Taylor Swift is so funny. She’s a billionaire two times over, she will soon marry a football star, she has her health and family and a huge group of friends. But she still wants more. When she released her last album, she added eleventy billion variants to game the charting system. And it’s still not enough – all of those #1 albums, all of those Grammys, all of those awards. It will never be enough, especially when Billie Eilish has TWO Best Song Oscars and Taylor has NO Oscars.
So Taylor is in search of HER Oscar for Best Song. For weeks, she’s been teasing a special “TS” project, which was revealed to be… Toy Story 5. She wrote and performed the song “I Knew It, I Knew You” for the film, and last night, she attended the LA premiere. Her dress is Erdem and some outlets are calling it “bridal.” That’s just how she always dresses though – this is such a “Taylor” look: off-the-shoulder, miniskirt, corset.
The Hollywood Reporter dutifully announced “welcome to the Oscar race” about Toy Story 5 AND Taylor’s song. Taylor also performed the song inside the venue at the premiere. Damn it, GIVE HER THE OSCAR!! She’s not going to stop until she has an Oscar! Preferably three Oscars, so she has more than Billie.
Photos courtesy of Getty Images.
Why does that make her funny? I say: Go for it.
Yep. Nothing wrong with wanting more (and the song is sweet).
I agree 100%. There is nothing wrong for striving for more professional awards.
What else are you doing if you’re not striving for more?
Totally agree. Her music is not my jam, but I have zero problems with women getting every award available for the talent they have and the hard work they put in to their work.
100%.
My reaction too!! GO FOR YOUR GOALS!!
Ambition in a woman is not a bad thing.
This is what people used to (and still say) say about Madonna.
While I don’t like her music, with some exception, she doesn’t want more.
She is ambitous, if she was a man she would be praised to be driven, passionate or whatever.
The dress is awful. She’s out and promoting a not bad song. Madonna was constantly working and touring while acting and trying directing. Yeah she was criticized but Madonna did it the old fashioned way. Taylor’s attempts to derail opening week of younger artists has completely biased many against her. If she wasn’t a blonde woman she would get a lot more flack for that. Her carefully curated image doesn’t hide her. One time okay but regularly is insane. That’s the opposite of what artists used to do. They avoided doing it on principle. Taylor has none. Her buddying up to younger artists is regularly called out now. Hopefully most will avoid her now.
I like the dress. It’s very “5 maids a milking.” Very Marie Antoinette with her little Trianon farm to play in while the people rage for bread.
The way Taylor games the system (and scams her fans) with her multiple variants nonsense and her low quality high cost merch makes me hope she, specifically, NEVER gets an Oscar.
Yeah the outfit lends itself to the Bo Peep character a little bit. It fits the Andy’s room theme.
@YUP, ME….. 💯 agree. Can’t be doing with Try-hards and obvious “thirst”. Puts me right off her…..
I enjoy the song and I like the dress- but for the threads at the bottom, i understand that was a designer choice, but it makes me want to snip them all off with scissors.
I haven’t seen the Toy Story movies in ages, will have to get Disney streaming back for awhile and refresh my memory.
They’re funny movies.
She should probably have won for her duet with the Civil Wars for The Hunger Games. Safe & Sound is a banger. Yes. Ballads can be bangers.
😭 The Civil Wars 😭
I don’t think she should have won for that and this song is pretty good. Depends on what she’s up against. Too early.
i saw the trailer for the new toy story recently, and i could not care. especially with all the maga drama over tim allen and the buzz lightyear movie. i’m sure this one will be a great success. pixar has gone so downhill since disney took it over, they have to go back to old IPs to make money.
Can Tom Hanks and Taylor and Joan Cusack cancel him out?
ha! joan cusack is the only possibility 🙂 i have a general antipathy towards pixar at the moment after the way they treated the creator (writer?) of elio and what they’ve done with the studio in general. i also kind of like the idea of an evil leapfrog
I would never fault a successful woman for continuing to set professional goals. Go for it, Taylor!
100%. Women are allowed to be unapologetically ambitious.
I love the dress. Erdem makes such pretty pieces and her styling is perfect.
The song is nowhere near as good as the ones Randy Newman wrote for Toy Story or the Billy Eilish songs for Bond and Barbie.
And I say this as someone who likes Taylor. It just feels like an album cut, not a single. Her voice is lost in the mix. If you want the Oscar, it needs to be one of your best.
There’s nothing wrong with her challenging and pushing herself. This has nothing to do with Billie; she’s been making music for movie soundtracks since like 2010 when she released Today Was a Fairytale.
It’s kind of weird that everyone seems to think that she should shut up and disappear. If she’s still happy making music, has the fanbase and is trying new things, then why shouldn’t she?
