I didn’t realize this, but Taylor Swift has never covered an issue of GQ (US) before now. I always think of her as dominating the magazine covers and while that’s true, it’s usually women’s magazines and music mags. If we’re being honest, almost entirely women’s magazines. She hasn’t covered Rolling Stone in over a year!
Anyway, yes, Swifty covers the November issue of GQ. It’s a sexy, men’s magazine-style cover too, as in… Swifty looks damp, she’s wearing something tight with a some cleavage and they gave her awful bangs a windswept, JBF-look. All in all, not a terrible cover and I’m glad it’s a more natural-looking shot on a Malibu balcony as opposed to Taylor in a studio, laying on her back spread-eagle with her thumb in her mouth. GQ isn’t releasing their cover story until next week, but they’re promising a lot:
For her first-ever cover with GQ, Taylor Swift spent time with writer Chick Klosterman, giving an intense and wide-ranging interview, while dodging paparazzi and, at one point, taking a surprise call from one of the few humans who is almost as famous as she is (and still makes her start struck!).
As Klosterman writes, “If you don’t take Swift seriously, you don’t take contemporary music seriously… There’s simply no antecedent for this kind of career: a cross-genre, youth-oriented, critically acclaimed colossus based entirely on the intuitive songwriting merits of a single female artist. It’s as if mid-period Garth Brooks was also early Liz Phair, minus the hat and the swearing. As a phenomenon, it’s absolutely new.”
Garth Brooks and Liz Phair? What the what? I mean, I kind of understand the Liz Phair reference, but putting Phair together with Garth Brooks to describe Taylor Swift? No. Even when Taylor was country, she was still pop. She was still a crossover artist. I would argue that in the early part of her career, she just made twangy pop and she just dropped the twang with her past two albums. Anyway… I’m looking forward to the interview. As they say, I’m sure she did take some “surprise calls” from some of her collected A-list friends.
GQ cover courtesy of Michael Thompson/GQ, additional photo courtesy of Getty.
Meh. Not a bad cover, but I don’t love it either. That second picture, though. Is it just me…
The granny panties?
I don’t get her awful costume. Like the Leotard she had on while singing with Mick Jagger. Awful stuff.
Yeah, I like Taylor, but she always looks like a wet rat when she goes greasy.
I should change my sn to “what GNAT said” because you just echo my opinions in most cases.
Lol. I know the feeling. Or if there were upvote buttons, I’d just upvote her comments most of the time.
I just heard “Flower” the other day, and TS is no Liz and never will be. Bad comparison.
Flower is one of the best songs out there ever for that perfect teenage angst. God I love Liz Phair. So. Much.
Me too. Such a clever songwriter. I’ve loved her for years!!
@bengal I’ve been playing whitechocolatespaceegg plenty on repeat lately. But Never Said and Flower are two faves. So many good ones. Pop Musicians these days can often lack the rawness that makes music exciting. Can you imagine TS talking about her lost love and how she was his BJ Queen? hahahah
@LD, Exile in Guyville is her masterpiece but I really love everything she’s done. I have all of her albums on my iPod and think her songs are great to work out to. I haven’t heard much of Taylor’s music (and she doesn’t annoy me right now), but as others have said, she doesn’t exude “sexiness” (and there is nothing wrong with that). Liz is just SO funny to me. Witty and approachable. God I love her so much!!!
So, I read this comment and thought, “Oh maybe I’ll have my 15 yo daughter listen to it!” She’s amidst a breakup. So I googled the lyrics. LOL! Nope.
And fuck and run, a teenage anthem! Taytay and other current pop stars have nothing on Liz Phair…letters and sodas forever!
For me, Divorce Song was one of the best and most honest songs about a breakup that I had ever, ever heard. And I was much younger than marrying age. The lyrics: “That it’s harder to be friends than lovers, And you shouldn’t try to mix the two, ‘Cause if you do it and you’re still unhappy, Then you know that the problem is you”
Wow did these stick out for me. Or when she says, “When you say that I wasn’t worth talking to, I had to take your word on that.”
