‘A trick rather than a skill’: Taylor Swift says success is judged differently for women

Taylor Swift is no stranger to being criticized for her dating history and she has advice for new artists going through the same scrutiny — just shake it off.

In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music’s Beats 1 Swift says criticism just comes with being in the limelight.

“Anybody who puts anything out into the world, if it has a bit of success now that comes with scrutiny,” the “Lover” artist said. “And that’s something that I tell a lot of new artists and a lot of people who I ended up talking to who are like, ‘Hey, so you’ve been through a lot of things. I’m freaking out, I’m getting my first wave of bad press, what do I do?'”

Her advice: Keep making art. Swift says she tells people who ask her for advice to not pay much attention to the scrutiny and to continue doing what you love. She says given the media industry, it’s inevitable that you’ll get critiqued.

“When I was like 23 and people were just kind of reducing me to, kind of making slideshows of my dating life and putting people in there that I’d sat next to at a party once and deciding that my songwriting was like a trick rather than a skill and a craft,” Swift said.

When people minimized her artistic skill and success in that way, it was a form of s***-shaming, she said.

“It’s a way to take a woman who’s doing her job and succeeding at doing her job and making things. And in a way, it’s figuring out how to completely minimize that skill by taking something that everyone in their darkest, darkest moments loves to do, which is just to s*** shame.”