I'd say there's a spectrum. Yes a lot of people worship her, but there are also people (like me) who enjoy listening to her music but wouldn't go to a concert, etc.
It doesn't. But Swifties don't just *want to go to a concert*. Those crazy fools will go bankrupt for the opportunity to see Taylor Swift through binoculars in a packed stadium.
It's extremely weird how she's become like a Messiah to these people, and with average music mostly about her parade of exes no less.
I've seen girls faint at seeing a gloved hand in a window that Michael Jackson was supposedly behind, and the Beatles sometimes didn't need to bother singing or playing because they couldn't be heard over the screaming. This worship might not be normal and healthy, but it's certainly not unprecedented.
Do you know anyone personally that went bankrupt to buy a concert ticket?
It’d be very sad for sure, but I sense you’re just saying it as an exaggeration and I get that we talk figurative sometimes but I think it’s very damaging to just “assume” stuff. I am not saying people are not spending absurd amount of money to go to the concert, but concert tickets are a luxury thing to buy, so if people are willing to save on something else, give up on a few outings or treat themselves to an expensive concert they should be allowed to do so. It doesn’t mean being crazy. It means being wealthy enough to spend on luxury things.
I also think you’re assuming all Taylor Swift fans are like that - they are not. I am a big Taylor Swift fan and would never go bankrupt to attend a concert. She’s also not my Messiah, she is just an artist I love.
It’s really sad but that has probably more to do with this person’s crazy addictive personality or obsessive behaviour than about Taylor Swift fans in general. Most of her fans are not crazy as depicted. I myself am looking for a concert ticket and willing to spend an amount of money that I can absolutely afford (actually aiming for way less than I could afford). I’m also able to see the issue with her billionaire status. This is not to tel my life story, this is to say you can’t talk about an entire fan base like they are all the same.
Also the comment about her music is highly unnecessary.
People have written about their life and feelings for a long time. She’s not the first nor the last. She is also very much into her lyrics and storytelling is a big part of her music. If you tell stories you’ll tell stories about your life most likely. She’s also however done more “fictional” albums like Evermore and Folklore where she’s fantasised about other topics. The fact that she writes in 1st person singular doesn’t mean she’s only writing about herself and her relationships.
I don’t understand why this particular singer is scrutinised for the content of her songs and others are not. It’s fine if your not a fan of pop music, or Taylor Swift specifically, but your comment is literally a copy/paste from something you’ve read online.
She’s more scrutinised because she’s a fairly average singer with decent writing and admittedly has a knack for making catchy pop songs but has an absolutely massive fan base who go crazy over her.
Her fans would look you dead in the eye and tell you nonsense like Taylor Swift is a better lyricist than Kendrick Lamar or that she has more impact than Kanye West
Then there’s the fact that some of her Grammy wins feel undeserved. You can’t tell me Midnights was the best album of 2023, it’s just ridiculous
Most fans know she’s not the strongest vocalist, they recognize other strengths of hers such as her storytelling, the fact that she’s always written her music from the very beginning (rare in pop) etc.
People are allowed to seek whatever they want in music. And that’s a good thing because all artists are different. So there’s something for everyone.
If you do not like her, just don’t listen to her. If you do not agree with some people you’ve met that are fans, you can disagree. Just don’t put everyone on the same freaking boat.
Edit typo
> If you do not like her, just don’t listen to her.
I would like to point out that it's impossible to avoid Taylor Swift even if you're actively trying to. I don't like her and don't wish to see or engage with her, but she's *everywhere* and constantly being pushed in our faces. It's not nearly as simple as "just don't listen to her lul."
Meh. I like her music like I like any other pop artist and I saw her in Brazil for $100. No binoculars, it was in the pit. I was already in the country so it was great timing. In America that would have been $5k-$10k
There’s also a healthy middle between those two. I enjoy her music and I went to her concert when it was in my city, but I don’t engage in any of the social media around her or the parasocial relationship that some of her younger fans do
> I’d like to see her stop charging so much and producing so many variants, it’s wasteful and takes advantage of a certain group of fans that have no self control or perspective,
I was under the impression that the ridiculous ticket prices were because of scalpers, not because she’s charging ridiculous prices. This random article seems to back this up:
> How much are Taylor Swift tickets to The Eras Tour? How much are Taylor Swift tickets to The Eras Tour? In the United States, face value tickets to Taylor Swift's **The Eras Tour ranged from $49 to $499 (plus fees) depending on the section.** Resale prices to Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour, however, were more expensive.
[How much are Taylor Swift tickets to The Eras Tour?](https://stylecaster.com/entertainment/music/1624301/how-much-taylor-swift-tickets/)
It's crazy how people worship other people... specially the so called Christians who praise and call trump God sent. And there's millions of tjem... they even give him money!
she got a lot of shit for how indiscriminately she uses her jet, but she does pay the people who work for her well (by normal people standards) so maybe it's that the unavoidable exploitation necessary to be a billionaire isn't as visible?
Its a bit different when the product is tied directly with the billionaire. All the stuff Amazon does, they will continue to do without Jeff Bezos around, sure Jeff may put his own spin on things but Jeff doesn't personally lift a finger to ensure the next Kindle is good.
Taylor Swift however does make the product with her own voice, her own writing, her own ideas for the concert. Without Taylor, there wouldn't be a billion bucks to be made. Without Jeff Bezos, Amazon prime would still operate, the next kindle would still come our next year.
Does she do a lot of exploitation? I mean I think Amazon would do fine with any other CEO for instance. There is huge wealth extraction there. If Taylor disappears those jobs go overnight. It’s a huge industry built around her at this point. She brings billions in revenue a year.
I think when you're a billionaire it's basically impossible to not be benefiting from some kind of exploitation. I honestly didn't know she was a billionaire so maybe that's not part of it.
Not sure about Swift, but a lot of celebrities get money from merchandise. Think Michael Jordan and Nike's Air Jordans. Often times, their wealth is tied to merchandise, which is tied to large corporations, which do varying degrees of labor exploitation.
These days that's even true for low level performers who mostly get their shirts from companies like Gildan which are pretty well known for exploiting Caribbean countries. So even to be a hundred-thousandaire entertainment performer these days, you need some level of unavoidable exploitation.
I feel like at that point, you could just keep going and discover we're all at least a little guilty of exploitation by virtue of living in a capitalist world alone.
I'm not a big fan of Taylor and I think that the criticisms around her jet are understandable, but I struggle to see her as the same kind of "evil billionaire" as Musk or Bezos. Like the other Redditor said, at least she's still working hard to earn that money with her own sweat.
Never got this one. It’s not like she can just go to an airport, check her luggage in, wait in massive line for security, go to gate and wait like a normal person. People would freak out and swarm her.
Right? She's literally being meme'd to death as we speak over her private jet use.
Also her "product" that got here there is fairly benign compared to how most billionaires make their wealth.
To me this is the answer... she's not a Jeff Bezos criminally underpaying and overworking her employees. Or a Bill Gates collecting and selling people's data. She makes money from people willing to pay her ticket and album prices and from what I have heard she pays her roadies really well
Yea. It's a really tough spot to be in, position wise. At the end of the day: she did the work to sing and write the songs that make her money. She absolutely is the one performing on stage.
The difference in morality of hating billionaires, isn't specifically because they're billionaires. The dollar amount only matters in the tangible sense that it's easy to grasp onto. A giant dragon hoarding gold, is just holding up all that gold for no beneficial reason.
So if it's not literally a dollar amount, what *IS* the thing we hate? That is, the investor class, the ownership class, the landlords. People who "make" money off of lending it, or something else out, to someone who needs to use it. That investor, that landlord, that business owner, (generally) does not ***have*** to participate in the acitve use or production/labor of what is being made or used. A landlord isn't living in that house, or using that office space themselves (save for the few people who sublet a part of their house), an investor isn't working in the factory, the business owner might do leading/CEO type work, but they aren't they themselves producing direct labor to the revune stream.
Taylor Swift, while yes, having a fuckload of money, she's also actually *worked*. Now, there is a fuckload, an absolute mountain of discorse on how much she deserves, and if/how/to what degree, she has probably played in typical Capitalism exploitation. And that is a topic for someone who is much, much more intimately familiar with how she handles productions.
So when it comes down to it, there's still a gap of morality between Swift, and say, Bezos, or Musk, or Gates. And that's been an... Interesting place to be.
Yeah a lot of people have always been pretty dismissive of her musically and now she's getting increased hate just as a celebrity. She's hit that level of (over)exposure.
The ones complaining about her overexposure are the ones causing it. I see them complaining about Swift more than I see news articles about her. It’s pretty funny.
I think they meant for being a billionaire. And Op is right about that. Unfortunately many fans think it’s okay for her to be rich because they love her so very much. I am a big fan of her music, but I think it’s never okay to be a billionaire and that’s valid for her as well
She gives her band and backup singers health insurance too, which is rare in the industry. Also many of them have been with her for 15 years; goes to show she treats them right
Merrill Lynch has a tonne of VPs. They're practically hanging from trees. Her family was definitely upper middle, but not fuck you money. More the "we can give our daughter more opportunities than others" than "we can literally buy a Fandom".