Gosh, still slays me.
Lying on the cold hard ground over a breakup and then riding off into the sunset on a fairy horse to her Squad, she is not.
What is it with the soccer mom hairs?
And the bad costumes for her show? Why is it that pop star needs to show as much skin as possible?
And the bralette with the granny panties? Meh.
Her hair makes her face look weird. She can’t do sexy at all. Very try hard.
I see why people like her …i just don’t think she is that great lyrically or live ..but there is a pop star for everyone… whats fun is been wearing less and trying to get sexier but people trash other artists for doing the same thing she is doing. Its like she has this wholesome shield that no one can penetrate. I guess she is just perfect
THAT HAIR IS SO BAD. It’s been, what, two years? Change. It. Up.
And GQ or no GQ, she’s just asexual. Her “sexy face” looks like the beginnings of a sneeze. A twee, raspberry pomegranate-scented sneeze.
It’s SO much bad, overwhelmingly so! From that ashen color that washes her out, to the cut that really doesn’t look good on anyone, to the damp curl-ish thing. I mean, her hair isn’t awesome even when it’s not in soul glo curls around her face. Why oh why?
I’d love to see her go deep brunette.
Soul glo curls. I think I love you.
Shambles I KNOW I love you! (;
I say this often about her, but she is resistant to any kind of change or growth. From the way she is emotionally stunted to the grudges she holds against exes and Katy Perry to her look and Style (Taylor Swift™ No copyright infringement intended. Property of TAS LLC Management 2014©)
The wet/crunchy curls are giving me major Duggar vibes. This is not a compliment.
Sorry to threadjack Little Darling but I love your Jem & the Holograms avi. That is all.
@I Choose Me – THANKS!! I do too. So much. I used to have Janice from the Muppets, but Jem is SOfierce.
Ha! Perfect, Abbott. I agree with you completely. I’ve said many a time that she hasn’t changed a bit since “Teardrops on My Guitar,” in her personal life, unfortunate hair choices, or lack of lyrical substance.
So agree. Asexual is a good term for her. It’s bizarre. I’ve never seen someone appear so devoid of sexuality, and she’s obviously trying very hard. I’d say that was her problem, but I don’t think not trying would help, either.
Perhaps she take a tip off of the ole “Lady in the streets but a freak in the bed.”
Seriously. You know it.
The bolt ons look obvious.
Obvious but… Not great? I know this is probably a terrible thing to say, but you’d think that if you paid monies for your boobs they would look a little better in a swimsuit? It’s like… Half cleavage. Again, I know I’m terrible.
That’s how I feel about her teeth. She’s crazy rich, why couldn’t she have gotten better veneers? She can’t even close her mouth fully. It drives me nuts every time I look at her.
Speaking of which, I was browsing Google to get some “before / after” pictures (didn’t know about the veneers before you mentioned it) and I found out that not only did she have a breast augmentation, she most likely also had a nose job.
She was a pretty girl to begin with, and before the age of 25 she’s already been under the knife 2/3 times.
I feel like she also had something done to her eyes. She used to be really really squinty-eyed. Look at her photos when she first came out, like around 2008 vs now. I dont know what surgery can de-squint the eyes (an eye lift? eye tuck?) but she definitely had whatever it is.
There’s only so much a plastic surgeon can do when a person has absolutely no other fat on her torso. If she’d gain a little weight her boobs would probably look very natural.
I’m tired of magazine covers forcing me to look up her nostrils. Just stop with that angle of her head.
WORD.
WERD.
Yes.
She doesn’t have that muscle definition.
She’s as stiff as a broom, but they made her look toned.
Horrible hair. She’s never, ever pulling off the Runaways style.
Blah cover.
At least she’s honest.
Not sexy. Never sexy.
Not sexy. Like, everrrrrrr. Just…. No.
No, not even close.
Too much Photoshop most specially on her breast area and look at the arms with the sudden define muscles.
I cannot un-see her shoulder bones.
