Taylor Swift has achieved massive success since releasing her self-titled debut album
in 2006.
Hits like "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me" shot her to superstardom, and critically
acclaimed albums like 2012's Red and 2014's 1989 only confirmed her solid-gold future
in the industry.
But along with the Grammy and Billboard award-winning singer-songwriter's success came controversy.
From rifts with some of the industry's most popular acts, to poorly received music, these
days, Swift may be attracting the wrong kind of attention.
So what's going on?
Here's why fans aren't listening to Taylor Swift anymore.
'Famous' made her infamous
The Taylor Swift-Kanye West feud can be traced back to 2009, when the rapper interrupted
her acceptance speech at the MTV VMA's.
But the pair's bad blood boiled over in 2016 when West released his song "Famous", which
featured the line:
"I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex.
Why?
I made that bitch famous."
The rapper was blasted for the lyrics, with many people deeming them misogynistic.
But he maintained that Swift had approved the song long before its release.
Swift, however, claimed otherwise and slammed West for the line in a fiery speech at the
2016 Grammy Awards.
"There are going to be people along the way, who will try to undercut your success, or
take credit for your accomplishments."
That's when West's wife, Kim Kardashian, released the alleged footage of the singer speaking
to West about the song.
Needless to say, the incident subjected Swift to major backlash, with social media users,
including Kim, trolling her with snake emojis.
The trouble with September
There are few cover songs that can top the originals, especially when it comes to R&B.
Some might say Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" and Aretha Franklin's "Respect"
are honorable mentions, but others, like Earth, Wind & Fire's classic hit "September" can
never be outdone, no matter who tries to do it.
Unfortunately, Swift found that out the hard way after sharing her cover of "September"
in April 2018, as fans took to Twitter to express their extreme displeasure with her
version of the tune.
Even Allee Willis, who co-wrote the song said it was:
"...[A] very calm and somewhat boring take of one of the peppiest, happiest, most popular
songs in history."
Yikes.
There's a new act in town
Cardi B took the world by storm when she released her chart-topping single "Bodak Yellow" in
2017, and there's a good chance she poached lot of fans from more than a few entertainers.
In fact, by the time Cardi's debut album Invasion of Privacy rolled around in April 2018, she
was surpassing records that were only held by Swift with her LP.
According to People, the album garnered 100 million streams on Apple Music in just over
a week.
And it's the platform's fifth most-streamed album of all time.
That's reportedly more than double the amount of streams held by Swift for her Reputation
album.
But there aren't any harsh feelings between the two, as Swift sent Cardi flowers in 2017
to congratulate the rapper on her success.
Additionally, Cardi later raved about her love for the singer in an interview with People.
Swift might even be able to grab some of those fans back with a future collab.
Skipping the tunes for the app
Who needs to stream Swift's music when you can actually interact with her in real life?
Perhaps that's the idea the singer had in mind when she partnered up with Glu Mobile,
the same company that created the hugely successful games Kim Kardashian: Hollywood and Nicki
Minaj: Empire, to design her app The Swift Life, which was released in December 2017.
The app gives her fans exclusive access to her very own social network, where they get
photos, videos, and news updates directly from the singer herself.
So now maybe there's a little less music streaming, and more sending fellow Swifties adorable
"Taymojis."
Missing in action
Swift mysteriously disappeared from the public eye in the middle of 2017, purging traces
of herself from several of her social media accounts and her website, which left fans
guessing, regarding her whereabouts.
By the time the fall rolled around, Swift was still MIA and had only released one single,
"Look What You Made Me Do," from her then-upcoming album, Reputation.
Elvis Duran, host of Z100's Elvis Duran and the Morning Show, attempted to clarify Swift's
retreat, explaining:
"[In the past,] she's been out there giving away pieces of her life, and people have run
with it, and maybe taken advantage of it.
I think it might have burned her to a degree."
Luckily, Swift later returned to the public eye, but, considering she reportedly hadn't
done any promotion for her project around its release, it's safe to say many people
just didn't know she was releasing any music.
Locking it down
Swift has had major rifts with streaming giants, including Apple Music and Spotify.
After pulling her music from the platforms, she opened up about her issues with them in
a 2014 op-ed for the Wall Street Journal.
She wrote,
"Music is art, and art is important and rare.
[...] It's my opinion that music should not be free, and my prediction is that individual
artists and their labels will someday decide what an album's price point is.
I hope they don't underestimate themselves or undervalue their art."
She went to blows with Apple Music the following year as well, expressing her dissatisfaction
that the platform wouldn't pay artists for music that users listened to during their
free trials.
She eventually mended fences with both streaming services, but the short absence may have hurt
her in the long run.