Beloved pop star Taylor Swift’s pick as the best decade to live in as per new song lyrics raised some eyebrows.
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Taylor’s track “I Hate It Here,” featured among the 15 bonus songs on The Tortured Poets Department album, delves into themes of dissatisfaction. The billionaire singer conveys a deep feeling of not fitting in, neither in her time nor with her friends.
Instead, the beleaguered pop star retreats into the “secret gardens of her mind,” accessible only to those she gives the “key” to. However, amid this fantasy, Swift let go of some lyrics that had some listeners balking.
“My friends used to play a game where/ We would pick a decade/ We wished we could live in instead of this/ I’d say the 1830s but without all the racists/ And getting married off for the highest bid,” Swift croons.
Swift’s depiction from the 1830s is a fairy tale idealized version of the era. It’s part of a fantasy shared with friends. However, critics are highlighting its more ominous aspects. Of course, thirty years before the Civil War, slavery was a legal institution in the decade Swift yearned for. Certain audiences feel that the term “racism” understates the true conditions of the 1830s, as well as the eras surrounding it.
Social Media Roasts Taylor Swift’s Controversial Lyric
Unsurprisingly, critics of the lyrics took to social media to analyze the thought process behind Taylor picking the 1830s.
“[The] 1830s is such a funny decade to reference. like what non-racist thing are you desperate to have experienced? the financial crisis? the cholera outbreak???,” one listener wrote.
Another X denizen thought the controversial lyric was an example of what they speculated about as part of Swift’s success.
One listener disregarded Taylor Swift’s “without racism” lyric and simply spit a laundry list of facts about the era. “Romanticizing the 1830s is crazy because what was ever good about the 1830s?! slavery was rampant, the indian removal act displaced and killed so many natives, anti-mexican sentiments were at a high, womens rights were nowhere to be found… like what ?”
“This who they be calling the “best songwriter” mind you…”, another X user wrote about the clumsy lyrics.
Indeed, weird comments on racism aside, Taylor’s decade pick is an odd one. She picked an era where girl boss essentials such as birth control and the right to vote didn’t exist. Of course, the 1830’s also lacked air conditioning and penicillin. Even the “platter” record wouldn’t exist until 1887!