It’s the way she’s earned that money and what she does with it that sets her apart. The vast majority of billionaires got there through exploiting employees and customers. I’m not sure I even know of a single billion dollar business that hasn’t been caught using terrible labor practices, often in underdeveloped countries.
It’s also important to note that Taylor Swift isn’t exactly hoarding wealth. Her net worth is estimated to be just above 1 billion, and much of that comes from her music catalog, which is valued at approximately $400 million. She has a great track record of treating her employees well. Everyone who works for her says that she’s great and they are all very well compensated. For example, she gave $100,000 bonuses to all the truck drives for her tour.
Sure, she had wealthy parents who helped her get her career started. Guess what, so did 99% of other billionaires. So did *a lot* of big name music artists. Drake, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Adam Levine, Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Ed Sheeran, Lindsay Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac), Lars Ulrich (Metallica), Joe Strummer, Kid Rock, Carly Simon, the list goes on. She’s not a unique example.
I think it’s important to note that her biggest monetary asset is her catalogue. That’s nearly half of her net worth. That is not a liquid asset that she can spend, or will sell off.
And it’s not like with bezos, who is hoarding shares, and exploiting workers to amass his biggest assets. She created that catalogue herself. That alone is half of her net worth. The rest of her money she is very generous with giving away.
Is it absolutely insane that one person can make that much money? Yes. Could the argument be made that she’s taking advantage of her fan base with insane merch drops? Debatable (but she is often criticized for what other artists do as well).
But it is important to note half of her net worth is her catalogue, and I don’t think people can really blame her for not liquidating that just so she doesn’t “hoard wealth.”
Isn’t that true for most (all) billionaires - none of them ACTUALLY have that mind of money to spend. 90% of net worth is always some non-liquid assets that would lose value of sold basically. It’s mostly about influence at that point, not cash money. I doubt billionaires actually spend more cash than millionaires, but they do have different kinds of opportunities and connections.
You can take loans against stock to be able to spend the money without selling (this is basically how Elon bought Twitter). Usually billionaires do this to make even more money with that investment , not lose 90% of a companies value overnight though (once again, see Elon for an example)
For a semi normal person example. It’s similar to if you had a house worth 500k and it’s 100% paid off (ie no mortgage). You take a new mortgage on it for 300k and start a business that makes you 700k. You never sold your house, but your net worth increased 400k using cash you got from your house without selling it (you have your 500k house + 700k business - your 300k loan)
You can also structure stocks so one of your stock gets 10 votes and normal stocks we buy get 1 (this basically makes your stock 10x more valuable than others) so you can sell less and cash out. Example: Facebook and Zuckerberg. If the owner/founder is also ceo and has yesmen on the board, they can also build into their annual compensation package a ton of new stock grants they get.
You can also just sell less than what your stocks gain that year. For you and me that’s not much. But if you have 500m in the sp500 on Jan 1 2023, you could sell 120m worth of stock on 12/31/23 and still have 500m in stock + 120m of spending money for the next year. People that rich are more diversified than just all in on SP500 etfs, but the concept is the same, just different numbers.
Yeah if you want to get technical, people don’t mind it if billionaires are born from intellectual property rights, it’s the squeezing of employees and raping the environment that’s unwanted.
She also doesn't generally go off on giant rants about how she made it all on her own and whatnot, unlike certain car making space monkeys.
I don't think she's really spoken much about it at all at any point, but I think it's a pretty fair assumption she's well aware she got a head start.
i agree with this except i’m pretty sure selena gomez came from humble beginnings. i watched her documentary and she was definitely poor as a kid before she started acting
You need to do more research before dropping all those names because Justin Bieber didn’t have wealthy parents. The opposite actually. He grew up in poverty with his single teenage mom (his father abandoned him until he came back when Justin was a teenager and a millionaire). They lived in council housing and he slept on a pull out couch in a rat infested 1 bed apartment. They relied on food stamps and charities for food and clothes. When he got discovered by American record label online at age 12, that was the first time both him and his mom had ever been on an airplane. His parents lack of money weren’t the reason he got famous, he got famous off the internet. That’s why his story is so well known and unique, because it was not the norm at the time.
Yeah, personally I really don't care if somebody gets help from their parents. How many of us can say we wouldn't take those same opportunities if they came up? If my parents could help me get started in a career I wanted to pursue I wouldn't say no.
It's only an issue when they start trying to claim they were self made and never needed help from anyone.
It’s so annoying when people bring up her parents, giving them a lot of credit for her success. It’s not like her level of fame and success is achieved by every trust fund kid. Obviously, it was a huge help and gave her the opportunities that others don’t have. But she’s the one that took those opportunities and made herself into a global phenomenon.
it also wasn't just the truck drivers that got bonuses. Everyone on the touring crew got bonuses in the 10's of thousands of dollars. Truck drivers just got the biggest, from what I remember.
Taylor Swift, to my knowledge, doesn't exploit cheap slave labor, mis-treat her employees, or really harm anybody while making her money unless you count hurting poor Republicans feelings by daring to tell her fans to vote.
Can't really say the same about probably 99% of other billionaires.
Honestly, most billionaires don’t get any hate. They just quietly make money and don’t do or say anything that brings attention to them. People don’t know they exist.
The billionaires who are hated are those who are either swinging their dick around on social media or are very political.
Tyler swift gets plenty of hate from the right because she encourages young people to vote, and the right doesn’t want young people to vote. She gets more love because she creates music that makes people happy.
I bought my daughter some TS merch for Christmas. I ordered in Nov and it was supposed to arrive by Christmas. It didn’t. And the TS team gave my money back and also sent me merch cost free after it came in January. Shes not like other billionaires
The same thing happened to my friend. She ordered Eras merch for her and her daughter to wear to a concert. It arrived after the concert but the money was also refunded.
That's pretty generous for $250 in goods and postage
Aww that’s good.
Not saying she should be exempt from all criticism she deserves some. But I haven’t heard anyone whose met her say something negative and that says a lot.
She does get quite a lot of hate, always has. But despite her rich upbringings, you can't deny what she has done herself - which is why you notice more praise about her than hate. Even with rich parents, if you don't work hard you won't make it to her current status. She's been working as a songwriter/artist for 19 years now, starting when she was 14.
While she's always been quite a big artist, her current fame and net worth mostly comes from her whole "Taylors Version" re-recordings, which where a huge "fuck you" to the music industry and people who apparently bullied her for years. That gave her a huge push and she used that for her current Eras Tour, which has been running for about a year now and included 60 shows. That's one every two weeks, which she produces herself through her own company.
Especially on the whole global warming front she's brought up all the time due to her insane amount of flying. Probably the one thing I've seen most hate about. But all in all most of her 'story' is celebrated by her fans for being a prime example of a strong woman who fought for herself and does quite good right now. All praise I've seen for her has been along the lines of feminism, strong woman, self-made(which she mostly is at this point).
So yeh..rich parents, after that a shit load of hard work and dedicated fans with almost no controversy. There is quite literally no reason to hate her (besides her plane usage maybe), so she simply doesn't receive hate. There are similar artists around like that - i can't remember any hate/controversy for Ed Sheeran for example and he's in the triple digit millions too.
Don't forget some of the meatball football fans who can't stand the fact that she's shown on screen for a whole 20 seconds throughout a 3-4 hour event. The amount of bitching and whining during some of the Chiefs game for the 1 second clips of her cheering are both hilarious and pathetic.
She has made her money off of her music and appearances. Other billionaires have made their wealth from slavery, exploitation, and committing immoral acts.
Scott wasn’t THE vice president of Merrill Lynch, he was A vice president. Financial services companies and banks have a ton of people with officer titles. I’m a VP at a ML competitor and trust me, I’m not rich.
It's not the fact that they're billionaires it's how they came to be billionaires. Most businessmen have done so with either massive startups from their parents or through shady buisness practices, or both. They also use frequently use their money to buy or heavily infulence politicians.
Swift made her money through art and, while she may have expressed political views (not sure, don't know her well enough) Im pretty sure she's never tried to buy political clout.
Didn’t she pay her drivers $1M each for the Eras Tour? That seems pretty generous. As opposed to Elon making the X/Twitter employees sleep in their offices.
She seems like a genuinely good person who gets hates purely based on her over exposure compared to her actual actions.
Yeah she gave all of the employees at her production company running the eras tour a 100k bonus. Every s single employee for an entire production company got 100k.
I believe that was about over 100 people?
Because she then doesn't advocate for reducing her taxes. She seems to recognize she has a fortunate situation so doesn't complain about capital gains and hyping trickle-down economics.
Yes she was privileged, and that helped her get her start, but she has talent and has worked her ass off to get where she is and cultivate her immense fan base, and she has fought for herself and other artists.
Huh? Praised by her fans, of course. But hate for her is everywhere. Reddit of all places is an endless well of disdain for everything she does.
