d kind of say something disparaging about her, ‘but you’re this, you’re so much better in this way or that way.’ And that’s how we teach women to see themselves,” Swift said, according to Variety.
The singer added that she felt she was being told she “could be the new replacement for this woman who’s done something great before you.”
“I picked women who have done great things in the past and have been these archetypes of greatness in the entertainment industry. Clara Bow was the first ‘it girl.’ Stevie Nicks is an icon and an incredible example for anyone who wants to write songs and make music.”
The women she picked as examples in the song were indeed Clara Bow, Stevie Nicks, and herself.
Bow was a silent film star in the 1920s, once receiving more than 45,000 fan letters in a single month. She was allegedly raped by her father and nearly murdered by her mother, her biographer claimed, and was engaged to five men in just four years.
Nicks was, of course, the singer of iconic band Fleetwood Mac.
“You look like Taylor Swift in this light, we’re lovin’ it. You’ve got edge, she never did. The future’s bright, dazzling,” the lyrics read, alluding to the idea that Swift would one day be another replaced woman.
Another song called “Florida!!!” Swift explained, was inspired by watching “Dateline.”
“People have these crimes that they commit; where do they immediately skip town and go to? They go to Florida,” she added. “I think when you go through a heartbreak, there’s a part of you that thinks, ‘I want a new name. I want a new life. I don’t want anyone to know where I’ve been or know me at all.’ And so that was the jumping off point. Where would you go to reinvent yourself and blend in? Florida!”
A song titled “thanK you aIMee,” which allegedly is meant to spell out “KIM,” is suspected to be a shot at Kim Kardashian, who the singer has had a feud with.
The unspecified person in the song is described as abully who is a “bronze spray-tanned statue.”
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Align, Taylor swift, Feminism, Sexism, News