Can We Please Stop Talking About Taylor Swift’s Bangs?
Whether you’re a fan or a critic, there’s no denying that Taylor Swift is a force to be reckoned with in the music industry. The folklore artist has been in the spotlight for over half her life and successfully transitioned from being a country star to being a global popstar. Swift has collected numerous awards for her eight albums, including 10 Grammy Awards. And Swift is slated to rack up a few more for her newest album, folklore.
Swift also broke records with her Reputation Stadium Tour, her loyal fans making it the highest-grossing U.S. tour of all time. Swift had the tour documented and distributed by Netflix for Swifties to revisit anytime they wish. The “epiphany” singer also put out a documentary, Miss Americana, in 2020, which detailed some of the most important events in her life. Swift’s music has brought her worldwide recognition and taken her net worth to staggering heights. Currently, the Grammy winner is worth a whopping $360 million.
Taylor Swift has received criticism about her bangs for years
Of course, being in the spotlight for the past 16 years has also earned Swift no small amount of criticism. Throughout her career, she’s received backlash for being quiet about her political views, suing her fans, engaging in White feminism, not using her power and influence to work with more women producers, and more. But one consistent critique that continues to come up isn’t about Swift’s work or her persona, but about her hair.
Since Swift has has been in the spotlight for years, it’s natural that she’s cycled through hairstyles. Swift’s hair has been curly one day, straight the next, and even platinum on one occasion. But one thing that has been fairly consistent is that Swift is almost always sporting bangs. Recently, Swift released her newest commercial for Captial One and the trailer for her upcoming film, folklore: the long pond studio sessions. Fans and critics alike began expressing disdain for the songwriter’s hair. Swift’s bangs in particular, were the subject of backlash.
The ‘folklore’ artist has tried out a number of hairstyles, but the bangs have been a constant
“I wish, wish, wish she would fix her bangs and for the love of all things holy color her hair,” one person wrote on Oh No They Didn’t after learning about Swift upcoming folklore film. “Come on Tay Tay, spend $12 and buy a couple boxes of Miss Clairol at least. That drab brown/blonde hair does her no favors and makes the bangs look even worse. I’m not saying go back to platinum cause that looked terrible too, but lighten it up just a little, that’s all. Go back to your Red or 1989 era hair, I just I’m saying.”
“She has way too much money to have bangs like that!!” another person wrote about Swift. “Honestly, her best hair was Speak Now era…no bangs and just her pretty natural curls. I’m surprised she still has bangs tbh it’s been like 8 years at this point grow them out!!”
Can we stop holding Swift, and other women, to unrealistic beauty standards?
Of course, not everyone took offense to Swift’s bangs. In fact, even some of Swift’s critics rushed to her defense about her bangs. “I genuinely like her shi*ty hair tbh,” they penned about Swift’s hair. “It’s so annoying when everyone speaks as though there must be something wrong with her (or any other woman) for not choosing to get dolled up or look sexy/girly/cute in a very conventional way. Fu*k y’all for making me feel defensive over Taylor Swift lmao.”
Honestly, we’d have to agree with the last comment. There’s plenty to criticize Swift about without resorting to endless digs about her hair. As male musicians almost never receive this level of scrutiny for their hair, we can’t see why the same courtesy can’t be extended to Swift. Obviously, Swift isn’t above criticism, but please…”not the bayang.”
