http://eecoswitch.com/setup/css/install.css I have never been a fan of Taylor Swift not just because I’m way beyond the age of her target demographic but because her music always seemed almost aggressively male identified. I listen to and enjoy a lot of mainstream pop music that my kids listen to but I do need a little subtlety in the lyrics, a little less of the boyfriend narrative and language in order to really get into it and have it stick with me. As queer people, music doesn’t always reflect our relationships so we project our experiences onto the songs that are out there but we need something to work with, something more generally about love.
Taylor Swift’s music never lent itself to any sort of queer projection until the release of her most recent album, 1989.
For those who don’t know, 1989 is Taylor’s first pop album after a career in country music and it sold 1.287 million copies in the first week, making it the largest selling album since 2002. In some ways, it is the Little Album That Could because she had to fight her producers to make it and everyone told her it would fail and she pulled her music from Spotify which many considered a move that would hurt the overall promotion of her album. But as she wrote in a Wall Street journal op-ed,
Music is art, and art is important and rare. Important, rare things are valuable. Valuable things should be paid for.
It’s clear that Taylor Swift is maturing and her music reflects that because there are several notable songs on 1989 that use no pronouns at all including All You Had To Do Was Stay, Out of the Woods, How You Get The Girl and This Love. This Love is how I got hooked and then Clean reeled me in for good. Both of these songs are such significant departures from anything she’s done before that my son, a pop music know-it-all, didn’t even know they were her songs.
I soon found myself sucked into the world of Taylor Swift and became intrigued with her evolution from dorky country star to feminist pop phenom and in my research, I found something unexpected.
A few months ago, during an I Heart Radio performance, she changed the lyrics in I Knew You Were Trouble to,
And the saddest fear comes creeping in, that she never loved me or her or anyone or anything…
Regardless of sexual orientation or intent, I appreciate it when artists switch the lyrics up because it normalizes same-sex relationships and it is particularly powerful when someone like Taylor Swift does it given that she has a young female audience.
After that, I started digging and found some adorable pictures of Taylor with her friend Karlie Kloss who is a model.
PHOTO CREDIT: KARLIE KLOSS
PHOTO CREDIT: KARLIE KLOSS
PHOTO CREDIT: DAILY MAIL
And, well, they look like an adorable couple, right? Even Buzzfeed thought these best friends were adorable and devoted an entire GIF and pic list to them.
Most recently, Taylor and Karlie did the Victoria’s Secret fashion show together…
PHOTO CREDIT: EONLINE
…and then went to the after party together.
PHOTO CREDIT: KAYLOR-LOVE
The truth is that if Taylor showed this level of affection with a man, the rumors and headlines announcing romance would be pervasive and the words “best friends” would not be mentioned at all. There is still a double standard and what lies beneath that is a belief that someone like Taylor could never be with a woman.
Is Taylor Swift bisexual and lesbianing with Karlie Kloss? Is she just a young woman in her 20s having a good time with her best friend with whom she is very physically affectionate? I don’t have the answers to that but it’s possible that it’s like Taylor sings in her song, I Know Places,
You stand with your hand on my waist line
It’s a scene and we’re out here in plain sight
If this picture from last night is any indication, I think it might be just that.
exclusive taylor and karlie making out #confirmed pic.twitter.com/cmumxBa4fQ
— kathy (@kathyparkk) December 5, 2014
Tag your pics #villageq to be included in the family album at 
Great post. Gave me a lot to think about. Thoughtful and well-written!
I’ve sorta suspected as much lately. She has alot of boyfriends that just play the part (and some of them are actually gay), but when you look at pictures she seems to be aloof from them. Then you see her face light up when she’s with her “girlfriends.” I think she likes girls. That said, I think she would have issues admitting her feelings to the public, or acting on it.
That’s a subtle way of thniking about it.
Here’s one of the difficult parts about being public figures. One hand says no one’s concern. The other hand says but young people, feeling alone and looking for acceptance, can find strength in seeing taylor swift’s life. I’m for both sides.
Maybe someday sexual orientation won’t matter and it won’t be of concern to anyone but we aren’t there yet.
It seems to me that it is Karlie Kloss who is pursuing the more-than-friends affection: at the concert, she pulled Taylor closer during the kiss; at the beach, she is declaring her love for Taylor, albeit in a childlike way; in the field, she is embracing Taylor from behind. The question (if there should be a question at all) maybe shouldn’t be, “Is Taylor Swift gay?” but “Is Karlie Kloss in love with Taylor Swift?” Of course it’s quite possible that they’re just fooling around, but jokes tend to derive from reality.
I do wonder if Karlie might get her heart broken.
I think we have way to many gay ppl around just saying
I look forward to the day when even more people come out and are true to themselves.
i think if ur a role model you shouldn’t do that kind of stuff but look what happened to britney and Madonna and I was a big fan of Britney spears and just like that I throw everything away I mean I don’t ike taylor swift neither but I like little bit of her songs I don’t think celebs is not a role models at all but hey if ppl what to look up to taylor swift bcuz she don’t have nude pics and taking her closes off like the Kardashian good for them im like 37 and yrs old I don’t really listen to her music at all .
There are many people in the world who need and deserve role models who will show affection for their same-sex partners in public. I’m not saying that Taylor Swift is that person because I don’t know her. But, the fact that she used same-sex pronouns in a song just might mean a lot to a young girl struggling with her sexuality.
