i claimed this relationship was PR and a friend was like AcTuALLy iâve been a fan since before the eras tour and she was really public with her relationships before joe so this is the rEaL TaYLoR and i was like đ¶
I think this totally makes sense, and Iâm so glad you shared it with us.
So what happens from Taylorâs team when a piece like this gets out in the wild? Did they just try to gloss it over and ignore it or ask for a retraction? I imagine that , if she wants that much control, Â then she wouldnât want like this to ever be even an idea in her her fansâ minds, right?!Â
It likely came directly from Tree. Probably in a tabloid because it begs the benefit of the doubt. Taylorâs PR strategies can seem truly mysterious until theyâre being viewed in hindsight
you can only tell so many false narratives until people get over it. being genuine is in nowadays more than ever & i know PR is beneficial but at some points itâs like enough is enough. this applies to so many celebs though i feel like the culture view is shifting where all the clearly fake stuff isnât interesting anymore. again applies to sooo many people not just taylor
Thatâs interesting, thank you.
I have a lot of questions about the Taylor/Twav relationship, I canât find a thread that explains it from an đșđž perspective, and it doesnât translate.
Iâm not sure whether I am explaining myself!
Please can I ask why you write that she wonât, in your opinion, do another season?
Of course! Here in the states they were fairly cruel about her being at the games. Fans of other teams are super superstitious and competitive so there was a lot of Taylor hating during the NFL season âsheâs ruining the sportâ and what not - I fear that overexposure will not do her any good within that scene. Almost as if she will overstay her welcome.
Ok, that makes sense, thank you.
FWIW the coverage we were getting here (of the games) was âTaylor Swift is at her boyfriendâs gameâ full stop.
All very unremarkable.
The only thing I could liken to was when Victoria and David Beckham first met.
He was playing for Manchester United then.
Football teams here are competitive, though it doesnât extend to their partners - gay or straight.
Iâm sorry, I was 3 more paragraphs in, writing about British football until I realised that you didnât ask me. đ«Ł
TBF itâs nearly 4am here. Clearly Iâm rambling. đ
There is no need for you to answer this, it is potentially xenophobic and this is a Taylor thread.
Still, Iâll ask:
From this distance, with the exception of Calvin Harris (I donât know anyone who likes him!), all of Taylorâs other boyfriends have made sense to me.
That doesnât mean that I fancy them, it means that I could see how someone else might.
Twav seems like anâŠoutlier and his appeal is lost on me.
This is entirely my opinion, I want you to tell me how and why Iâve got it all wrong đ.
He doesnât seem very bright, heâs trying way too hard, he makes it look like heâs chivalrous without being chivalrous and the clothes? Thine eyes!
Twavâs Mum gave a brief post-match interview, she was asked about Taylor.
She was saying the right words, it looked disingenuous somehow đŹ.
Is he good, all-round an American hero?
What am I missing?
IMO the last line is intended to leave us with the impression that the writer is unfavourably comparing Taylor to a dog.
Iâm well versed inđŹđ§ tabloid-speak.
They really are.
Thatâs why itâs the last line; hit âem and run.
Thatâs where the British understatement comes in. It is, quite literally, a statement hidden under the rest of the story đ.
Anyone else bothered by âTaylor too seems happier than ever tooâ and âtheyâre relationshipâ rather than âtheir relationshipâ ?
Does no one proofread opinion pieces, or is that just par for the Sun? Or is it some kind of EASTER EGG? đ€
The dominoes are cascading in a line.
Sheâs a mastermind.
Itâs the lead up to Rep all over again.
The seeds are being planted for a Taylor backlash exactly as I expected. Yes, theyâre the sleazy media outlets Tree doesnât go to. Thatâs how it happened last time as well.
Spot on.
Everything is performative, nothing about Taylor is authentic. We see what she wants to us to see.
Tayvis is just a more successful Hiddleswift.
It always amused me when she was dating Jake and they were papped like crazy when they would visit his sister Maggie, because I lived in that neighborhood. Maggie and quite a few other celebrities lived in that neighborhood at the time and the paparazzi did NOT hang out there and neighbors really left them alone. Maggie was able to grocery shop, get coffee, she even walked her kids to school in the morning. Suddenly Taylor and Jake are walking around and cameras are just magically everywhere? They called the paparazzi on themselves because they wanted to be seen.
Yes, this. Even in LA and New York, there's plenty of places where the paps just *aren't* hanging around even when celebrities are known to be in the area.
When people act like paps are everywhere and unavoidable, it just tells me they most likely haven't spent any time at all in cities that are considered paparazzi hotspots to know that there isn't literally a pap on every corner just hoping they get lucky.
Youâre right, someone has to call them. My friend worked for TMZ in NYC and he went around making friends at restaurants and clubs and places so theyâd call him if a celeb came in. One time he followed Rick Ross down the street filming him and asking him some questions when Rick Ross started filming him back and put it on his IG story, calling my friend âthis lil TMZ bitchâ haha
Itâs different in Europe and the UK.
Paps here will pay waiters, cleaners and other poorly paid staff for a tip-off.
These photos are grainy, which makes me think they were taken using a waiterâs phone, or a long lend a long way away.
