Used art to escape: Taylor Swift on ‘hate frenzy’ during Reputation era

Singer Taylor Swift has opened up about being on the receiving end of what she described as a “hate frenzy” and how her album Reputation became a way for her to channel that experience into music. Reflecting on the 2017 album during a conversation at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, Swift said people had deliberately misunderstood and misinterpreted her during that phase of her life.

Speaking with Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. for The Icon Sessions with Taylor Swift: A 20-Year Retrospective, Swift said the Reputation era was “a time in my life when, for the very first time, not the last — people had really actively tried to misunderstand me, just in general, and to misunderstand what I was trying to say and to purposely misinterpret it.”

Swift explained that when a public figure becomes the target of collective hate, attempts to defend or explain oneself can often make things worse.

She said, “When people are in a hate frenzy about a public figure or anyone, like your daughter in a middle school class, where people decide that we are going to stand around someone and point and mock them. You cannot respond without keeping that sincerity. Like any attempts made to explain yourself, your sincerity will just be mocked, even worse.”

For Swift, the experience created an interesting creative challengewhich ultimately shaped the way she approached Reputation. Rather than trying to explain herself directly, she chose to turn the hostility into something more playful and self-aware through her music.

Looking back at the album today, Swift said she remains particularly proud of how she handled that difficult period.

“I’m very proud of it when I look back on it. I think the things that I look back on now is when I’ve gone through something that was sort of an attempt to drive me insane — when you don’t allow that to happen, and you use art and music as a way to like, barrel roll out of that, those are the moments I’m the most proud of.”

While concluding her conversation, Swift had a message for the next generation of songwriters. Sharing advice with young musicians in the audience, she urged them to keep showing up, embrace collaboration and, above all, hold on to their enthusiasm.

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