Also, on the variants, I’ve never understood why she’s the sole person to get heat for what is standard industry practice. she didn’t ‘game’ any charts and most recently, Olivia Rodrigo and Ariana Grande have released dozens of variants to barely a whimper.
Ariana and Olivia release a fraction of the number of variants that Taylor does though, and I say this as a Swiftie. Ariana just released a new single and I think she had about four or five variants compared to, like, twenty that Taylor releases with every single. And I actually like some of the variants that Ariana released, like the live tour rehearsal version because her voice sounds so nice. It feels like she puts some thoughts into the variants beyond just adding a snare and marimbo jam and calling it a beach remix.
That said, I feel like I’m the only person in the free world who LOVES Taylor’s new album. “Ophelia” and “Opalite” are such jams!
Nope, not so. Olivia has been dropping a steady stream of variants with this latest release, with more to be released during the week and next tracking week, which are very much in line with Showgirl and will likely surpass the Showgirl variants. Much as she did the same for Guts and Sour. You can ‘as a Swiftie’ it all you like but Taylor absolutely gets judged by different standards to Olivia, Billie, Ariana and Charli, all of whom drop variants at the same rate. You also might also consider the chart gaming Olivia’s team engaged with to get Drop Dead to hit #1 (before it plummeted). Taylor’s team would’ve been raked over hot coals if they’d done the same.
Oh please Taylor does that way more than other artists and the problem is the timing. Why do it when younger newer pop stars are releasing music? Her fake embrace of younger artists and boldly putting out newer variant on the same date is rightfully criticized. Are you going to buy an established artist you love or a new artist? It’s gross!
The dress is meh. I don’t see it as “bridal” but whatever. It’s just a cream background. It’s not even white or all cream!
It’s very typical of her. The untrimmed hem doesn’t bother me. Looks like it has pockets, so bonus points for that!
I do love the cloud backdrop!
Whatever. I’m just struck by how tall is Conan O’Brian. She’s 5′ 10″ and wearing 4″ heels.
So actors who have already won one Oscar should stop acting and exit stage left? I haven’t heard the song so I don’t even know if it’s any good, but this seems like a weird take. She’s not looking to branch into other fields, even. She’s just writing music for a different form of release, which is something a lot of songwriters do.
I like the dress. On her, anyway. If I tried to wear that I’d look like I was doing cosplay.
Dress is hideous.
Even if Taylor gets an Oscar, Billie will still be the youngest person with 2 competitive Oscars.
Taylor’s Oscar will still be an Oscar. It doesn’t have to be a competition between women. Sally Field won an Oscar and it’s still hers even if Meryl Streep won more.
Thank you, I don’t get the need to pit these women against each other.
Taylor also sang “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” with Randy Newman at the premiere. She looks adorable. If a woman wants to go “all in” on something, it should be lauded instead of criticized. Should Meryl Streep stop acting so someone else can win awards? Should we ask the best athletes to step aside so someone else can win? I think this kind of criticism is most often lobbed at women.
Fraulein Maria needs the Captain’s curtains back.
It’s funny to me how people give Taylor a pass for the same level of greed and wanting more that we condemn other billionaires like Bezos and Musk for. It’s funny…but not surprising. This is ultimately all about her ego and wanting something that someone else has that she doesn’t. I think Billie having TWO Oscars has always bothered her. She was never about writing music for films until Billie won her first Oscar.
Not a Swiftie. I do not like her music but she has hustle.
I think the thing that differentiates her from Musk and Bezos is Musk and Bezos made their billions from other people’s work and talents while Taylor made her billions selling her own work and talents (which may or may not be exaggerated and she may or may not be exaggerating)
Yes she has all those unnecessary variants, but her fans are buying them, no one makes them buy the variants. (“OMG I just HAVE to have this 20th variant of Ophelia” is not making someone buy it, it’s still a choice)
There is no such thing as an ethical billionaire. Where there is that kind of wealth there is exploitation.
Ameerah, Taylor has always consistantly supported her entire team. She gave bonus’s of life altering amounts to her Era’s Tour drivers, bonus’s to all her support staff and back up dancers. She donates a years worth of food to food bank in every place she performs. She quietly donates and supports many hospitals, charities and private citizens. She’s a truly generous person and constantly gives back. That doesn’t sound like exploitation, it sounds ethical.
Mackenzie Scott, Jeff Bezos ex-wife is another ethical billionaire who diligently gives away millions every year with no strings attached. She doesn’t publicize it but the benefactors of her generosity do. She donated millions to Historically Black Colleges and Universities that are underfunded. That doesn’t sound like exploitation.
@Joanne, I did some research and no, Swift has not “donated millions to Historically Black Colleges and Universities”. She has indeed helped individuals with tuition assistance but according to Google, Taylor has never publicly donated to any HBCUs.