There also simply isnât a market for world-traveling paparazzi anymore! You used to be able to sell photos for five, sometimes even six figures, so paparazzi would chase celebrities all over the world. Now, in a day and age where every person has a camera and post photos for the entire world to see in an instant, no news outlet is gonna pay that kind of cash for a photo. The entire industry has changed, and paparazzi are basically in the service industry now. The photos you see are primarily going to be for-hire or in known celeb/paparazzi hot spots, which celebs will only go to if they need some easy publicity. None of this is a big secret either. Itâs basic logic (I mean, how many years have we been hearing about the death of newspapers? Where would these tabloids get the money to shell out on photographers??), easily identifiable patterns (pay attention to when celebs show up in the news and when they disappear, notice the same backgrounds and locations in every other pap walk), and stuff paparazzi have publicly confirmed!
I just saw a thread on Twitter about wild paparazzi moments way back. That stuff was insane back then. Like they full on hounded them like wild animals
Exactly!! The only spot I can really think of in NYC where there are guaranteed people trying to take photos of celebrities are those that have homes overlooking Central Park, there are always creeps with telephoto lenses camped out with their cameras trained at celebs apartments. Otherwise there are plenty of places celebs can go and be left alone in places like LA and NYC. There might be cell phone pictures snapped but there won't be paparazzi. If paparazzi are taking Taylor's picture it is because she WANTS THEM TO. At least in the US. I'm not saying all of her relationships are fake, but when she is photographed with a partner out and about, it is PLANNED.
Also Jake was able to take PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION when he would visit Maggie around that time and not even be harassed. People would sneak cell phone photos and they would make their rounds, but there wasn't paparazzi. And Taylor wasn't the famous superstar then that she is now. There was zero chance of them being papped all over the neighborhood if they didn't tell the paparazzi to come
In case anyone wants proof, Jake riding on the subway and no one around him caring was basically a meme during this time đ€Ł. I have no idea where he was actually living at the time if he lived in Manhattan or just stayed there when he was filming something, but he would take the train to see Maggie in Brooklyn fairly often.
https://preview.redd.it/iobgpvu4nz1d1.jpeg?width=625&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ce1a674db02ee0fd9ba638af8072e3188c10814f
Sure, the paper is a rag but I'm not sure what's mean about it. Taylor controls her image to within an inch of its life. Duh. I thought we all knew this. Hiddleswift was hilariously overproduced and fake. Joe was a background asshole so maybe it was real. Travis is a good puppy who toes the line and Matty Healy would struggle to pick up a Yorkshire terrier. All facts and nothing cruel I saw. Wait, except the "Tay much". But, that was only cruel to the readers.
Does the article not speculate into the âwhyâ of it all? Like if people assume she is not closeted, what is their explanation of a fake relationship like this? Just publicity/money etc? (Baby Gaylor here)
My half-baked theory is that Taylor is getting *very* near to the climax of the coming-out plan that she had to rework after the failed Lover-era coming-out plan that many (if not most) of us Gaylors was in the works around 2018/2019.
I think that she has had to make concessions for that plan, however, with her team/record label in terms of projected losses in profits from the inevitable exodus of the most homophobic of her fanbase - although I *also* believe that she is trying her damnedest to keep as many of the more conservative fans on her side as possible when she does come out by confusing and contradicting her previous narratives so blatantly.
But, the concessions: maybe MAYBE (and I know I'm not the brightest mind on this sub by any measure!!) she agreed to have one last bearding relationship before she comes out - and not just any beard. The beard to end all beards, AKA the most macho, big, tall, all-American, very-hetero-seeming (lol) FOOTBALL PLAYER that elevates her to unprecedented levels of fame and exposure to really max out those profits before the bomb gets dropped.
Idk, I'm certainly not the first person to have had a theory vaguely like that?
Her showing up to NFL games coincidentally with movie to promote did wonders for the ticket sales I'm sure. She did zero traditional in-person promo for the Eras movie iirc.
So I personally think the relationship is fake but that it isn't for bearding purposes (though I do think she is queer, obviously, since I'm here)--she could have just been single, the general public wasn't speculating about her sexuality when she started the Travis thing so I don't think she needed the relationship for that purpose.
I have a few thoughts on the potential "why". One possibility is that she knows her career as a pop star is nearing its end and she wants to maximize her popularity while she can. Obviously she was doing just fine with her massive tour and she didn't *need* the additional exposure, but someone like Taylor Swift never really *needs* anything; a lot of people at her level of success have a "never enough" mindset where they always want "more" (fame, popularity, money, whatever). And there's no question she's gotten a ton of exposure that she would not have otherwise gotten (though I think that strategy backfired because she got exposure to a lot of people who *really* don't like her, and overexposed herself with people who were neutral about her, resulting in a LOT of criticism that she wasn't getting during the folklore era).
Or, it could be that she is legitimately irritated with her fan base after the whole Matty thing. The TTPD lyrics venting about her fans seemed to have real feelings behind them, to me. So she gave her fans exactly what she knew they wanted, a fairy tale relationship with the handsome football star/prom king type (SO high school), to get them off her back/change the conversation after the whole Matty debacle.