Of course she took a phone call from a celebrity. I feel like that’s her career instead of singer: Professional celebrity collector. Also, I’ve asked this a thousand times, but why must every magazine kiss her butt? She is not a musical genius. While her songs may be catchy, they are not deep or smart. When will this end?!
Bc her records sell and her on the cover will sell. The mags are sell-outs.
Why when mags gofor sexy allure, do they always do wetish hair on her?
Blech
The only thing interesting about this is the interviewer, Chuck Klosterman. He wrote Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs and it’s a good read. His writing will probably make this otherwise boring interview at least a little funny. Also, I don’t understand how a good looking young pop star exudes about ZERO sex appeal. Can someone please dissect this and explain?! And I’m not saying she should dress trashy. I mean look at Bacall, Hepburn.. Sexy as hell but still classy.
The cover is meh, but with Chuck Klosterman doing the interview, I will read it for sure. He’s an amazing pop culture writer.
It’s an okay cover, nothing spectacular…..it’s as if they are trying to portray her as “sexy”,…..meh….She just doesn’t exude that type of vibe. For lack of a better example Rihanna on that cover, looking like that, would be a gorgeous
believable cover.
Is she about to drop a surprise album or something? Why is she doing multiple magazine covers and interviews for the heck of it?
I don’t think there’s one definition of sexy but I have trouble seeing her as sexy because it doesn’t seem like she actually feels sexy when she’s doing this stuff. It’s “Sexy”tm from Swifty, Inc.
IMO, this whole new sexy/sex symbole angle comes across like it’s all calculated and vetted by a team of professionals like the rest of her public persona. It doesn’t seem like it’s a natural feeling or state of being for her. So she and her team have come up with things that they think are sexy to others. Like with her dancing where you can practically see her counting the steps/beat in her head b/c dancing is not natural for her, I feel like I can see the wheels in her head going “lick lips here, crop top there, pose ‘sexy’ and pop hip like so”…sexy!
I am wondering if the “mystery call from a celebrity about as famed as herself” is actually Ryan Adams and this PR Push is for his cover of her 1989 album. I have the album and it’s good and strange, but I can see where it may not really be selling, so they need her to push it more. Just my theory.
TS is many things but she will NEVER be sexy. Dita Von Teeese is sexier fully clothed in a trench coat.
Marilyn Manson is sexier than Taylor Swift.
*Giggle-snort* No lie.
Yeah she gives the heat of a cold laser
I read @QQ’s comment as “she has the heat of a cold LOBSTER”. Which, isn’t wrong, actually….
GQ Tried it more than me at a Math exam, AKA Tried more than it’s ever been tried before in the History of trying
Her hair still looks godawful, Ya’ll remember those lower tier Barbie wannabe dolls that were MOST CERTAINLY not Barbie and your poor parents would unwittinly buy ( No Barbie smell askew features, well member how they’d come with some plastic on top of the hair to secure the bangs in place? but then the bangs wouldn’t fluff up? That Is what this hair is in these pics
GQ is going down the toilet. Just like Vogue with Anna Wintour.
Swift has her corner of the music world but she is not Garth Brooks or Liz Phair or any combination of the two. She is in her mid-twenties and is still writing high school songs and at times comes across very juvenile. Will she be around for another 10 years? Who knows.
TS and sexy are words that should never be put together.
She’s as sexy as Goop aka a full fat zero.
Rocking body, but her face… It’s off here. She looks like a dude.
To me, she’s like Anne Hathaway – her bits are all in the right places but she’s a complete sensuality-void. There is, of course, nothing wrong with that, but when she tries to be sexy, it just doesn’t work.
She looks like Jon Heder in Blades of Glory.
Ha!!!!
…but Swift would never attempt the Iron Lotus
I wonder what it is about her that just makes it so she never gives off a “sexy” vibe.. *shrugs* That hairstyle is terrible but she does have a great figure and works hard for it. Just… not sexy.
