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Home / New Zealand

Taylor Swift finally explains why she took so long to take a stance on politics

By Sarah Polus
Washington Post·
7 Mar, 2019 01:36 AM3 mins to read

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Taylor Swift has shared 30 things she's learned before she turns 30. Photo / AP

Taylor Swift has shared 30 things she's learned before she turns 30. Photo / AP

Nine months before her actual birthday, Taylor Swift is sharing with the world the 30 things she has learned before turning the big 3-0. In a piece for Elle, the singer basically lists blanket statements that run the gamut of the cliche things you'd expect a normal girl in her late 20s to say (Don't sleep in your makeup! Accept your body!) to the slightly eye-roll inducing ("Recently I discovered Command tape," to which our colleague quipped, "Rich people are wild"). Then things got a little juicy.

"I learned how to make some easy cocktails like Pimm's cups, Aperol spritzes, Old-Fashioneds, and Mojitos because ... 2016," reads lesson No. 9. Oh, was that, an election reference, perchance? Is the infamously apolitical starlet going there again?

"It's my opinion that in cases of sexual assault, I believe the victim." No. 13. OK, we're getting warm.

Lesson No. 28: "I'm finding my voice in terms of politics." A-ha! The Look What You Made Me Do singer goes on to explain why it took her so long to express her political leanings, despite being worshipped by some on the alt-right. She wanted to know her stuff before opening her mouth, it seems - a valid point when you have 114 million Instagram followers waiting to critique your every word.

According to Swift, she wanted to educate herself on the issues before taking a stance, but eventually her moral calling won out over her trepidation. The mounting criticism of her silence probably played a role, too.

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"Invoking racism and provoking fear through thinly veiled messaging is not what I want from our leaders," Swift wrote. "I realised that it actually is my responsibility to use my influence against that disgusting rhetoric."

Swift even vowed to be more active in political campaigns after dipping her toe in the water during last year's midterm elections. The Instagram post in which she expressed support for Democrats Phil Bredesen and Jim Cooper for the Tennessee Senate and House races, respectively, which some contributed to the significant uptick in the polls for both candidates. In the same post, Swift expressed disdain for the state's senatorial victor, Republican Marsha Blackburn, throwing off many who pegged Swift to be a conservative voter.

It appears that Swift will be one to watch for on the 2020 campaign trail. ″I'm going to do more to help," she wrote. "We have a big race coming up next year."

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