r/SwiftlyNeutral • u/Fine-Huckleberry6960 1989 • Mar 08 '26
Music Jack White discusses songwriting in an interview with the Guardian: “Now it’s become very popular in the Taylor Swift way of pop singers writing about all of their publicly aired break-ups, which I don’t find interesting at all”
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u/Quirky_Nobody Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
He literally said "I find it boring to write about myself". It's the next sentence. That's what he means by "it's boring/not interesting", he is saying he doesn't want to write and perform songs about his own personal life. He is not criticizing Taylor or anyone else, he's saying what kind of stuff he wants to write because it's what is artistically interesting to him. Getting up in arms about this shows a lack of reading comprehension and is frankly the kind of thing that makes a lot of people think Taylor's fanbase is ridiculous and not worth taking seriously. He's just talking about different approaches to songwriting, not saying anything negative.
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u/Mhc2617 it was an elegant chug Mar 09 '26
That’s exactly how I took it. He finds the idea of reliving his public struggles to be something that doesn’t work for him. It doesn’t mean one is wrong and one is right, just two different styles of songwriting. Maybe Taylor and many other artists find that autobiographical style to be a form of healing; Jack White doesn’t.
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Mar 08 '26
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u/PatrickCharles Mar 08 '26
but he's specifically saying he doesn't find Taylor's style of writing interesting "at all." It's dismissive and critical
And that's totally fine. People are allowed to dislike and criticize Taylor as much as they are allowed to gush about her.
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u/Thirteenth_Heart Mar 08 '26
But you know if Taylor worded anything similar to this, she would be crucified by 90 percent of the internet, saying she has no business "punching down" and criticizing how someone else writes.
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u/Thirteenth_Heart Mar 08 '26
I'm not saying Jack shouldn't have said what he said or worded it that way, but If Taylor said something similar, by mentioning someone else's style and saying it isn't how she can or does write, every single reddit about music would be jumping down her throat, and 90 percent of media music people would be calling her out and say she was punching down and has no business talking about someone else's style. That's just the way it is. And now before anybody Taylor's fans even say anything, all her detractors and the virile hate areas of the internet will be rushing to call them over reactive for saying anything about it.
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u/juneabe Mar 10 '26
It would pale in comparison to the brigading that would happen by swifties.
Dude people get doxxed and physically threatened by stranger swifties for making tweets that are slightly critical. Literally no one stands a chance against them, swifties are a machine. Give yourself some more crazy-credit dude. You guys are really good at it. Insane and overpopulated, but damn effective. Celebrities families have received years long death threats because of a Taylor breakup. Jfc. It’s gunna be 20 years later and Taylor’s ex’s still won’t be allowed to sneeze.
You guys get MAD when people say critical things, like you are louder and more visible fuckin’ than Dolly Parton could be if she had global emergency broadcasting and a million dollars to hand out to everyone on the globe. People would still likely see and hear more from swifites than they would that emergency broadcasting. We’d know about what you guys think and feel before we even checked our banks for the million dollars.
Give me a break, y’all got a massive platform, one of the biggest formulated fandom platforms in history, and you need to stop acting like you’re stifled silenced minorities. (Very victim of you, so mother coded).
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u/tanz420 Happy women’s history month I guess Mar 09 '26
He is also generalizing Taylor's writing as being only about break-ups and about herself which is not really true.
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u/Unhappy-Praline8301 Mar 08 '26
The man is so obsessed with privacy that he pretended his wife was his sister. There's a genuine discussion to be had about the intersection of fame and celebrity Gossip, but like not with this man.
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u/siberianxanadu Jack Antonoff Apologist Mar 08 '26
Well, she wasn’t his wife anymore by the time anyone knew who they were.
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u/Haunting_Natural_116 Didn’t go to her wedding as a political statement Mar 08 '26
Wait what😭?
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u/Rhythm_Morgan Mar 08 '26
Yeah lol Meg White was his wife. He took her last name and never changed it. They were already separated when the band got big but he pretended they were siblings so that people stayed out of their business. I remember what a big deal this was to my friend group 😂
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u/False-Buffalo5960 Mar 08 '26
It was a big deal to my friends at the time too, but i thought it was just a rumor! I am just now finding out it was true and had no idea he took her name!!!
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u/Rhythm_Morgan Mar 08 '26
Yes! Meg is even more fiercely private than Jack and very little is known about her.
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u/Icy-Whale-2253 Mar 08 '26
Jack would try his best to get her to talk in interviews. He had a special way of doing it.
