Taylor Swift’s fan army does not play around.
The Swifties are a force to be reckoned with.
To them, everything Tay-Tay writes and sings is anointed.
So showing them bad reviews or unkind criticism of the megastar doesn’t always go over well.
Redditor Reasonable-Fold2817 to discuss their experience and get some feedback, so naturally, they came to the “Am I The A**hole” (AITA) subreddit.
They asked:
“AITA for showing my girlfriend some criticism of Taylor Swift’s latest album after she asked for it?”
The Original Poster (OP) explained:
“My G[irl]F[riend] is a big Taylor Swift fan.”
“Last weekend, when we were cuddling, I asked how she liked the latest album (she’d really been waiting for it to drop).”
“She said it was good and asked me how I liked it.”
“I said I hadn’t gotten the chance to listen to it, but I’d just asked because some people were flaming it on X.”
“She asked me about what, I said I wasn’t sure, just that I’d read it when it came across me.”
“She insisted that she wanted to see the posts, so I just showed them to her.”
“She read it, disagreed with a few of them out loud, tried to explain to me why they were wrong, and I just agreed with her.”
“Last night, when we were driving, one of the songs in the latest album came up on her Spotify, and during it, she told me I’d ruined the album and Taylor Swift for her.”
“I thought she was joking, but she was serious.”
The OP was left to wonder:
“AITA for having brought up all the criticism I came across to her?”
Redditors shared their thoughts on this matter and weighed in on some options to the question, AITA:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
Redditors declared that OP was NOT the A**hole.
“NTA. She sounds like a child.”
“‘You ruined _____ for me’ is not the way mature people speak.” ~ floataboveit
“Also, if just hearing critiques of it ruined it for her, then it wasn’t good in the first place, and she was just keeping her mindset of ‘I love Taylor Swift no matter what.'”
“If you actually love something, you’re not going to stop liking it just because other people dislike it.” ~ 100000cuckooclocks
“If a critique ruins something for you, it’s usually because you know the critique is accurate.”
“This girl just asked to have her rose-tinted glasses pulled off and is blaming OP for it.” ~ Arinvar
“She also needs to learn that even if something is bad doesn’t mean you need to stop enjoying it.”
“You can call something bad and still enjoy it.” ~ Erick_Brimstone
“Swifties need to stop acting like everything TS makes is good.”
“I like some of the Taylor Swift songs, but this new album was not it, and that’s okay.”
“There isn’t a single artist on this planet that can make a 10/10 every time.” ~ MizuKumaa
“It is how mature people speak about wanton, aggressive negativity.”
“Either you are correct and the OP’s girlfriend is almost comically immature, or OP is not giving us the full story about his conduct (perhaps unintentionally; he may not even be aware of how he came across).” ~ robilar
“Except she’s the one who asked him to show her the criticisms the album had been receiving.”
“Saying it got ruined for her over this sh*t IS immature.”
“That’s like saying ‘Game of Thrones’ got ruined for you because of the criticisms that Season 8 got instead of coming to your own conclusions by watching the show.” ~ MunderFunder
“There probably is a tendency for people on this subreddit to omit elements of the story that paint them in a negative light, but in this case, OP would need to be actively lying.”
“He (or she – I don’t think it’s specified) says they hadn’t heard the record, mentioned the criticism once, and agreed with her defence.”
“To get to ‘wanton, aggressive negativity,’ you’d need to do more than speculate that something is missing, but flip at least a couple of these to be their polar opposite: OP hated the record, criticized it repeatedly, and/or brushed off her opinion.”
“At that point, we’re not so much assessing the situation described as inventing an entirely new hypothetical.” ~ UrchinJoe
“She specifically asked to read the criticism.”
“That’s on her.”
“You ‘ruined’ nothing. NTA.” ~ wesmorgan1
“Even if she hadn’t: casually saying ‘I didn’t really like X thing for Y reasons’—let alone just casually mentioning that criticism exists at all—can only ‘ruin’ something for an immature person who doesn’t have real taste of their own.”
“I cannot imagine living in such a sheltered media bubble that I never encounter criticism of the things I like, let alone being fragile enough to let that actually affect how I feel.” ~ Tycho_B
“Also, it’s not like it’s some obscure band.”
“Even if you couldn’t care less, there’s a pretty high likelihood you’re going to see something about her album, even if the person you’re dating didn’t show it to you.”
