When Taylor Swift released her twelfth studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl,” in October, the album sparked record streams as well as an onslaught of criticism. While a portion of the online discourse it provoked was centered around whether or not the album was actually good, a parallel wave of attacks accused Swift and the album of promoting ultra-right-wing ideology.
Users across platforms claimed that the song “Wi$h Li$t,” in which Swift sings about her only wish being to settle down, was an implicit endorsement of MAGA values, even though the singer had publicly endorsed Trump’s opponent, former vice President Kamala Harris, in the 2024 election. Some even claimed that a line in the song, in which Swift sings “have a couple kids, got the whole block looking like you” in reference to her fiancé, football player Travis Kelce, had white supremacist connotations.
Accounts also claimed that the lines “I’m not a bad bitch, and this isn’t savage” in the song “Eldest Daughter” and “sleepless in the onyx night, but now, the sky is opalite” from the song “Opalite” were racist digs at Kelce’s ex-girlfriend, who is black.
Other posts even claimed that a necklace merch with lightning bolts on it was actually a Nazi dog-whistle for vaguely resembling “SS.”
Now, according to new research from behavioral intelligence startup GUDEA, at least a good chunk of these online attacks were spurred by inauthentic social media accounts in what looks to be a coordinated attack on Swift’s...
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