Taylor Swift- "I Hate it Here" lyrics causing uproar with listeners

     Yesterday, Singer-Songwriter Taylor Swift dropped her Album "The Tortured Poets Department" in the early morning. As fans went through the album, some songs and lyrics stuck out to some. One song being named "I Hate it Here". 

    In the song "I Hate it Here", Swift talks about how she doesn't feel like she belongs in any era, so she chooses to escape into her imagination. The lyrics and meaning do not sound bad at all, until you get into one specific part. In verse two, Taylor says:

"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"

    This part has caused a lot of controversy between people who have listened in due to the lack of understanding that these lines carry. If it is not known, this decade in North America was at a peak with racism. To name some events that happened during this time, we have the Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears; tragic events that resulted in the removal and placement of Native Americans from their own land, the continuation of Slavery, which forced the stolen people from Africa to work in high labor while being discriminated against, killed, sexually assaulted, and sold off to other White Americans, and the overall actions to follow from the Mexican American war. 

    This is no hate to Taylor Swift, and anyone who might be a fan of her. But I as a Black Woman saw this lyric, and automatically understood why it should not have been said. So why do we let Taylor get away with it? As I said in my TikTok Video, this situation and so many more as of recently shows a lot of us that a lot of white people do not think of the historical context enough when they say things because it simply does not affect them the way it has historically affected so many POC in the U.S. As a child, I also would pretend to be from a certain era and even grow a certain interest in the era itself. One thing that separates me from Taylor (not one of the only things, but in this case one of the most important) is simply that I had only had interests in any era from the 1970's and on! No other time was a time I felt accepted in, and history made sure I knew that. As we live in 2024, I still don't feel as welcomed as a Plus Sized Black woman, but this is not an issue Taylor Swift or A lot of White woman have to worry about. Swift could have left out the lyric "but without the racists" and her point would still be taken the same way. The issues of the 1830's will never make her worry, because she would not have had to worry. 

    This is a main issue of why so many women of color do not see a space in Taylor Swift's music and why White feminism is so condemned. Her music is seen to be a monolith, made for one specific group, and that group is not filled with woman who look like me. This is why I personally turned to people like Sza, or Mitski, who make songs for girls who maybe weren't the first choice because of their race, or because of their lack of western assimilation. Of course, this means some women (presumably white women) get left out of this conversation, but it's not seen as a huge issue as Western media is written for them. I didn't have few to any artists I could relate to as a little black girl, but I know my white friends did! So, as I grew up, I would feel so disconnected to the words I was hearing as I tried to relate with them. I recall watching this popular YouTube video question trend called "what guys look for in girls", and feeling my heart get ripped out of my teen body as I heard my male YouTube crushes describe girls who don't even look like me by long shot. In every book, I was not a desired audience I know it not only hurt me, but so many WOC. 

   As we progress more, we must realize how important it is to understand the historical relevance of eras and events. Even if the situation itself may not pertain to you, still having the understanding of "hm, maybe I shouldn't say I would want to live in the 1830's and romanticize it." would cost a lot of people, Ms. Swift included, to not say insensitive things and hide behind their pure ignorance. 

To watch my TikTok, click here

Lyrics taken from here