The 'Lover' artist recently opened up about the misogyny she faced early in her career and how things are starting to change.
Taylor Swift isn't going to stand for music industry misogyny any longer.
The best-selling singer -- who recently released her sixth No. 1 album with Lover back in August -- sat down with host Zane Lowe on Apple Music's Beats 1, and revealed her own struggles against sexism and being marginalized for her romantic life from the early days of her career.
"When I was 23 and people were just kind of reducing me to, like, kind of making slideshows of my dating life and putting people in there that I'd sat next to at a party once," Swift shared, recalling that some critics argued that her "songwriting was like a trick rather than a skill and a craft."
For Swift, the media's dismissal of her talents in favor of speculating on her personal life was just a way of trying to diminish her success as a woman in the music business.
"It's a way to take a woman who's doing her job and succeeding at doing her job and making things, and -- in a way -- it's figuring out how to completely minimize that skill by taking something that everyone in their darkest, darkest moments loves to do, which is just to slut-shame," Swift, 29, said. "So now when I see this happening, I can see a headline about a young artist, about a young female artist, about another breakup, and it sends me into a real sad place because I don't want that to keep happening."
"I don't think people understand how easy it is to infer that someone who's a female artist or a female in our industry is somehow doing something wrong by wanting love, wanting money, wanting success," she added. "Women are not allowed to want those things the way that men are allowed to want them, and so I think when I was the youngest, it was hard because I didn't understand why nobody was saying that this was wrong."
The songstress went on to say she now feels an immense appreciation for social upheavals and organized efforts like the #MeToo Movement, because "we're looking at ourselves as a society and we're looking at internalized misogyny. We're looking at the way we treat critiquing women's bodies."
"We have amazing women out there like Jameela Jamil saying, 'I'm not trying to spread body positivity. I'm trying to spread body neutrality where I can sit here and not think about what my body is looking like.' We have made incredible progress. We've made incredible strides," Swift noted. "I can look back at those lessons I learned when I was younger and I really truly don't think I did anything wrong by having a normal dating life in my early 20s."
As for her advice for other young female artists who are just feeling the heat of the intense media spotlight, Swift says it's important to just keep creating your art.
"I tell a lot of new artists and a lot of people who I ended up talking to who are like, 'Hey, so you've been through a lot of things. I'm freaking out, I'm getting my first wave of bad press, what do I do?' And I'm like, 'Do not let anything stop you from making art. Just make things. Do not get so caught up in this that it stops you from making art, [even] if you need to make art about this. But never stop making things,'" Swift shared. "Just keep making things. Like, keep doing what you love and don't get so sidetracked by [the press].
"This is just a part of the ecosystem that we live in now," she added. "If you're going to make things and put them out, we have a whole media industry that needs to talk about things."
Swift has long been supportive of other women in the industry, and she recently showed it with her effusive praise of Selena Gomez for her new song, "Lose You to Love Me."
"I am 100% convinced this is the best thing she's done so far," Swift said of Gomez's new track, and the song's emotional, intimate music video. "She came over, she played me the video. It's just, I'm so proud of her. She's been through so much. I've watched so much happen in her life, and had a front-row seat to so much, and I'm so proud of her, and she is such a revelation because now she's making her best stuff."
"She's just the best, and I'm really excited, because when somebody has had great life experiences, has had really tough things they've had to go through, and they can process that and make art that's going to help other people, that's what kind of song this is," Swift added. "I'm stoked."
Swift herself will soon be getting a lot of love when the 2019 American Music Awards roll around. The superstar is set to be honored with the coveted Artist of the Decade award at the awards show -- where she is also the most-awarded female artist of all time.
Earlier this week, Swift reflected on her career while commemorating the 13th anniversary of the release of her self-titled debut album in a heartfelt message on Twitter.
"I said in an interview 13 years ago 'I'm just hoping that I have a second album that does as well as the first & someday get to be a headliner, & always be the same person that I started out as,'" Swift tweeted, alongside two photos showing a performance early in her career in front of a small gathering juxtaposed with a shot from one of her sold-out arena performances from her Reputation tour.
"Scrolling through your posts has me feeling all the feelings & I want to thank you," she continued. "Because of you, there was a 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th and 7th album. You guys made me into a headliner because you wanted to see me play. And your support all these years is what’s helped me stay true to that kid I was when I started out. #13YearsOfTaylor."
Swift will be honored with the Artist of the Decade award at this year's AMAs, which kick off Nov. 24 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
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