Critical contempt of Taylor Swift is belied by her record-shattering commercial acclaim

Published April 25, 2024 9:00pm ET



Despite Taylor Swift earning her first Grammy nomination in 2008 and her first Grammy win in 2010, onetime music tastemaker tabloid Pitchfork didn’t review a single album by Swift until 2015 — when the certified nine-times platinum 1989 was covered by a man.

Although the blog would retroactively go on to review Swift’s past albums more than a decade after their initial, chart-topping releases — without irony, reviewer Maura Johnston would lament that “back then, though, [Swift] had her doubters” — Pitchfork has returned to form.

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