After three years without releasing new music, Taylor Swift is back and this time she's standing up for herself. It's not like she hasn't done this in the past but this time around, she's doing it on an entire album and that's an incredibly brave thing to do. There's an important message hidden in Swift's music, especially her new music. It's a message we can all learn from and hopefully understand.
This article won't be all about Swift but we can learn a lot from her when it comes to bullying. If you listen closely to her new track or any track in relation to bullying ("Mean," "The Lucky One," "Blank Space) you can sense raw emotion and just how much bullying can affect a person. Sure, with Swift, the bullying is on a larger scale than most but it's still bullying and it's still something we can learn from.
If you have remotely paid attention to the singer's career over the past 10 years, you know that the media and the general public love to hate her. It's simply cool to hate Taylor Swift. If, for some reason you don't know what we're talking about, here are just some examples she discusses in her new music video:
Of course, there are many more headlines you can see in the new music video. Either way, you look at it, Swift can't do anything right. She's constantly harassed and bullied on a daily basis. Sure, you may say that all celebrities are bullied to some extent, and yes, you would be right. But, you can't deny that Swift is the one that is the most ridiculed, harassed, and hated on a daily basis. All for what? We don't really know.
Most love to trash her because she writes about her feelings. Others assume that she loves to play the victim. If she does something brilliant or creates a genius piece of work, she's being manipulative. No matter what she does, she can't do it right. It's a constant battle of bricks being thrown left and right.
She really could build a castle of all the bricks being thrown at her. Every victim of bullying can. And yes, Swift is a victim of bullying. If you argue that, you are why people like Swift cage themselves and feel trapped. Bullying doesn't just happen in schools. it happens everywhere, especially social media. It's a cruel world we live in where most make themselves feel better by harassing others.
If you don't know what's happening with Swift's music or what her new track means, here's a prime example of why she's writing about the hurt she's experienced over the last decade.
"It's so telling to me that people have reduced "Look What You Made Me Do" and the video to Taylor being angry that she was caught in a lie and called a snake. There were so many references in that video and it's clearly not inspired by one singular incident. The entire point is that she's been the subject of widely varying criticisms for the last decade. Why does Taylor appear to be angry? She's angry because she was once a teenage girl who was mocked for being excited that she won internationally recognized awards for her music. She's angry because she cannot hang out with her friends without being compared to movie characters or cult leaders. She's angry because her dating life got made into a national joke. No matter how successful someone is, they are allowed to be hurt for being treated poorly, and if you can't let a women be upset about being relentlessly bullied over the past 10 years without attempting to justify why she's been treated that way, it says more about you than it does about her" -AshlynlovesTaylor via Instagram.
Public figure or not, she is still being bullied, and she doesn't deserve that. No one does. So what exactly does Swift teach us about bullying? A lot.
Words Hurt:
It doesn't matter if you think something is a joke when it comes out of your mouth, it can hurt someone. Words are just as equally, if not more scarring than actions. Calling someone a victim when they're just trying to express their feelings in the best way they know how or shaming them because they're excited is not okay. It's a form of bullying and it's disgusting. It is evident that words have hurt Swift just like we know they have hurt others. Verbal abuse, even if you think it's funny is not and will never be okay.
It's Not Just a High School Thing:
Bullying isn't something that just happens in high school. It happens outside of high school too. Ultimately, it all comes down to the heart. In most cases, bullying is a heart issue. Making others play a role that they didn't ask to be a part of is exactly what happened with Swift and others as well. Social media is a cruel place and in a lot of ways, it's just like high school. Bullying happens on social media, in tabloids, via text or anywhere else. It's not a high school thing. It's a people thing.
Those You Bully Are Self-Aware:
We don't care what you think about Swift's new video or song. What we do care about is that you know that Swift is aware of everything you've said about her over the past 10-years. Those who are bullied end up being put in narratives and in boxes they've never asked to be a part of. In Swift's case, it's the narrative of being a serial dater or always playing the victim or being money hungry, in which none are true. But the general public doesn't care. The bully doesn't care. Because the bully wants to tear the other down.
in the video, Swift demonstrates the 'new' Taylor killing of her past selves, quite literally. This is a perfect image of the age where malice is praised and where we can bombard others with snake emojis are cruel words just because we can. The video is the perfect example of what could happen if you send someone abuse online. The victim sees it. It is delivered to them. Swift displays this perfectly.
"Every article was like, 'Taylor Swift Standing Near Some Guy—Watch
Out Guy!' Every single article was kind of like, had these
descriptions of my personality that were very different than the
actual personality. My first reaction was to be like, 'Man that's a
bummer. This isn't fun for me.' But then my second reaction ended up
being, 'Hey, that's actually kind of an interesting character they're
writing about.' She jet-sets around the world collecting men, and she
can get any of them! But she's so clingy that they leave, and she
cries! And then she gets another one in her web and she traps them and
locks them in her mansion. She's crying in her marble bath tub
surrounded by pearls." - Taylor Swift
You Don't Have To Be a Victim:
Don't for one second think that Swift is playing the victim in this song or ever. She's not. The brilliant part about the track is that she owns up to her mistakes but she also owns up to the fact that through the harsh criticism and bullying, she's gotten stronger. Of course, how can a woman like Swift not be stronger after all she's faced.
No, Swift's new song isn't a cry for victimhood. It's an anthem of sorts. An anthem that many who were bullied or who are being bullied that you don't have to let the world tear you down. You don't have to let them chain you up and lock in a cage. You can break free from that and stand up for yourself. You aren't a victim because in those moments of ridicule and harassment, you grow stronger and you become wiser. You realize, that even in the midst of the pain and the narratives you didn't choose to be a part of, something good can come from it.
Don't let the world ridicule you or push you to the point where you believe you are damaged goods. You are not a victim. Swift is the perfect example of what it's like to be bullied and to rise up like a phoenix to let the world know you haven't broken her yet and you won't. You can do the same.
She speaks through music. How do you speak? How do you stand up for yourself? Do that. Don't let them tear you down because they can't if you don't let them.
