Look What We Made Taylor Swift Do
Taylor Swift, the subject of the article, in 2023
AuthorAnna Marks
Cover artistAngie Wang
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SubjectPerceived LGBT connections between Swift's music and her life
GenreOpinion piece
PublisherThe New York Times
Publication date
January 4, 2024
Media typeNewspaper article
OCLC1645522
WebsiteOfficial website

"Look What We Made Taylor Swift Do" is an opinion piece written by the journalist Anna Marks about the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, published in The New York Times on January 4, 2024. The piece argues that "a Sapphic possibility" exists in the music and other works of Swift, who has broadly influenced popular culture and is a ubiquitous topic of coverage and analysis in the mainstream media.

Background

A faction of Swifties known as "Gaylors" have dedicated time to analyzing Taylor's Swifts work. "Gaylors" claim to have found many sapphic lyrics that make them question the true identity of Taylor Swifts' sexuality. Ann Marks explores this in her article and brings to light how these lyrics may represent the sapphic community and why they may be read as LGBT.

Anna Marks, the author of "Look What We Made Taylor Swift Do", is a former The Atlantic journalist who joined The New York Times as an editorial assistant in 2020. In September 2023, Marks was promoted to the position of staff editor.[1]

Article content

Marks' thesis in "Look What We Made Taylor Swift Do" is that "a Sapphic possibility" exists in the work of the titular Swift.[2] Marks traces parts of Swift's career, from the release of her debut "Tim McGraw" single in 2006 through the then-present, and argues that important connections to LGBT topics exist in Swift's work. According to Marks, the music video for "Me!" reflects LGBT imagery and language, Lover features LGBTQ aesthetics, and the lyrics of songs such as "It's Nice to Have a Friend", "Maroon", and "Hits Different" could only be about female muses.[2]

Reception

 Chely Wright Twitter
@chelywright

Agree w/you, @ChrisWillman.

I was mentioned in the piece, so I'll weigh in. I think it was awful of @nytimes to publish.

Triggering for me to read— not because the writer mentioned my nearly ending my life— but seeing a public person's sexuality being discussed is upsetting.

January 7, 2024[3]

Chris Willman Twitter
@ChrisWillman

I've defended the NYT before when they published questionable op-eds... but this was the least defensible op-ed I can remember ever seeing the NYT run, made all the worst by the fact that it was written by a staffer, who specializes in these speculations. https://cnn.com/2024/01/06/business/taylor-swift-new-york-times

January 7, 2024[4]

Responses to Marks' piece were overwhelmingly negative. Among the first critics of the article were associates of Swift, who told CNN Business that "Look What We Made Taylor Swift Do" was "invasive, untrue, and inappropriate", also arguing that a similar piece would not be published about male musicians such as Shawn Mendes.[5] PinkNews journalist Asyia Iftikhar panned the piece for promoting a previously niche conspiracy theory.[6] Chris Willman, the chief music critic at Variety, condemned "Look What We Made Taylor Swift Do" as "the least defensible op-ed I can remember ever seeing the NYT run, made all the worst by the fact that it was written by a staffer, who specializes in these speculations", referencing a 2022 essay by Marks speculating about Harry Styles' sexuality.[7] Lesbian country musician Chely Wright, whose 2006 suicide attempt is discussed in the piece, agreed with Willman and criticized "Look What We Made Taylor Swift Do" for invading Swift's privacy and inappropriately speculating about her sexuality.[8] By contrast, Xtra Magazine's Frankie de la Cretaz defended Marks' piece, and argued that "When you say that queers are doing harm by reading queerness into someone's art, what you're actually saying is that being seen as gay is a negative thing."[9]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ↑ The New York Times Company 2023.
  2. 1 2 Marks 2024.
  3. ↑ Chely Wright [@chelywright] (January 7, 2024). "Agree w/you, @ChrisWillman. I was mentioned in the piece, so I'll weigh in. I think it was awful of @nytimes to publish. Triggering for me to read— not because the writer mentioned my nearly ending my life— but seeing a public person's sexuality being discussed is upsetting" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  4. ↑ Chris Willman [@ChrisWillman] (January 7, 2024). "I've defended the NYT before when they published questionable op-eds... but this was the least defensible op-ed I can remember ever seeing the NYT run, made all the worst by the fact that it was written by a staffer, who specializes in these speculations. https://cnn.com/2024/01/06/business/taylor-swift-new-york-times" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  5. ↑ Darcy 2024.
  6. ↑ Iftikhar 2024.
  7. ↑ Horton 2024.
  8. ↑ Iasimone 2024; Iftikhar 2024.
  9. ↑ de la Cretaz 2024.

Bibliography

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.