I like the laid-back beach look, but I’d never describe TS as ‘sexy’.
wait do guys actually think taylor is sexy? because to me she’s like a sex free zone…it’s just not working
I do wonder what guys out there think about her. Probably that she is annoying and not sexy, but they still would anyway.
haha probably. I like some of Taylor’s music (no shame!) so not bashing but she’s just so so…blank
Can we talk about how someone at Scream Queens hates TS? First deaf Taylor Swift and then they spoof swiftmas with Chanel-o-ween. It’s kind of hilarious.
Right? The spoof of “Swiftmas” they did was amazing. I laughed out loud multiple times.
She does say that she knows she isn’t ‘sexy’
Doesn’t stop her from trying really hard though.
She is asexual in appearance, as is Miley Cyrus although completely different stylistically. You either have it or you don’t, they don’t. She can be very attractive but it is homogenized.
She’s not sexy and they shouldn’t try making her sexy, it looks awkward.
I don’t get the granny panties at all. She has a lovely figure.
Her music is catchy but that does not make it good at all. I’m not even being negative. Bad Blood is awful. Shake it off was fun but annoying and the others ones are forgettable. I really dont think she produces good pop music at all.
And that hair… I just can not!!!! Like there are no more can’t in my system to go there with that mop-a-do. And, does she have veneers?
IKR? I’m so so sick of her “music”. There are five songs of hers circulating the radio waves CONSTANTLY and it’s just…I can’t. Her music isn’t music. It isn’t lyrical. It isn’t soulful. It isn’t poetic or moving or enlightened or on-point or even catchy, imo. It’s glitter-dusted tween music for the emotionally stunted. And I just can’t. I’ve had no idea how she’s remained successful over the years. UNTIL we all started hearing about what a passive-aggressive nazi she is. Now it makes sense. I guess the age-old adage is now also true for the music industry: money and a mean spirit will get you places. Because gurl is NOT talented.
LOL, I also have to add: how is anyone going to take her “romantic” songs seriously when the focus of all of them, lyrically, is how she and her counterpart are dressed and what sort of makeup she’s wearing?!?!? Yeah…because that’s what counts in relationships. I die.
It’s all bad, recycled, stupid horsesh*t! It’s gross. It’s almost like listening to nails on a chalk bored. Annoying as f*ck. Sorry I swear a lot!
I wasn’t a big fan of “Bad Blood” and “Shake it Off” took awhile to warm to, but I admit I really liked the album as a whole. (Personally, I could listen to “Style” endlessly without ever tiring of it.) Pop music is something that I feel is very hit or miss with most people. You either like the sound or you don’t.
Style is the one song of hers I totally dig.
So tired of this girl -.-‘
The correct answer is: Extremely Sexy
It’s not terrible. It’s the closest we’ve seen her being comfortable in “sexy.” I mean, given that it’s GQ, I doubt she was given much of a choice otherwise, since I don’t think that magazine knows how to shoot women in a way that isn’t sexually objectified.
When Garth Brooks was at his height, he was utterly inescapable where I lived, and I am still sick of his music. However, it was better than Taylor Swift’s, and even “Friends in Low Places” was more mature and intelligent than her stuff.
As for the Liz Phair comparison, no. Can you imagine Taylor Swift writing anything like “Supernova”? There’s no way. Swift won’t even admit “Blank Space” is the most honest song she’d ever done, because she’s oh such a perfect little girl tee-hee.
She looks great, love that Mick Jagger hair.
Taylor: Is not sexy and shouldn’t try so hard to be something she just cannot be
Rihanna is sexy, doesn’t matter what that lady wears, it is her beauty and the undefinable.
I
I think a lot of guys find T sexy but (and there’s no nice way to say this), something about her face has always looked asexual and piggish to me. I don’t find T beautiful at all. Her face is alright but she’s so lean and angly and awkward. TBH, she’s never been on my radar but yet seems wildly popular. That said, she’s part of a crop of pop stars that have never registered with me like Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez.
Mid-period Garth is the “critically acclaimed colossus” she’s being compared to.