Taylor Swift Shakes Off Sexism In Hollywood, But Is She Taking A Break From Music?

Taylor Swift has been all over the media spotlight since smashing the Grammy Awards with Album of the Year for 1989. Her acceptance speech made headlines, and she seemed to throw a little shade on certain individuals who have tried to take credit for her fame.

Taylor Swift on the cover for Vogue magazine. Looking absolutely stunning.???? pic.twitter.com/8OSCFXTd6B

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) April 14, 2016

But Swift, who just rocked the cover of Vogue with an almost unrecognizable and slightly flapper-ish platinum-blonde-and-scarlet-lipstick squint, has added a postscript to the message.

“I guess what I wanted to call attention to in my speech at the Grammys was how it’s going to be difficult if you’re a woman who wants to achieve something in her life—no matter what.”

For the one percent of the planet’s population who missed it, Swift was the subject of a new song by Kanye West, in which his lyrics say, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that b**** famous.”

Taylor withheld a response until the Grammy moment was right, and as Hollywood Life described, she then called up 1989‘s co-executive producer Max Martin on stage with her. She used the moment to deliver her message. “And as the first woman to win Album of the Year at the Grammys twice, I want to say to the young women out there, there are going to be people along the way who try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame.”

“But if you just focus on the work and you don’t let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you’re going, you will look around and you will know it was you and the people who love you who put you there, and that will be the greatest feeling in the world.”

Swift said that her fame has been distilled into what she calls, “my incredibly sexist Men-of-Taylor Swift slideshows.”

Taylor has been linked with a string of famous men, including Harry Styles, Conor Kennedy, Jake Gyllenhaal, and John Mayer.

“You know, I went out on a normal amount of dates in my early 20s, and I got absolutely slaughtered for it. And it took a lot of hard work and altering my decision-making. I didn’t date for two and a half years. Should I have had to do that? No.”

One might argue that Swift brought massive attention to her relationships through her own efforts. A lot of her material seemed to revolve around her hookups, even when they were “never, ever, ever, getting back together.”

Nonetheless, Swift is becoming a lion when it comes to speaking out for the underdogs. In June 2015, she famously took a stand against Apple when they wanted to offer an initial three months of free music.

“This is not about me. Thankfully I am on my fifth album and can support myself, my band, crew, and entire management team by playing live shows. This is about the new artist or band that has just released their first single and will not be paid for its success. This is about the young songwriter who just got his or her first cut and thought that the royalties from that would get them out of debt. This is about the producer who works tirelessly to innovate and create, just like the innovators and creators at Apple are pioneering in their field…but will not get paid for a quarter of a year’s worth of plays on his or her songs.”

Based on her request, Apple changed its policy.

Swift has become a force in the industry, and is becoming a force for women’s rights. Now that the 1989 adulation has peaked, Vogue asked the mega-star what is next for her. Swift said she has no idea.

“This is the first time in 10 years that I haven’t known. I just decided that after the past year, with all of the unbelievable things that happened … I decided I was going to live my life a little bit without the pressure on myself to create something.”

But Swift’s friend Lorde assures us that Taylor, like all artists, will never stop creating.

“We talk about this—in order to do good work, write these deeply personal records, we’re constantly in a place of metacognition. Sometimes it can feel like you’re a scholar writing a thesis about your own brain. So I think she’s going to try to pick up some new skills, maybe take courses in something. Tay is a big fan of taking time off until about month two—and then she gets this look in her eyes, and I know all the Dateline and frozen yogurt and mooching around is about to go out the window.”

Ruby, Taylor Swift & Lorde attending Ellie Goulding’s concert at Staples Centre in LA yesterday. pic.twitter.com/tmFs8vgG2D
— Ruby Rose Updates (@RubyRoseInsider) April 9, 2016

Swift admitted this is true.

“I’m always going to be writing songs. The thing is, with me, I could very well come up with three things in the next two weeks and then jump back into the studio, and all of a sudden the next record is started. That’s an option, too.”

(Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)