Taylor Swift IS The Man!

A colleague decided not to attend my giant retirement celebration last Friday because he was licking his wounds after not getting tickets to one of the Taylor Swift concerts which were on sale last week.

Oh well, my bar bill was well into the four figures as it was.

Much as I enjoy listening to Taylor Swift, and can sort of see what is going on with why so many people go crazy about concert tickets for her performances, I fear that she has some deep issues.

Despite being extremely successful and good looking, her music suggests that she has some unresolved angst issues, as well as a lot of self pity and self loathing.

I was recently introduced to her song The Man, which is probably her proposal as a feminist anthem. I enjoyed it, but I see some inherent flaws in her logic. Take the chorus for instance:

Let’s look at the reality – she writes all sorts of angsty songs about men she breaks up with, but she can pick and choose who she is with, and probably is the one doing the dumping. She is probably the biggest recording artist (male or female) in the world today, and has set several chart topping records which are unlikely to be equalled.

There are obviously a lot of women in a worse situation in the world compared to men, in the western world as well as less wealthy and advanced places, but our Taylor is not one of them. Her current net worth, according to the Ecosia search I did this morning, is $740 million (US that is, not Australian), as compared to Leo Di Caprio ($300 million). Yet she has the chutzpah to sing:

And they toast to me, oh

Let the players play

I’d be just like Leo

In Saint-Tropez

For all her self loathing and self pity, Taylor Swift has done very well. And probably, singing like this makes her an Everywoman for teenage girls and gay men to adore and identify with. But the reality is that she is The Man. She has all the power and white privilege that middle America can offer, if you happen to subscribe to such superficial beliefs (I don’t), regardless of her sex.

But I will still hum her music, even if I find her somewhat whiny.