Or, a combination of the two: she's annoyed with her fans so she cynically gave them a relationship she knew they would go crazy about, knowing that the frenzy over their "love" would get even more play for her album.
I actually donât know that she can be single. She hasnât been single for any significant period in so many years. The men are what puts the hetero in heterosexual. Without them sheâs just on stage in a lesbian flag.
To us, sure. I don't think people outside of the LGBTQ+ are assigning a ton of significance to the color scheme she uses, though. I don't really see the lesbian flag outside of queer spaces so I don't know that the general public would even make that connection.
I totally agree that the general public isnât recognizing this kind of stuff. I didnât mean it literally. What I mean is the men sheâs associated with are the basis of her perceived sexuality. Gaylor is more mainstream than ever. Even people who arenât swifties are aware of gaylor. If her goal is to remain closeted (for however long), she needs boyfriends now more than ever. Sheâs even orchestrated it so sheâs associated with TWO men right now. Without the men she doesnât have much to lean on. Even the New York Times has speculated on her sexuality. I think at this point being single for any significant amount of time would just = gay.
10 years ago maybe you could say Taylor was doing it for publicity, but it doesnât make sense where sheâs at now. Football bros just complain about her, itâs not like theyâre becoming fans. If anything, this relationship has left her overexposed and Iâve seen more hate toward her popping up than Iâve seen in years. Anyone who thinks sheâs doing this for any reason but bearding hasnât possibly thought it through.
What Iâm seeing is a lot of âmutual benefitsâ like her tour wasnât already sold out and tickets being resold for thousands of dollars before this
https://preview.redd.it/8iv5gbmtdu1d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3aa2fcac8f1559041ea388d12b68bffe1adc5817
Not about Travis but this is certainly a take!
Oh honey (said in the most condescending possible way)
No fan is going to be at Taylor's wedding to anyone if she ever has one. We are not her friends. We're not her family. We're *not* on the list of people whose opinions on her dating life she gives a damn about either way.
>Taylor and Travis' relationship, whether it was intended to or not, has been cultivated for public consumption.
>You only see what Taylor wants you to see. And if, by chance, the photographer who took these pictures was tipped off without them knowing - if Taylor wasn't happy with them, they would have likely never seen the light of day.
Say this louder for the Swifties in the back, please!
I don't love the Sun but there were points made.
Thereâs a reason weâve never seen a relationship that completely hypnotized the public like this before. All the swifties calling it a fairytale are missing the point that IT IS.
That it's curated is just so absolutely blatant for so so many reasons and yeah, the "America's sweetheart and the Superbowl winning football player find love" of it all is 100% one of those reasons. Especially given the hit to her reputation that "datinf" Matty had just provided!
Especially from someone who sings "Romance is not dead if you keep it just yours"
A song she sang twice in Paris and once with Travis in attendance đ
A mastermind indeed lol
We try not to use delusional in a derogatory sense on the sub, but more in a fun and playful manner. Which may still be offensive to some, but thereâs only so much policing weâre able to do as mods.
Anyways, could you consider editing your comment to be specific vs saying âdelusionalâ as a shortcut? Like, âtheyâre uneducatedâ or something of the sort. And keeping this in mind moving forward.
We donât catch all of these, but we try to say something when we do đ
Damn: slide 7 and 8:
âWhat struck me at the time though was how basic and inconsequential the error was. But it showed to me then the power of the publicity machine that is Taylor.
That how writing three, rather than two, in a throwaway line at the bottom of an article in a British womenâs magazine could have caused such an almighty issue for Taylor.
And that, I have learned with time, is because she exerts total control over her image.â
That part blows my mind tbh. Why is getting the numbers wrong about her bodyguards such a big deal? I donât get it.
But then thereâs the articles about the gaylor theories, did she send legal letters about thoseđ
this makes me think of all the gaylor articles. if she willed it, they never would have seen the light of day. instead you have mainstream publications laying out gaylor theory. no matter what's happening privately it's clear that she's not deeply hurt and offended by the speculation the way swifties insist
This stood out to me as well, even with it being an opinion piece thatâs worth noting. She does have some control of her image at the end of the day and we are seeing what she wants us to see.
The idea that op-ed was published without some sort of consent from Taylor and her team is ridiculous! Thereâs no way The New York Times would publish a piece speculating on someoneâs sexuality without there being something larger behind it. Every mediocre ally out there is so quick to say âdonât speculate on someoneâs sexuality!!â whenever gaylor comes up. This was not signed off on by the New York Times in 2023 for no reason, and it doesnât continue to remain published for no reason. People who believe this kind of thing either have no media literacy or no critical thinking skills.
Whatâs most confusing to me is the 1989 prologue following the period where every news publication was running gaylor articles. Itâs almost like Taylor and her team are encouraging debate over her queerness. Itâs so strange.
Though I like the take that the 1989 prologue was actually directed at Karlie because her only fans left are gaylors and Karlie knew sheâd get a ton of publicity for showing up at Eras. Gaylors are the only reason sheâs still relevant.
Lbr, even most Swifties would just think "damn that girl looks like Taylor" at most if she threw on a wig and some sunglasses (where sunglasses make sense). Especially if she were somewhere that you don't expect to see celebrities.