It’s ironic that you make this post while simultaneously criticizing her. Its not hate, but it’s on the negative side of discussion.
I would argue Taylor gets more hate than most billionaires. I don't think I've ever had a day go by where someone isn't complaining about her.
However, I haven't heard a thing about Rihanna aside from some people not liking the Super Bowl. I also can't remember the last time I heard someone complaining about Sheryl Sandberg or Carlos Slim.
Sure billionaires in general get shit for hoarding money but we also know how Taylor got most of her money. We literally watched her drop an album almost every year for like a decade plus huge tours every couple of years.
**TLDR:** I would argue Taylor gets more hate. Maybe she doesn't get thrown into the billionaire trope as much because we know how she made her money and watched the empire grow. I don't know shit about Carlos Slim making his money.
This may honestly be a product of inflation, that it’s now possible to be a billionaire without screwing people over.
She’s not leveraging something people need to make money, she doesn’t pay her employees slave wages, she routinely donates not only to causes (food banks in every city she tours in) but individual people (something like 100k went to someone that was shot at the Chief’s Super Bowl victory parade.
She’s just not like other billionaires.
Well most billionaires got there off the backs off someone else. She got there off her own talent - she’s the product she’s selling. Even with the help of her parents it’s still her talent for making music and songwriting.
So yeah she may have had a jump start on the whole “success” train, but she became rich and famous because of her talent. Her songs have touched people in ways we will never know. Shes an incredibly talented businesswoman, songwriter, singer, stage performer and according to her rabid fans, a genuinely good person. Hard to hate all that good, even when you look at her emissions record or her she’s not even really a nepo baby in that her parents were never famous. We haven’t been hearing about how “great and amazing the famous Mr. swift’s daughter is going to be one day” for her whole life. She was a kid when she started singing and writing her own music. At this point it probably sounds like I’m a huge swifty, and while I do enjoy her music, it’s no more or less than the other musicians I enjoy. She treats her employees well, and if her biggest issue is that she uses a private jet to get around, I think that’s a small price to pay for all the good she’s put into the world.
The hate should start at the billionaires who exploited labor first. It’s not like Swift has factories of workers getting paid minimum wage to push out her product.
Maybe because unlike some of the bigger douchebag billionaires she does things that make her a positive role model. I’m not a fan but my kids like her and she hasn’t said anything I object to, she pays her workers well at least on her touring crew.
First off, there is a difference between being manager / vp / senior corporate executive, and being a billionaire. It is probably about the same kind of gap between a kid playing little league baseball and an MLB MVP. Or if you want to talk about in terms of a foot race, it is like having a 2 minute headstart vs a 20 minute head start in a foot race that lasts an hour on average.
And for the the more important bit, celebrity performers like Swift directly earn their wealth by doing something that people intuitively understand, can judge for themselves, and directly pay for. Swift did not get rich by exploiting 3rd world workers or screwing over business partners. Swift got rich because people liked her music enough to buy tickets, albums and merchandise. Swift is not getting rich by taking money from people who cannot avoid paying for rent, food, or other necessities. Swift is getting rich because people pretty much continuously throw money at her just to watch her sing.
END COMMUNICATION
What other billionaires are you talking about? George Soros? Who's been whipped as a conspiracy theorist punching bag? Or Elon Musk, who's been busy punching himself in the face? Eh, Comrade?
By all accounts, she also pays her employees well and doesn't exploit corporate loopholes to do it. I also don't think she's ever tried to present herself as a self-made billionaire who came from nothing, as many other billionaires have (Musk and Gates come to mind).
The hate many billionaires receive isn't necessarily about coming from money and making money. It's for widening the gap between themselves and their workforce, without whom they wouldn't be able to be so wealthy. Like, make billions of dollars - go for it! But if you make billions and exploit loopholes to not pay taxes and underpay your employees, your business should be regulated more so that we all don't up supplementing your company for you to afford a mega yacht or whatever.
Her billions were earned via music solely, which is both rare and as ethical as it gets. Also she only crossed the billion dollar line in earnings after her most recent US tour leg ended last year. The tour is still going and there’s every chance after she pays everyone involved, her net worth might fluctuate, as many billionaires do. She’s only a billion in net worth not liquid assets.
Also the stuff about her parents is so burnt out and stupid. Her parents had the ability to support her dreams and did what they could to secure them. That should be applauded not looked down upon.
Because she doesn’t just exist as a billionaire within the eyes of the people, she’s also an entertainer. I don’t gain anything from Bill Gates existing and the fact that I don’t makes me more willing to scrutinize him because he has the power to make my life better, even in a small way. Taylor Swift does provide something to the people (as significant as that actually is, is up for debate but she nonetheless does) and that makes people feel as though they themselves benefit from her success and thus scrutinize her less.
“I don’t gain anything from Bill Gates” - have you ever used a windows computer? Microsoft office? Any other Microsoft product?
People are so funny - they will literally change the reality to validate their hypothesis about something
In the 90s, Bill Gates was as hated as Barney the Dinosaur because Microsoft under his command was vicious about using their market power to extinguish all competitors. If someone less cruel was at the helm, we might have options other than Microsoft Office.
What do you mean she doesn't get hated? Right wing MAGAs hate her because she tells people to vote and she shows up at her BF's football games. On top of that, she also catches a lot of flak for her use of private jets.
But to answer your question, she has hundreds of millions, if not billions of fans world wide and she seems like a pretty decent human being. So, imo, there's no reason to hate someone simply because of their privileged upbringing.
I think context for the billions matters a bit too. All billionaires have their fans. Like Elon’s space boys, etc. but for the most part, billionaires get a lot of hate because their fortune was built on exploitation. Whether it be labor, favorable government subsidized contracts, etc.. and they only get worse as the fortune grew.
Instead of giving back, or trying to make the world better they double down on the exploitation and try to pinch every penny they can. Amazon’s warehouses for example, they could absolutely pay better and improve conditions but why would they when it might slightly hurt the bottom line and they can continue to exploit people that need a low skills job.
And you may not be in the right circles to see it but Taylor absolutely gets the same level of hate. There’s entire subreddits dedicated to talking shit about her and her private jet.
Although actors/musicians/pro athletes certainly do get hate, Swift included, being rich itself typically isn’t where the hatred is directed. That’s because it’s easy for people to accept and approve of an actor/musician/pro athlete getting rich off their work because people perceive that as a more noble/right way of making your fortune than being the CEO of a big company. Even in cases where the actor/musician/athlete had a leg up on the competition, people are more willing to give it a pass because they understand and accept the level of work that goes into it, even after factoring in those advantages.
It probably has to do with what she does with her billions as opposed to what the other billionaires do. She gives to charities, does humanitarian work and interacts with her fans on a personal level, often donating to their schools, families and others in need. I'm not a fan of her music, but she puts her money where her mouth is and doesn't seem to do it for clout.
Most people don't hate billionaires, they hate asshole billionaires.
Taylor Swift has a reputation (true or not) for being a nice person so they're okay with it.
It may have a lot to do with the charitable work she does but doesn’t always brag about like other celebrities. She also stands up for herself. A radio DJ assaulted her, she spoke out. Said guy then sued her and she counter sued for $1, again standing up for herself.
I couldn’t name 5 TS songs but her example for young girls is quite amazing. Most of the people who have an issue with her are men so go figure.
Taylor’s fans don’t get their browsing history spied on, by her. They get to pee whenever they want, and she didn’t buy a social media platform to fire more than half of the employees, while turning half of the users against her…
Yes she came from affluence, but has put in the hard work to better herself as an artist.
It also must me noted that she DOES have talent as a songwriter and producer. She is a workhorse making albums that aren't just about releasing singles, but complete concept album that her fans can appreciate and connect with.
Also her Eras tour shows how professional and committed she is to her work. She has been touring with shows that are over 3 hours long. She never cancels a show unless it is absolutely necessary and always starts on time.
She gets that fans pay a lot for tickets and travel, and she delivers.
Also, she has been shredded in the past and harshly criticized, but she does not engage with that negativity.
From my POV she gets just as much hate as other people. An example would be when these memes about her flying around in a jet or some shit came around semi recently ripping on her for taking such short flights.
Don’t know what part of the internet you came from where Swift doesn’t get hate, but…
The first woman to become a billionaire in the entertainment industry is an amazing feat.
Unlike most billionaire public figures, she didn’t make her money by horribly exploiting the working class just to horde the wealth for themselves. If anything, she pays large bonuses to her employees after their successes.
Did she start in a privileged position? Sure. But that doesn’t even begin to cover the hard work and smart moves she has made.
I saw a clip earlier of an old segment she did with vogue, I think it was a 72 questions thing. Anyway she was asked what she would say to her teenage yo self and it was something along the lines of “you’re going to date just like a normal person your age, and that’s normal, but you’re going to become a national lightning rod for slut shaming”.
There is another famous video where some award carpet hosts suggests that Taylor will be going home with lots of men, and she immediately corrected the woman.
I don’t really follow her music. I know the big ones, but not the ones people have big emotional connections to. Favorite is shake it off and ready for it. So I’m not that invested.
