When I was six years old, my older cousin, who I thought (and still do to this day) was the coolest person ever, sat down with me on her bedroom floor and told me about her favorite singer’s new album. We then listened to the entirety of Speak Now by Taylor Swift and, long story short, the rest is history. I’ve been a Swiftie pretty much my entire life.  

When Taylor announced her twelfth album, The Life of a Showgirl (TLOAS), on her now-fiancé’s podcast, I was ecstatic. It was already making history before its release with a record-breaking number of pre-saves, and when its release at midnight on October 3rd came around, I was one of the millions immediately streaming. I spent the next hour sending my friends and cousin my reactions — I loved it immediately. I was floored by the lead single, “The Fate of Ophelia,” and it quickly became one of my favorite songs of hers yet. The rest of the album kept me entranced as well, with stunning vocals, fun beats and a diverse set of lyrics between songs. I found it, simply put, a fun album. I eventually fell asleep that night (after three consecutive listens), still humming the new tunes.  

I woke up the next morning to the internet having ruled it as “her worst album.”

This is nothing new. Over my years as a Swiftie, I’ve noticed a pattern. Every new album brings haters crawling out of the woodwork to call it awful. And I mean every album. The internet will find something wrong with it, no matter what she does. Fearless was criticized for having too many co-writers, so she wrote Speak Now alone, only to have it dubbed “too poppy for a country artist,” so she made the shift to pop with Red and 1989, only to be called a “wannabe pop star.” The list goes on for each album. Most recently, her eleventh album, The Tortured Poets Department, was highly criticized as being “too wordy and hard to follow,” and now that she writes an album with “simpler” lyrics, they’re called “cheap and shallow.”  

To that specific critique, I say… have you listened to the lyrics? Calling them cheap and shallow is far from the truth. Sure, some of the songs are satirical (“Wood”) and the deeper meanings are masked by a pop beat, but a large portion of TLOAS features personal lyrics about her life (“Ruin the Friendship”) and her experiences and insecurities in the industry (“Elizabeth Taylor”). Other critics call it “millennial cringe.” And I admit, some of it definitely is. But to Swifties, that is a part of her charm; she’s always been unapologetically herself. Laugh at it and move on. 

I’ve noticed another pattern in my years as a Swiftie. After the initial hate for an album, the internet switches up. The Tortured Poets Department ended up breaking so many records that I lost track. After being released for about a month, I can see the switch-up on TLOAS. Songs are trending, even one of my own friends who initially didn’t enjoy it came up to me and said, “Yeah, I was wrong. There are some bangers on the tracklist.”  

This all shows this odd phenomenon of it being “cool” and “trendy” to hate Taylor Swift. Newsflash: it’s not. Nobody cares if you’re a hater. You’re just being trapped by society’s opposition to a successful and independent woman.  

If you found yourself saying The Life of a Showgirl is bad, maybe you just don’t know how to have fun. Because at the end of the day, that’s what the album is: a fun love letter to her experience as a figure in the music industry.  

I’m joking with that previous statement, but in all seriousness, nobody is forcing you to listen to Taylor Swift. If you don’t like it, don’t listen. One of my favorite things about Taylor is her diverse catalog of music. Try a different album; I can guarantee you’ll find at least one song you’ll like.