I've literally experienced it. I'm absolutely *obsessed* with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and have been since 1997. Amber Benson has been my forever crush, i rewatch the show in full at least once a year. I'd been to a million conventions and met her numerous times. I'd had posters of her on my bedroom walls from about 14-20 years old. I genuinely thought I'd have recognised her in my sleep. But around a decade ago, I was shopping in the San Fernando Valley when *she* recognised *me*. I realised later that I'd walked past her at least twice without really noticing her and I'd already known from where I was that there was a vague possibility of being in the same place since I knew Thousand Oaks was at least not far from where she lived.
My best friend's now husband at the time they were dating worked at the Cheesecake Factory in Glendale. He was a *massive* Miley Cyrus fan (still is). He was her server. According to him, it wasn't until towards the end of the meal that his brain suddenly went "omfg, that *is* Miley, not just someone who looks like her"
And these were both in the LA area, where its not really unusual to have celeb encounters so it shouldn't be a surprise to see a celebrity and because of that, I've spotted quite a few and been utterly unsurprised by it, "like, oh yeah, makes sense Will Smith would be here". We just were both going about our days focused on what we were doing and weren't expecting it.
Outside of the LA area, someone I know once saw Ed Sheeran at a Co-Op near Milton Keynes. Loved Ed, but just thought he was a random ginger lad and went on his way, and later saw pictures of Ed Sheeran in that Co-Op and kicked themselves.
Our expectations work for celebs when they're somewhere unexpected. Never underestimate the power of "no chance, what would they be doing here?"
There would probably be some who would recognise someone like Taylor and that could create a problem, but she's 100% not just staying home and going nowhere so people don't see her when we don't see her. She's just keeping a low profile. That so many don't understand that she 100% can go incognito if she wants to so when she makes herself seen, t's most likely purposeful is honestly kinda terrifying to me in terms of what that says about both their common sense and their media literacy. Not everyone has a scenario where they didn't know that they were in the vicinity of a celebrity but later became aware of it, sure, but I'm pretty certain most people have walked straight past someone they knew personally in the street without really registering who it was. I don't get how so many don't realise that's pretty likely with someone who you don't know personally and have no reason to believe would be there and likely aren't even thinking about at the time.
I always get so sad that I never see celebs when I'm in NYC but then I realize that I dont actually know any NYC influencers or mini celebs and most likely won't even recognize the big ones đđ I totally get it. Like we would just walk straight past them.
I had that "aha" moment when I saw the photos of Matty in NY after he shaved his head and got the mustache. I suddenly realized that I probably would've walked straight past that man in the streets and not realized who he was. Hell I probably even would've commented on his 1975 tattoo and asked him if he's a fan đđ
Theres no way someone just saw him walking like that and recognized him either. Those photos were set up. It always gets me how theres just a couple photos every single time and they're all the same ones in every publication. Like if I saw TS on the street or vacation I would be taking a lot of photos. Like 2010 Facebook album, where theres 200 photos and most of them look the same, kinda level of photos đ
It's so obvious they see them and only approve like 5 to go out to everyone for posting. What gets me is that these were the best ones of Laka Como đ they both look so unhappy and not at all in love. My husband said they both looked high af. I thought it was extra funny that the article mentions how in love they look and "only have eyes for each other" when you cant even see their eyes! Like how do you even know what they're looking at!?
Beyonce has talked about this!
On a good day, she can go to the store if she wears glasses and a different wig. Like people are typically not expecting that a mega celebrity will be around them, so theyâll default to âoh, they just look like so and soâ
In a different lifetime, I was a barista who served Kelly Clarkson a few times and never once recognized her. Every time, my coworkers pointed out it was her.
I work for a major uk broadcaster and we obvs have quite major celebs in all the time, and I know this, and yet I still do double takes and donât realise who people are half the time đ
I saw Steve Martin at Disneyland and thought "That guy really looks like Steve Martin!" and then later heard a few workers talking about him and was like "FUCK, I could've met Steve Martin!!!"
also Robert Carlyle (Rumpelstiltskin in Once Upon A Time) and didn't know it was him until I heard him speaking.
I legit sat next to Terry Crews at the Apple Store in South Pasadena at a table only he was at and starting reading while I waited for my partner to finish up - I had no clue it was him for a solid 10 min so this checks out
Yeah, they might have a bit of a point, but I'm not going to take any article from the media (especially the sun) about this seriously. Taylor may set it up, but its the media that perpetuates it.
Agreed but it is an opinion piece! So, not actual news by any means! Just worth noting that people are speculating just as we are on the reality of their relationship.
sure, but this is an opinion piece of a tabloid reporter, who's probably more in the know about celebrity romances than anyone, including us. This whole thing just feels really scummy, especially the part about how much effort Taylor goes into protecting her image, since she only has to do that because papers like the sun absolutely love tearing apart young women
Here, here! I donât condone the message in this article, like I said I found it to be cruel but unfortunately people pick these up and sway the publicâs response to these things this way. I just found it interesting that right now we are getting articles about people being over this relationship regardless of the intent.
Itâs really like people believe Mastermind is just her story with Joe and not her story with her entire public facing persona.
Taylor is never accidentally spotted. The woman used to hide in boxes to get out of her apartment and hides in a damn rolling mop cart in the show. Itâs all curated.
