Taylor Swift Says She Didn’t Really See Sexism in the Music Industry Until Red’s Success


"As soon as I started playing stadiums—when I started to look like a woman—that wasn’t as cool anymore."
Taylor Swift performs onstage
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

We're just a couple weeks away from the release of Taylor Swift's latest album, Lover, on August 23. And in the lead-up to its release, we're learning more and more about where Swift is at in her life—through Easter eggs left in her videos and commercials and in interviews, like her latest one for Vogue. (She graces the cover of the magazine's September issue.)

In the interview, Swift opens up about various aspects of her career, including the shift she saw once she transitioned from a rising star in the industry to a powerful woman. When asked if she was always aware of sexism around her, Swift gives this thoughtful answer: "When I was a teenager, I would hear people talk about sexism in the music industry, and I’d be like, 'I don’t see it. I don’t understand,'" she tells Vogue. "Then I realized that was because I was a kid. Men in the industry saw me as a kid. I was a lanky, scrawny, overexcited young girl who reminded them more of their little niece or their daughter than a successful woman in business or a colleague. The second I became a woman, in people’s perception, was when I started seeing it.

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Swift explains why she wasn't more vocal sooner. “Rights are being stripped from basically everyone who isn’t a straight white cisgender male,” she says. “I didn’t realize until recently that I could advocate for a community that I’m not a part of. It’s hard to know how to do that without being so fearful of making a mistake that you just freeze. Because my mistakes are very loud. When I make a mistake, it echoes through the canyons of the world. It’s clickbait, and it’s a part of my life story, and it’s a part of my career arc.”

You can read the full Vogue interview here.