In a world where you are judged for every little aspect of your life, your taste in music is seen as incredibly important as your quality as a human being. When I’m asked the basic icebreaker question of my favorite musical artist or band, the amount of groans and side eyes I receive from my answer is astounding. Even without me saying who this artist is, I’m sure several people have already guessed correctly. Yes it’s true. I, Delaney Crowder, am a “swiftie” aka a huge fan of Taylor Swift. Did your opinion of me change? Do you think of me as less intelligent? If so, why is that? Why does my liking of so-called “cheesy” or formulaic pop music make me less deserving of respect?

I will admit that the presence of Swift in current pop culture may be a tad overwhelming. You can’t escape Eras tour posts on any form of social media or the newest Swift earworm playing at the grocery store. Even I get tired of hearing Cruel Summer over and over again when it’s only January.  However, Swift’s popularity is not reason enough to dislike her. Why would you dislike something just because it is mainstream? Why fall into the lonely world of the “not like other girls” crowd? Despite the inherent stupidity of disliking due to its popularity, I feel like this is the primary reason behind a lot of people’s distaste of Swift. Several people view themselves as the “girl next door” who actually deserved to be prom queen, while Swift is the popular bombshell blonde who won instead. This reason for disliking Swift is ridiculous with no sound reasoning. However, there is another more popular reason for disliking Swift that is drenched in rancid misogyny.

In her popular track from the Lover album, Swift has a song titled The Man. In the song, Swift imagines how her life would be different if she was a man and thus treated the same as men in our society. In one of the lyrics she says “They’d say I hustled Put in the work They wouldn’t shake their heads and question how much of this I deserve What I was wearing If I was rude Could all be separated from my good ideas and power moves?” This song is unfortunately very accurate towards several peoples attitudes of Swift and her success. With a total of 11 albums, 14 grammys, and an internationally successful tour, no one can deny that Swift is amazingly talented. Despite all of her success, Swift has millions of haters for reasons that largely stem from misogyny. In defending their hatred, people will say “Taylor Swift only writes about her exes and breakups.” First of all, that is not true. Swift has multiple songs that aren’t about love at all but are instead about growing up, friendship, and her love for her fans. Even if Swift did only write about her break ups and exes, she isn’t the only one. Several artists such as Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber, and even The Beatles have multiple songs talking about their previous relationships. Swift may be infamous for having several exes and past relationships, but if we hate her for that reason, we also have to hate other artists who do the same thing. If we don’t then we are succumbing to the double standard women have compared to men.

Before people say how unreasonable this article is, I think it is perfectly fine to dislike Taylor Swift. Maybe you just don’t vibe with her style of music or you just prefer other artists more. If so, good for you! I will never shame someone just because they don’t have the same preferences as me. However, it is wrong to dislike someone for reasons that don’t make sense or are inherently sexist. Taylor Swift is an objectively talented and successful artist that is deserving of our respect and not our hate.