Now that Super Bowl LVII is behind us and the dust has settled from the Eagles’ dominating performance, it’s time to talk about the elephant (Taylor) in the room. Why is “Imagine coming home from losing the Super Bowl to Taylor Swift” being used as a viral insult across the internet? Truly take a moment to imagine losing the Super Bowl and coming home to THE Taylor Swift- a winner of 14 Grammy Awards, holder of the record for most No. 1 hits on Billboard’s US digital song sales chart, the first woman to win the Grammy for Album of the Year four times, one of the most successful music artists of all time, and so much more. That sounds like a win to me!
But of course, there are some people out there who cannot handle that level of success. As the game began, Swift got “booed” during her brief initial showing on the big screen. Naturally, the internet loved this moment, with it reappearing in meme form over and over for weeks. This reaction begs the obvious question: Why are grown men so triggered by a woman supporting her boyfriend and being shown on the screen for a few seconds, with her average time on screen being only four-and-a-half seconds? It is genuinely disturbing and concerning that anyone, more specifically grown, older men are this infuriated simply at a woman’s presence. Swift did not say a word, or do anything to provoke attention. She is simply existing at her boyfriend’s game, and I can guarantee she would face just as much, if not more backlash and hate if she didn’t show up to his game at all.
It’s interesting to note that when the tables are turned, the reaction is, of course, very different. Why is it that when Travis Kelce went to Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” to simply watch and support her, fans of both Kelce and Swift were overjoyed and impressed at how cute it was, but when she does the same thing, she is booed at, mocked and ridiculed?
As shown in the cover of this article, Swift just laughed the booing incident off, showing that she didn’t care much. However, this, combined with the numerous comments and posts about her are completely insensitive and awful. Multiple posts were “trending” with captions along the lines of “Imagine coming home from losing the Super Bowl to Taylor Swift”, with photos of her body from an unflattering angle. The people posting these have clearly never seen her documentary, “Miss Americana”, where Swift bravely opens up about her serious body image issues and eating disorder. In this, she states, “I tend to get triggered by something, whether it’s a picture of me where I feel like my tummy was too big or… or, if someone said that I looked pregnant or something, and that will trigger me to just starve a little bit, just stop eating.” She shares more about these issues in the same documentary, but the essence of the issue is clear- when she sees negative things about herself and/or her body, it will have a detrimental impact on her mental and physical health. This type of criticism isn’t just mean-spirited, it’s harmful to her health.
It is completely fine to not enjoy an artist’s music. My personal opinion is that Taylor Swift is by far the greatest artist of all time, as she touches on so many different subjects from so many perspectives. She makes me and many of her fans feel understood and seen. Some people say she “only writes about breakups or relationships” and that her writing is cliched. I could say the same thing about most male artists, but people still choose to say that about her. However, all of Swift’s following songs discuss an array of different topics including, but certainly not limited to mental health, deaths, friendships, and they say otherwise. Many have personally resonated with me:
A Place in this World, The Outside, Tied Together with a Smile, I’m Only Me When I’m With You, Fifteen, Breathe, The Best Day, Change, Mean, Never Grow Up, Innocent, Long Live, Castles Crumbling, Eyes Open, Safe & Sound, Ronan, The Lucky One, Nothing New, Forever Winter, Sweeter Than Fiction, Welcome To New York, Shake It Off, Bad Blood, I Did Something Bad, Look What You Made Me Do, This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, The Man, Soon You’ll Get Better, You Need To Calm Down, Beautiful Ghosts, Only The Young, the last great american dynasty, my tears ricochet, mirrorball, seven, this is me trying, mad woman, epiphany, no body, no crime, happiness, dorothea, long story short, marjorie, closure, evermore, it’s time to go, Carolina, Anti-Hero, Vigilante Shit, Bigger Than The Whole Sky, Dear Reader, Florida!!!, Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?, Clara Bow, I Hate It Here, thanK you aIMee, Cassandra, Robin.
Most of her haters have never taken the time to even listen to these songs. The point, however, is that it’s okay to prefer other music. It’s okay to change the radio if one of her songs come on, it’s okay to never watch a music video or documentary, and it’s certainly okay if she never appears on your Spotify playlists. It’s not okay (frankly, it’s ridiculous) to me that people hate her for other silly reasons like attending her boyfriend’s biggest game of the season. Especially when she is someone who doesn’t just make music; beyond her music, Swift is generally an amazing person as she has donated to charities including all of the following:
Reading Public Library, Stand Up 2 Cancer, NYC schools, African Parks Foundation of America, Joyful Heart Foundation, Houston Food Bank, RAINN, Weymouth Police Department, GoFundMe (various individuals), Middle Tennessee Emergency Response Fund, Beth’s Furry Friends, Arizona Food Bank Network, Three Square, Mahomies Foundation, Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, Feed America, Operation Breakthrough, and more.
Swift has done many more amazing things in her life and career, but the bottom line is- it is absolutely unbelievable and quite frankly sexist that she is still being degraded and slandered for simply watching her boyfriend’s football game. Any grown man criticizing her for her mere presence can take a seat.
