Along with the 70s rock and 90s grunge I was raised on, I had always loved Taylor Swift’s music. She symbolized all things girlhood; getting all dressed up, crying over boys, and scream singing in your bedroom with your girl friends. Her music provided an escape from the more serious aspects of life, it provided a community for everyone but especially for girls of all ages.

The girl-centered empire she built for herself made her something of a feminist icon in pop culture. She wrote empowering lyrics like “I’m so sick of running as fast as I can, wondering if I’d get there quicker if I was a man” and “If a man talks [expletive] then I owe him nothing, I don’t regret it one bit cuz he had it coming” that soon became anthems for girls everywhere.

Coming from a 2000s country background, Swift was never very vocal when it came to politics. “The number one thing they absolutely drill into you as a country artist, and you can ask any other country artist this, is ‘Don’t be like the Dixie Chicks,’” she said once in an interview, referencing when their lead singer, Natalie Maines, told a London crowd she was “ashamed the President of the United States [George W. Bush] is from Texas.”

Swift’s Miss Americana documentary was the first real look we got into her beliefs. A portion of the documentary follows her as she debated speaking out during the 2018 Tennessee midterm elections against Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn. Taylor stressed her need to be “on the right side of history”, saying, “It’s really basic human rights, and it’s right and wrong at this point.” Her point to be on the right side of history was furthered with the release of her song “You Need to Calm Down” off of her Lover album. This song called out homophobic behavior, telling people they “need to calm down” and “shade never made anybody less gay,” and its music video featured many icons in the LGBTQIA+ community.

Swift continued to use her platform and massive following to promote liberal causes, endorsing Biden and Harris and telling Trump that we were going to vote him out. For a while it seemed like this superstar was using her unprecedented influence to promote acceptance and love and to fight against facism, but recently this is beginning to seem like wishful thinking.

I will admit I was excited for her 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, the promotional material made it look like a dark and theatrical album, with some influence from the musical Chicago and maybe even some 1920s jazz. When I first began listening to it, however, I noticed that not only did it not fit the anticipated aesthetic musically and lyrically, but there were some concerning overarching themes.

Initial listens showed some juvenile and relatively pointless but seemingly harmless lyrics, but as with many things, the deeper you dove into them, the more suspicious they became. Tracks like “Actually Romantic”, “Wi$h Li$t”, and “CANCELLED!” quickly fell under fire as fans dug deeper into the lyrics, pulling out references to tradwife culture, the pitting of female celebrities against each other, and Swift’s own problematic friend group.

These narratives stand in stark contrast to the Taylor Swift we used to know. That Taylor supported all women, encouraged girls to work for their dreams, and fought hard to be “on the right side of history.” Fans began questioning where her values truly stood, but the lyrics remained ambiguous enough and Swift herself never made any sort of public statement so everything remained speculative.

That was until her silence became the answer.

The Trump Administration has a long history of using popular songs in their social media posts, almost always without the consent of the artist. (For further information on this, I suggest reading Artists Object to Trump Administration’s Use of Their Music by my wonderful friend Emily Evans) Time after time, artists fired back by calling Trump out, removing their music from his videos, or ordering cease-and-desists. Then on November 3, 2025, the White House put out a TikTok using Swift’s song “The Fate of Ophelia”, using the lyrics “pledge allegiance to your hands, your team, your vibes” and showing images of the flag, Donald Trump and JD Vance, and the US military with the caption “our vibes.” This video was quickly followed up with a video using Swift’s song “Father Figure” and the lyrics “this empire belongs to me” with the caption “this empire belongs to @President Donald J Trump”.

Fans waited and waited for Swift to tear him apart, she’s no stranger to lawsuits after all, primarily when it comes to her copyright, but it never came.

People may try to argue that maybe she isn’t aware of it (which is fairly impossible) or she doesn’t want to get involved (which would still be bad), but ultimately we should harken back to the quote “Your silence becomes violence when your voice is what the world longs for,” often attributed to Martin Luther King Jr.

After years of speaking out for women and members of the LGBTQIA+ community and backing democratic candidates, Swift is radio silent in a time where our voices matter more than ever (except for going on TV to talk about how her boyfriend plays “violent chess”). It poses the question, why are we still defending her?

Obviously we can’t discredit the nostalgia factor, the special connection people have with her music and the way she has changed people’s lives for the better. We don’t have to vilify her music or refuse to listen to it. We just need to ask ourselves why we’re defending her actions like she’s a close personal friend of ours. I won’t get into parasocial relationships as that is a conversation for a whole separate article, but it’s important to judge her for the actions we know, not the intentions we speculate.

Ultimately she is a billionaire popstar with an environmental footprint that even her classic Louboutins can’t contain and a massive platform she isn’t using to bring about any real change for the groups she’s always claimed to care so much about. So it really begs the question, is Taylor Swift really still “on the right side of history”? Or was she only ever trying to be when it benefitted her?