“She’s been stupid famous for almost 20 years.”
“I’ve been hearing her drama second hand since middle school.” ~ transtranselvania
“NTA… and as a Swifty, I am saying NTA.”
“How old is your GF?”
“She sounds very immature.”
“Normal adults can handle criticism of something or someone they like.” ~ No_Preparation_379
“Just want to make sure I understand correctly.”
“Your girlfriend has had an album she enjoyed ‘ruined’ because people she doesn’t know a thing about said the album was bad?”
“She needs to touch grass and get a grip.”
“She should also work on not allowing outside opinions to impact her point of view.”
“NTA, all you did was answer her question, and she would’ve come across similar criticism because I saw fan pages talking negatively about the album.” ~ AbbreviationsOk7954
“Honestly, the fact that a few opinions affected her enjoyment of the album THAT much, that now it’s totally ruined, shows she probably didn’t like it that much in the first place.”
“She’s lashing out because she actually agrees, and she just wanted to blindly love it like everyone else in that God awful fandom.” ~ platonictiddies
“TS fans themselves are flaming this new album.”
“NTA, she was bound to run into the criticism at some point… and if she didn’t, then she’s so far under the Swifty rock that anything but outright praise would ‘ruin’ it for her.” ~ gbriellek
“Lol. When you said ‘she was asking for it’ in the title, I thought you were being figurative, but after reading the post, I see you meant it literally.”
“NTA. Your opinion shouldn’t have that much influence on her enjoyment of the album.”
“If it did, she shouldn’t have asked for criticism.” ~ BigBackeron
“And if she is such a big fan, it is weird some random haters would ruin the entire thing for her.”
“If you really love something that much, some random internet comments wouldn’t ruin it all the way… NTA, OP, girlfriend is being dramatic.” ~ Salt-Improvement-263
“NTA. Seems like her convictions aren’t so strong if strangers on Twitter can ruin it for her.” ~ Forsoothia
“She doesn’t sound old enough to date if this is how she handles interactions.”
“I mean… like it if you like it.”
“Hate if you hate it.”
“Think it’s mid AF if you think it’s mid AF.”
“Don’t crash out because the world doesn’t share your opinion and conform to your expectations.”
“She can’t enjoy something bc she read that someone else didn’t enjoy it… or is she saying she agrees with the criticism and now can’t unhear that it’s mid AF?”
“Either way. NTA.” ~ nasnedigonyat
“NTA – I wouldn’t consider Twitter my go-to for nuanced music criticism, but it’s really weird to blame you for ruining an album.”
“If she liked it before, why does it matter?”
“If you only listen to the music the internet all collectively likes, you’d be left with no music.”
“Even if you take away all the different variants (and billboard cracks down on some of that anyway), it would still be spending its second week at #1.”
“Clearly, a lot of people like this album.”
“She could easily find internet takes that will match her original one.”
“But also, she doesn’t need to like Taylor Swift.”
“There are so many artists out there!”
“If anything, find what she liked about previous Taylor Swift albums, and you can find others like it.”
“Could be a fun thing to do as a couple.” ~ SillyMoose25
“NTA, but I’m guessing that it was a bit of a glass-shattering moment for her where she can’t hear the songs the same way again after certain things are pointed out.”
“She’s being overdramatic, blaming you, she never thought about it when it wasn’t any of the opinions you said, and how she wanted to hear the criticism.”
“I really like Taylor Swift as well, but it’s definitely not my favourite of her albums, and a lot of the criticism about this one is very valid.”
“It’s selling like absolute crazy, though.” ~ M1eXcel
“NTA. People can form their own opinions; just because there was criticism she read doesn’t force her to agree.”
“She can take in what others are saying and then form her own opinion.”
“You didn’t ruin anything.” ~ Embarrassed-Koala242
“NTA. She asked to see them.”
“She’s not that big of a fan anyway, if the opinions of randos on Twitter are enough to ‘ruin’ the album for her.” ~ fairytypefay
“She is being dramatic.”
“You are entitled to your own opinion and don’t have to lie about liking the generic garbage she likes to appease her. NTA.” ~ SuchTutor6509
Reddit is with you, OP.
Your GF is taking this too personally.
You did not have any malicious intention, and Taylor Swift herself will survive any bad critique.
Artists can’t please everybody, all of the time.
You two will be ‘Out of the Woods’ hopefully sooner than later.