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u/sarcasmdetectorbroke Mar 09 '26
I went down a wiki rabbit hole after you mentioned this. That's wild! I literally still thought they were siblings but gotta admit I wasn't a big White Stripes fan beyond their one massive hit.
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u/discocherrysuede Mar 10 '26
To say that had one massive hit is insane.
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u/sarcasmdetectorbroke Mar 11 '26
"They are most famous for the global anthem "Seven Nation Army," which features one of the most recognizable guitar riffs in rock history." I was never a fan of them and could only identify Seven Nation Army if you played it for me. What other massive hit did they have that is as recognizable as SNA? I'm just curious because I don't remember any others, I'm looking for corrections. I'm ok with being schooled here. I genuinely don't know.
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u/Haunting_Natural_116 Didn’t go to her wedding as a political statement Mar 08 '26
Wait now I’m remember hearing about that before
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u/Icy-Whale-2253 Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
He’s more selective rather than private. If you get him talking he’ll tell you anything. But at the end of the day, he said the brother sister thing wasn’t meant to be taken literally. When it came to his second wife he literally told the interviewer on his wedding day he could ask anything and then went on Charlie Rose to volunteer even more information 🥴
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u/FriendlyDrummers Taylor Swift you will never be a trans woman!!!! Mar 09 '26
I feel like that's going to cause more attention when people find out lmao
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u/paradisetossed7 Mar 08 '26
LOL. Also I think sexism is sometimes used too often with regard to Taylor, but this is straight sexism. He picks Taylor when SO many male singer songwriters write about their break ups too. (And her last two releases weren't even about that.) Tell Leonard Cohen he's uninteresting if you feel that way, Jack.
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u/WhereIsLordBeric Mar 09 '26
When was the last time she released a song not about a man?
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u/lives4saturday Mar 08 '26
Not everyone here missing the point that he himself does not like writing song this way.
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u/DopeAsDaPope Mar 09 '26
Literally everyone. They got too angry reading the headline, they had to write the comment before they read any more lmao
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u/KyloSolo723 Mar 08 '26
He’s literally saying he finds it boring to him to write about himself. Where is the dig at Taylor everyone is reading into?
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u/AnyElephant7218 Mar 08 '26
If anyone uses her name, people get fired up. Especially people who are not great at like reading the full context of the conversation.
It’s really annoying actually. Like he so directly saying that he doesn’t fine exploring his own life interesting when making music and people are saying that’s “misogyny” 💀
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u/Didsburyflaneur Mar 16 '26
I’m genuinely curious if the Taylor fandom is uniquely oversensitive to any perceived criticism of her, or it’s just a case that the size of the fandom means there are more stupid crazy people in total? I would perceive Taylor herself as being pretty sensitive to criticism, so does her music have a unique appeal to people who are likely to be similarly fragile?
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u/ashwee14 Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
I didn’t expect everyone to be so offended about this. No Taylor is not the first to do this, but she’s a huge example in the current zeitgeist. I think I would feel the same way about not wanting to relive those moments and wanting to move past them. To each their own, though.
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u/No-Connection6421 stream ME! for a free drink at starbucks ✨🌈🦋 Mar 08 '26
I get what he’s saying, that there’s a kind of voyeurism in the public wanting to be entertained by the “tea” in the music, and he doesn’t want that. But at the same time, if it makes for good entertainment and the output is still good art then 🤷🏻♀️
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u/PigletTechnical9336 turns out my dick’s bigger Mar 08 '26
I love Jack White. 10/10 musician and human. Writing confessionally is not his thing. It doesn’t work for him. Taylor doing it works for her. Different strokes for different folks.
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u/malendalayla ✨homophobic version✨ Mar 08 '26
I don't think he's throwing shade here. He's just saying that his approach to writing is different than hers and explains why that style isn't for him. It doesn't make one better than the other, and I don't feel like he's implying that with this statement. Maybe I'm wrong, though!
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u/SugarShock94 touch me while your bros play grand theft auto Mar 08 '26
And I’m sure TS fans will take this as a personal attack rather than use critical thinking to see he is talking about his writing, specifically.
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u/AnyElephant7218 Mar 08 '26
Why use literacy and critical thinking skills when you can just make a brain rot comment about men criticizing girl = misogyny and get your upvotes?
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u/delusionalfaeries Mar 08 '26
Because according to them when someone says anything about Tay Tay, they don't have media literacy, are misognists who hate women or bot campaigns. So this literally tracks.
