You either love Taylor Swift, or you hate her.
As her success continues to skyrocket -- along with her music on the charts -- it seems as if there is a growing amount of backlash against her. She is criticized for her looks, music, and growing friend group of fashion model friends who are taking over Instagram.
It's bewildering, because she's seemingly perfect. Tall, blonde, always smiling with her arms around her confident and beautiful friends, Taylor Swift portrays a picture of modern feminism: you can be hot and talented, and also not a b***h.
She seems almost too good to be true.
But as one article from The New York Times titled "Taylor Swift Gets Some Mud on Her Boots" points out, her popularity seems to be declining among older age groups (she remains adored by the younger groups). There are social media groups devoted to hating her, and her innocent persona has become fair game for comedians like Amy Poehler and Tina Fey.
It's similar to the backlash that haunts Anne Hathaway. As Ann Friedman of women's issues blog, The Cut, said in her article "Why Do Women Hate Anne Hathaway (But Love Jennifer Lawrence)?”, we seem to have a hard time finding successful, perfect women likable. We are drawn to the authentic, goofy humor of women like Jennifer Lawrence, who aren't afraid to poke fun at themselves and don't take their reputations too seriously. We like the girls who can take shots of tequila and trip over their own dresses and hold their own with the guys. But as for the perfect girly girls who are trying very hard to be liked? We can't stand them.
Furthermore, Sarah Nicole Prickett, a writer for Vice and The New Inquiry, says Hathaway reminds her of "all the lesser, real-life Anne Hathaways I have known — princessy, theater-schooled girls who have no game and no sex appeal and eat raisins for dessert.”
Does that description kind of remind you of another American darling?
Taylor Swift is suffering from the same dilemma: how do you maintain both your innocent love of cupcakes and kittens and your older fan bases? Is that even possible?
Granted, the posse of supermodel friends can't be helping, as many women are surely being reminded of the feelings of being left out of the cool group of girls in middle and high school. And as for the inevitable surprised face whenever she wins awards? That should probably be left behind, as well. We aren't surprised when she wins awards, so she shouldn't be either.
But we shouldn't resent a successful woman simply for being successful. It's hard to swallow the image of a young, innocent country singer suddenly buying mega mansions on Martha's Vineyard and penthouses in New York and filling them all with her celebrity friends, but that's her reality. You can't fault Taylor Swift for living her extraordinarily fortunate life -- and you also can't stop buying her music.
