Covering a beloved songis tricky, and covering a beloved song in a new style is sure to irk some die-hard fans. So criticism was as swift as it was inevitable.
Monique Judge, a columnist for the black culture magazine the Root, took particularly issue with the cover.
"There are certain songs you don't mess with, especially if you don't have the range, and we all know Taylor Swift has all the range of a dial tone," Judge wrote.
"Maurice White did not die for this," she added, referring to one of the song's writers, who died in 2016 at the age of 74 due to complications from Parkinson's disease.
In the piece, she argued that "While the stripped-down version is a complete 180 from the soul classic, it's also strangely reminiscent of Swift's older country material."
"I have to say, I kinda love it," Gibson added.
The conversation grew more complicated on Twitter, where the song was met with bewildered detractors and fierce defenders.
Taylor Swift covering September has ruined my Friday x
The cover's defenders were just as passionate, however, calling it everything from "hella lit" to "absolutely beautiful" to "Taylor Swift's greatest cover of all time".
Meanwhile, @taylorswift13's country-tinged cover of the Earth, Wind and Fire hit "September" for @Spotify hit me in the feels because my birthday is on 9/20, and it's one of my mother's favorites. (She came of age in the 70's.) I can't wait to play it for her when I get home!