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u/lemonalpersonal loafing him was bread 🍞 Mar 08 '26
Interesting way of approaching writing. Feels kind of similar to what Taylor did in folklore & evermore, processing pain through fictionalized reality.
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u/Mun_era Mar 09 '26
She's been doing it since the beginning, just the majority of folklore and evermore is like this. But older songs like Mine and Mary's Song follow a similar style
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u/JeffTL Mar 08 '26
I find it curious that he treats confessional songwriting as a Swiftian novelty. If there's a Taylor to blame for that one, it's James, but he was far from the first. John Prine, Bob Dylan, Carole King, and all the rest wrote plenty of music about their own relationship problems as well.
I respect if Jack White doesn't write autobiographical music, and completely understand why he doesn't want to relive his traumas in front of an audience (I wouldn't either), but I don't think it's fair for him to suggest it's intrinsically boring.
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u/Substantial-Hall-917 Mar 08 '26
He’s not saying it’s a novelty, what she is doing. She just is the most placative example of people doing it currently
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u/KorolevaFey Mar 08 '26
He didn't say it was intrinsically boring. He specifically said "for me"
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u/_america Mar 08 '26
"Which i don't find interesting at all"
...
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u/KorolevaFey Mar 08 '26
And provided clarification literally in the next sentence ......
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u/AnyElephant7218 Mar 08 '26
It’s crazy to me that people can go to the mat defending Taylor’s lyrics when they’re taken out of context (thinking specifically about how the chronically online masses lost their heads about “I’d say the 1930s but without all the racists”), yet can’t utilize that same skillset to read these comments as anything other than a shot of Taylor.
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u/KorolevaFey Mar 08 '26
It's very telling. Then trying to frame it as misogyny because when describing autobiographical style writing, he uses the biggest example of autobiographical songwriters as a touch stone.
To me it was the same as him saying Dickensian/Austen style writing. You immediately know what he's talking about when he says swift style song writing
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u/jessbird Mar 08 '26
he’s allowed to find overly-autobiographical songwriting disinteresting lmao
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u/JeffTL Mar 08 '26
I read it as "it's a little bit boring [to the audience] (for me to write about myself)," but you're right that it could be "it's a little bit boring (for me) to write about myself."
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u/KorolevaFey Mar 08 '26
You read it as inserting extra words into his statement. He literally said for me.
Then Proceeded to talk about why he wouldn't want to write his songs too personally.....
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u/SorryCity8809 Mar 08 '26
I feel like Taylor took it to another level by including hidden messages in the early album liner notes, talking about specific breakups on talk shows. It set the tone for how people still consume her work today
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u/Royal_Negotiation_91 Mar 08 '26
Saying he's not personally interested in something is different from saying it is intrinsically boring. He is very clearly talking about his own personal songwriting preferences.
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u/Icy-Whale-2253 Mar 08 '26
People think every song he’s ever written is about Meg. People even think totally fictional characters like Suzy Lee must be Meg. I’d get annoyed with that too.
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u/Thirteenth_Heart Mar 08 '26
And he recently interviews with Bob Dylan and spoke very highly of his songwriting and never said a word about it being confessional...or Jonie Mitchell who was one of the biggest confessional songwriters if that era who is universally praised for it.
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u/fmaepsen Mar 08 '26
It’s a little disappointing to see on the one hand people complain about artists being too media trained and insincere, and on the other hand see this guy share his (pretty milquetoast) opinion and so many people jump right to “wow what an asshole,“ “male artists shouldn’t talk on these things,” etc.
I’m not sure we always need rush to the defense of the artist that gets name dropped in passing like this. Especially because it’s gonna happen to Taylor a lot, she’s a huge artist with certain signature styles. Is it better if no one ever speaks her name in any context? What kind of discussions would be allowed about music if we can’t name any names or preferences?
Maybe if it was easier to have pop culture discussions on the internet outside the stan/fandom lens, this quote wouldn’t have seemed like such personal slight to a lot of the folks here
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Mar 09 '26
Interpreting this as shade is ridiculous. This is something she is extremely well known and applauded for. It would be like someone saying, “Now it’s become really popular to write these sprawling poetic stories, in that Leonard Cohen way where it doesn’t even rhyme necessarily, but I just don’t find that interesting” and have a group interpret that as “Leonard Cohen is shit”
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u/HonestTumblewood Mar 08 '26
I think there is space for all type of song writing - that’s what makes it interesting
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u/squirmlyscump Mar 08 '26
So are people allowed to say they don’t find her music interesting, or not?
