Taylor Swift has millions of supporters, but at one point in her career, she had just as many haters. In 2016, the Shake it Off singer became public enemy number one after a public feud with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West over the lyrics to his single Famous. During the beef, Kim releasing a phone conversation between Taylor and Kanye and called her a “snake.” In the events following, fans of the social media maven and the rapper bombarded the Bad Blood singer’s social media account with snake emojis and started the #CancelTaylorSwift campaign.
Taylor Swift opened up about the "mass public shaming" from millions of people
What ensued was a social media campaign that led to months of hate directed towards the singer. “A mass public shaming, with millions of people saying you are quote-unquote canceled, is a very isolating experience,” the 30-year-old said inside of Vogue “I don’t think there are that many people who can actually understand what it’s like to have millions of people hate you very loudly.”
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The Shake It Off singer continued: “When you say someone is canceled, it’s not a TV show. It’s a human being. You’re sending mass amounts of messaging to this person to either shut up, disappear, or it could also be perceived as, Kill yourself.” Taylor decided the best way to solve the problem was to do as the people asked – and create content for her return. “I realized I needed to restructure my life because it felt completely out of control,” she shared.
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“I knew immediately I needed to make music about it because I knew it was the only way I could survive it. It was the only way I could preserve my mental health and also tell the story of what it’s like to go through something so humiliating.” With a new album on the horizon, Taylor has since healed from the experience and has remained focused on her music. Earlier this year, the Blank Space singer spoke out publicly about the incident for the first time. “I learned that disarming someone’s petty bullying can be as simple as learning to laugh," said wrote in Elle. In my experience, I’ve come to see that bullies want to be feared and taken seriously."