Taylor Swift is almost 30, and for fans of her 2006 debut album, the news can make you feel a little old.
The pop star appears on the April 2019 cover of Elle magazine, and she has some stories to share: “30 Things I Learned Before Turning 30.” It’s clear that the singer has come far from her 16-year-old country crooner days, and the list demonstrates a lot of maturity. But there’s one way in which Swift has actually taken a step back.
When she’s talking about love and relationships, for a woman who sings about them with so much angst, Swift is surprisingly astute. “They don’t give out awards for winning the most fights in your relationship. They just give out divorce papers,” she writes under No. 22: “How to fight fair with the ones you love.”
But then, because Hollywood probably threatened to revoke her party invitations, she alluded to politics — thrice.
Last fall, Swift finally “broke her silence” about Washington after remaining politically neutral for years. Outlets had repeatedly speculated about her beliefs, while she had refused to turn her fame into a platform for political punditry. Then, in October, she posted on Instagram about the midterm elections and endorsed a Democrat, Phil Bredesen, for Senate. It’s all been downhill from there.
In her “30 before 30” list, Swift gently begins addressing politics by saying President Trump drove her to drink.
She could’ve at least learned how to make a Moscow mule.
Then, Swift repeats the Kavanaugh confirmation rallying cry: Believe survivors.
In the sense that no sexual assault victim would choose to be a victim, she’s completely right, of course. But the fact is that people occasionally do, for one reason or another, report sexual assault crimes that haven’t been committed. Take the false Rolling Stone story, for example. My impulse is to believe the victim, too, but “believe all survivors” has its limits.
Finally, Swift comes right out and says it. She’s political now.
RIP the apolitical darling. Swift was our last safe haven from celebrity lecturing. Just as she did with her switch from country to pop, she’s taken the safe route. Now she’s just like everybody else.
