Current:Home > NewsTaylor Swift draws backlash for 'all the racists' lyrics on new 'Tortured Poets' album -Blueprint Money Mastery
Taylor Swift draws backlash for 'all the racists' lyrics on new 'Tortured Poets' album
View
Date:2025-04-15 12:44:54
Taylor Swift released a new album Friday, but not all listeners are loving a controversial line from her new song, "I Hate It Here."
In the track off of "The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology," a deluxe version of her new album, the Eras Tour singer sings about discontent and the way our recollections are distorted by nostalgia. In it, she says she wants to return to an era that ended more than a century before her career began.
"My friends used to play a game where we would pick a decade we wished we could live in instead of this / I'd say the 1830s but without all the racists and getting married off for the highest bid," Swift sings in the track.
What we know about Taylor Swift's'The Tortured Poets Department' album so far
The Civil War began in 1861, more than 30 years after the decade Swift references in the song. Slavery was still active in the United States during this time.
"Everyone would look down 'cause it wasn't fun now seems like it was never even fun back then / Nostalgia is a mind's trick if I'd been there, I'd hate it," she sings. "It was freezing in the palace."
'So many wrong things about this:' Social media users react to Taylor Swift's 'I Hate It Here' lyrics
The controversial line has drawn the ire of the internet and fueled conversations around Swift's lyricism. Users on X, formerly known as Twitter, reacted to Swift's "I Hate It Here" lyrics.
"y’all .. there are so many wrong things about this," one user wrote, while posting a screenshot of the song's lyrics from Genius.
Slavery's explosive growth, in charts:How '20 and odd' became millions
"'I'd say the 1830s but without all the racists' now Taylor …" another user commented.
Other fans on X defended Swift's songwriting capabilities as historical analysis.
"It's an interesting commentary on how we sometimes idealize certain eras without fully considering the realities of living in them," one commenter said.
'The Tortured Poets Department' features 31 songs
Swift's 11th album "The Tortured Poets Department" features 31 songs, when you add in the 15-song deluxe version "The Anthology," which includes "I Hate It Here." The album draws on heartbreak and coming of age, traditional themes for one of the world's most famous people and songwriters.
Lead single "Fortnight" features rapper and singer Post Malone.
veryGood! (51619)
Related
- New Zealand official reverses visa refusal for US conservative influencer Candace Owens
- Rob Dyrdek Applauds “Brave” Wife Bryiana Dyrdek for Sharing Her Autism Diagnosis
- How businesses are deploying facial recognition
- The Bachelor: How Zach's No Sex Fantasy Suites Week Threw Things Into Chaos
- Romantasy reigns on spicy BookTok: Recommendations from the internet’s favorite genre
- Chaos reigns at Twitter as Musk manages 'by whims'
- Kelly Ripa Recalls Past Marriage Challenges With “Insanely Jealous” Husband Mark Consuelos
- Amazon's Affordable New Fashion, Beauty & Home Releases You Need to Shop Before the Hype
- The Daily Money: Spending more on holiday travel?
- Meta reports another drop in revenue, in a rough week for tech companies
Ranking
- Nearly 400 USAID contract employees laid off in wake of Trump's 'stop work' order
- Rob Dyrdek Applauds “Brave” Wife Bryiana Dyrdek for Sharing Her Autism Diagnosis
- U.N. calls on Taliban to halt executions as Afghanistan's rulers say 175 people sentenced to death since 2021
- How Silicon Valley fervor explains Elizabeth Holmes' 11-year prison sentence
- The 401(k) millionaires club keeps growing. We'll tell you how to join.
- WhatsApp says its service is back after an outage disrupted messages
- Detectives seeking clues in hunt for killers of 22 unidentified women: Don't let these girls be forgotten
- Padma Lakshmi’s Daughter Krishna Thea, 13, Is All Grown Up in Glamorous Red Carpet Moment
Recommendation
Former Danish minister for Greenland discusses Trump's push to acquire island
Why Kieran Culkin Hasn't Met Brother Macaulay Culkin and Brenda Song's New Baby Yet
Elon Musk has finally bought Twitter: A timeline of the twists and turns
How likely is a complete Twitter meltdown?
Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
Maryland is the latest state to ban TikTok in government agencies
It's the end of the boom times in tech, as layoffs keep mounting
More than 1,000 trafficking victims rescued in separate operations in Southeast Asia