Taylor Swift has been working on her new album for more than a year, basically. Her 1989 Tour was over in early 2016, and she spent the summer of 2016 getting up in our faces with The Glorious Tiddlebanging Tour, which I think was mostly her reaction to – and her attempt to change the story from – Kim Kardashian’s receipt-drop and Calvin Harris calling her out. Since fall 2016, Taylor has definitely been keeping it more low-key. She rarely posted anything on her social media, she rarely made any kind of public appearances, she was rarely even caught by paparazzi. She even canceled her annual Taymerica party on Independence Day.
Many wondered if Taylor was trying to cultivate an air of mystery all of a sudden. Many wondered if Taylor was simply self-aware enough to realize that she needed to make people miss her before she got all up in our faces with her inevitable press tour for the new album. But perhaps there’s another option: perhaps she’s trying to be more like Beyonce, and suddenly shock the world with another album when we’re least expecting it. Everyone agrees though: what Taylor did on Friday was very suspicious! On Friday, Taylor deleted EVERYTHING from her social media accounts. No more Instagrams, no more tweets, no more Facebook posts, nothing. Nada. Zilch.
If she’s deleting everything ahead of an album drop… well, I congratulate her, because that’s actually a cheap way and a smart way to drum up press without spending a dime. Just delete every f–king thing you’ve ever posted online and watch people freak the f–k out. It’s still typical Taylor though, when you think about it. She wasn’t capable of suddenly dropping an album and having it be a genuine surprise. She had to telegraph what she was about to do by deleting her social media history, so that everyone would be aware that The Taylor Swift Show is about to commence. I’m not mad about it – I’ve missed The Taylor Swift Show. The TS Show is amusing. There will be SO MANY INTERVIEWS about how she’s “changed” and how mean everyone was to her. I can’t wait to see how she brands herself this year. YAY!!
Photos courtesy of WENN, Backgrid.
I’m a grown ass woman and I have all kinds of issues with Taylor and her behavior but I cannot wait for her new album. She’s my number one shame listen.
Saaaaaaaaaaaame. I don’t even have shame about it. I went to see her on the 1989 tour and it was fantastic.
*raises hand*
I won’t go on the Taymerica slide but I’ll bake cookies with her. In pajamas.
I struggle with her sometimes, but I’m SO excited about this album. I love the bad boss b*tch Taylor we saw on the stand-prepared, in control, and unshakeable. THAT’s the Taylor I want to see and I identify with-not the “squad,” not the victim of romance gone wrong-the bad a$$ who took on someone who assaulted her and in doing so, set not only an example, but a framework for how victims and survivors may act. She used her power to stand up and show that yes, sometimes victims smile through the assault, yes sometimes victims are ashamed and polite afterwards, and that doesn’t negate their experience. Yes, she had the privilege of race, power, and money, but I can only hope that that privilege allows us to start a conversation about the behaviors around sexual assault and rape.
You know she will be victim again, because it is the only way she know how to act. So she will be a victim of bad Calvin, who broke her little heart, victim of Hiddles who is only blame for last summer (not her, she didn’t know they will travel her plane to her houses), victim of Dj, victim of media who are bullying her, victim of Kany and Kim who are thirst for fame (not like her), victim of Katy Perry atc. She will never say she did something wrong, that it is her fault, that she hurt someone. It isn’t what her Swidiots want to hear. She teach them that you can never be wrong, you are always a victim and that it isn’t bad when you use other people (like she do with her “BF” and “friends”),
What a great statement! You worded and phrased it perfectly.
this this… she WAS a victim of the repulsive man who groped her. Please do not lump in a sexual assault with her romantic nonsense.
This. Although I pretty much have no shame about it. I listen to her 1989 album off and on and it’s poppy and I like it.
I read on another site (jezebel maybe?) That she followed katy Perry before she deleted everything.
So will they perform together at the VMAs?
Or did Taylor accidentally hit follow while she was creeping Katy Perry’s account and was so mortified she deleted everything to make it looked like she was hacked?
Or is it all a giant PR stunt?
I swear, that girl has the BEST PR ideas ever.
She had been following KP on Twitter since 2009. Now she is simply not following anyone. Not only were all her tweets and Instagram posts deleted, but also she has unfollowed everyone on all her social accounts
I found it, it was jezebel and they reported it as a new follow. I don’t know enough about her to know if they’re wrong or not:
“After deleting all her old Instagrams, most of her old tweets, and the photos on her Facebook account, Swift began following Katy Perry on Twitter—a move noticed quickly by Pop Crave.”
Radiohead did the same years ago. It is not a new idea.
I do think she has a smart PR team save for last year’s missteps. She has got to stop the fake dating/fake friends stuff. So maybe the strategy is shifting from that to other types of stunts.
It’s kind of annoying because she seems to be a calculating and disingenuous person. I hope she doesn’t squander the Goodwill she’s built up as a result of taking on the radio groper guy. I hope she starts behaving like an adult.
Tay and Katy need to heel lol.
Lmao! I laughed too hard at this
Over a cup of cofeve.
