Taylor Swift on fighting Trump and surviving the Kanye 'hate frenzy'
When Taylor Swift turns 30 this December, she will have spent more of her life in the spotlight than out of it.
She’s felt “broken”, “useless” and “voiceless”in that time, having public bust-ups with Katy Perry, Kanye West and Nicki Minaj along the way. But now she’s back with a new album Lover, able to “take a full deep breath again” and ready to share what she’s thinking – and it looks like Donald Trump may not like what she has to say.
“[He] is gaslighting the American public into being like If you hate the president, you hate America” she said. “We’re a democracy – at least, we’re supposed to be – where you’re allowed to disagree, dissent, debate.”
Adding, “I can’t believe we’re here. It’s really shocking and awful. And I just wanna do everything I can for 2020. I wanna figure out exactly how I can help, what are the most effective ways to help. ’Cause this is just…” She sighs again. “This is not it.”
Read more: Taylor Swift's new album 'Lover' lauded by fans, critics as her 'most fun' collection
Swift made the comments in an interview with Laura Snapes in today’s Guardian. The 1989 singer also opened up about the events of 2016 - when she fell out very publicly with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian over West’s single Famous and also went to court to accuse DJ David Mueller of a sexual assault.
“Every domino fell,” she said. “I felt completely incapable of doing or saying anything publicly, at all. Even about my music. I always said I wouldn’t talk about what was happening personally, because that was a personal time.”
She says she could have defended herself against Kardashian’s snake claims but chose not. The reason? “When people are in a hate frenzy and they find something to mutually hate together, it bonds them. And anything you say is in an echo chamber of mockery.”
Read more: Taylor Swift and Kanye West: A timeline of the feud that began at the 2009 MTV VMAs
In her diary at the time she described it as “the apocalypse.”
Swift has previously been criticised for not expressing a political allegiance during the 2016 US elections. She explained why she didn’t back Hillary Clinton at the time. “I just felt completely, ugh, just useless. And maybe even like a hindrance.”