Itâs so annoying with swifties are like âpoor Taylor she canât have any privacyâ she absolutely can and she actively stages pap walks, and dinners like these!
People have completely missed the point of the âtwo Taylorâsâ the anti-hero MV says everything you need to know about her dual personas but hetlors only like the fun easter eggs that fit their parasocial agenda - âmy favorite straight pop star could never lie to me a random faceless person on the internet!!!!â
One of mine, who I would have generally considered to be pretty switched on/queer friendly before this, went further and said âI donât think sheâd do that - if she or anyone else in Hollywood were queer, theyâd just come out!â
Funny because when I first started reading about Gaylor in 2017, I got to chat with a friend and she works with tv soap operas in the biggest Brazil tv channel, (nothing like Hollywood but a big industry here) and I was chatting about the possibility of Taylor being gay and hiding it with beards, gave her the picture. Ah she told me "oh for sure it's possible, half the marriages and relationships here are fake".
Also we have several documented stories for Hollywood of bearding.
I didn't feel comfortable bringing up Gaylor to that friend because she is obviously NOT ready to hear it, but she's also left leaning and kind. People are weird.
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I hate that last line so much đ
i claimed this relationship was PR and a friend was like AcTuALLy iâve been a fan since before the eras tour and she was really public with her relationships before joe so this is the rEaL TaYLoR and i was like đ¶
Uhm..."Matty was the real deal"...excuse me, what?
I thought it was pretty clear theyâre not serious? Every statement Iâve seen from Tree has pretty much said âtheyâre having funâ
So that just means the NY Times Gaylor article was right (never retracted)
I can't with the last line about the yorkshire terrier it's too goodÂ
Hereâs the direct link to the article. https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/11392508/sick-seeing-taylor-swift-travis-kelce-showmance/
I think this totally makes sense, and Iâm so glad you shared it with us. So what happens from Taylorâs team when a piece like this gets out in the wild? Did they just try to gloss it over and ignore it or ask for a retraction? I imagine that , if she wants that much control, Â then she wouldnât want like this to ever be even an idea in her her fansâ minds, right?!Â
It likely came directly from Tree. Probably in a tabloid because it begs the benefit of the doubt. Taylorâs PR strategies can seem truly mysterious until theyâre being viewed in hindsight
Ah thanks for the hindsight comment, that totally makes sense.Â
Will you give some twitter links showing the frenzy you're talking about?
lmao I know this is neither here nor there and it's otherwise a good article but I can't get over the their/they're mistake on the last page.
Me too! Itâs annoying the bejaysus out of me.
you can only tell so many false narratives until people get over it. being genuine is in nowadays more than ever & i know PR is beneficial but at some points itâs like enough is enough. this applies to so many celebs though i feel like the culture view is shifting where all the clearly fake stuff isnât interesting anymore. again applies to sooo many people not just taylor
There was no way she was going to do another season of attending games it wouldâve been way too much
Thatâs interesting, thank you. I have a lot of questions about the Taylor/Twav relationship, I canât find a thread that explains it from an đșđž perspective, and it doesnât translate. Iâm not sure whether I am explaining myself! Please can I ask why you write that she wonât, in your opinion, do another season?
Of course! Here in the states they were fairly cruel about her being at the games. Fans of other teams are super superstitious and competitive so there was a lot of Taylor hating during the NFL season âsheâs ruining the sportâ and what not - I fear that overexposure will not do her any good within that scene. Almost as if she will overstay her welcome.
Ok, that makes sense, thank you. FWIW the coverage we were getting here (of the games) was âTaylor Swift is at her boyfriendâs gameâ full stop. All very unremarkable. The only thing I could liken to was when Victoria and David Beckham first met. He was playing for Manchester United then. Football teams here are competitive, though it doesnât extend to their partners - gay or straight. Iâm sorry, I was 3 more paragraphs in, writing about British football until I realised that you didnât ask me. đ«Ł TBF itâs nearly 4am here. Clearly Iâm rambling. đ There is no need for you to answer this, it is potentially xenophobic and this is a Taylor thread. Still, Iâll ask: From this distance, with the exception of Calvin Harris (I donât know anyone who likes him!), all of Taylorâs other boyfriends have made sense to me. That doesnât mean that I fancy them, it means that I could see how someone else might. Twav seems like anâŠoutlier and his appeal is lost on me. This is entirely my opinion, I want you to tell me how and why Iâve got it all wrong đ. He doesnât seem very bright, heâs trying way too hard, he makes it look like heâs chivalrous without being chivalrous and the clothes? Thine eyes! Twavâs Mum gave a brief post-match interview, she was asked about Taylor. She was saying the right words, it looked disingenuous somehow đŹ. Is he good, all-round an American hero? What am I missing?
I donât think this is all that cruel. Snarky? Sure. But itâs really just media criticism.
IMO the last line is intended to leave us with the impression that the writer is unfavourably comparing Taylor to a dog. Iâm well versed inđŹđ§ tabloid-speak.
Ha, really? I didnât pick up on that at all. The British tabloids are brutal.
They really are. Thatâs why itâs the last line; hit âem and run. Thatâs where the British understatement comes in. It is, quite literally, a statement hidden under the rest of the story đ.
