Album Rating: 1.5

Taylor Swift has never been one for nuance or raw detail. She says just enough to depict a certain feeling / struggle that could translate to many different scenarios and have impacts on a wide variety of people. She certainly can be open about issues she deals with but never goes beyond a cliffnotes explanation.



I’m not trying to be a hater or anything but I’ve always seen Taylor (and moreso Jack Antinoff) as people who play into trends of “what are the kids struggling with these days” and writing around that without actually providing any details. As someone who has dealt with a plethora of mental health and physical issues like body dysmorphia, it’s comes off as shallow.



Not to mention the fact that her singing on this like she couldn’t be bothered putting any power into what she is singing about.

Album Rating: 1.5

Stepping on a scale that says “fat” is actually one of the laziest ways of portraying body dysmorphia and eating disorders.

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

@Colton and @Chan It is, I agree, but again you are missing my point



A heavier 14 year old girl that struggles to lose weight seeing Taylor label herself as "fat" in a video is not going to make that girl feel good



Now is that Taylor's issue? Well that's a tough question. She knows her impact, but she should also be free to feel how she feels. Right back to what MoM was saying on the other page.

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

Exactly vult

so you yourself have had body dysmorphia, and instead of being supportive of people depicting or discussing their struggles, you choose to gatekeep them because you arbitrarily decide they’re not being genuine enough? wow

Album Rating: 2.0

I dunno if I'd say that is true of Antanoff. At least as far as following his own music career, he's quite candid about his lyrics covering the death of his younger sister in numerous songs from Steel Train and Bleachers.



Dealing with GAD myself, I've found some of his expressions quite relatable.



Can't speak on Tay-Tay. I don't follow her much at all. I also know nothing about how it feels to have body dysmorphia, so I can't speak on that either.

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

And on that note I am done trying to explain this lmao

Album Rating: 1.5

No I’m saying it’s not the revolutionary commentary that many people are saying it is. It’s not gatekeeping, it’s critiquing how little effort she herself put in to actually addressing these issues in her own music.

Album Rating: 1.5

She is a worldwide musician with 10 records under her belt and the most she can muster is stepping on a scale that says “fat”? Come on now.

so flagash is saying she went too far in that scene and you’re saying she didn’t go far enough lol

also nobody said it's a revolutionary commentary

Album Rating: 1.5

I didn’t get that impression from what flagash was saying.



And no she doesn’t go far enough. She could actually talk about some raw emotion and go more into detail about WHY she feels this way and HOW she deals with it instead of just being like “yea I think I’m fat”. Taylor Swift skirts around going into too much detail but still gets praise as if she did.

There is more power in context. It allows people to resonate and introspect on why they feel a certain way rather than just acknowledging that they and others deal with it too.

I don’t mean for this to be a heated argument so I’ll stop there but I appreciate the dialogue Colton. Don’t take my opinions the wrong way, they’re just opinions in the end.

Putting a trigger warning on the video seems like the best way to stop twitter from complaining. Not being able to express her own feelings (whether genuine or not, low effort/lazy or not) because some people are going to be sad about themselves is crazy

Album Rating: 2.0

Again, don't think this criticism is actually applicable to Antonoff's art but having watched the Anti-Hero video, it certainly feels like it could have been handled with more care, in my opinion. I do feel like the video's concept really only treats it as a part of a larger picture and I can see how the message could be taken badly.



It's hard to capture the complexity of that in one scene, I feel.

nobody is mad because she didn't capture the complexity of body image disorders thoroughly enough, they're mad because they think that her viewing herself as fat, and that being a bad thing in her mind, is an attack on them personally. if she had gone into more detail, they would only be more offended

Album Rating: 2.0

I'm talking about capturing her feelings in a way that doesn't have a potential mixed message to someone else. It's tough because yeah, on one hand, she's not everyone's babysitter and on the other hand, she's a public figure with a lot of young and impressionable fans.



I'm hesitant to declare anyone's mental health issues as fake. I don't know the person personally so I can only really go on what I know, which is very little. All I know is, that industry seems like hell.

and she's sending a positive message to those young and impressionable fans by showing that even an attractive celebrity can deal with image issues like that, and giving representation to people who deal with the same thing and maybe feel ashamed or alone because of it. in no way is she sending a negative message to young impressionable fans. she's also in her 30s and a lot of her fans are adults

Album Rating: 2.0

I think, evidently, some people aren't going to read it that way but it's tough. I'm sure no harm was actually meant and that their intentions were not to upset anyone but some people may have been.



I suppose there's lessons to be learned. Certainly better that than getting aggressive with one another. Especially given the subject matter.

Album Rating: 1.5

Let them be offended. If she was being more detailed and honest about herself outside of some baseline things, then she would be seen as genuine. She’s just too scared of alienating her young fans and affecting her bottom line.



It’s certainly a tough situation to be in.

Album Rating: 2.0

Mmm not sure. You can be as open and honest as you want and someone will still insist you're lying. Mebtal health stigma is still something a lot of people don't understand, even when it's presented to them as clear as day.

I just love how one person's like "she didn't have to actually show the word "FAT" she could have just stepped on the scale and frowned or something" and someone else is like "she depicted it too lazily she should have gone into more detail" lol guess you can never win