Taylor Swift, singer-songwriter, constantly reinvents herself, both over the decades and in terms of her music genre and visual identity. From her record-breaking Eras Tour, which boosted economies, to her massive cultural influence across generations, the 36-year-old has repeatedly made history.
She did so again as she became the youngest and first female artist to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The pop icon delivered a speech lasting around 21 minutes. In her speech, she walked the audience through her journey, lessons, doubts and everything that makes her a one-of-a-kind songwriter in pop music.
The snippet from her long, emotional speech deals with one of the biggest challenges Taylor Swift faces, and one that any artist, in general, has to navigate: criticism and how to deal with it.
Taylor Swift would often find herself in the eye of the storm whenever she released a new album. For instance, The Tortured Poets Department was criticised by some for being too lyrically, poetically heavy and repetitive, while The Life of a Showgirl was called too shallow, with scrutiny over the crude, juvenile lyrical choices.
So, to understand how to deal with criticism, some of which makes sense and some of which does not, hear it from the global star on the best way forward.
What did Taylor Swift say?
“You can be sensitive but also durable, and you can accept that feedback, scepticism and criticism are inevitable. You can take what’s useful and constructive from that information and leave out what’s simply damaging to your creativity. No one does or should make art that appeals to everyone, everywhere, all the time.”
What did Taylor Swift’s message mean?
Whenever you create something and put it out to the public, receiving backlash in some form is almost certain. But as a creator, how you respond to that criticism is important. Not all criticism deserves the same attention. The ability to discern, sort and filter feedback must be honed. Take the constructive criticism that helps you grow. But if any unhelpful feedback is chipping away at your creativity, you need to keep it aside. Creativity is rooted in novelty, and not everyone may accept it. That is the honest reality. Creativity can never survive if it is only about pleasing everyone.
