Taylor Swift, Racism, and Authentic Anger

Call me a snake, would you? Taylor gives us all a lesson in PR turnarounds

When Taylor Swift emerged as a twirly-haired "country" singer I wasn’t a fan. She was a bit reedy-voiced and bland for me, and I was a country music purist at the time, so if it wasn't slide guitar in a barn, I wasn't interested. I liked her a bit more when she switched to catchy pop choruses, but in a suitably self-loathing, post-ironic kind of way, obviously.

Then a few years ago  I was idly reading gossip sites about the bad blood (geddit) between Swifty, Katy Perry and John Mayer, and was inspired to check out Dear John, the song she had written about him. Opening with sly, Mayer-esque guitar notes, it was poignant, relatable; it told a story. Then I listened to Paper Doll (Mayer's attempt at revenge) and I felt embarrassed for him, because it was rubbish. Although he was meant to be the respected musician and Taylor the teeny bopper, her lyric-writing skills were effortlessly superior.

From that moment on, I knew she was a master of songwriting, but it wasn’t until her big comeback video that I noticed she’s also a bloody genius at PR. For those of you who are way too cool to know about this, her good-girl image was shattered last year when she was apparently exposed as a liar. Kanye West wrote offensive lyrics about her, she made a big fuss about it, but was later revealed to have OK'd at least some of it. Kanye's wifey Kim Kardashian called Taylor a snake, Katy Perry and Calvin Harris rubbed their hands in glee, and Swift crawled away in disgrace. UNTIL NOW.

My favourite shot... WHO has a Grammy? Who is it? No, not Katy....

Katy Perry HAD seemed quite daring for letting it be known that Swish Swish was about Taylor, even though the song was lyrically her usual checklist of well-worn cliches, and has a video so boring it demanded only one curiosity viewing. The line "Funny my name keeps comin' outcho mouth" was also ironic, as Taylor has never actually named Katy Perry as her nemesis – she just upstaged Perry's album launch by suddenly reinstating her Spotify back catalogue, in a move so petty it's a delight to watch. ("My OLD songs can get more attention that your new ones. Swish swish that, bitch.") Not to mention the fact that she has blown Katy's youtube views out of the water and smashed several records in the process. 

Despite the glorious bitchiness of Taylor reclaiming the "snake" label as a sign of slippery strength, mercilessly taking the piss out of both Kim and Katy Perry with her reference to those edited karmic “receipts” and spawning some rather fascinating fan theories about her multiple personas and what they all mean, the #LWYMMD video is of course in line for heavy criticism. Firstly, that it's a "colossal bummer".  Because when Taylor sings “The world moves on, another day, another drama drama, But not for me, not for me—all I think about is karma" it's assumed that she's being 100% serious. According to Slate: "While others forgive, forget, and move on to more fulfilling relationships, Swift is consumed by resentment, unable to see past those who’ve wronged her until they suffer." 

Um, you're not getting it, are you? I've no doubt that Taylor was royally pissed off that Kimye etc ruined her reputation (more on that later) but the vengeful snakewoman is a character. For those who didn't get this, she spells it out at the end of the video with a line-up of all the past personas that she has played or been portrayed as by the media. The real Taylor is probably NOT that obsessed with her rivals. (Let's be realistic, she has more important things to think about, what with pumpkin spice latte season just around the corner.) The trouble is, Taylor has a sense of humour, and her critics don't.

Also, for all Katy Perry's breezy playground insistence that "she started it" and "it's so CRAZY" ,from these pictures I'm going to guess that there was a LEETLE bit of hostility brewing in Camp Perry long before the rest of the world (including Taylor) knew about it. 

The second criticism is that by titling her song "look what you made me do", Taylor is aligning herself with perpetrators of domestic violence. Oh come on, music journos. You can do better than that.

But why does Swifty attract so much criticism? Cast your mind back to August 2013; when she released her video for Shake it Off, the retribution was immediate. Coming not long after the internet pointed and laughed at her awkward dance moves, she obviously thought it would be a cute and self-deprecating joke to show that she can't dance in ANY style, whether it's ballet, street dance or cheerleading. However, attempting to twerk (and crawling through the dancers' legs with a gaze of awe at their jjggling bottoms) was considered racially insensitive, and nobody was shy about telling her so. 

However, in the same month, One Direction released their video for Steal My Girl. It featured Sumo wrestlers (at one point having a tin of yellow paint thrown at them (?!) and Maasai tribesmen. One of the singers (I'm sorry, I only know the names of the hot ones) dressed up in costume and joined them in their tribal dance. Were there screams of "Racist?" at this? Um, no, there was barely a peep. The one article I found which even vaguely criticised the "problematic" scenes decided that on the whole it was OK, because One Direction have done some charity work in Africa. 