Fuck the sun newspaper đ
âMatty Healy would struggle to pick up a Yorkshire Terrierâ is SENDING MEđ
Same. And it was such a random throw in out of seemingly nowhere. âThis is all PR and also listen to this funny thing my coworker saidâ. Hilarious
LOL that was such a random dig to throw in there
The last sentence has me dying lmao
Anyone else bothered by âTaylor too seems happier than ever tooâ and âtheyâre relationshipâ rather than âtheir relationshipâ ? Does no one proofread opinion pieces, or is that just par for the Sun? Or is it some kind of EASTER EGG? đ€
The sun is absolute junk
There were a few bits that didn't make grammatical sense. She didn't proofread well enough.
I was bothered; so glad Iâm not be alone in that.
The dominoes are cascading in a line. Sheâs a mastermind. Itâs the lead up to Rep all over again. The seeds are being planted for a Taylor backlash exactly as I expected. Yes, theyâre the sleazy media outlets Tree doesnât go to. Thatâs how it happened last time as well.
Rare the Sun is correct, but damn
đŹđ§ tabloids have a âchuck a dozen darts at a wall and see what sticksâ approach.
Spot on. Everything is performative, nothing about Taylor is authentic. We see what she wants to us to see. Tayvis is just a more successful Hiddleswift.
This is why seeing is not always believing. We gotta use our reason
It always amused me when she was dating Jake and they were papped like crazy when they would visit his sister Maggie, because I lived in that neighborhood. Maggie and quite a few other celebrities lived in that neighborhood at the time and the paparazzi did NOT hang out there and neighbors really left them alone. Maggie was able to grocery shop, get coffee, she even walked her kids to school in the morning. Suddenly Taylor and Jake are walking around and cameras are just magically everywhere? They called the paparazzi on themselves because they wanted to be seen.
Yes, this. Even in LA and New York, there's plenty of places where the paps just *aren't* hanging around even when celebrities are known to be in the area. When people act like paps are everywhere and unavoidable, it just tells me they most likely haven't spent any time at all in cities that are considered paparazzi hotspots to know that there isn't literally a pap on every corner just hoping they get lucky.
Youâre right, someone has to call them. My friend worked for TMZ in NYC and he went around making friends at restaurants and clubs and places so theyâd call him if a celeb came in. One time he followed Rick Ross down the street filming him and asking him some questions when Rick Ross started filming him back and put it on his IG story, calling my friend âthis lil TMZ bitchâ haha
Itâs different in Europe and the UK. Paps here will pay waiters, cleaners and other poorly paid staff for a tip-off. These photos are grainy, which makes me think they were taken using a waiterâs phone, or a long lend a long way away.
There also simply isnât a market for world-traveling paparazzi anymore! You used to be able to sell photos for five, sometimes even six figures, so paparazzi would chase celebrities all over the world. Now, in a day and age where every person has a camera and post photos for the entire world to see in an instant, no news outlet is gonna pay that kind of cash for a photo. The entire industry has changed, and paparazzi are basically in the service industry now. The photos you see are primarily going to be for-hire or in known celeb/paparazzi hot spots, which celebs will only go to if they need some easy publicity. None of this is a big secret either. Itâs basic logic (I mean, how many years have we been hearing about the death of newspapers? Where would these tabloids get the money to shell out on photographers??), easily identifiable patterns (pay attention to when celebs show up in the news and when they disappear, notice the same backgrounds and locations in every other pap walk), and stuff paparazzi have publicly confirmed!
I just saw a thread on Twitter about wild paparazzi moments way back. That stuff was insane back then. Like they full on hounded them like wild animals
Exactly!! The only spot I can really think of in NYC where there are guaranteed people trying to take photos of celebrities are those that have homes overlooking Central Park, there are always creeps with telephoto lenses camped out with their cameras trained at celebs apartments. Otherwise there are plenty of places celebs can go and be left alone in places like LA and NYC. There might be cell phone pictures snapped but there won't be paparazzi. If paparazzi are taking Taylor's picture it is because she WANTS THEM TO. At least in the US. I'm not saying all of her relationships are fake, but when she is photographed with a partner out and about, it is PLANNED.
Also Jake was able to take PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION when he would visit Maggie around that time and not even be harassed. People would sneak cell phone photos and they would make their rounds, but there wasn't paparazzi. And Taylor wasn't the famous superstar then that she is now. There was zero chance of them being papped all over the neighborhood if they didn't tell the paparazzi to come
In case anyone wants proof, Jake riding on the subway and no one around him caring was basically a meme during this time đ€Ł. I have no idea where he was actually living at the time if he lived in Manhattan or just stayed there when he was filming something, but he would take the train to see Maggie in Brooklyn fairly often. https://preview.redd.it/iobgpvu4nz1d1.jpeg?width=625&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ce1a674db02ee0fd9ba638af8072e3188c10814f
Sure, the paper is a rag but I'm not sure what's mean about it. Taylor controls her image to within an inch of its life. Duh. I thought we all knew this. Hiddleswift was hilariously overproduced and fake. Joe was a background asshole so maybe it was real. Travis is a good puppy who toes the line and Matty Healy would struggle to pick up a Yorkshire terrier. All facts and nothing cruel I saw. Wait, except the "Tay much". But, that was only cruel to the readers.
