Taylor Swift rang in her birthday on Wednesday with an Instagram post that’s left the some folks pretty divided. In the post, Swift says she "couldn’t have asked for a better year." Now, I don’t know in which circle of hell 2017 ranked for you, but given the mass political and social upheaval rocking the country, many saw T-Swift’s comments as insensitive at best.
The Reputation songstress’ post went viral, drawing a deep partisan divide. Ever the woke-est of social media platforms, Twitter was quick to call out Swift for hailing a year that kicked off with Donald Trump’s presidency, was punctuated by mass shootings, and closed out with a tidal wave of sexual misconduct allegation against powerful men. Oh, and lest we forget all the Nazis. Actual. Nazis.
It doesn’t help that Taylor is, you know, real white and even more rich. However, ride-or-die Swifties came to the pop star’s defense. To be fair, personally 2017 did not exactly suck for Taylor. Reputation went triple platinum and she was featured on the cover of Time magazine’s "Person of the Year" issue alongside "Silence Breakers."
Her appearance on the Time magazine cover sparked a bit of controversy, since the other cover women are much more vocal political and social justice advocates. But don’t forget, the typically (and sometimes deafeningly) politically silent singer filed a lawsuit against radio DJ David Mueller for groping her at a meet-and-greet at a concert in 2013 and won. Not that she did it for the money either. In a pretty exquisite demonstration of shade, Swift sued Mueller one dollar. Her famously blunt testimony was pretty epic too. When Mueller’s attorney asked if Swift was critical of her bodyguard for not interfering when the groping occurred, Swift clapped back, "I’m critical of your client sticking his hand under my skirt and grabbing my ass."
So you see, Swift’s not all bad. When you’re worth a reported $280 million, it’s probably easy to fall out of touch.