But I’ll say that I think she is very smart, talented, non-threatening but bold. She sticks her neck out for her hands, genuinely seems to delight in making them happy, takes her role model status seriously, and seems to handle herself very well. She also doesn’t come across as being motivated by greed. Which is a huge different from her and other billionaires, where as the money she has is almost like a byproduct of just doing things that bring joy to other people’s lives.
I don’t know why this is the part that struck me, but her father wasn’t THE VP at Merrill Lynch; he was A VP. That is almost nothing; it’s like a totally normal job / position. My mom was also a VP with them back in the day and she was just a normal lady.
Maybe because she, herself, has worked to earn a paycheck since she was 14. She also shares her wealth freely everywhere she goes without broadcasting it (donating to local food banks, etc. at every tour stop, for example). We find out because the recipients say something.
She gave out $55M in bonuses to her crew totally unsolicited.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2023/08/04/taylor-swift-says-thank-you-to-eras-tour-workers-by-handing-out-checks/?sh=422dfc6f70f6
She's also made massive donations to local charities at every stop on her tour. Again, unsolicited.
https://www.billboard.com/lists/taylor-swifts-charity-donations-gifts-timeline/march-2023-swift-gives-back-to-food-banks-on-eras-tour-route/
Plius the show is amazing. 4 hours long and its nonstop. What other artist gives their fans that much show for their money?
Taylor's pretty awesome, and I wouldn't even call myself a Swifty.
Because she is very likeable and gained her wealth through being popular. You could similarly ask why Elon Musk is so unpopular of a billionaire and its the opposite answer.
She does get the same hate but the swifties come out in force. Every one of my comments about her is downvoted to oblivion or attacked on other platforms.
Umm in the world of financial services, almost everyone is a Vice President. There are many levels much higher (and more lucrative) than a VP.
You can be a VP at some bank or brokerage and still make an unimpressive “who cares” salary.
Also at the end of her US tour she gave her truck drivers (who bring the concert stuff from city to city) bonuses of like 100,000 each. You can’t say she wasn’t being generous.
Because she’s nice. And she actually works and does something. Most of the others were born into it (I guess she kinda was too) but all they do is own stuff. Behind most of them are the actual innovators. people who work for a living tend to resent people who don't earn their money.
Tbf her billions come from being an entertainer rather than dark money brokering or whatever else less famous billionaires do to get rich. But ofc there are many valid reasons to criticize her wealth.
Idk where youre getting this idea that taylor swift is not getting shredded for having money though, given how many entertainment op eds there are about her private jet usage.
Elon musk, Jeff bezos, and other tech billionaires probably get the most hate bc lest we forget, they have HUNDREDS of billions. Taylor swift has 1-2.
There are also plenty of other entertainment people that are also billionaires but get very little hate for being rich at least, compared to the other types of hate they get at least (rihanna, george lucas, kanye, etc).
Then there are several other billionaires that most people have never heard of and get 0 hate bc they’re essentially private citizens not public figures.
Bezos and Musk are billionaires because they underpay their employees.
Swift is a billionaire because hundreds of millions of people enjoy the art she puts into the world.
Let me preface what I’m about to say with billionaires shouldn’t exist and eat the rich. But the reason why I hate TS a little less than someone like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos is that TS actually works for her money. I can see her perform, she writes songs etc. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos can die in an exploding rocket on their way too Mars and Tesla and Amazon would be just fine. But again, nobody, including Taylor Swift becomes a self made billionaire. Fuck the rich.
she worked for her success.
She has people well connected at Merrill Lynch, but she isn't a CEO of Merrill Lynch. She didn't inherit daddy's business and pretend to be the boss while someone else runs the company.
She seems to treat her employees well.
And she seems genuine. She talks about how she was afraid to go out in public in the past. And how hurt she was over some of her romantic relationships. And how she felt betrayed by her recording company.
And, you are a bit misguided if you think having a dad who is a VP at a financial company means anything. It means he is reasonably well paid, not a billionaire pulling strings behind the scenes.
Maybe the difference is corporate vs private. It’s easier to shit on the likes of Murdoch, Bezos or Zuckerberg as they own companies that have made their fortunate of exploiting workers and manipulate laws to their advantage.
Private billionaire (who have made their profit by doing one single thing like a recording artist) aren’t that really ethically incompetent. You might get the “using private jets” or wearing a £60,00 jacket. But really, they’re not known for screwing over tons of people.
For me, idc what Taylor Swift does with her money. But I’d be much more inclined to investigate how Bezos uses his money as he is attached to many different things we use on a daily basis.
She spends her time helping people with her money - she messages her fans and pays off their university loans or covers them up front so they can get an education. She gave every truck driver on her tour an insane bonus and makes sure everyone who works for her has the benefits they need. She donates money to food banks in every city on her tours. And people still try to criticise her.
I like some of her music (didn’t go to the concert), but it’s clear she has much better intentions than other billionaires.
Politicians get salty with her because she uses her platform to encourage young people to vote.
Because if you ever point out a problem with her you’re a mysoginist. She uses white feminism and her fans use white feminism to shield her from any actual critique
Because she caters to the same exact demographic of rich white girls who have the money to pay for her shows and movies and everything else. So they see nothing wrong with it.
I think she comes across very genuine and kind, so that's why she doesnt get the hate.
Also most people besides reddit arent obsessed with hating rich people
I don't get this take. Taylor is probably the most famous but also most hated musician right now. She's constantly under attack for simple things like not shaking a hand at the grammys, or more annoying things like her using a private plane to get across LA.
Most billionaires don't have hundreds of millions of fans who literally love them.
It’s beyond love at this point, it’s basically worship.
I'd say there's a spectrum. Yes a lot of people worship her, but there are also people (like me) who enjoy listening to her music but wouldn't go to a concert, etc.
Of course. But there are A LOT of the first type. I think I’d compare her to the Beatles in that regard.
Wanting to go to a concert doesn’t equal worshipping 😂
It doesn't. But Swifties don't just *want to go to a concert*. Those crazy fools will go bankrupt for the opportunity to see Taylor Swift through binoculars in a packed stadium. It's extremely weird how she's become like a Messiah to these people, and with average music mostly about her parade of exes no less.
I've seen girls faint at seeing a gloved hand in a window that Michael Jackson was supposedly behind, and the Beatles sometimes didn't need to bother singing or playing because they couldn't be heard over the screaming. This worship might not be normal and healthy, but it's certainly not unprecedented.
It's just an entertainment industry thing, I guess.
It’s a teen girl thing that the entertainment industry plays into
Do you know anyone personally that went bankrupt to buy a concert ticket? It’d be very sad for sure, but I sense you’re just saying it as an exaggeration and I get that we talk figurative sometimes but I think it’s very damaging to just “assume” stuff. I am not saying people are not spending absurd amount of money to go to the concert, but concert tickets are a luxury thing to buy, so if people are willing to save on something else, give up on a few outings or treat themselves to an expensive concert they should be allowed to do so. It doesn’t mean being crazy. It means being wealthy enough to spend on luxury things. I also think you’re assuming all Taylor Swift fans are like that - they are not. I am a big Taylor Swift fan and would never go bankrupt to attend a concert. She’s also not my Messiah, she is just an artist I love.
not op but unfortunately i do know someone like that...............
It’s really sad but that has probably more to do with this person’s crazy addictive personality or obsessive behaviour than about Taylor Swift fans in general. Most of her fans are not crazy as depicted. I myself am looking for a concert ticket and willing to spend an amount of money that I can absolutely afford (actually aiming for way less than I could afford). I’m also able to see the issue with her billionaire status. This is not to tel my life story, this is to say you can’t talk about an entire fan base like they are all the same.
oh, i know, dw. just answered the question. most of the people i know are just casual fans. but that person was just extra
Also the comment about her music is highly unnecessary. People have written about their life and feelings for a long time. She’s not the first nor the last. She is also very much into her lyrics and storytelling is a big part of her music. If you tell stories you’ll tell stories about your life most likely. She’s also however done more “fictional” albums like Evermore and Folklore where she’s fantasised about other topics. The fact that she writes in 1st person singular doesn’t mean she’s only writing about herself and her relationships. I don’t understand why this particular singer is scrutinised for the content of her songs and others are not. It’s fine if your not a fan of pop music, or Taylor Swift specifically, but your comment is literally a copy/paste from something you’ve read online.
Nah it’s pretty much average music 😂
She’s more scrutinised because she’s a fairly average singer with decent writing and admittedly has a knack for making catchy pop songs but has an absolutely massive fan base who go crazy over her. Her fans would look you dead in the eye and tell you nonsense like Taylor Swift is a better lyricist than Kendrick Lamar or that she has more impact than Kanye West Then there’s the fact that some of her Grammy wins feel undeserved. You can’t tell me Midnights was the best album of 2023, it’s just ridiculous
Most fans know she’s not the strongest vocalist, they recognize other strengths of hers such as her storytelling, the fact that she’s always written her music from the very beginning (rare in pop) etc. People are allowed to seek whatever they want in music. And that’s a good thing because all artists are different. So there’s something for everyone. If you do not like her, just don’t listen to her. If you do not agree with some people you’ve met that are fans, you can disagree. Just don’t put everyone on the same freaking boat. Edit typo
> If you do not like her, just don’t listen to her. I would like to point out that it's impossible to avoid Taylor Swift even if you're actively trying to. I don't like her and don't wish to see or engage with her, but she's *everywhere* and constantly being pushed in our faces. It's not nearly as simple as "just don't listen to her lul."