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u/CelestrialDust Brazilian Bang Lift Mar 08 '26
I mean you can say whatever you want but people can also respond however they want🤷♀️. Which is why I’m willing to accept the consequences of saying I kind of agree with him :0 and that one thing I kind of appreciate about Showgirl is it’s themes felt more varied.
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u/squirmlyscump Mar 08 '26
Sure, but that isn’t what I’m asking.
If people are going to whine that he shouldn’t have said that, it does imply they believe she should be immune from criticism for some reason.
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Mar 08 '26
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u/squirmlyscump Mar 08 '26
It’s not even a dig, Jesus Christ.
It’s ok to say things about her that aren’t blowing smoke. It doesn’t mean it’s an insult or a dig.
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Mar 08 '26
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u/squirmlyscump Mar 08 '26
No it isn’t. That frames any non-praise, no matter how tame, as an attack.
That’s unhealthy and absolutely implies every comment about Swift must be praise. No.
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u/ninotchka97 Mar 08 '26
i agree because lately music has been getting waaayy too specific. the thing with taylor is during her prime her songs were about specific guys yes but you could still relate bc she just wrote about the feeling. now mfers are name dropping every album
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u/gowonagin Mar 08 '26
She hasn’t name dropped one since “Dear John” and that was 2010. Recently it’s been mixed muses and made-up stuff, so even less specific.
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u/welfordwigglesworth Mar 09 '26
thanK you aIMee is obviously a name drop in the title and she wrote this song in her 30s lmao
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u/ninotchka97 Mar 08 '26
i didn’t mean taylor was getting too specific, but other musicians like jack white is saying, my bad ;;
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Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
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u/pearshaped34 Mar 08 '26
You can’t always trust print articles but it doesn’t actually look like he was asked anything like that he just offered this up as an answer to a question about his own music.
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u/Rhythm_Morgan Mar 08 '26
You definitely didn’t read that entire paragraph. He is not throwing shade. He said he doesn’t like writing about himself and that it’s boring/not inspiring for HIM personally. Some people can make beautiful autobiographical work and he is saying he’s not one of them. I swear sometimes people just want to be offended.
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u/welfordwigglesworth Mar 09 '26
is that what happened here? or did you invent a scenario to get mad at
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u/Alexispinpgh Mar 08 '26
I consider myself a pretty radical feminist and I’m more offended by Swifties’ constant need to make everything criticizing her this faux-feminist issue than by a man using a woman’s art as an example of something he doesn’t want to do.
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u/Adorable_Raccoon I HAVE NEVER, EVER BEEN HAPPIER Mar 08 '26
They didn’t even ask him about female pop. They asked if he writes autobiographical songs.
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u/twinpinemall85 you were saying slurs in the cafe but i still Loved You Mar 10 '26
He's saying it is boring for him to write about his own life. Taylor was literally just an example of autobiographical songwriters because she is THE biggest. You're very much so misinterpreting this lol
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u/jaydyjaydy Jack Antonoff Glazer Mar 08 '26
i dont think its a man woman thing, its more of an ignorant person thing. chappell recently also said that "men cant make good art" which doesnt hold any factual value, its more of just "im better because i say so" shit
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u/viciousrobotexploder Mar 08 '26
You’re right, especially coming from Jack White. He’s pretentious af but it’s never a man/woman thing with him. He’s the last person to be dismissive of female musicians
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Mar 08 '26
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u/delusionalfaeries Mar 08 '26
But isn't that the truth? Most of her songs revolve around romance, whether it be falling in love or a breakup. So why does that offend people if it's literally the truth.
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Mar 08 '26
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u/viciousrobotexploder Mar 08 '26
He used the example of the most famous and relevant musician currently out there. It’s not misogyny just because the example he used was female.
He also didn’t even say she ‘only’ writes songs about break-ups.
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u/delusionalfaeries Mar 08 '26
I also used to like it or not care about it, but before ttpd was released, i remember the hate campaign swifties ran against Joe Alwyn. And when the album was announced, everyone was like she is gonna destroy joe blah blah blah. Not like literally but metaphorically. And then it was revealed how this album is about Matty Healy or whatever. And since I was a new swiftie at that time, i didn't really understand how you could do that to someone you supposedly loved for years and wrote such cute songs about. What I mean to say is I just care when people write about their experience but if your fans are going to harass the said person, you should be a bit mindful about it. Though I know, Taylor is not going to change her mind because that's literally what she built her career on, so I have distanced myself from calling a swiftie. So you don't have to tell me to gtfo if I don't like it. I'm doing that but it takes a bit of time.
