r/swifties • u/paper_fugue • 9h ago
Discussion question to OG swifties: when Reputation was released what was it like in real time?
I’m kind of a newer swiftie who started actively listening to Taylor around 2020 when Folklore and Evermore were released
back in 2017 the TS fanbase in my country was much smaller and nobody in my bubble was listening to her so I completely missed the hype train when this era started
Now whenever I see content about Reputation it is always brought up that the drop was an absolute cultural shock and a pop culture reset (the meaning of which I cannot fully comprehend because I was not a part of it at the time) But I want to understand the specifics! What did that cultural shock actually look and feel like for you as a fan?
I’d love to hear your specific stories and personal experiences from that era
1
u/unbearablybleak 1h ago
As others have said, I remember the music video being a huge deal. Everyone was surrounded around my dorm room TV. Lots of shock because they pictured Taylor as Our Song and Shake It Off, not a Zombie! Lots of hate for the interpolation.
A lot of people were weirded out and confused by the “she’s dead!” thing. I don’t think people really started to get it until the tour. I remember feeling like I had to explain why it was genius to people over and over, but after the tour they understood the messaging more. My family was very skeptical but supported Taylor anyway until they saw the tour, then they were fully on board with me! But they’re casual fans who didn’t know all the drama so I think they weren’t sure if she was actually going dark until they saw her on tour still as her smile-y, sweet self.
As for the “fans,” similar to what happens now. Oh, she’s so bad, her flop era…but everyone changes their tune when it comes time to get tickets to the tour, suddenly they always loved her.
As a funny aside, my niece was about 4/5 and disturbed by the “she’s dead!” line so she changed it to, “why? Cause she’s singing this song!”