I wish they made out on stage like Cristina and Britney.
See ya 👋
If she could delete herself as easily……
She could at least delete those ankle booties, ugh.
Taylor reminds me of one of those girls who enjoy talking about herself, but if someone doesn’t listen enough, disagree or just talks about their own problems, she’d ghost them to death.
I doubt she will be dropping her album Beyonce style. Taylor is one of those rare artists that still sell physical copies of their albums, so she will probably promote it before releasing it
But I do see her releasing the first single almost by surprise, announcing it just when it’s out on iTunes
Why is an image of Hiddleston popping up in my head and doing a Forrest Gump stunt?
Because you need to get over it?
@martina
Why so mean?
Why does she have the same hair as Anna Wintour? It looks like a wig on Taylor and it doesn’t suit her.
On Instagram now you can “archive” your pics so they no longer show on your page but you can still see them yourself. I hope she did that, the idea of losing all your pics makes me so anxious! although I’m sure she has other ways of saving them. I love that lip color and outfit on her, don’t care for her music. This post is kind of pointless I guess
I loved that outfit, too! I remember being in the minority about the outfit when she wore it.
Somewhere else I read that she did the same thing before her last album too? I don’t follow her (except for here) so I don’t know if that is true or not.
No, she didn’t.
ah, smart move.
Can’t wait for the new album. Some of Taylor’s antics are eye rolly but listening to her new albums is such fun.
Can’t wait to see whatever BS brand she’s going to have this year. *rolls eyes*
Yeah I really hope she for once tries subtle and not “MY TWO MONTH RELATIONSHIP WAS THE BEST LOVE STORY OF ALL TIME” or “I WAS THE FIRST WOMAN WHO BEFRIENDED ANOTHER WOMAN”. Then again hard to blame her, lots of people fall for it and it sells well.
Just write some catchy songs and dont try to use political movements for your own financial gain. That would be cool.
Didn’t she sign a massive deal last year with AT&T to have a 24 hour channel, Taylor Swift NOW? I assume that they’ll have exclusive rights to all her content so that the world and media will have to tune into her channel as the source of all TS news. Shutting down all other sources and social media makes sense if they’re preparing for the channel to launch with her new album. I bet they’ll tease it out though with retrospectives, etc and milk every cent out of it. Tay is the opposite of Bey.
That is the best theory I’ve heard so far and it would make sense.
Yup. Taylor Swift NOW has a twitter and on Aug 19 they posted that TS6 is ‘so close’. Taylor is an empire, a very smart business. Got to give her credit for that, but it’s hard seeing the artist behind it. It’s like her main motivation is breaking all records and being the biggest in history, commercially. Just once I would love to see her do something from the heart, for the love of it, without the glitter and fanfare.
I was really hoping after the receipts debacle and trial she was going to reinvent herself in a striped down, low key humble kinda way, but it looks like the opposite is happening. It’s full steam ahead with the Taylor PR conglomerate managed circus.
VEE, what’s ironic is she isn’t even close to Prime Britney Spears when it comes to global name. No one is close to MJ in that category.
At what point are her fans going to outgrow this high school level rubbish?
I’ve been wondering that for a while. That goes for a lot of the younger stars. They tend to use what they claim are their personal lives to pander to an immature, gossip loving audience. Most of the time I skip anything on any site having to do with Taylor, Katy Perry, Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber or One Direction. The comments are always an obsessive, clueless, bizarre, mess. It’s the era of low information fandom I guess.
Me too unless I am bored I look. None of my younger relatives are into any of them. I don’t know anyone who is so it is fascinating sometimes.
Maybe at the same time Taylor grows out of it
Obvious this is PR for her next album.
Well, she certainly was a quick in trying to capitalize the goodwill she deservedly got from the trial.
Thirsty is as thirsty does.
So when will media call her for it? All this trial was a first step in her PR strategy for this album. And you think she cared for abused woman? She will never change. She has her own TV channel, so she will do album promo there no on SM and all media will promot her channel. She is a brand no a human anymore.
So, the DJ was in on this? The court clerk who did the scheduling too?
Again… she was sexually assaulted. The trial was about THAT. Stop.
Scheduling was made long time ago. Also if she want to fight for woman why she din;t sue him 4 years ago, but only made him fired? He still isn’t find guilty as sexual abuser. So he could spend last 4 years to do other women what he did TS or even worst. So it is a coincidence that she will start her album promo soon? This trial was to rebrand her. That’s all. I know taht you want to find good in TS, but she is a person who use people like she want and live tnem when she doesn’t need them. Just watch how she will throw away her squad bcs they don’t suit to her new “private image”. And they were such a good friends. None of her squad even twett to support her during trial.
She only sued him in response to him suing her.
Exactly. It was ok for her that he spend last 4 years free, not marked as sexual abuser. That he could do it to other women too. She sued him bcs he did it first. So if he didn’t sue her, she would not talk about it and she would not do it for other women? So why is she so great now? I’m happy that she win against this DJ pig, but don’t make it lkie she is some feminism icon now. She doesn’t give a shit about them. as her Mommy said 4 years ago she was more concerned that some Talk show will make fun of her, that to prevent this DJ guy from molested other woman.