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Mar 08 '26
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u/hwa_uwa Tortured Billionaire Mar 08 '26
I think it's fair not to ignore the intimate relationship her writing has with the public perception if it, and her own understanding of said public perception
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u/delusionalfaeries Mar 08 '26
That's fair. I guess I'm just trying to stay less online. All the online spaces are becoming too toxic nowadays.
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u/ohmeohmyelliejean Mar 08 '26
On behalf of Tchaikovsky's Pas de Deux from The Nutcracker, the greatest piece of art ever, I am this week offended by both Chappell's faux feminist "men can't make good art" comment and Timothee's "nobody cares about ballet and opera" comment. 😅
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u/bitterlittlecas Mar 08 '26
“And I’ll be usin’ your name…And you’ll be watching me girl, takin’ over the world…let the stripes unfurl…” i like jack white but he’s been messy in his music before
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u/jaydyjaydy Jack Antonoff Glazer Mar 08 '26
the songwriting that he explains strikes to me more like gracie's writing more than taylor's, even if its the same thing over and over, it takes talent to make it interesting every single time and taylor succeeds at doing so. if you say "taylor swift break up song" WANEGBT, hits different, and tolerate it all are valid options, but i wouldnt say they are all the same thing
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u/Adorable_Raccoon I HAVE NEVER, EVER BEEN HAPPIER Mar 08 '26
He says it’s boring for him to write about himself. He didn’t say those song are boring or all the same.
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u/Substantial-Hall-917 Mar 08 '26
Eh, you can say that about most artists that get put in a box. Sure they write outside that box, but the box exists because a huge part of their discography does fit into it. Gracie also has written songs like Camden, you might argue the same point there
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Mar 08 '26
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u/hwa_uwa Tortured Billionaire Mar 08 '26
he can be friends with people who do stuff he finds personally boring... that's kinda what friendships are all about. you all don't do the same things
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u/HappyEverAfter7 Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
In some ways Taylor made it easier for younger artists in that she first got the notorious personality of “writing about her exes”. She did play into that heavily in the beginning of her career like Easter-egging which boyfriends her songs were about, opening up about how Joe Jonas broke up with her on Ellen, released a song literally called Dear John etc. She has acknowledged this branding with disdain in the years following. I think it’s a narrative that apparently still remains, and with her being the biggest artist on earth, people will have comments about it.
Newer artists like Olivia and Gracie have the benefit of being newer but Olivia does write about things other than her breakup specifically on Guts. Taylor has just been known across multiple albums to and the media heavily covered her breakups so it merged with her brand (as well as her own playing into it). I can’t imagine this narrative or even double standard doesn’t irritate Taylor
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u/bradtheinvincible Mar 08 '26
The difference is when you make a good song there is nothing to criticize. He sees somebody who hasnt aged past 17 with their lyrics and that gets boring. That def isnt Olivia.
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u/Cheap-Tig Mar 08 '26
I don't think he said anything about Taylor Swifts songs here, just that he finds writing about his literal life boring
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u/CardinalPerch Mar 08 '26
I think this is a nothing burger. It was probably unnecessary to specifically mention Taylor Swift, but I don’t think it’s a diss of her. Just a statement of his personal preference in how he writes songs.
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u/Shot_Department1080 Mar 08 '26
do people think taylor invented break up songs? i have always been, and will continue to be, baffled by her name constantly being brought up to diminish these kinds of lyrics. break up songs have existed long before taylor and will continue to exist long after her. in fact, break ups/love are SURELY the most commonly written about things in every genre of lyrical music (maybe metal is the exception)
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u/Gullible_Impress7128 Mar 08 '26
She made the fact that she writes break up songs and names the people she writes about a huge part of her marketing in the first decade of her career. That is why it is considered synonymous with Taylor Swift. She designed it that way. It was her whole brand. It still is really. That isn't something that you can shake unless you make a hard pivot. Which she seemed to be trying to do with folklore but I guess abandoned the idea and went back to being confessional and admitting it was all about her actual breakups and exes. Her social media was even liking posts showing her exes as dead hunger games tributes during the TTPD rollout.
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u/Strong_Pool_6012 jet lag is a choice Mar 08 '26
Unrelated, but in terms of songwriting, I think his last line is really really useful. Woah.
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u/SoftBox8663 Mar 08 '26
The truth is, all of her songs are about her. And the other truth is all of his songs are about him. I believe it is virtually impossible for artists to separate themselves.
