I was pretty much done with Taylor Swift already.
Then she announced their new collaboration with Bronx rapper Ice Spice on a version of his song “Karma” — and it was the nail in the coffin. It reeks of damage control and an exploitative PR strategy.
Swift drew major backlash for apparently dating Matty Healy, the frontman of British pop rock band The 1975. He was someone I really knew nothing about – that is, until the couple be seen and that I began to learn more about how problematic it is.
When I went to the Eras concert in Philadelphia just 11 days ago, I already felt disgusted by the two encounters. I booed Healy when opener Phoebe Bridgers proudly announced it on guitar during her set. A Swiftie in front of me had the nerve to look at me like I was the problem.
Healy was introduced to the concert and given a platform that hurt me. I wondered why are these two white women parading around this man who has made anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, and misogynistic statements, even about Swift herself? (He said once dating her would be “emasculating”.)
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The day after the concert, BuzzFeed published an article about Healy saying on a podcast that he masturbated so that black women would be “roughed up”. Healy had also laughed as the podcast hosts made racist comments about Ice Spice – joking that she was ‘one of the Inuit Spice Girls’, a ‘chubby Chinese woman’ and ‘a fucking Inuit “. Healy apologized for offending Ice Spice, but did not comment on anything else he said on the podcast.
After a few days of silence from Swift, I officially put her on hiatus. I stopped listening to her music and gave all my friends a shout out that I was done with her. Then Swift doubled down on ignoring Healy’s glaring flaws, saying during a concert that she had “never been happier”. Neither Swift nor Healy confirmed the dating rumors, but the two musicians have been spotted together on several occasions in Nashville and New York.
On Wednesday, she announced the remix with Ice Spice, and I was flabbergasted. Swift basically uses the woman her supposed boyfriend made fun of to say, “See? If Ice Spice doesn’t think I’m bad and still wants to work with me, then it’s fine. LAW?”
I had a lot of questions: Did Ice Spice know that Swift was dating Healy when they recorded? Would Ice drag Healy into a verse? What about the suspicious timing of the release amid all the backlash?
It’s not Ice’s fault for accepting a collaboration with a mainstream artist and boosting her profile either. Also, as laypersons, we don’t know how record labels or individual artists approach these conversations. Although it’s worth noting that it’s a stark difference from his former collaborators Nicki Minaj, Pink Pantheress, and Lil Tjay.
But this collaboration also gives Swift’s predominantly white female fandom an excuse to ignore all of her indiscretions and continue to idolize her – despite the fact that a racist and deeply problematic man is said to still be her boyfriend. Swift was undoubtedly thrilled when Ice Spice retweeted news of the collaboration and called her the “sweetest person ever.”
It is also a testament to rich white femininity. Of course, the blame for Healy’s words and actions lies with Healy himself. But the partner you choose is a direct reflection of your values, and Swift was mistaken in believing that a few rainbow-coded performances make her an ally to all marginalized people. Its performance is just that: performance. They do not absolve Swift of her complicity in dating a man who upholds discriminatory and borderline white supremacist values.
Data shows that while white women wearing pink pussy hats may show up at protests and protests, they often continue to vote online with their white husbands and male partners. (Let’s not forget how many white women voted for Donald Trump.)
Swift’s whiteness and privilege shield her from the weight of Healy’s vitriol, as her earlier remarks about her are far more subdued compared to those of marginalized people. “But I can fix it!” she and others may think. No, you can’t, not when you’re skirting responsibility.
But back to Swift fans. As TV writer Francesca Ramsey pointed out in this TikTok, Swift is an “evil genius” who has built a parasocial relationship with her fans throughout her career. Swift baked Swifties cookies at her home, chatted with them on social media, and her mother picked fans from the public to meet her at concerts. In return, they will defend her at all costs – even if it means defending bad behavior and white femininity.
Fans have already tried to set Swift’s feet on fire, and she even showed in her documentary “Miss Americana” that her father and his management team were afraid that she would talk about former President Donald Trump and stand up for the LGBTQ community.
She presented herself as a woman who has her own voice and stands up for what is right. So where’s your voice now, Taylor? Why don’t you stand up for your fans of color who are impacted by Healy’s behavior?
What I say is not new. Women of color, especially black women, have been pointing this out for years: white women actively advocate for white supremacy by keeping silent when they could speak out.
Swift and her fans prove the very point she wrote in “Anti-Hero”: That’s right, we really are the problem.