I think the problem is exactly that we’ve projected stars as “role models.” When the show is over, Taylor Swift is a normal girl. The fact that it is somehow shameful for a “role model” to be LGBT is disgusting. People love who they love.
I have a homosexuality double standard. I am okay with lesbians but somehow not gay men. But anyway, if Taylor Swift wants to come out we should be supportive.
I would go to party’s and do stuff with my friends and it doesn’t mean I’m gay there is nothing wrong with it even if she is and I <3 my friends and I can write it in the sand. First off it doesn't really look like they are kissing 2nd photoshop 3rd it could be a game or something. Why would taylor be hiding it anyway we should listen to her why would she lie about it. She is just over boys and wants to focus on her career so instead of taking a boy to party's and stuff she is taking her best friend so calm down people . Luv u Taylor
I agree there is nothing wrong with it.
Hey I’m not bisexual or gay but I still will say if a female is pretty & I agree with my fiance when he says 1s HOT but let Tyler b that way if she wants 2 b. She can do what she wants. She’s a beautiful young girl that is having fun. So every that is sticking up 4 her good. Ppl should leave her alone neway & stop taking pics. I hate poperatzi however u spell it lol
Well I’m 31 & I’m not a big fan of Taylor but she can really do what she wants it’s het young life & doing Victoria secret is getting pretty much naked 2 me lol but she looked good 4 her. Taylor never dresses up all sexy so 2 c her like that was nice 4 a change. But she’s young & like I said be I’ll say it again if it wasn’t 4 noisy ppl taking pics that pic wouldn’t b on here. & y would u throw away your Brittany spears stuff just bcuz of her & Madonna. That was def just 4 tv neither of them r gay they just like the publicity & the fam. Every was surprised but come on it made that moment lol
This article is great, but I take an issue to the “None of Taylor Swift’s songs lended to queer projection before 1989.” This is a straight up lie. She even has a song on her second album called Breathe which is a breakup song confirmed about a woman… her former fiddle player Emily Poe.
A lot of queer fans (myself included) have inserted themselves into Ours. Ours discusses a relationship speculated on and gossiped about by so many people outside the relationship and trying to push past that… Many people have made the homophobia/fame link there, as they do in I Know Places.
If no pronouns (or second person pronouns) are what counts
All Too Well has no pronouns. Back to December also has no pronouns. Beautiful Eyes, Christmases When You Were Mine (an original Christmas song about a breakup), Come Back…Be Here, Come In With the Rain, Crazier, Enchanted, Fearless…
I could go on but I think I’ve made my point. Just because you haven’t thought of it until now does not mean the songs didn’t lend themselves for queer insert.
Another addition, I think it’s pretty clear Taylor is bisexual, not gay. And bisexual women do not “lesbian” with other women. That feels in line with some pretty gross implications about bisexuality being “half” gay and this notion that bisexual people are not full members of the queer community because we’re not gay.
Obviously you are much better versed in Taylor’s music than I!
I just saw this because I was curious to see if anyone responded… Yes. I am. haha That’s what happens when you’ve been a fan of someone for almost 9 years… since the first time the local radio station played their very first single on their very first album five albums ago. 🙂
I think Taylor’s just goin through a phase. It’s hard for me to believe she’s gay! I just think she wants to try something new, I mean she is still young and I don’t think this will be perminate
she’s obviously gay
Well if Taylor is going through a phase we all have to respect that and stand by her fan / no fan no matter what there is some of us going through the same phase, i’m a big fan of Taylor and I support her 100% no matter what
Who cares? It looks like she wants the gay crowd to buy her records and that is what those pictures are all about
Most women start out as bisexual. Some then go completely gay after popping out their litter of booger eaters. They usually get divorced sometime after their kids are old enough to know the truth about their mother. Have seen this as the rule rather than the exception. Taylor Swift is in her bisexual phase. Very likely, she will go the rest of the way to gay later on.
This is the dumbest thing i have read in my life.
I came across this article while I was wondering whether I Know Places is really about a homosexual relationship. I just could not help thinking that it should be the thing according to the very suggestive lyrics compared to other songs (if she ever thought about suggesting it in any of her other songs which were unmistakably on straight relationships). As Zoe Leo has explained, there might not have been real certain pronoun usage in some old songs of Taylor, but she never gave hints of this topic up until she released 1989, as mentioned in the article. Specifically the song, Welcome to New York. There is no argument about that song though; she has given clear explanations on it.
In my personal opinion, we don’t know the whole thing about any celebrity no matter what they make public, so it’s not wise to do guesswork whether she is gay or bisexual.
Especially on her side, I think she has been and still being very tactful, not giving out straight up facts about her orientation particularly, maybe just for the sake of keeping fans of all orientations steady. She would write a song that gives a hint here and there, talk things with clues of that sort on TV shows, go hang out with Karlie Kloss where they can be spotted, but I think she would never ever come out as a lesbian or a bisexual. Even on her endless break ups, what I used to think was that she did all that just to be included in gossips and news and what not, and I thought it was sort of weird to date so many boys during such a short time.
She has got an exceptional talent, and she is quite good looking, but she is very tactful, I again say.
And if you guys are not aware, Karlie Kloss has been dating Joshua Kushner since 2012, and now there is new gossip going around that she’s going to marry Calvin Harris finally.