Taylor Swift has been hailed as a champion for women; her hit song “The Man” almost serves as a feminist testament to such. “I’m so sick of running as fast as I can,” she sings, “wondering if I’d get there quicker if I was a man.” Miss Americana has even spoken out about sexism concerning her songs being about her ex-boyfriends: “I think frankly that’s a very sexist angle to take.” But how strongly do these progressive claims hold up in her active support of other women in the industry?

The Tortured Poets Department Release

On April 19, Swift released her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD). Hours after its release, Swift expanded the album into a double album with the second half dubbed The Anthology. Despite mixed reviews, the album proceeded to break records, many of which Swift herself had previously set. As of June 21, TTPD has served 8 weeks at Number 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Regardless of this album’s success, many speculate that Swift may be trying to beat the record for most consecutive weeks at number one, a record currently held by The Beatles at 132 weeks. Swift herself recently beat the number two artist, Elvis Presley with 67 weeks, for a second-place number of 77—a number that is continuously growing.

While this milestone is undoubtedly an understandable ambition for anybody in the music industry, Swift’s actions have people wondering how much of a feminist she really is.

Charli XCX and Brat

English popstar Charli XCX released her sixth studio album Brat on June 7. Her highest trending and most commercially successful album to date, Brat should have topped the charts in the UK—and it almost did. 

Unexpectedly on Thursday, June 13, Swift released six deluxe reissues of TTPD available only in the UK, each of which contained different live versions and exclusive voice memos. These albums were only available for five hours—until the very end of the tracking week for the album charts. This release brings the total number of TTPD variants to a whopping 34. Brat did not debut at number one, and TTPD stayed in first place.

Billie Eilish and Hit Me Hard and Soft

Swift’s timing with Charli XCX’s release isn’t the only time in recent months that the former has seemingly upended another artist. When Billie Eilish’s newest album Hit Me Hard and Soft came out on May 17, Swift then released more TTPD content. This release included three new digital download variants of TTPD and a new CD version with four deluxe CD variants, each of which contains a new song exclusive to only that version of the album. Die-hard fans could be expected to want every version, thus skyrocketing overall album sales.

A week later, Swift again released three more deluxe versions of TTPD, blocking Eilish from the top spot again.

Swift and “White Feminism”

While these claims are simply that, there is an obvious trend surrounding Swift with the concept of feminism. By effectively blocking other female artists from achieving career milestones—such as Swift is accomplishing herself—one has to wonder if Swift is intentionally trying to pit one female artist against another. 

This leads to the idea of “white feminism,” a type of feminism that focuses solely on white women and ignores the struggles of marginalized women. Swift embodied this with her fling with The 1975 frontman Matty Healy, whom songs on TTPD are rumored to be about. 

In early 2023, Healy laughed at mocking comments on The Adam Friedland Show about rapper Ice Spice, who is black and Dominican. This, coupled with Healy’s own comments regarding the fetishization of black women, caused fans and haters alike to immediately deem him as racist. When Swift started to be connected with him, she herself faced backlash for associating with someone who others saw as openly racist.

Swift never commented on the allegations and her connection with the singer. She rather collaborated with Ice Spice on a song on the former’s album Midnights. 

Though I myself am not a Swiftie by any means, I have always been able to appreciate her for what she is: an artist. However, with the various controversies surrounding her, it is easy to see where even the most basic supporters are struggling to keep Swift rotating in their playlists. With the upcoming album releases of Post Malone’s F-1 Trillion on August 16 and Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet on August 23—both friends of Swift with Malone scoring a feature on TTPD—it will be interesting to see how Swift handles more potential dethroning.