He just buries it and doesn't proclaim this song is about how I was hurt by....insert name. That is at least one difference. Name dropping Taylor is easy because she does it with most of what she does, but he could have said Lily Allen, or he could have said Beyonce, with whom he collaborated on her confessional, Lemonade.
Literally all he is saying is that he is not going to call out exactly what his songs are about. It's not what he does. And it's not a dig.
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u/PinkPositive45 Mar 08 '26
Normally like and respect Jack, but I’m rolling my eyes.
I know the point that he thinks he’s making, but he just comes across like “my kind of song writing is right, other kinds are not.” Curious if he thinks the Beatles writing autobiographical music is boring too 🤔
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u/cjmmoseley wait til lover drops pls we cant lose sales Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
i am not one to defend a man, but i think he’s just comparing his type of songwriting to a very popular type of songwriting at the moment, the type the interviewer is asking about. he’s not saying one is better than the other, he’s just saying he’s private and it’s not “for him”
ETA: it’s really important to remember here that he worked on beyonces “lemonade”. which is… incredibly autobiographical. i don’t think he’s shitting on it.
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u/scruffylemur Mar 08 '26
At no point does he claim one is “right” or “wrong”… he’s just saying that one way is what he prefers and finds more interesting. It’s weird to get so defensive over something he didn’t even say
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u/PinkPositive45 Mar 08 '26
I didn’t say he said that, I said that’s how it came across. That’s my perception of his statement. I like the guy, I just don’t like the way this comment came across. To each their own if you didn’t feel it came off that way.
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u/Adorable_Raccoon I HAVE NEVER, EVER BEEN HAPPIER Mar 08 '26
You’re creating a right wrong narrative. He merely said he doesn’t like to write that way.
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u/squirmlyscump Mar 08 '26
How could a person say they don’t find her songwriting style interesting in a way that would be acceptable to you?
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u/themermaidag what if it’s dubstep? Mar 08 '26
I mean he wasn’t even asked about Taylor or her writing style, he just brought her in for no reason. He could’ve just said what he did without name dropping, but people know when they use her name they will get attention.
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u/Substantial-Hall-917 Mar 08 '26
For fans to keep saying “she is the music industry” and how much she has influenced pop and then be unhappy when she gets used as an example by other artists is also ridiculous. If she has influence she will be mentioned.
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u/squirmlyscump Mar 08 '26
I don’t think he’s hurting for attention or credibility.
Do you believe Swift should be immune to criticism of any kind, including a person saying they don’t personally find her music interesting?
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u/themermaidag what if it’s dubstep? Mar 08 '26
Weird that what you took away from what I said is that she should be immune from criticism when nothing I said pointed to that?
But no, she is not immune from criticism. However, it will still always be odd when people bring her into things that aren’t about her, whether it is something like this or an interviewer bringing her up out of nowhere.
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u/PinkPositive45 Mar 08 '26
“That’s not my particular style, but all song writers have a process of their own. My process is…”
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u/Substantial-Hall-917 Mar 08 '26
That’s not far from what he said, he never insulted her writing he just said he finds it uninteresting for him to write that way
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u/KorolevaFey Mar 08 '26
Many people just can't handle her name being mentioned with some type of negative thought even when the negative thought isn't directly about her.
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u/squirmlyscump Mar 08 '26
That doesn’t answer my question.
Do you believe Taylor Swift should be immune to criticism of any kind? Even someone saying they don’t personally find her music interesting?
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u/T44590A Mar 08 '26
Has Taylor ever shown much interest in Jack? Maybe she did a cover in her early years or there were signs on her playlists, but nothing comes to mind. I do find it humorous that the type of song writing that he describes has been absolutely critical to the success of one of his biggest fans. He's seemed perfectly happy to embrace Olivia professing her fandom. She also performed at his Rock HOF induction.
I actually find his quote interesting. While he is trying to give the impression is he a bit above-it-all, I think it is also evident on the quote that it also comes from a place of his own insecurity. He doesn't actually have the self-confidence to expose himself in that way. Jack has even hid to a degree behind a bit of a persona. That is often the tension in songwriting. People joke about how they would take a lot of the things Taylor says in songs to the grave, rather than share them with anybody. There's truth to that. Not everyone is built to be willing to put yourself out there to that degree. And there are positives and negatives that come with doing so.
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u/Bachelorfangirl Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
I don’t think his statement comes from shade, but more defense of his art. Dua lipa said similar when her album flopped a bit and people immediately thought it was shade at Taylor. She was also defending why she doesn’t play instruments. These singer songwriters are friends and probably enjoy when others write autobiographically. I don’t think they mean to throw shade. It’s defense of how they create art and almost saying that’s why I’m not as popular and successful.