So why the disparate reactions? It seems that "One Direction are racist" is not a narrative we've adopted, while "Taylor Swift is racist" pops up regularly. Next was her Wildest Dreams video, which drew criticism for being shot in Africa but not featuring any black people. (Which is weird because other artists, such as Snow Patrol and Lily Allen) also shot videos there, didn't show any black people, and nobody gave a crap.)

The video is centred on a film set of yesteryear, but there are some black guys playing off-duty actors in the background, which suggests there was a conscious decision to AVOID accusations of racism. But despite this, and the fact that 90% of the video is Taylor snogging Clint Eastwood's son against a back drop of lightning, giraffes, and lions, it was still universally slammed.  

                   

Race is a hot topic in the music industry; Queen of the world Beyoncé lost out on many of the Grammys she was nominated for when she released Lemonade (generally considered the pinnacle of human achievement thus far). She did win Best Urban Contemporary Album, a category "coded black" according to music scholar John Vilanova.

She literally bent over backwards and still didn't get all the prizes she deserved.

But although the Grammy President insisted the awards were non-racist and "peer-voted", you have to wonder why any sane person would have voted for Adele's one-note shoutiness over Beyonce's nuanced story of heartbreak and forgiveness. (I'm still baffled by Adele's popularity in general – she sounds all right on some songs, but I suspect she will go the way of the Dido.... if anyone remembers her?)

Bey took her experience of infidelity and turned it into the album of her career; as well as the variety of musical styles from gospel and country to punk-tinged rock, the songs run through the emotional cycle from sadness to rage to eventual acceptance. Following in the footsteps of many artists before her, Beyonce created a lasting body of work out of her pain, because that’s better than just wallowing in it. Meanwhile, Adele is STILL indulging in melancholy navel-gazing and warbling about lost love. (Is anything more likely to make you want to drill your head open than a distant ex calling up to "go over everything"?) As we know she’s now married with a baby, the fiction of these lyrics feel fraudulent – and when you've lost your authenticity, you've lost everything. 

Maybe that's why Taylor's comeback has been so satisfying to watch; while she obviously relishes playing with the media's perception of her, celebrities are still real people with real weaknesses. Taylor was caught out because she wanted to distance herself from the vulgarity of the Kardashian / West clan, but she underestimated Kim's sneakiness. However, Swifty has taken that public humiliation and turned her weakness into strength: when she says "Maybe I got mine, but you'll all get yours" you know that, no matter how much she enjoys playing the media, there's genuine anger being channeled in the most constructive possible way. 

2016 was humiliating for her; not only was she forced to climb down from her stance on Kanye’s lyrics, but he then depicted her naked body in his Famous video, alongside similar waxworks of Bill Cosby, Donald Trump and Chris Brown; possibly not her favourite people. After her recent court victory in a sexual assault case (that symbolic dollar note featuring in the LWYMMD video) she has managed to (yet again) find a way to turn the bad points of her life into the biggest comeback in recent history. Taylor didn't start the public feuds with Katy, Kim et al, but she sure knows how to finish them.

Taylor Swift is dead. Long live Taylor Swift. 

Need more Kanye-fidence?

Kanye West. we're stuck with him, so we might as well enjoy the entertainment. Check out this Kanye-fidence generator from USA today! 

So, wearing underwear is mandatory now?

This week, I have a new hero. Anne Hathaway is my new go-to girl for how to handle awkward situations with perfect poise and diplomacy.

It all started when she was photographed getting out of a car at the Les Misérables premiere. She was wearing a tight dress which obviously needed to be a VPL-free zone. Unfortunately, it also had a large slit, which meant that she exposed more than she meant to. A photograph then circulated and was added to the gleeful gallery of accidentally exposed "lady bits" as the magazines insist on calling them.

The first interview after the incident was with Matt Lauer on the Today Show. He kicked off the interview with "Seen a lot of you lately!" This seemed an unnecessarily jaunty way to open the conversation, when she was clearly feeling pretty violated by the event. (It makes me wonder how someone like Matt Lauer would greet a rape victim. "So, I heard you've been getting around a bit lately....!?") But because Anne Hathaway is such a lady, she actually said "Sorry about that". 

SHE said sorry. She apologised for the fact that someone had taken a picture up her skirt.

He blithely carried on, "What's the lesson learned from something like that...? Other than you keep smiling, which you always do."

What's the lesson for Anne Hathaway to learn? Because it was obviously her fault, right?

Her answer deserves to be printed in the celebrity survival handbook (if such a thing exists....):

"It was obviously an unfortunate incident," she said. "It kind of made me sad on two accounts. One was that I was very sad that we live in an age when someone takes a picture of another person in a vulnerable moment and rather than delete it, and do the decent thing, sells it. And I’m sorry that we live in a culture that commodifies sexuality of unwilling participants, which brings us back to 'Les Mis,' that's what my character is, she is someone who is forced to sell sex to benefit her child because she has nothing and there's no social safety net."