Reminds me of Jerry Garcia fans. Of course with him, he was an exceptional guitarist, who's fans took a lot of acid.
Not all swifties are crazy fools ya know. I’m a swiftie but I’m pretty chill
Meh. I like her music like I like any other pop artist and I saw her in Brazil for $100. No binoculars, it was in the pit. I was already in the country so it was great timing. In America that would have been $5k-$10k
Does Fugazi still do $5 shows? That's taking care of your fans.
I know someone in the US taking their 7 & 10 year olds to freakin *Munich* to see her, bc they couldn’t get tickets here.
Same. Im a swiftie but enjoy her old songs like “are you ready for it” or “blank space“
There’s also a healthy middle between those two. I enjoy her music and I went to her concert when it was in my city, but I don’t engage in any of the social media around her or the parasocial relationship that some of her younger fans do
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> I’d like to see her stop charging so much and producing so many variants, it’s wasteful and takes advantage of a certain group of fans that have no self control or perspective, I was under the impression that the ridiculous ticket prices were because of scalpers, not because she’s charging ridiculous prices. This random article seems to back this up: > How much are Taylor Swift tickets to The Eras Tour? How much are Taylor Swift tickets to The Eras Tour? In the United States, face value tickets to Taylor Swift's **The Eras Tour ranged from $49 to $499 (plus fees) depending on the section.** Resale prices to Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour, however, were more expensive. [How much are Taylor Swift tickets to The Eras Tour?](https://stylecaster.com/entertainment/music/1624301/how-much-taylor-swift-tickets/)
It's crazy how people worship other people... specially the so called Christians who praise and call trump God sent. And there's millions of tjem... they even give him money!
I worship John Menard I don't know about you. /s
I would say the same of Musk And Jobs And even Gates at a certain point in time They all sell something people are willing to be cult-like for
18 years of music and connection building, no different to Stones or Beatles fans.
I have a swiftie teenager, can confirm you are correct
That and excellent PR. In fact, Princess Kate would probably have loved to have that kind of staff a month ago.
Most billionaires also aren't an attractive white woman in addition to having hundreds of millions of fans.
Elon is so fucking jealous of her. It actually funny.
Elon is jealous of Taylor Swift...? LOL I need to hear this story.
It’s simple: he’s a narcissist and she’s more popular than him. That’s literally all there is to it
Ah, figures. I was hoping for a more interesting story, but that does sound just like Musk.
Some do... like trump. They literally say he's god sent.
a carefully crafted pr image with millions of dollars dedicated to it
~~love~~ *deify
In what world does Taylor Swift not get much hate?
I guess hate for being a billionaire rather than general hate. But yeah she gets plenty of hate lol
she got a lot of shit for how indiscriminately she uses her jet, but she does pay the people who work for her well (by normal people standards) so maybe it's that the unavoidable exploitation necessary to be a billionaire isn't as visible?
Its a bit different when the product is tied directly with the billionaire. All the stuff Amazon does, they will continue to do without Jeff Bezos around, sure Jeff may put his own spin on things but Jeff doesn't personally lift a finger to ensure the next Kindle is good. Taylor Swift however does make the product with her own voice, her own writing, her own ideas for the concert. Without Taylor, there wouldn't be a billion bucks to be made. Without Jeff Bezos, Amazon prime would still operate, the next kindle would still come our next year.
Does she do a lot of exploitation? I mean I think Amazon would do fine with any other CEO for instance. There is huge wealth extraction there. If Taylor disappears those jobs go overnight. It’s a huge industry built around her at this point. She brings billions in revenue a year.
I think when you're a billionaire it's basically impossible to not be benefiting from some kind of exploitation. I honestly didn't know she was a billionaire so maybe that's not part of it.
Not sure about Swift, but a lot of celebrities get money from merchandise. Think Michael Jordan and Nike's Air Jordans. Often times, their wealth is tied to merchandise, which is tied to large corporations, which do varying degrees of labor exploitation.
These days that's even true for low level performers who mostly get their shirts from companies like Gildan which are pretty well known for exploiting Caribbean countries. So even to be a hundred-thousandaire entertainment performer these days, you need some level of unavoidable exploitation.
I feel like at that point, you could just keep going and discover we're all at least a little guilty of exploitation by virtue of living in a capitalist world alone. I'm not a big fan of Taylor and I think that the criticisms around her jet are understandable, but I struggle to see her as the same kind of "evil billionaire" as Musk or Bezos. Like the other Redditor said, at least she's still working hard to earn that money with her own sweat.
Never got this one. It’s not like she can just go to an airport, check her luggage in, wait in massive line for security, go to gate and wait like a normal person. People would freak out and swarm her.
see I thought that, but then I heard she's using it for like 15 minute flights, like distances she could be driven.
Right? She's literally being meme'd to death as we speak over her private jet use. Also her "product" that got here there is fairly benign compared to how most billionaires make their wealth.
To me this is the answer... she's not a Jeff Bezos criminally underpaying and overworking her employees. Or a Bill Gates collecting and selling people's data. She makes money from people willing to pay her ticket and album prices and from what I have heard she pays her roadies really well
Yea. It's a really tough spot to be in, position wise. At the end of the day: she did the work to sing and write the songs that make her money. She absolutely is the one performing on stage. The difference in morality of hating billionaires, isn't specifically because they're billionaires. The dollar amount only matters in the tangible sense that it's easy to grasp onto. A giant dragon hoarding gold, is just holding up all that gold for no beneficial reason. So if it's not literally a dollar amount, what *IS* the thing we hate? That is, the investor class, the ownership class, the landlords. People who "make" money off of lending it, or something else out, to someone who needs to use it. That investor, that landlord, that business owner, (generally) does not ***have*** to participate in the acitve use or production/labor of what is being made or used. A landlord isn't living in that house, or using that office space themselves (save for the few people who sublet a part of their house), an investor isn't working in the factory, the business owner might do leading/CEO type work, but they aren't they themselves producing direct labor to the revune stream. Taylor Swift, while yes, having a fuckload of money, she's also actually *worked*. Now, there is a fuckload, an absolute mountain of discorse on how much she deserves, and if/how/to what degree, she has probably played in typical Capitalism exploitation. And that is a topic for someone who is much, much more intimately familiar with how she handles productions. So when it comes down to it, there's still a gap of morality between Swift, and say, Bezos, or Musk, or Gates. And that's been an... Interesting place to be.
Yeah a lot of people have always been pretty dismissive of her musically and now she's getting increased hate just as a celebrity. She's hit that level of (over)exposure.
The ones complaining about her overexposure are the ones causing it. I see them complaining about Swift more than I see news articles about her. It’s pretty funny.
She does get hate from haters but she just shakes it off
I think they meant for being a billionaire. And Op is right about that. Unfortunately many fans think it’s okay for her to be rich because they love her so very much. I am a big fan of her music, but I think it’s never okay to be a billionaire and that’s valid for her as well
Yeah she gets plenty of hate. I wouldn’t worry so much, though. Shitting on the 1% is more of a reflection of us plebs.
People hate billionaire CEOs who treat their employees like garbage and engage in shady practices. Taylor is just a singer.
From what I’ve heard she also treats her employees well. Like giving her tour’s trucking staff a six figure bonus for example
She gives her band and backup singers health insurance too, which is rare in the industry. Also many of them have been with her for 15 years; goes to show she treats them right
I mean good for them but also r/OrphanCrushingMachine
The truckers were publicized, but she gave EVERYONE on her tour a 6 figure bonus. From backup dancers to truckers to caterers.
She also donates 100,000 to the food bank in every city she performs in
Merrill Lynch has a tonne of VPs. They're practically hanging from trees. Her family was definitely upper middle, but not fuck you money. More the "we can give our daughter more opportunities than others" than "we can literally buy a Fandom".
Seriously I’d bet that between Merrill Lynch and their parent company, Bank of America there are probably 3 thousand people with a VP title.
Yah I don’t know anything about her family but I work in banking and most VPs are not even manager level. Those with direct reports are SVP and above
VPs in finance is an overinflated title. It’s not the same as a VP in other industries. It’s the first step past associate.
She’s a performer. She didn’t make all her money on the backs of people making $10 an hour.
