Most Swifties have been loving Taylor Swift’s new studio album, The Tortured Poet’s Society.

The album, released on April 19, features 30 songs filled with references and lyrics people love to dissect.

However, it appears some of Taylor’s lyrics have gotten her in trouble, with fans calling her wish to live in another century insensitive.

In the track “I Hate It Here,” Taylor sings, “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 continues, “Everyone would look down ’cause it wasn’t fun now / Seems like it was never even fun back then,” the song’s lyrics continue. “Nostalgia is a mind’s trick / If I’d been there, I’d hate it / It was freezing in the palace.”

Why Taylor’s Lyrics Are Being Criticized As Tone-Deaf

While Swift’s lyrics express nostalgia for a different era, not everyone thought it was cool for her to romanticize the 19th century, particularly that slavery was legal in the American South until the 1830s. Moreover, the Indian Removal Act became law in 1830, which led to 60,000 Native Americans being displaced in what became known as the Trail of Tears. Needless to say, the 1800s weren’t a pleasant time for many people to live in, leading to criticisms that Taylor’s lyrics were tone-deaf.

Many people took to social media to express disappointment over the Swift song, Radar Online notes. “Y’all.. there are so many wrong things about this,” one person wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter) along with a screenshot of the lyrics.

Another person wrote, “There is no way Taylor Swift said she’d like to live in an era where Chattel Slavery was the law of the land and say ‘but without the racists.’ Like it was some casual microaggressions or something. Is this what we’re doing??”

“Pretty astonishing to stipulate that she wants to live in the 1830s, ‘except without the racists,’ and not mention slavery, so slavery still exists but everyone’s chill about it,” another person said, while a different comment added, “The 1830’s without racism is like a book with no pages.”

Taylor’s Lyrics Call A Lot Of Celebrities Out

 

Taylor hasn’t responded to the backlash over her supposedly tone-deaf lyrics. But those aren’t’ the only lyrics that have people talking. The pop star seems to make a lot of references to fellow celebrities in her album, including what appear to be two diss tracks for Kim Kardashian, leading to the reality star getting trolled on her social media.

As fans expected, Taylor’s album seems to make a lot of references to her love life, particularly her relationship with Joe Alwyn, which came to an end in 2023 after six years together. Some songs are also theorized to be about Swift’s ex Matty Healy of The 1975 as well as her current boyfriend Travis Kelce, with new theories about her lyrics popping up on the daily.