Taylor’s growth on feminism
A few thoughts on Taylor’s new single “You Need to Calm Down”. It’s the new iconic PRIDE! anthem. But beyond that I think it’s important in representing Taylor’s personal growth. The first verse and the bridge especially show this growth.
Taylor talks about how hate never helped anybody and how being negative is just a waste of your own energy and stress. The bridge meanwhile talks about the people should stop pitting women against other women because “We’ve all got Crowns”.
Now look at Taylor’s past decade of media representation. There’s the whole Kimye fiasco, the falling out with Katy and Demi, and other somewhat negative comments made over the years by Taylor. Her past songs have often being negative about other people (Mean, Better than Revenge etc.) Taylor’s feminism has also sometimes been somewhat shakey, having been accused of being a “white feminist”.
Outside of her control, any narrative about a female artist inevitably leads to comparisons with Taylor, whether being negative about Taylor or negative about the other female artist (see: Hayley Kiyoko). She’s constantly used as an attack on other artists or is attacked with the imagery of other artists.
What Taylor has realised in the last few years is where her own faults within these conflicts lie. She probably realises there were better ways to deal with the Kimye fiasco than she did. She’s reconciled with Katy in recent months, and the frost seems to have melted from the Taylor-Demi relationship. She’s voiced her support of other female artists (Kesha and Hayley again - the latter very publicly after people tried to compare the two) in addition to lending support to the queer community. She’s still not taking shit though, calling people out for pitting women against each other, counter-suing the sexual harraser for $1 and being blunt in her testimoney about it, as well as being unapolgetic about herself.
Ultimately, Taylor has grown up. Personal growth on issues like feminism, lgbtq+ struggles, POC struggles etc. are constant learning curves. No one can ever be perfect on these issues, especially a young adult (as Taylor was when she released some of those songs and made some of her comments). But as she’s gotten older, she’s grown and accepted some of the criticism. She’s taken opportunities to learn about issues and struggles that might not affect her, but affect others. She’s also learnt one of the most valuable lessons of adulthood: negativity is largely pointless; whether that negativity is macro (people hating queer people) or micro (personal rivalries/grudges), most of that hate is pointless and toxic. That’s ultimaely what this song is about I think.
P.S. I should mention that the song is still negative about media narratives, which is valid considering how harmful some of the perceptions the media have pushed about Taylor for years have been. THe long-held criticism and ‘joke’ that Taylor dates around was always rooted in slut-shaming and casual sexism and it’s right to call that out and to call out people who perpetuate it (watches Tina Fey and Amy Pohler for personal growth - who I love generally).
