Taylor Swift Opens Up About “Rivalry” Comparisons To Beyoncé
Taylor Swift has opened up about the assumed “rivalry” between her and Beyoncé.
During Swift’s TIME “Person of the Year” interview, the pop star said her and Bey are friends. Taylor called Queen Bey “the most precious gem of a person.” The Evermore singer called the comparisons “lucrative” machinations created by “the media and stan culture.”
“She’s the most precious gem of a person—warm and open and funny. And she’s such a great disrupter of music-industry norms,” she said. “She taught every artist how to flip the table and challenge archaic business practices…There were so many stadium tours this summer, but the only ones that were compared were me and Beyoncé. Clearly it’s very lucrative for the media and stan culture to pit two women against each other—even when those two artists in question refuse to participate in that discussion.”
As she continues, Taylor speaks to the deeper issue of a patriarchal society. However, the hitmaker is optimistic about “feminine ideas becoming more lucrative,” which would shift the culture.
“If we have to speak stereotypically about the feminine and the masculine,” she adds. “Women have been fed the message that what we naturally gravitate toward—Girlhood, feelings, love, breakups, analyzing those feelings, talking about them nonstop, glitter, sequins! We’ve been taught that those things are more frivolous than the things that stereotypically gendered men gravitate toward, right?
“And what has existed since the dawn of time? A patriarchal society. What fuels a patriarchal society? Money, flow of revenue, the economy. So actually, if we’re going to look at this in the most cynical way possible, feminine ideas becoming lucrative means that more female art will get made. It’s extremely heartening.”
Taylor insisted, though, that she and Beyoncé aren’t worried about being pitted against each other. She asserted that they’re “trying to do bigger things.” “I think it’s radical and beautiful that the two of us actively reject that conversation,” she said. “I know we’ve evolved past that conversation because she and I are trying to do bigger things.”
The assumed “rivalry” began in 2009 after Kanye West interrupted Swift’s acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards. West notoriously proclaimed that Bey should’ve won Best Female Video over Swift. Later that night, Bey won Video of the Year for “Single Ladies.” The Renaissance singer then allowed the country artist on stage to finish her acceptance speech.
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