It looks like Taylor Swift is going to have to keep shaking off the haters, because one of her "corniest" lyrics is being called into question!
The popular lyricist, who has been known to dabble in poetry from time to time, is being called out for the introduction of her "I Know What You Did" music video, with one netizen calling it her "fakest" lyric ever.
Twelve years ago, the "Anti-Hero" singer released the music video for "I Knew You Were Trouble" along with a lengthy introduction. "I think... I think when it's all over, it just comes back in flashes, you know," she begins. "It's like a kaleidoscope of memories, but it just all comes back. But he never does."
"I think part of me knew the second I saw him that this would happen. It's not really anything he said, or anything he did, it was the feeling that came along with it, and the crazy thing is I don't know if I'm ever gonna feel that way ever again, but I don't know if I should..." she admits.
"I knew his world moved too fast... and burnt too bright, but I thought: how can the Devil be pulling you towards someone who looks... like an angel when he smiles at you? Maybe he knew that when he saw me. I guess I just lost my balance. I think that the worst part of it wasn't losing him. It was losing myself," she says as the song begins playing.
This week, a Reddit post popped up, with one user sharing a screenshot of the spoken monologue. "Thus [sic] is the corniest, fakest into [sic] I have ever heard," they wrote over the screenshot.
Fans were quick to tear apart the lyrics, with one user specifically highlighting the phrase "How can the devil pull you towards someone who smiles like an angel?" They went on to call it "some peak MySpace trash," while other users agreed.
"LOL if she read the Bible, it says the devil disguises himself as an angel of light," another netizen pointed out. "And it does sound like emo MySpace nonsense."
While one user agreed that the monologue was "corny as f-ck," another user joked, "This is the kind of word salad you have to read before you finally get to the recipe at the bottom of the page."
"It's a word salad," another user agreed. "She is trying to say something very deep, but there is a lot of free-flow thought going on, and there isn't anything concrete in her response."
Another netizen admitted that they liked it when they first heard it, confessing, "It's cringe to read now but tbh I ate this up when I was 12."
It's not surprising to hear that fans are turning their backs on Taylor Swift and her "cringe" lyrics, considering that she has always seemed to appeal to a younger demographic. Songs like "Fifteen" appealed to high schoolers her own age who were going through similar experiences of experiencing their first love and subsequent heartbreak.
Unfortunately, many of these same fans have since moved on. They now have careers, families, and even children of their own. The same lyrics that they once found appealing are now, as that one user so eloquently put it, "cringe to read now." It's like going back through your old middle school poetry that you thought was deep at the time, only to realize that it really wasn't.
It's also one of the biggest problems with "The Tortured Poets Department," which did not seem to receive the same positive attention as her past albums. Many fans have criticized the way that she seems to be repeating the same teenage love tropes in her songs without showing any growth.
Although Taylor has gotten older and experienced more relationships, many fans are frustrated that the songs on "The Tortured Poets Department" didn't seem to reflect any sort of maturity. After all, the lyric, "I'm having his baby / No, I'm not / But you should see your faces" from "But Daddy I Love Him" does sound a bit immature from someone 35 years of age.
It's possible that the "Love Story" singer has identified her target audience, namely pre-teen girls, and is more interested in creating content for a new generation of fans than the ones that grew up with her. In that case, more power to her. After all, it is her music. However, she shouldn't be surprised if she loses the fans who have grown up with her in the process, as they move on to explore new genres and a more mature sound.
Then again, this is Taylor Swift, and when it comes to facing any criticism, she's known to just "Shake It Off."