Well, that’s a novel approach to the usual victim-blaming we see when a woman is assaulted. Kudos to you, @this this.
As an attorney, I can say, quite frankly, that any attorney who participated in such a scenario, as you describe, would very likely be facing disciplinary charges. Courts are not playgrounds. Scheduling happens as the court decides and any changes have to meet with court approval and must be for valid reasons. Scheduling a trial, at which the verdict is unknown, to coincide with an album release would not be a valid reason.
So which one is it? Is he ‘not guilty’ and ‘being used by Taylor Swift’ , or is it that you’re ‘glad the pig lost’, but anything he may or may not have done to other women in what happened with Taylor Swift and now somehow her fault (instead of, you know, the actual pervert’s) because she didn’t take legal action against him quickly enough for your liking- which has to mean she ‘doesn’t care about’ or ‘didn’t do enough’ for women? You talk about her not being a feminist icon (which she’s not, but that expression needs to die anyway- acknowledging that some specific thing a woman is doing at one point is a stand against misogyny, victim-blaming, or some other societal ill is not the same thing as declaring her a ‘feminist icon’ ), but your comments show why you’re not actually more feminist than she is. This type of blaming and shaming is probably part of the reason why she might have initially wanted to keep this on the DL to start with and doesn’t do anything to help the women you criticize Taylor Swift for ‘not doing enough for’.
Didn’t she go underground, so to speak, ahead of the groping trial so she couldn’t be painted as a party girl, etc and undercut the seriousness of the allegations? This all happened a week after a verdict was rendered. Seems like the plan was ready to go.
Difficult to tell. She had to disappear because not only was she overexposed but the public basically turned on her after Hiddleswift and the Kanye/Kim Saga. So she would have stayed under the radar anyway is my guess. Its not like she was a crazy party girl before, just super thirsty for PR.
reinventing/rebranding her image. She’s a smart and clever woman.
She isn’t. Her PR team is. 🙂 What kind of person she is if she need to rebrand herfel every album era. Does she remember who she is for real. Every album she play different person and sell it too us as true herself. Every boyfriend she chnge fer image, style, hair etc. Did she even has any personality? Or she is what her PR team think will sell this time. Everyone have public image (Beyonce, Riri etc.), but they don;t rebrand themself every year. And choose friends like accessories, with will fit to her new image. It isn’t normal even for a celeb.
Madonna did it. I think it’s exciting and creative for a megastar to reinvent themselves and stay fresh.
Yes, it is actually very common for celebs to rebrand. Look at Christina Aguilera.
but it is same old same old. If she just does not want to have such a public image, go into hiding and do not do anything. Or if you just do not care, you do not care about deleting it. Most of my friends have dropped of Facebook without any big announcement. They just stopped posting and checking it.
But by actively deleting everything you are calling total attention to yourself. So OBVIOUS.
people that watch this stuff are noticing the coding on her website, and the colour names are all cosmic and celestial (moondust, blackhole). There was also a code for something like “that’s what they don’t see”, which some are proposing is the first release, which will be timed with the Eclipse (My source is twitter).
I don’t mind this. I think it’s smart and current, and if it gets kids (or girls, specifically) interested in coding, I think it’s harmless and could be positive. I hope the content is much less blind-item-y though.
Wow, you really don’t like Taylor Swift, do you?
No. Is it obvious?
MI6, I love you…. 👍
@Anon 😘
Well I temporary disabled my Instagram a week ago because I am a drama queen and wanted some attention (which I got…from the wrong people of course) and my friends were calling me asking what was wrong. Imagine her following and the reaction they will have when and If she posts something new, anything. I have 238 followers and for every stupid thing I post on a normal day I get 30-40 likes, she has millions and she will cause an uproar regardless.
She disappeared about the same time Trump became the media’s focus. I guess she couldn’t compete with that level of attention seeking. Speaking of social media I’m currently reading ‘Selfie: How We Became So Self Obsessed and What’s It’s Doing To Us’ . I recommend it.
Tonight i was cleaning and I stumbled across some “polaroids” that came with her physical copy of 1989. Yep I bought the actual CD from target because of the extra songs. Girlfriend has innovative PR. I actually enjoy seeing how she changes her branding from album to album. I am genuinely excited to see what she comes up with next. I don’t love that people suffer fallout from being in her vortex, but on some level… you have to know what you’re signing up for with her right??? I get that she’s super thirsty, doesn’t play well with others, dramatic, etc, but… I know every taylor swift song and I’m completely not her demographic. Her music is just so catchy.
I know, this year she will be all about being ‘private’.
She just posted something (it looks like a lizard tail) on her Instagram.
I’ve heard people speculating that it’s part of a snake. If she’s leaning into the snake thing, then I am intrigued
I’m not sure if this is true or not but someone on another site posted that the new album will be r/b influenced.