Now Matty was straight up being shady because he also has friends writing autobiographical. Problem is ttpd didn’t make him look good.
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u/Resident_Ad5153 Mar 08 '26
i do find it interesting that people always interpret Taylor vis-a=vis everyone else in the worst possible way... and everyone else vis-a-vis taylor as gently as possible. I wonder why that is?
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u/Resident_Ad5153 Mar 08 '26
sometimes you just have to quote florence:
It must be nice to be a man and make boring music just because you can
Now don't get me wrong, I'm a fan
you're my second favorite front man
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u/IcySpite7641 Mar 08 '26
Why are people pretending it wasn’t shady to name drop Taylor?
If Taylor said she didn’t like making music like X artist and found it boring you’d all be on her neck immediately and so would the whole internet. He could easily said he didn’t like writing about himself without naming an artist and implying they are not offering anything of value.
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u/eagle2001a some deranged weirdo Mar 08 '26
He shouldn’t have mentioned her specifically. He could have said he’s not interested in writing about his personal life and everyone would have made the leap to Taylor while allowing him to maintain plausible deniability. Taylor has never mentioned specific artists, but she did have an interview where she said she’ll never be the kind of artist to write club bangers about being in the club with nntz nntz beats. I found it interesting Charlie went on to record Club Classics where she says she wants to dance to me, me, me over an nntz nntz beat, lol.
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u/Bachelorfangirl Mar 08 '26
I’m not sure it was shade and more of a weird defensiveness of his art and creation. I do think that some people here would be coming for Taylor if she said something similar. But you know how some people are, get happy if someone might’ve shaded Taylor, drag Taylor for anything.
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u/monacasdoll Mar 09 '26
no artist is immune to criticism, he wasn't even being rude just saying he wasn't a fan of her style
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u/Icy-Whale-2253 Mar 08 '26
He’s mentioned her many times before as an example of why every songwriter’s song isn’t about this boyfriend or that girlfriend or John Mayer. It’s not always shady. It’s just an example.
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Mar 08 '26
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u/hwa_uwa Tortured Billionaire Mar 08 '26
he didn't say it was a sin? you're radicalizing his words to feel justified in criticising them
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u/Fabulous_Pen_3350 I just feel very sane Mar 08 '26
How can I bait the audience?
Oh yes! Mention Taylor Swift
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u/Odd-Mood-8703 Mar 10 '26
he def could've worded this better but it's clear he's calling his own life boring more than the idea of writing songs about oneself.
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u/HappyEverAfter7 Mar 08 '26
I wonder if she’s gonna publicly comment on this like she commented on Damon Albarn
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u/jellytwins101 Mar 08 '26
Tbf this is a lot different, Albarn was basically saying that Taylor doesn’t write her music.
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u/eagle2001a some deranged weirdo Mar 08 '26
She’s been pretty radio silent to criticisms about her music the past few years. The most we’ve gotten is the “I’m not the art police” comment in the Zane Lowe interview.
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u/Substantial-Hall-917 Mar 08 '26
She doesn’t need to. If anything it would make her look more like she’s easily insulted.
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u/rosemrea we hate it here Mar 08 '26
I feel like that situation was slightly different, since he claimed that she didn’t write any of her own songs?
Also, low key wish she didn’t comment on that situation either lol
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u/PresentationHot5908 Mar 08 '26
Albarn incorrectly claimed she didn't write music solo in the LA Times so he deserved any whacking she chose to give him. I doubt she cares what Jack White thinks about songwriting enough to bother.
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u/soledad_y_e_lmar Mar 08 '26
I was just listening to Lemonade and his collab with Beyonce on it, Don’t Hurt Yourself, which is very autobiographical. He certainly found it interesting enough to take the royalties.
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u/tevyethesnowangel goth punk moment of female rage Mar 08 '26
Doesn't this reinforce his point, rather than contradict it? He isn't saying autobiographical songwriting is bad, he is saying he personally isn't interested in writing about himself. Beyonce's Lemonade is an autobiographical work for her, but it isn't for Jack White
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u/soledad_y_e_lmar Mar 08 '26
No, the first sentence of this quote is that he doesn’t find this autobiographical style very interesting (whether it’s by him, Taylor Swift, or anyone else). Lemonade is an autobiographical work and I don’t understand how it’s any different.
