While Swifties are diving into hints about Matty Healy and Kim Kardashian, others take aim at the pop superstar's song 'I Hate It Here' on which she expresses discontent with living in this current era.
- Apr 20, 2024
AceShowbiz - Taylor Swift's new album "The Tortured Poets Department" has stirred numerous speculations and theories. But while Swifties are diving into hints about Matty Healy and Kim Kardashian, one particular song has raised people's eyebrows with a reference to the 1830s.
On "I Hate It Here", the 14-time Grammy winner sings about how she and her friends are discontent with living in this current era and wanting to live back in the 1830s. "My friends used to play a game where/ We would pick a decade/ We wished we could live in instead of this/ I'd say the 1830s but without all the racists/ And getting married off for the highest bid," she sings.
Social media users were quick to point out that slavery was still legalized in America in the 1830s. Some critics say that the lyrics minimize the struggles of the time, even with the "without all the racists" caveat.
Other listeners pointed out that the 1830s were best known, historically, for the Indian Removal Act and Trail of Tears, in which around 60,000 Native Americans were forcibly displaced from their homes, with many dying in the process. In Europe, it was also the time of a cholera pandemic that claimed tens of thousands more lives.
"There is no way Taylor Swift said she'd like to live in an era where Chattel Slavery was the law of the land and say 'but without the racists.' Like it was some casual microaggressions or something. Is this what we're doing??" one social media user reacted to the song.
Another sarcastically said, "pretty astonishing to stipulate that she wants to live in the 1830s, 'except without the racists,' and not mention slavery, so slavery still exists but everyone's chill about it." A third critic remarked, "Taylor Swift wanting to go back to the 1830s surprised no Black person anywhere."
A fourth critic wondered, "I know I can't stfu abt Taylor Swift but of all time periods WHY THE 1830s??? The most notable event from the time period is the trail of tears like I cannot wrap my head around it? Is this another one of her dumba** codes?"
"To a certain extent I get it like things were extremely simple but 1830's AMERICA WHERE SLAVERY WAS STILL VERY LEGAL WHATS GREAT ABOUT THAT???? That worries me as a black listener and that's why I stepped away," another person added.
Taylor has not responded to the backlash. Besides "I Hate It Here", "The Tortured Poets Department" features "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived", which is speculated to be about her ex Matty, and "thanK you aIMee", which is believed to be about her nemesis Kim.
