Taylor Swift is on the cover of Vogue’s September issue and she’s given her most in-depth interview to date (probably).
The interview covered the highlights and the lowlights of Swift’s career, including: her lawsuit, her feud with Kim Kardashian West, and the shift in her stance on politics.
On ‘You Need To Calm Down’
When Taylor Swift first released ‘You Need To Calm Down’ there was a lot of confusion around it. Is it about LGBTIQ+ rights? Is it about cyber bullying? Swift has confirmed it’s both.
“The first verse is about trolls and cancel culture,” she told Vogue.
“The second verse is about homophobes and the people picketing outside our concerts. The third verse is about successful women being pitted against each other.”
The track was also a bit of a surprise because historically, Taylor Swift didn’t really talk about politics.
“Maybe a year or two ago, Todrick and I are in the car, and he asked me, ‘What would you do if your son was gay?’”
“The fact that he had to ask me… shocked me and made me realise that I had not made my position clear enough or loud enough.”
“If my son was gay, he’d be gay. I don’t understand the question.”
She went on to tell the journalist, “If he was thinking that, I can’t imagine what my fans in the LGBTQ community might be thinking.”
“It was kind of devastating to realise that I hadn’t been publicly clear about that.”
On Being ‘Cancelled’
Remember back in 2016 when Kim Kardashian West called Taylor Swift a snake on Twitter? Of course you do.
It was about Kanye’s song ‘Famous’, which referenced Swift. Basically, KKW tweeted videos of Taylor Swift and Kanye discussing the lyrics. Swift still stands by what she said at the time: she did know about some of the lyrics but specifically didn’t know “that bitch” would be included.
Hashtags circulated, #TaylorSwiftIsASnake and #TaylorSwiftIsCanceled.
On the event Swift told Vogue, “A mass public shaming, with millions of people saying you are quote-unquote canceled, is a very isolating experience.”
“I don’t think there are that many people who can actually understand what it’s like to have millions of people hate you very loudly.”
“When you say someone is canceled, it’s not a TV show. It’s a human being. You’re sending mass amounts of messaging to this person to either shut up, disappear, or it could also be perceived as, kill yourself.”
On Lover
Taylor Swift told Vogue that Lover will be 18 tracks long and is her favourite album yet. She said, “I was compiling ideas for a very long time.”
“When I started writing, I couldn’t stop.”
“There are so many ways in which this album feels like a new beginning,” she said. “This album is really a love letter to love, in all of its maddening, passionate, exciting, enchanting, horrific, tragic, wonderful glory.”
The seventh studio album from Taylor Swift, Lover is out Friday 23rd August. She’ll be performing at MTV’s VMAs which will be held Monday, 26th August.