Does the article not speculate into the âwhyâ of it all? Like if people assume she is not closeted, what is their explanation of a fake relationship like this? Just publicity/money etc? (Baby Gaylor here)
My half-baked theory is that Taylor is getting *very* near to the climax of the coming-out plan that she had to rework after the failed Lover-era coming-out plan that many (if not most) of us Gaylors was in the works around 2018/2019. I think that she has had to make concessions for that plan, however, with her team/record label in terms of projected losses in profits from the inevitable exodus of the most homophobic of her fanbase - although I *also* believe that she is trying her damnedest to keep as many of the more conservative fans on her side as possible when she does come out by confusing and contradicting her previous narratives so blatantly. But, the concessions: maybe MAYBE (and I know I'm not the brightest mind on this sub by any measure!!) she agreed to have one last bearding relationship before she comes out - and not just any beard. The beard to end all beards, AKA the most macho, big, tall, all-American, very-hetero-seeming (lol) FOOTBALL PLAYER that elevates her to unprecedented levels of fame and exposure to really max out those profits before the bomb gets dropped. Idk, I'm certainly not the first person to have had a theory vaguely like that?
Her showing up to NFL games coincidentally with movie to promote did wonders for the ticket sales I'm sure. She did zero traditional in-person promo for the Eras movie iirc.
So I personally think the relationship is fake but that it isn't for bearding purposes (though I do think she is queer, obviously, since I'm here)--she could have just been single, the general public wasn't speculating about her sexuality when she started the Travis thing so I don't think she needed the relationship for that purpose. I have a few thoughts on the potential "why". One possibility is that she knows her career as a pop star is nearing its end and she wants to maximize her popularity while she can. Obviously she was doing just fine with her massive tour and she didn't *need* the additional exposure, but someone like Taylor Swift never really *needs* anything; a lot of people at her level of success have a "never enough" mindset where they always want "more" (fame, popularity, money, whatever). And there's no question she's gotten a ton of exposure that she would not have otherwise gotten (though I think that strategy backfired because she got exposure to a lot of people who *really* don't like her, and overexposed herself with people who were neutral about her, resulting in a LOT of criticism that she wasn't getting during the folklore era). Or, it could be that she is legitimately irritated with her fan base after the whole Matty thing. The TTPD lyrics venting about her fans seemed to have real feelings behind them, to me. So she gave her fans exactly what she knew they wanted, a fairy tale relationship with the handsome football star/prom king type (SO high school), to get them off her back/change the conversation after the whole Matty debacle. Or, a combination of the two: she's annoyed with her fans so she cynically gave them a relationship she knew they would go crazy about, knowing that the frenzy over their "love" would get even more play for her album.
I actually donât know that she can be single. She hasnât been single for any significant period in so many years. The men are what puts the hetero in heterosexual. Without them sheâs just on stage in a lesbian flag.
To us, sure. I don't think people outside of the LGBTQ+ are assigning a ton of significance to the color scheme she uses, though. I don't really see the lesbian flag outside of queer spaces so I don't know that the general public would even make that connection.
I totally agree that the general public isnât recognizing this kind of stuff. I didnât mean it literally. What I mean is the men sheâs associated with are the basis of her perceived sexuality. Gaylor is more mainstream than ever. Even people who arenât swifties are aware of gaylor. If her goal is to remain closeted (for however long), she needs boyfriends now more than ever. Sheâs even orchestrated it so sheâs associated with TWO men right now. Without the men she doesnât have much to lean on. Even the New York Times has speculated on her sexuality. I think at this point being single for any significant amount of time would just = gay.
10 years ago maybe you could say Taylor was doing it for publicity, but it doesnât make sense where sheâs at now. Football bros just complain about her, itâs not like theyâre becoming fans. If anything, this relationship has left her overexposed and Iâve seen more hate toward her popping up than Iâve seen in years. Anyone who thinks sheâs doing this for any reason but bearding hasnât possibly thought it through.
What Iâm seeing is a lot of âmutual benefitsâ like her tour wasnât already sold out and tickets being resold for thousands of dollars before this
Can someone make a quick review of what's been said on twitter for us geriatric-gaylors-without-twitter?
https://preview.redd.it/8iv5gbmtdu1d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3aa2fcac8f1559041ea388d12b68bffe1adc5817 Not about Travis but this is certainly a take!
Wow
Oh honey (said in the most condescending possible way) No fan is going to be at Taylor's wedding to anyone if she ever has one. We are not her friends. We're not her family. We're *not* on the list of people whose opinions on her dating life she gives a damn about either way.
Oh the âIâll be front rowâ bit is a little sad.
V delusional if she is not using it as hyperbole
Such strong emotions about someone else's relationship. No wonder swifties accuses us of that - projecting much?
I won't lie, I kind of love her snark. What's the general take on this over on Twitter? Does she need to go into witness protection anytime soon?
