"1989 (Taylor's Version)" is out now, and the five brand-new songs "from the vault" aren't the only part of the album's release that fans across social media are discussing in-depth.
People began honing in on two sentences in the "1989 TV" prologue that appeared to reference those who have speculated about Taylor Swift's sexuality over the years.
The 12-paragraph prologue is featured in all caps inside her album and CD.
After explaining, over the course of four paragraphs, her decision to reinvent herself at 24 years old, Swift says she "swore off dating" to prioritize her female friendships because "If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn't sensationalize or sexualize that — right? I would learn later on that people could and people would."
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Fans had mixed reactions to Swift's acknowledgement that some people sexualized her female friendships, with some saying that she "ended the gaylors". "Dubbed "gaylors," a subset of Swifties believes that the superstar has been romantically involved with at least one of her female celebrity friends.
(In a 2019 interview with Vogue, Swift said she was "not a part of" the LGBTQ+ community while discussing her decision to start publicly advocating for LGBTQ rights.)
Some social media users celebrated what they saw as Swift setting the record straight on her heterosexuality. A number of these fans also expressed their sympathy for what she went through with the speculation about her sexuality.
One X — formerly Twitter — user, @fullerachel, observed, "The Gaylor hate really feels homophobic and volatile."
There were some fans who countered this idea that viewing Swift's statement positively is homophobic. One X user who goes by @ursogorrrgeous noted that being gay and identifying as a "gaylor" are mutually exclusive.
"Just stop projecting your sexuality into someone else," the user posted on Thursday. "And stop saying this is homophobic, it's literally not."
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Here's what Swift wrote in the paragraphs leading up to the lines that stirred debate:
"In the years preceding this, I had become the target of slut shaming — the intensity and relentlessness of which would be criticized and called out if it happened today. The jokes about my amount of boyfriends. The trivialization of my songwriting as if it were a predatory act of a boy crazy psychopath. The media co-signing of this narrative. I had to make it stop because it was starting to really hurt.
"It became clear to me that for me there was no such thing as casual dating, or even having a male friend who you platonically hang out with. It I was seen with him, it was assumed I was sleeping with him. And so I swore off hanging out with guys, dating, flirting, or anything that could be weaponized against me by a culture that claimed to believe in liberating women but consistently treated me with the harsh moral codes of the Victorian era. Being a consumate optimist, I assumed I could fix this if I simply changed my behavior. I swore off dating and decided to focus only on myself, my music, my growth, and my female friendships. If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn't sensationalize or sexualize that — right? I would learn later on that people could and people would."
She goes on to share her mentality at the time of making 2014's "1989," describing herself with phrases like "as trusting as a basket of golden retriever puppies" and having "the right kind of naivete."
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The prologue ends with her gratitude for her fans: "I'll always be so incredibly grateful for how you loved and embraced this album. You, who followed my zig zag creative choices and cheered on my risks and experiments. You, who heard the wink and humor in 'Blake Space' and maybe even empathized with the pain behind the satire. You, who saw the seeds of allyship and advocating for equality in 'Welcome To New York." You, who knew that maybe a girl who surrounds herself with female friends in adulthood is making up for a lack of them in childhood (not starting a tyrannical hot girl cult.
"I was born in 1989, reinvented for the first time in 2014, and a part of me was reclaimed in 2023 with the re-release of this album I love so dearly. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine the magic you would sprinkles on my life for so long."
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