Taylor Swift Admits She Was ‘Terrified’ to Get Political After Dixie Chicks Backlash

Taylor Swift rose to fame within the 2000’s as a rustic music singer, and she or he rapidly gained a variety of followers, particularly amongst younger folks.

These previous few years, Swift has been utilizing her superstar standing to affect her followers to get extra concerned in politics. She didn’t was snug venturing into this territory previously, nonetheless.

Swift lately cited what occurred to the Dixie Chicks as a motive for why it took her so lengthy to share her political ideas with the world.

What occurred to the Dixie Chicks?

The Dixie Chicks are a rustic music group that turned very fashionable within the 1990s. They had a number of singles and albums that topped the nation music charts, and the band even achieved some success with pop music followers.

However, issues modified in 2002 when the Dixie Chicks’ lead singer, Natalie Maines, introduced at a live performance in London, England, that the group disagreed with President George W. Bush’s transfer to invade Iraq.

“Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all,” Maines stated. “We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.”

They rapidly obtained a variety of backlash from each nation artists and followers, which finally led the Dixie Chicks to be shunned from the business. Although they continued to make music, their profession by no means recovered after that incident.

Taylor Swift admitted that the backlash towards the Dixie Chicks ‘terrified’ her

Swift was solely a toddler when the controversy with the Dixie Chicks got here out, and it affected her deeply. Speaking to Variety, Swift shared that witnessing what occurred to the Dixie Chicks after which listening to about how business insiders talked about them made her scared to be open about her politics for almost all of her profession.

“I saw how one comment ended such a powerful reign, and it terrified me,” Swift stated. “These days, with social media, people can be so mad about something one day and then forget what they were mad about a couple weeks later. That’s fake outrage. But what happened to the Dixie Chicks was real outrage. I registered it — that you’re always one comment away from being done being able to make music.”

Taylor Swift is not scared to speak about politics today

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I’m scripting this post in regards to the upcoming midterm elections on November sixth, through which I’ll be voting within the state of Tennessee. In the previous I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political views, however resulting from a number of occasions in my life and on this planet previously two years, I really feel very in a different way about that now. I all the time have and all the time will forged my vote primarily based on which candidate will shield and struggle for the human rights I consider all of us deserve on this nation. I consider within the struggle for LGBTQ rights, and that any type of discrimination primarily based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I consider that the systemic racism we nonetheless see on this nation in direction of folks of shade is terrifying, sickening and prevalent. I can not vote for somebody who won’t be keen to struggle for dignity for ALL Americans, irrespective of their pores and skin shade, gender or who they love. Running for Senate within the state of Tennessee is a girl named Marsha Blackburn. As a lot as I’ve previously and want to proceed voting for girls in workplace, I can not assist Marsha Blackburn. Her voting file in Congress appalls and terrifies me. She voted towards equal pay for girls. She voted towards the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which makes an attempt to guard girls from home violence, stalking, and date rape. She believes companies have a proper to refuse service to homosexual {couples}. She additionally believes they need to not have the fitting to marry. These will not be MY Tennessee values. I will likely be voting for Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives. Please, please educate your self on the candidates operating in your state and vote primarily based on who most intently represents your values. For a variety of us, we could by no means discover a candidate or occasion with whom we agree 100% on each difficulty, however we’ve got to vote anyway. So many clever, considerate, self-possessed folks have turned 18 previously two years and now have the fitting and privilege to make their vote depend. But first you might want to register, which is fast and simple to do. October ninth is the LAST DAY to register to vote within the state of TN. Go to vote.org and you’ll find all the data. Happy Voting!

A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on Oct 7, 2018 at 4:33pm PDT

Fortunately for Swift, her political beliefs haven’t ended her profession, particularly since she transitioned to being a pop singer and amassed numerous followers in every single place.

She first began being open about politics in late 2018 when she endorsed a couple of Democratic candidates in Tennessee and slammed some Republican ones.

“I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG,” Swift wrote on social media. “I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent. I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love.”

In her interview with Variety, Swift revealed that her choice to begin advocating for her political beliefs got here from the truth that she couldn’t stand to see sure candidates overtly preventing for discrimination.

Swift stated: “We are at a point where human rights are being violated. When you’re saying that certain people can be kicked out of a restaurant because of who they love or how they identify, and these are actual policies that certain politicians vocally stand behind, and they disguise them as family values, that is sinister.”