Well played! Shifting the blame back to the perpetrator and bringing the conversation back to the film, in one breath. Bravo!

However, this incident is one more very telling moment in the "War against women". (Which, like, totally doesn't exist. It's a complete myth, right? 

I don't recall anyone calling Kanye a slut who should have been wearing trousers which fit him properly.

Well, let's take a look at the media reaction. Entertainmentwise used the headline "Where is your underwear?" and said "Do you think Anne's vag flash was accidental or intentional? Take a look at the graphic photo in the gallery below." (I PROMISE you this is the exact wording.)

Gawker's headline: "Anne Hathaway shows her vagina to distract from her hideous outfit." Wow, slut shaming, misinformed biology and fashion advice, all in one go! (As many commenters pointed out, nobody could see Hathaway's vagina without a speculum and a torch. It's VULVA, people! I may seem overly pedantic, but using the wrong word is like constantly referring to your ankles as your "knees". )

The words "wardrobe malfunction" and "flashing" were used frequently. No mention of "Anne Hathaway violated by perv with a camera" or "Woman's clothing choices used to justify sexual violation. Again." 

The general consensus seems to be that it's all Anne Hathaway's fault, because she "should" have been wearing underwear.  I do realise that if you don't want pictures of your undercarriage to be widely circulated, going out knickerless and then exiting a car may not be the best way to go about it.  But even if the photo had clearly showed her wearing panties, it would still no doubt have created a stir.) And while she has been called upon to explain herself like a naughty girl caught flashing the boys in the next classroom, the guy who made money from selling the picture has never even been named. 

Naturally, when someone works in an industry which occasionally requires them to be naked and / or simulate sex, and this earns them millions of dollars, all bets are off. They're "asking for it." And money makes up for every possible infringement on your privacy, yes?  

There is also the small point that celebrities in general, but women in particular, are considered public property. As challengers to this view, my other heroes are Will Smith and  Jada Pinkett Smith – parents of Willow. (No, I don't like her music.) Jada recently used her Facebook page to answer critics who objected to her "letting" Willow getting a buzz cut. 

"The question why I would LET Willow cut her hair. First the LET must be challenged. This is a world where women, girls are constantly reminded that they don't belong to themselves; that their bodies are not their own, nor their power or self determination. I made a promise to endow my little girl with the power to always know that her body, spirit and her mind are HER domain. Willow cut her hair because her beauty, her value, her worth is not measured by the length of her hair. It's also a statement that claims that even little girls have the RIGHT to own themselves and should not be a slave to even their mother's deepest insecurities, hopes and desires. Even little girls should not be a slave to the preconceived ideas of what a culture believes a little girl should be. More to come. Another day."

Back in May, Will Smith also spoke up on the concerns of raising a daughter, telling Parade: "When you have a little girl, it's like, how can you teach her that you're in control of her body? If I teach her that I'm in charge of whether or not she can touch her hair, she's going to replace me with some other man when she goes out in the world. She has got to have command of her body. So when she goes out into the world, she's going out with a command that is hers. She is used to making those decisions herself. We try to keep giving them those decisions until they can hold the full weight of their lives."

I love this couple. (Even if that goes against every instinct I have about the kind of people who name all of their children after themselves.)

Jada also wrote brilliantly about how the "War on Women" is also detrimental to men:

"How is man to recognize his full self, his full power through the eye's of an incomplete woman? The woman who has been stripped of Goddess recognition and diminished to a big ass and full breast for physical comfort only. The woman who has been silenced so she may forget her spiritual essence because her words stir too much thought outside of the pleasure space. The woman who has been diminished to covering all that rots inside of her with weaves and red bottom shoes.

I am sure the men, who restructured our societies from cultures that honored woman, had no idea of the outcome. They had no idea that eventually, even men would render themselves empty and longing for meaning, depth and connection. There is a deep sadness when I witness a man that can't recognize the emptiness he feels when he objectifies himself as a bank and truly believes he can buy love with things and status. It is painful to witness the betrayal when a woman takes him up on that offer. He doesn't recognize that the create of a half woman has contributed to his repressed anger and frustration of feeling he is not enough. He then may love no woman or keep many half women as his prize. He doesn't recognize that it's his submersion in the imbalanced warrior culture, where violence is the means of getting respect and power, as the reason he can break the face of the woman who bore him four children.

When woman is lost, so is man. The truth is, woman is the window to a man's heart and a man's heart is the gateway to his soul.

Power and control will NEVER outweigh love."

Wise woman. AND she gives me hope that I too can look better when I'm 40 than I did at 20! Hooray for Jada!