"Look What We Made Taylor Do" is the title of an opinion piece written by Anna Marks that discusses the long-debated subject of Taylor Swift's sexuality. It discusses the potential impact she would have as an openly queer artist and unravels so-called "clues" that Swift may have left in her lyrics and outfits.
But in this case, Marks may need to look at what she did herself, as sources claim Swift and her team are not happy about the piece.
"There seems to be no boundary some journalists won’t cross when writing about Taylor, regardless of how invasive, untrue, and inappropriate it is—all under the protective veil of an 'opinion piece,'" the source said.
In the article, Marks leans heavily on the imagery of the "Lover" era, which involves a lot of pink and purple pastels. She notes that these are in the bisexual flag, which is true, but may be simply coincidental.
"Because of her massive success, in this moment there is a Taylor-shaped hole in people’s ethics," the source added.
Swift has reached a level other artists can only dream of, and was recently named TIME's Person of the Year and Spotify's Global Artist of 2023, and speculation about seemingly every aspect of her life has reached a fever pitch.
The individual close to Swift further linked this to the sexism present when discussing female artists: "This article wouldn’t have been allowed to be written about Shawn Mendes or any male artist whose sexuality has been questioned by fans," they claimed.
However, Marks did write a similar article about popular singer Harry Styles in 2022, titled "Harry Styles Walks a Fine Line," which was also featured in The New York Times.
Styles has also never publicly stated his sexuality and yet has long been the center of speculation.
Fans are largely not impressed with this article, calling for a boycott of The New York Times.
One X user wrote, "Just cancelled my subscription. This article is sexist and grossly inappropriate."
A user commented on the article, "Taylor strikes me as the type of authentic artist who wouldn’t withhold something so central to who she is. Maybe, what you see is what you get. A young woman who is an empathetic ally who has a football player boyfriend."
Swift has been dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce since mid-2023. While this does not rule out her queerness, until now, she has only dated men and only expressed interest in dating men. Perhaps it's time we take her at her word and believe that if she has more to say, she'll say it.
Swift, for her part, has outright spoken about her sexuality and how she is not a member of the queer community.
In her piece, Marks discusses the famous "You Need to Calm Down" music video, which features many LGBT celebrities and symbols.
But when discussing this song and video in an interview with Vogue in 2019, Swift stated, "I didn’t realize until recently that I could advocate for a community that I’m not a part of."
This may sound like an obvious thing to realize, but it isn't for everyone. Many fear that they will be accused of queerbaiting or using a movement for their own gain, or perhaps that it will lead to assumptions like in this New York Times article.
Swift has also recently discussed her sexuality in the new prologue for1989 (Taylor's Version), where she discussed her famous girl squad of this era, which was heavily criticized.
"If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn’t sensationalize or sexualize that—right?" Swift said. "I would learn later on that people could, and people would."
She can't really be much more clear on the subject, so let's hope that fans and the media take a lesson from the backlash to this article and don't become the subject of more Swiftie "Karma."