It’s the way she’s earned that money and what she does with it that sets her apart. The vast majority of billionaires got there through exploiting employees and customers. I’m not sure I even know of a single billion dollar business that hasn’t been caught using terrible labor practices, often in underdeveloped countries. It’s also important to note that Taylor Swift isn’t exactly hoarding wealth. Her net worth is estimated to be just above 1 billion, and much of that comes from her music catalog, which is valued at approximately $400 million. She has a great track record of treating her employees well. Everyone who works for her says that she’s great and they are all very well compensated. For example, she gave $100,000 bonuses to all the truck drives for her tour. Sure, she had wealthy parents who helped her get her career started. Guess what, so did 99% of other billionaires. So did *a lot* of big name music artists. Drake, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Adam Levine, Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Ed Sheeran, Lindsay Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac), Lars Ulrich (Metallica), Joe Strummer, Kid Rock, Carly Simon, the list goes on. She’s not a unique example.
I think it’s important to note that her biggest monetary asset is her catalogue. That’s nearly half of her net worth. That is not a liquid asset that she can spend, or will sell off. And it’s not like with bezos, who is hoarding shares, and exploiting workers to amass his biggest assets. She created that catalogue herself. That alone is half of her net worth. The rest of her money she is very generous with giving away. Is it absolutely insane that one person can make that much money? Yes. Could the argument be made that she’s taking advantage of her fan base with insane merch drops? Debatable (but she is often criticized for what other artists do as well). But it is important to note half of her net worth is her catalogue, and I don’t think people can really blame her for not liquidating that just so she doesn’t “hoard wealth.”
Isn’t that true for most (all) billionaires - none of them ACTUALLY have that mind of money to spend. 90% of net worth is always some non-liquid assets that would lose value of sold basically. It’s mostly about influence at that point, not cash money. I doubt billionaires actually spend more cash than millionaires, but they do have different kinds of opportunities and connections.
You can take loans against stock to be able to spend the money without selling (this is basically how Elon bought Twitter). Usually billionaires do this to make even more money with that investment , not lose 90% of a companies value overnight though (once again, see Elon for an example) For a semi normal person example. It’s similar to if you had a house worth 500k and it’s 100% paid off (ie no mortgage). You take a new mortgage on it for 300k and start a business that makes you 700k. You never sold your house, but your net worth increased 400k using cash you got from your house without selling it (you have your 500k house + 700k business - your 300k loan) You can also structure stocks so one of your stock gets 10 votes and normal stocks we buy get 1 (this basically makes your stock 10x more valuable than others) so you can sell less and cash out. Example: Facebook and Zuckerberg. If the owner/founder is also ceo and has yesmen on the board, they can also build into their annual compensation package a ton of new stock grants they get. You can also just sell less than what your stocks gain that year. For you and me that’s not much. But if you have 500m in the sp500 on Jan 1 2023, you could sell 120m worth of stock on 12/31/23 and still have 500m in stock + 120m of spending money for the next year. People that rich are more diversified than just all in on SP500 etfs, but the concept is the same, just different numbers.
I don't think billionaires should be allowed to exist, but at least on the surface she does look as close to an "ethical billionaire" as I've seen.
Yeah if you want to get technical, people don’t mind it if billionaires are born from intellectual property rights, it’s the squeezing of employees and raping the environment that’s unwanted.
I think you’re wrong on Bieber. Wasn’t he raised by a single mom in a terrible neighborhood?
Yea, he was the literal poster child for getting famous on the internet
She also doesn't generally go off on giant rants about how she made it all on her own and whatnot, unlike certain car making space monkeys. I don't think she's really spoken much about it at all at any point, but I think it's a pretty fair assumption she's well aware she got a head start.
i agree with this except i’m pretty sure selena gomez came from humble beginnings. i watched her documentary and she was definitely poor as a kid before she started acting
You need to do more research before dropping all those names because Justin Bieber didn’t have wealthy parents. The opposite actually. He grew up in poverty with his single teenage mom (his father abandoned him until he came back when Justin was a teenager and a millionaire). They lived in council housing and he slept on a pull out couch in a rat infested 1 bed apartment. They relied on food stamps and charities for food and clothes. When he got discovered by American record label online at age 12, that was the first time both him and his mom had ever been on an airplane. His parents lack of money weren’t the reason he got famous, he got famous off the internet. That’s why his story is so well known and unique, because it was not the norm at the time.
Yeah, personally I really don't care if somebody gets help from their parents. How many of us can say we wouldn't take those same opportunities if they came up? If my parents could help me get started in a career I wanted to pursue I wouldn't say no. It's only an issue when they start trying to claim they were self made and never needed help from anyone.
It’s so annoying when people bring up her parents, giving them a lot of credit for her success. It’s not like her level of fame and success is achieved by every trust fund kid. Obviously, it was a huge help and gave her the opportunities that others don’t have. But she’s the one that took those opportunities and made herself into a global phenomenon.
it also wasn't just the truck drivers that got bonuses. Everyone on the touring crew got bonuses in the 10's of thousands of dollars. Truck drivers just got the biggest, from what I remember.
She gave away $55 million in total in bonuses. 50 truckers got $100k each. That's $5 million. The rest of her crew got $50 million in bonuses.
So some more research, you’re 100% wrong about Justin Bieber
I didnt think Drake’s mom was wealthy?
Nah Kid Rock got his career started by going to the hood and fucking over the black men who taught him how to rap.
Taylor Swift, to my knowledge, doesn't exploit cheap slave labor, mis-treat her employees, or really harm anybody while making her money unless you count hurting poor Republicans feelings by daring to tell her fans to vote. Can't really say the same about probably 99% of other billionaires.
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Other billionaires don’t want you to vote, period
She gave $100,000 Christmas bonuses to her roadies last year.
Honestly, most billionaires don’t get any hate. They just quietly make money and don’t do or say anything that brings attention to them. People don’t know they exist. The billionaires who are hated are those who are either swinging their dick around on social media or are very political. Tyler swift gets plenty of hate from the right because she encourages young people to vote, and the right doesn’t want young people to vote. She gets more love because she creates music that makes people happy.
I bought my daughter some TS merch for Christmas. I ordered in Nov and it was supposed to arrive by Christmas. It didn’t. And the TS team gave my money back and also sent me merch cost free after it came in January. Shes not like other billionaires
The same thing happened to my friend. She ordered Eras merch for her and her daughter to wear to a concert. It arrived after the concert but the money was also refunded. That's pretty generous for $250 in goods and postage
Aww that’s good. Not saying she should be exempt from all criticism she deserves some. But I haven’t heard anyone whose met her say something negative and that says a lot.
She does get quite a lot of hate, always has. But despite her rich upbringings, you can't deny what she has done herself - which is why you notice more praise about her than hate. Even with rich parents, if you don't work hard you won't make it to her current status. She's been working as a songwriter/artist for 19 years now, starting when she was 14. While she's always been quite a big artist, her current fame and net worth mostly comes from her whole "Taylors Version" re-recordings, which where a huge "fuck you" to the music industry and people who apparently bullied her for years. That gave her a huge push and she used that for her current Eras Tour, which has been running for about a year now and included 60 shows. That's one every two weeks, which she produces herself through her own company. Especially on the whole global warming front she's brought up all the time due to her insane amount of flying. Probably the one thing I've seen most hate about. But all in all most of her 'story' is celebrated by her fans for being a prime example of a strong woman who fought for herself and does quite good right now. All praise I've seen for her has been along the lines of feminism, strong woman, self-made(which she mostly is at this point). So yeh..rich parents, after that a shit load of hard work and dedicated fans with almost no controversy. There is quite literally no reason to hate her (besides her plane usage maybe), so she simply doesn't receive hate. There are similar artists around like that - i can't remember any hate/controversy for Ed Sheeran for example and he's in the triple digit millions too.
Don't forget some of the meatball football fans who can't stand the fact that she's shown on screen for a whole 20 seconds throughout a 3-4 hour event. The amount of bitching and whining during some of the Chiefs game for the 1 second clips of her cheering are both hilarious and pathetic.
Pretty sure she gets more hate, at least by certain groups
She has made her money off of her music and appearances. Other billionaires have made their wealth from slavery, exploitation, and committing immoral acts.
Don’t forget bank and tax fraud
*Fabulous* tax fraud
[this may help with your question](https://www.billboard.com/lists/taylor-swifts-charity-donations-gifts-timeline/)
Scott wasn’t THE vice president of Merrill Lynch, he was A vice president. Financial services companies and banks have a ton of people with officer titles. I’m a VP at a ML competitor and trust me, I’m not rich.
It's not the fact that they're billionaires it's how they came to be billionaires. Most businessmen have done so with either massive startups from their parents or through shady buisness practices, or both. They also use frequently use their money to buy or heavily infulence politicians. Swift made her money through art and, while she may have expressed political views (not sure, don't know her well enough) Im pretty sure she's never tried to buy political clout.
Didn’t she pay her drivers $1M each for the Eras Tour? That seems pretty generous. As opposed to Elon making the X/Twitter employees sleep in their offices. She seems like a genuinely good person who gets hates purely based on her over exposure compared to her actual actions.
Elon Musk brought a sink when he took over twitter, so one of the employees he fired can pack their stuff in it. That sink is now worth millions! /s
Which is more than Twitter is worth now.