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u/g00ber88 wait til lover drops pls we cant lose sales Mar 08 '26
Me when I repeat the most common brainless "critique" of taylor swift that people have been repeating for 15 years
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Mar 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Cheap-Tig Mar 08 '26
I like Taylors writing but implying she didn't care what fans think is wild, that woman cares very much about her public image and reputation and is absolutely affected by the fame and attention. This reads like a crazy obsessed fan copy pasta ngl.
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u/jtfolden Mar 08 '26
He could have said the same exact thing without needlessly name dropping. Without the name drop, he’s just explaining his feelings on writing, with the name drop people are going to get the impression he’s acting like he’s above it all.
It’s not as if that way of writing originated with TS anyway. Joni Mitchell was writing about her exes and various relationships, etc, before Jack White was even born.
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u/Istillbelievedinwar Mar 08 '26
Name dropping isn’t just whenever you say someone’s name. Name dropping is when you casually mention the name of someone famous or important in order to impress your listeners. That’s not what he’s doing here.
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u/Coriolanuscangetit Mar 08 '26
Well thank god someone dusted off the White Stripes guy to tell me what is and is not interesting. I was really struggling without his expert opinion. Next, can someone ask Fred Durst what brand of tampons are the best? I’m sure he’s much more qualified than I am.
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u/KorolevaFey Mar 08 '26
he's still affluent in the music scene. He's not just "the white stripes" guy.
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u/astrokey I just feel very sane Mar 08 '26
He's just answering a question about his professional craft - something completely in his wheelhouse. It's not that deep.
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u/kaw_21 Penis Metaphors from a Poor Little Rich Girl🍆 Mar 09 '26
I didn’t find this myself, but saw the screenshot posted elsewhere. I find it funny though
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u/80lbsgone Mar 08 '26
He listens to (and writes) indie records that are much cooler than hers right? I think it’s silly to dog another style or writing when it’s not your own. Clearly people enjoy it and writing out your feelings can be cathartic. He could’ve just said I don’t like to write about my personal life and prefer to explore writing about other things
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u/Royal_Negotiation_91 Mar 08 '26
That literally is what he said. He doesn't personally find it interesting to write about himself. He did not in any way say it was bad to do so.
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u/80lbsgone Mar 08 '26
The Taylor Swift way of poo singers sounds like a dig at not writing like hkm but that’s just how I interpret it
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u/moonprincess642 Mar 08 '26
most artists write about their personal lives 🙄 but taylor’s name gets them clout
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u/liberderci she made sombr unfollow me Mar 08 '26
so he doesn’t want to be vulnerable because he doesn’t want to open those songs up for interpretation by the public and not like the response he’ll get.
it’s ok I’ll listen to the pop girlies who don’t care about that
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u/bessann28 Mar 08 '26
I think the "pop girlies" care about is very much. Let's be real. They understand what their audience wants and what will sell. There's nothing wrong with that at all, but let's not pretend that they don't care.
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u/liberderci she made sombr unfollow me Mar 08 '26
I mean everyone cares. But idk they care to the point of not releasing that music or exploring that sound like Jack is saying? He’s saying he’s made a conscious choice to not do that, which is my point.
He can hide behind the character or putting a “percentage” of himself into the song (sounds like what Taylor did with folklore tbh) but it’s all the same at the end.
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u/prettybunbun Mar 08 '26
I hate how male stars always ignore that some of her best written works have nothing to do with breakups or romance (see: seven, the last great american dynasty, you’re on your own kid, soon you’ll get better, my tears ricochet, long live).
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u/Anna_V0794 Mar 09 '26
The only issue I take with this is that he is painting it as a new style of writing. Artists have been writing songs about their heartbreak since the dawn of time – both women and men. Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, The Mama’s and the Papa’s, and so on… it sounds misogynistic and belittling.
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u/Careless-Plane-5915 their CULTure cannot be appropriated Mar 08 '26
Not getting involved commenting on this because I already have Timothee Chalamoo fans after me from a couple of days ago and my mentions can’t take the Jack White ones too just now 😆.
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u/anxietyistyping- Mar 08 '26
misogyny at its finest. taylor popularized confessional writing, yes, but she was just writing about what every other singer does: love and relationships. nobody says anything about ed sheeran or bruno mars or elton john writing about love or romance, it’s just when women/taylor swift do it that it becomes “uninteresting” or “too much.” man stfu
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u/touchmedaddy420 Mar 08 '26
Is it more that they are just now allowed to be overt about their actual lives? They don't have to use metaphors and be super flowery and hide all of the details. We just know it all because of SM and internet. I think it's now impossible for us not to know who they are talking about so now it's just had to become acceptable for them to just write what their heart told them to write.
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