Taylor Swift Faces Backlash Over 'All the Racists' Lyrics

She's certainly pushing the boundaries of the age-old adage about negative publicity.

Taylor Swift, the reigning queen of pop music who has been dominating headlines to an almost overwhelming extent this year, is stirring up a different kind of conversation with the lyrics from her newly released album.

One particular line has sparked controversy among fans.

In a track titled "I Hate It Here" — a title likely to elicit a chuckle — Swift describes what appears to be a scenario of feeling out of place at a high school party.

“My friends used to play a game where we would pick a decade we wished we could live in instead of this / I’d say the 1830s but without all the racists and getting married off for the highest bid,” she sings.

As highlighted by USA Today, the song is part of "The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology," a deluxe edition of her album.

On the surface, it may seem like a jest — the 1830s hardly stand out as a pivotal decade in American history (hello, Arkansas and Michigan joining the Union!), and the mention of "minus all the racists" seems surreal, given that it refers to an era when chattel slavery was entrenched in half the nation.

However, whether jest or not, the line has incited the expected backlash on social media in a cultural moment where Swift holds significant sway for some inexplicable reason.

"y’all .. there are so many wrong things about this," one user commented.

Beyond the obvious issues of slavery and the looming tensions leading to the Civil War, the 1830s boasted its fair share of drawbacks from a modern standpoint, such as the absence of indoor plumbing (presumably not a preference among Swift's fans).

Moreover, there wasn't a prevailing movement akin to today's, denying distinctions between genders or asserting that children could select their sexuality as easily as they pick mismatched socks.

There weren't many platforms for personalities like Swift to assert — as she has done in the past — that anyone advocating for reason, science, and basic decency regarding gender is a bigot.

It's likely Swift is aware of this. As tempting as it may be to question her intelligence, ascending to the heights of her career requires a certain level of mental acuity. (Which only serves to make her objectionable politics even more regrettable.)

Likewise, it's highly improbable that she would willingly choose to live in the 1830s — racists notwithstanding. Simply being without her iPhone would likely be unbearable for the songstress of the "Tortured Poets Department."

The line in the song likely serves its intended purpose, serving as a downer that made the other partygoers "look down ’cause it wasn’t fun now."

However, it does pose a new challenge to the notion that "there's no such thing as bad publicity."

And it couldn't have come at a better time. Following a winter inundated with the cultural and political ramifications of Swift's relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, things had been unusually quiet lately.

And in 2024, the nation simply hasn't had its fill of Taylor Swift news.