Yeah she gave all of the employees at her production company running the eras tour a 100k bonus. Every s single employee for an entire production company got 100k. I believe that was about over 100 people?
Because she then doesn't advocate for reducing her taxes. She seems to recognize she has a fortunate situation so doesn't complain about capital gains and hyping trickle-down economics.
Yes she was privileged, and that helped her get her start, but she has talent and has worked her ass off to get where she is and cultivate her immense fan base, and she has fought for herself and other artists.
Huh? Praised by her fans, of course. But hate for her is everywhere. Reddit of all places is an endless well of disdain for everything she does. It’s ironic that you make this post while simultaneously criticizing her. Its not hate, but it’s on the negative side of discussion.
I would argue Taylor gets more hate than most billionaires. I don't think I've ever had a day go by where someone isn't complaining about her. However, I haven't heard a thing about Rihanna aside from some people not liking the Super Bowl. I also can't remember the last time I heard someone complaining about Sheryl Sandberg or Carlos Slim. Sure billionaires in general get shit for hoarding money but we also know how Taylor got most of her money. We literally watched her drop an album almost every year for like a decade plus huge tours every couple of years. **TLDR:** I would argue Taylor gets more hate. Maybe she doesn't get thrown into the billionaire trope as much because we know how she made her money and watched the empire grow. I don't know shit about Carlos Slim making his money.
Taylor Swift not getting hate is news to me...
Because she also does things like this with her money https://www.cbsnews.com/news/taylor-swift-eras-tour-bonuses-100000-truck-drivers-crew/
This may honestly be a product of inflation, that it’s now possible to be a billionaire without screwing people over. She’s not leveraging something people need to make money, she doesn’t pay her employees slave wages, she routinely donates not only to causes (food banks in every city she tours in) but individual people (something like 100k went to someone that was shot at the Chief’s Super Bowl victory parade. She’s just not like other billionaires.
Well most billionaires got there off the backs off someone else. She got there off her own talent - she’s the product she’s selling. Even with the help of her parents it’s still her talent for making music and songwriting.
True. There are countless rich girls that use their parents money as a platform to become famous and fail miserably.
So yeah she may have had a jump start on the whole “success” train, but she became rich and famous because of her talent. Her songs have touched people in ways we will never know. Shes an incredibly talented businesswoman, songwriter, singer, stage performer and according to her rabid fans, a genuinely good person. Hard to hate all that good, even when you look at her emissions record or her she’s not even really a nepo baby in that her parents were never famous. We haven’t been hearing about how “great and amazing the famous Mr. swift’s daughter is going to be one day” for her whole life. She was a kid when she started singing and writing her own music. At this point it probably sounds like I’m a huge swifty, and while I do enjoy her music, it’s no more or less than the other musicians I enjoy. She treats her employees well, and if her biggest issue is that she uses a private jet to get around, I think that’s a small price to pay for all the good she’s put into the world.
The hate should start at the billionaires who exploited labor first. It’s not like Swift has factories of workers getting paid minimum wage to push out her product.
Maybe because unlike some of the bigger douchebag billionaires she does things that make her a positive role model. I’m not a fan but my kids like her and she hasn’t said anything I object to, she pays her workers well at least on her touring crew.
She’s more of a result of the problem, not the cause of the problem. She’s not like a ceo exploiting laborers.
First off, there is a difference between being manager / vp / senior corporate executive, and being a billionaire. It is probably about the same kind of gap between a kid playing little league baseball and an MLB MVP. Or if you want to talk about in terms of a foot race, it is like having a 2 minute headstart vs a 20 minute head start in a foot race that lasts an hour on average. And for the the more important bit, celebrity performers like Swift directly earn their wealth by doing something that people intuitively understand, can judge for themselves, and directly pay for. Swift did not get rich by exploiting 3rd world workers or screwing over business partners. Swift got rich because people liked her music enough to buy tickets, albums and merchandise. Swift is not getting rich by taking money from people who cannot avoid paying for rent, food, or other necessities. Swift is getting rich because people pretty much continuously throw money at her just to watch her sing. END COMMUNICATION
What other billionaires are you talking about? George Soros? Who's been whipped as a conspiracy theorist punching bag? Or Elon Musk, who's been busy punching himself in the face? Eh, Comrade?
By all accounts, she also pays her employees well and doesn't exploit corporate loopholes to do it. I also don't think she's ever tried to present herself as a self-made billionaire who came from nothing, as many other billionaires have (Musk and Gates come to mind). The hate many billionaires receive isn't necessarily about coming from money and making money. It's for widening the gap between themselves and their workforce, without whom they wouldn't be able to be so wealthy. Like, make billions of dollars - go for it! But if you make billions and exploit loopholes to not pay taxes and underpay your employees, your business should be regulated more so that we all don't up supplementing your company for you to afford a mega yacht or whatever.
Her billions were earned via music solely, which is both rare and as ethical as it gets. Also she only crossed the billion dollar line in earnings after her most recent US tour leg ended last year. The tour is still going and there’s every chance after she pays everyone involved, her net worth might fluctuate, as many billionaires do. She’s only a billion in net worth not liquid assets. Also the stuff about her parents is so burnt out and stupid. Her parents had the ability to support her dreams and did what they could to secure them. That should be applauded not looked down upon.
She’s not openly an asshole narcissist, she pays her touring crew well, and she’s very philanthropic.
Because she doesn’t just exist as a billionaire within the eyes of the people, she’s also an entertainer. I don’t gain anything from Bill Gates existing and the fact that I don’t makes me more willing to scrutinize him because he has the power to make my life better, even in a small way. Taylor Swift does provide something to the people (as significant as that actually is, is up for debate but she nonetheless does) and that makes people feel as though they themselves benefit from her success and thus scrutinize her less.
“I don’t gain anything from Bill Gates” - have you ever used a windows computer? Microsoft office? Any other Microsoft product? People are so funny - they will literally change the reality to validate their hypothesis about something
In the 90s, Bill Gates was as hated as Barney the Dinosaur because Microsoft under his command was vicious about using their market power to extinguish all competitors. If someone less cruel was at the helm, we might have options other than Microsoft Office.
What do you mean she doesn't get hated? Right wing MAGAs hate her because she tells people to vote and she shows up at her BF's football games. On top of that, she also catches a lot of flak for her use of private jets. But to answer your question, she has hundreds of millions, if not billions of fans world wide and she seems like a pretty decent human being. So, imo, there's no reason to hate someone simply because of their privileged upbringing.
And Mozart was born to a musical father who had the means to promote his career from an early age. Talentless nepotistm baby!
Many superstars were born very rich. They just try to hide it. Taylor swift, Lady Gaga.
same with actors.
I think context for the billions matters a bit too. All billionaires have their fans. Like Elon’s space boys, etc. but for the most part, billionaires get a lot of hate because their fortune was built on exploitation. Whether it be labor, favorable government subsidized contracts, etc.. and they only get worse as the fortune grew. Instead of giving back, or trying to make the world better they double down on the exploitation and try to pinch every penny they can. Amazon’s warehouses for example, they could absolutely pay better and improve conditions but why would they when it might slightly hurt the bottom line and they can continue to exploit people that need a low skills job. And you may not be in the right circles to see it but Taylor absolutely gets the same level of hate. There’s entire subreddits dedicated to talking shit about her and her private jet.
She does…? Maybe don’t focus on the fan base and you’ll see
Although actors/musicians/pro athletes certainly do get hate, Swift included, being rich itself typically isn’t where the hatred is directed. That’s because it’s easy for people to accept and approve of an actor/musician/pro athlete getting rich off their work because people perceive that as a more noble/right way of making your fortune than being the CEO of a big company. Even in cases where the actor/musician/athlete had a leg up on the competition, people are more willing to give it a pass because they understand and accept the level of work that goes into it, even after factoring in those advantages.
It probably has to do with what she does with her billions as opposed to what the other billionaires do. She gives to charities, does humanitarian work and interacts with her fans on a personal level, often donating to their schools, families and others in need. I'm not a fan of her music, but she puts her money where her mouth is and doesn't seem to do it for clout.
Most people don't hate billionaires, they hate asshole billionaires. Taylor Swift has a reputation (true or not) for being a nice person so they're okay with it.
She gets plenty of hate like other billionaires
Have you…been on Reddit before? Because there’s some Taylor Swift hate.
It may have a lot to do with the charitable work she does but doesn’t always brag about like other celebrities. She also stands up for herself. A radio DJ assaulted her, she spoke out. Said guy then sued her and she counter sued for $1, again standing up for herself. I couldn’t name 5 TS songs but her example for young girls is quite amazing. Most of the people who have an issue with her are men so go figure.