@Beverly Joanne never stated that Taylor has donated to HBCUs. She stated that McKenzie Scott has which is easy to find on google. Please read more carefully. Both McKenzie and Taylor are not like the usual billionaires with their generosity and they are allowed to decide where they give their money. The fact is both women have been extremely generous. Just because you don’t like Taylor or where either woman has decided to donate to doesn’t negate their generosity.
Outside of Melinda French Gates and Mackenzie Scott, few people are doing anything with their large amounts of money to help others.
I think that a lot of the comments about Taylor wanting to win an award and striving to continue professional success are valid but I think the criticism for her is coming from her obvious attacks on or thwarting of other pop singers like Billie Eilish, Charlie XCX, and Olivia Rodrigo. Also people are tired of her thirst for needing to be seen.
My issue with it if she’s not doing that if she releases a variant and it out performs a new release that’s not her thwarting somebody that’s her having more fans and being more popular I mean, that’s just kind of luck of the draw. Michael Jackson would do that too he just is more popular, hell he just did. This idea that Taylor‘s hurting other people with her success is odd to me if they want that level of success they’ve gotta do what it takes to get it, but I’m not sure some of them want it but Taylor being a success and working really hard is not taking away from anybody else.
She is not a success just through her hard work. That’s the point. That is part of her bs pr and marketing (just like Elon’s bs pr that has people convinced that he’s some kind of tech and engineering genius rather than a wealthy asshole who buys up the brilliance others have created).
She has amassed enough wealth to be able to tip the scales in her industry to benefit herself. That is not about her talent or her hard work. She should not be lauded or rewarded for that. Period.
@Yup, Me – exactly.
Those bonuses are just a fraction of her wealth. If she donated quietly we wouldn’t know about it.The issue many have with her is her behavior towards younger artists. No one else has regularly attempted to impede younger artists so obviously.
How is wanting to build your career and challenge yourself to do better and accomplish more bad? Isn’t that what we encourage young girls and women to do? Isn’t that healthy?
I’m not a big Taylor Swift person. But one thing I find admirable about her is that she does want more. This is the kind of wanting more that I like – achieving, being generous with your money, winning awards, writing your own songs, finding your true love, etc.
Now the Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel, and Mark Zuckerberg brand of wanting more exploits humans and causes mass destruction and death. It will eventually destroy the planet.
They are two completely different things.
I don’t see them as different at all – all of them have amassed massive amounts of money and power. She’s made an entire brand out of “finding her true love”. It’s just another form of capitalism – in a dress with bangs.
So you think Beyonce is wrong too? Or just Taylor? Because those women worked hard and earned it.
Call me a capitalist then because I don’t have a problem with it. I believe in free markets so long as there are guardrails and a safety net. And yes, I think we need more guardrails and they need to be enforced more effectively. But that’s a separate issue. Taylor Swift didn’t invent our system. She’s not a politician. She’s just working within it. As far as I can tell she’s not hurting anyone.
I would hazard a guess that the reason she is a billionaire two times over and continues to have massive success two decades in when everyone else inevitably falls off is BECAUSE she’s always striving and working hard. Why are we mad at that? And miss me with the variant conversation – virtually everyone does it, it’s how the industry works now. Yet somehow no one is doing her numbers – it’s almost like making a variant available doesn’t guarantee people will buy it.
She does the numbers she does BECAUSE of variants lol. She broke Adele’s record with her last album – and the ONLY reason she was able to was because of the variants – which because she released so many of them counted towards her album sales. Adele hit her record with ONE version of an album. Not 28.
This is just factually incorrect, literally every charts and music analyst had confirmed she’d do these numbers without the variants. The variants give her a boost but they aren’t making a huge impact.
Literally every chart and music analyst. Okay Taylor’s team. A lie.
Awful dress. Not quite as awful as the Erdem Sarah Paulson wore at the Tony Awards, but that’s a very low bar. Nothing wrong with being ambitious though, as long as you don’t trample over others to reach your goal.
That brand is usually a miss, imo.
Billionaires shouldn’t exist.
No opinion except for the dress which I think is really great
Rarely comment but every time Taylor comes up many other new commenters pop up. Yeah but she’s so driven. I don’t find it ethical that a well established pop star releases new music every time new younger stars come out. If any other artists did it they would be hammered. Back in their prime Justin Timberlake, Usher, Beyonce and later Adele would try to avoid each other. They certainly never did it purposely. It’s gross
Cute dress. I don’t think it’s bad to be driven, unless you are stomping a lot of people on the way. Strikes me that Taylor competes against herself as much as anyone else.
I don’t like the dress at all.
Not a TS fan and this Toy Story song did nothing to change that. I listened to about 1/2 of it and noped out, not interesting. Each one of the 4 Toy Story movies had an Oscar nominated song so it is kind of a given that a song from this new movie will also get a nod. TBH the only song that I can recall from any of the Toy Story movies, is Randy Newman’s “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”. Iconic.