OPINION: Call It What You Want, But Taylor Swift is Still Unstoppable

In the wake of Taylor Swift’s newest album release and the subsequent explosion of mixed reaction from fans and critics alike, I feel that is now a relevant time to set the record straight about arguably the most dynamic and talked-about pop star in music history.

First things first: you should know that Swift is—without question—in a league of her own as far as topping the charts.

Let us put aside, just for a moment, the fact that Forbes has calculated Swift’s net worth to be around $280 million and that she has the highest annual earnings of any female pop star in history. Ignore that she has won 277 various music awards—including 10 Grammy’s—and has had the quickest rise to 5 million albums sold in music history since her career’s inception in 2004.

Because if you choose to look away from those facts, the argument still stands: Swift is the most talented and powerful pop musician of this generation.

On Friday, Swift’s sixth studio album, “Reputation,” debuted, and with the release came a steady stream of praise from music critics who were seemingly impressed by the star’s tenacity and confrontational demeanor that she displayed. Jon Caramanica of the New York Times said the album is “bombastic, unexpected and sneakily potent.” NPR Music’s Ann Powers said the album shows how Swift’s “musical explorations became more expansive.”

Swift’s fans apparently thought so too. She sold 700,000 copies of “Reputation” in the first day of its release—on track to be the year’s best-selling album by the end of the week—in a modern-day society where people opt to stream their music instead of buying it outright.

Undoubtedly, Swift has thus proven once again that she is able to masterfully maneuver through foundationally different styles of music while keeping her loyal fans close and her critics closer. When people say, “she’s better as a country singer,” she transforms into a pop artist. When those same people now say, “I like her as a pop artist,” she raps her first song.  To those who say, “I miss the old Taylor,” the Swift has again and again vehemently pronounced that “The old Taylor is dead.”

Really, though, that is not really the case. Even with “Reputation,” Swift uses her newfound love of deep bass and hard-hitting, snappy rap lines to convey the same message of lost love and edgy romance—all with an underlying theme of “Don’t mess with me.”  Fans who thought they had lost the “old Taylor” to a new darkened, revenge-driven silhouette of the pop star they once knew were comforted seeing Swift continue to post photos of her cats on Instagram and keep her signature red lipstick.

The very fact that Swift has been able to rebrand her music while not only maintaining a fan base, but continue to grow it, testifies not only to her innate musical talent and charisma, but also the immense influence she holds. Her fans, for the most part, are not abandoning her for her change in artistic expression; Swift could release an Irish folk album next month and it would probably reach Billboard’s list of 50 best albums of the year.

When you look into the car in the lane next to you in the coming months and see two 16-year-old girls rapping along to some song—knowing every word—it is not to the likes of Kanye West, but rather to the new songs of Swift—a 27-year old women Country Music Award winner from southeastern Pennsylvania. Those same teenage girls also know every word to Swift’s oldest country songs, and will most definitely memorize the ballads to Swift’s Irish folk album if she ever decides to drop one.

As far as the actual critics of Swift—those who call her too whiney and self-indulged—she fuels off their constant backlash. It is clearer now than ever before, through both her lyrics and media interviews, that she is not only able to shake off what the “haters” have to say, but uses their hatred for inspiration.

Thus comes the inspiration for “Reputation,” which, at the end of it all, is nothing more than a reverberating counterpunch to those critics she has felt are trying to hold her back. If you happen to be one of those critics, I have some bad news: Swift is here to stay.

Because at the end of it all, “22” is still going to be played at practically every 22nd birthday party until the end of time. Girls who experience a messy breakup will always eat ice cream out of the tub to the tune of “White Horse” or “We Are Never Getting Back Together.” Our society is not ready to get rid of Swift—in fact we are still just beginning to find out where her music career will take her—which then begs the question:

… are you ready for it?