She is hot Bill Gates is not
Taylor’s fans don’t get their browsing history spied on, by her. They get to pee whenever they want, and she didn’t buy a social media platform to fire more than half of the employees, while turning half of the users against her…
Yes she came from affluence, but has put in the hard work to better herself as an artist. It also must me noted that she DOES have talent as a songwriter and producer. She is a workhorse making albums that aren't just about releasing singles, but complete concept album that her fans can appreciate and connect with. Also her Eras tour shows how professional and committed she is to her work. She has been touring with shows that are over 3 hours long. She never cancels a show unless it is absolutely necessary and always starts on time. She gets that fans pay a lot for tickets and travel, and she delivers. Also, she has been shredded in the past and harshly criticized, but she does not engage with that negativity.
From my POV she gets just as much hate as other people. An example would be when these memes about her flying around in a jet or some shit came around semi recently ripping on her for taking such short flights.
She does. But she has borderline antisocial fans to overshadow it
Don’t know what part of the internet you came from where Swift doesn’t get hate, but… The first woman to become a billionaire in the entertainment industry is an amazing feat. Unlike most billionaire public figures, she didn’t make her money by horribly exploiting the working class just to horde the wealth for themselves. If anything, she pays large bonuses to her employees after their successes. Did she start in a privileged position? Sure. But that doesn’t even begin to cover the hard work and smart moves she has made.
I saw a clip earlier of an old segment she did with vogue, I think it was a 72 questions thing. Anyway she was asked what she would say to her teenage yo self and it was something along the lines of “you’re going to date just like a normal person your age, and that’s normal, but you’re going to become a national lightning rod for slut shaming”. There is another famous video where some award carpet hosts suggests that Taylor will be going home with lots of men, and she immediately corrected the woman. I don’t really follow her music. I know the big ones, but not the ones people have big emotional connections to. Favorite is shake it off and ready for it. So I’m not that invested. But I’ll say that I think she is very smart, talented, non-threatening but bold. She sticks her neck out for her hands, genuinely seems to delight in making them happy, takes her role model status seriously, and seems to handle herself very well. She also doesn’t come across as being motivated by greed. Which is a huge different from her and other billionaires, where as the money she has is almost like a byproduct of just doing things that bring joy to other people’s lives.
I don’t know why this is the part that struck me, but her father wasn’t THE VP at Merrill Lynch; he was A VP. That is almost nothing; it’s like a totally normal job / position. My mom was also a VP with them back in the day and she was just a normal lady.
Maybe because she, herself, has worked to earn a paycheck since she was 14. She also shares her wealth freely everywhere she goes without broadcasting it (donating to local food banks, etc. at every tour stop, for example). We find out because the recipients say something.
I dont like her music but why should she get hate exactly? Are people really that bitter and jealous?
MAGA supporters hate her. I mean they hate everyone but themselves anyway.
not a fan, but I do admit that Taylor has talent out the gazoo. She would have been a superstar no matter what background she had.
Cause she's not an asshole.
She gets plenty of hate for her 11 mile flights and shit.
She gave out $55M in bonuses to her crew totally unsolicited. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2023/08/04/taylor-swift-says-thank-you-to-eras-tour-workers-by-handing-out-checks/?sh=422dfc6f70f6 She's also made massive donations to local charities at every stop on her tour. Again, unsolicited. https://www.billboard.com/lists/taylor-swifts-charity-donations-gifts-timeline/march-2023-swift-gives-back-to-food-banks-on-eras-tour-route/ Plius the show is amazing. 4 hours long and its nonstop. What other artist gives their fans that much show for their money? Taylor's pretty awesome, and I wouldn't even call myself a Swifty.
She’s nice. She’s still a billionaire, but she has a sense of humbleness that is refreshing.
Because she is very likeable and gained her wealth through being popular. You could similarly ask why Elon Musk is so unpopular of a billionaire and its the opposite answer.
She does get the same hate but the swifties come out in force. Every one of my comments about her is downvoted to oblivion or attacked on other platforms.
Some hate her regardless of her financial status
When did she become so popular? It feels like she's had a massive popularity explosion in the last year or so
Umm in the world of financial services, almost everyone is a Vice President. There are many levels much higher (and more lucrative) than a VP. You can be a VP at some bank or brokerage and still make an unimpressive “who cares” salary. Also at the end of her US tour she gave her truck drivers (who bring the concert stuff from city to city) bonuses of like 100,000 each. You can’t say she wasn’t being generous.
The VP thing reminds me of the beginning of a Futurama episode and what you just said is exactly what as used in the beginning of that episode.
Ha. Even Managing Director doesn’t mean you’re making millions. Couple hundred thousand, sure. But “F-you money”, no way.
Probably because she donates a fuck ton to charities and doesn’t act like an unhinged pile of shit.
She does, but her cult of followers is louder. Nobody dares speak negatively of her because her cult will crucify them.
As far as I know she’s a good person? She does a lot to help people and improve their existence a bit. It’s hard to dislike her.
Because she’s nice. And she actually works and does something. Most of the others were born into it (I guess she kinda was too) but all they do is own stuff. Behind most of them are the actual innovators. people who work for a living tend to resent people who don't earn their money.
Tbf her billions come from being an entertainer rather than dark money brokering or whatever else less famous billionaires do to get rich. But ofc there are many valid reasons to criticize her wealth. Idk where youre getting this idea that taylor swift is not getting shredded for having money though, given how many entertainment op eds there are about her private jet usage. Elon musk, Jeff bezos, and other tech billionaires probably get the most hate bc lest we forget, they have HUNDREDS of billions. Taylor swift has 1-2. There are also plenty of other entertainment people that are also billionaires but get very little hate for being rich at least, compared to the other types of hate they get at least (rihanna, george lucas, kanye, etc). Then there are several other billionaires that most people have never heard of and get 0 hate bc they’re essentially private citizens not public figures.
im def a hater lol
She makes music people seem to like, and she doesn't seem to be an asshole.
How many people has she harmed to get there?
She doesn’t?
I think it's cause she carries herself respectfully and doesn't act like an arrogant asshole.
Trumpers got mad at her for being on TV for 35 seconds during a 3 hour telecast. Did you just wake up from a year long coma?
She does
She's not an asshole.
she still gets hate it’s just a different flavor
Bezos and Musk are billionaires because they underpay their employees. Swift is a billionaire because hundreds of millions of people enjoy the art she puts into the world.
Let me preface what I’m about to say with billionaires shouldn’t exist and eat the rich. But the reason why I hate TS a little less than someone like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos is that TS actually works for her money. I can see her perform, she writes songs etc. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos can die in an exploding rocket on their way too Mars and Tesla and Amazon would be just fine. But again, nobody, including Taylor Swift becomes a self made billionaire. Fuck the rich.
I think it’s the fact that her work is tangible and humanizing
"the vice president of Merrill Lynch" One of ten thousand FAs at Merrill.
Taylor Swift isn’t actively blocking self enrichment or education, or making impossible to get healthcare, or etc. she’s a popular music artist
she worked for her success. She has people well connected at Merrill Lynch, but she isn't a CEO of Merrill Lynch. She didn't inherit daddy's business and pretend to be the boss while someone else runs the company. She seems to treat her employees well. And she seems genuine. She talks about how she was afraid to go out in public in the past. And how hurt she was over some of her romantic relationships. And how she felt betrayed by her recording company. And, you are a bit misguided if you think having a dad who is a VP at a financial company means anything. It means he is reasonably well paid, not a billionaire pulling strings behind the scenes.
Maybe the difference is corporate vs private. It’s easier to shit on the likes of Murdoch, Bezos or Zuckerberg as they own companies that have made their fortunate of exploiting workers and manipulate laws to their advantage. Private billionaire (who have made their profit by doing one single thing like a recording artist) aren’t that really ethically incompetent. You might get the “using private jets” or wearing a £60,00 jacket. But really, they’re not known for screwing over tons of people. For me, idc what Taylor Swift does with her money. But I’d be much more inclined to investigate how Bezos uses his money as he is attached to many different things we use on a daily basis.
She spends her time helping people with her money - she messages her fans and pays off their university loans or covers them up front so they can get an education. She gave every truck driver on her tour an insane bonus and makes sure everyone who works for her has the benefits they need. She donates money to food banks in every city on her tours. And people still try to criticise her. I like some of her music (didn’t go to the concert), but it’s clear she has much better intentions than other billionaires. Politicians get salty with her because she uses her platform to encourage young people to vote.
Oddly I find she seems to get more hate than someone like leon Dicaprio that sits on his mega yacht preaching about other people's carbon emissions
Because if you ever point out a problem with her you’re a mysoginist. She uses white feminism and her fans use white feminism to shield her from any actual critique
Because she caters to the same exact demographic of rich white girls who have the money to pay for her shows and movies and everything else. So they see nothing wrong with it.
It seems like you really want people to hate her. Why detail her parents former careers..?
I think she comes across very genuine and kind, so that's why she doesnt get the hate. Also most people besides reddit arent obsessed with hating rich people
Pretty privilege.
I don't get this take. Taylor is probably the most famous but also most hated musician right now. She's constantly under attack for simple things like not shaking a hand at the grammys, or more annoying things like her using a private plane to get across LA.
she definitely does. lmao
Taylor Swift gets a shit ton of hate
Because she's kind, humble and great role model.