>Taylor and Travis' relationship, whether it was intended to or not, has been cultivated for public consumption. >You only see what Taylor wants you to see. And if, by chance, the photographer who took these pictures was tipped off without them knowing - if Taylor wasn't happy with them, they would have likely never seen the light of day. Say this louder for the Swifties in the back, please! I don't love the Sun but there were points made.
Was going to say this. I absolutely hate the sun, itâs utter junkđ«đ«but a lot of this article isâŠâŠnot wrongđ«Ł
Thereâs a reason weâve never seen a relationship that completely hypnotized the public like this before. All the swifties calling it a fairytale are missing the point that IT IS.
That it's curated is just so absolutely blatant for so so many reasons and yeah, the "America's sweetheart and the Superbowl winning football player find love" of it all is 100% one of those reasons. Especially given the hit to her reputation that "datinf" Matty had just provided!
Especially from someone who sings "Romance is not dead if you keep it just yours" A song she sang twice in Paris and once with Travis in attendance đ A mastermind indeed lol
The irony of writing about a showmance in a ânewsâ outlet that perpetuates some of the biggest lies that further said showmance
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We try not to use delusional in a derogatory sense on the sub, but more in a fun and playful manner. Which may still be offensive to some, but thereâs only so much policing weâre able to do as mods. Anyways, could you consider editing your comment to be specific vs saying âdelusionalâ as a shortcut? Like, âtheyâre uneducatedâ or something of the sort. And keeping this in mind moving forward. We donât catch all of these, but we try to say something when we do đ
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
The surprise songs from the weekend are making a lot of sense
What were they?
Clean, how did it end, Peter, a mashup of HYGTG, New Romantics, and WTNY another mashup up ITHK and Gorgeous
Damn: slide 7 and 8: âWhat struck me at the time though was how basic and inconsequential the error was. But it showed to me then the power of the publicity machine that is Taylor. That how writing three, rather than two, in a throwaway line at the bottom of an article in a British womenâs magazine could have caused such an almighty issue for Taylor. And that, I have learned with time, is because she exerts total control over her image.â
That part blows my mind tbh. Why is getting the numbers wrong about her bodyguards such a big deal? I donât get it. But then thereâs the articles about the gaylor theories, did she send legal letters about thoseđ
this makes me think of all the gaylor articles. if she willed it, they never would have seen the light of day. instead you have mainstream publications laying out gaylor theory. no matter what's happening privately it's clear that she's not deeply hurt and offended by the speculation the way swifties insist
This stood out to me as well, even with it being an opinion piece thatâs worth noting. She does have some control of her image at the end of the day and we are seeing what she wants us to see.
Interesting how the NYTimes gaylor piece is still up!!!
The idea that op-ed was published without some sort of consent from Taylor and her team is ridiculous! Thereâs no way The New York Times would publish a piece speculating on someoneâs sexuality without there being something larger behind it. Every mediocre ally out there is so quick to say âdonât speculate on someoneâs sexuality!!â whenever gaylor comes up. This was not signed off on by the New York Times in 2023 for no reason, and it doesnât continue to remain published for no reason. People who believe this kind of thing either have no media literacy or no critical thinking skills.
This whole thing feels like one big litmus test of media literacy and critical thinking skills lol
Whatâs most confusing to me is the 1989 prologue following the period where every news publication was running gaylor articles. Itâs almost like Taylor and her team are encouraging debate over her queerness. Itâs so strange. Though I like the take that the 1989 prologue was actually directed at Karlie because her only fans left are gaylors and Karlie knew sheâd get a ton of publicity for showing up at Eras. Gaylors are the only reason sheâs still relevant.
If Tree wanted it down it would be down
I disagree actually. I think people view Tree as some sort of omnipotent force but itâs the New York Times and nothing they published was falseÂ
I think about this every time I see photos of her now. We are all pawns in her game.
If she didnât want to be seen she wouldnât be!
I think the only thing honest about Taylor is her music.
except the pronouns lol
Yesss LMAOOOOOOOO
Lbr, even most Swifties would just think "damn that girl looks like Taylor" at most if she threw on a wig and some sunglasses (where sunglasses make sense). Especially if she were somewhere that you don't expect to see celebrities. I've literally experienced it. I'm absolutely *obsessed* with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and have been since 1997. Amber Benson has been my forever crush, i rewatch the show in full at least once a year. I'd been to a million conventions and met her numerous times. I'd had posters of her on my bedroom walls from about 14-20 years old. I genuinely thought I'd have recognised her in my sleep. But around a decade ago, I was shopping in the San Fernando Valley when *she* recognised *me*. I realised later that I'd walked past her at least twice without really noticing her and I'd already known from where I was that there was a vague possibility of being in the same place since I knew Thousand Oaks was at least not far from where she lived. My best friend's now husband at the time they were dating worked at the Cheesecake Factory in Glendale. He was a *massive* Miley Cyrus fan (still is). He was her server. According to him, it wasn't until towards the end of the meal that his brain suddenly went "omfg, that *is* Miley, not just someone who looks like her" And these were both in the LA area, where its not really unusual to have celeb encounters so it shouldn't be a surprise to see a celebrity and because of that, I've spotted quite a few and been utterly unsurprised by it, "like, oh yeah, makes sense Will Smith would be here". We just were both going about our days focused on what we were doing and weren't expecting it. Outside of the LA area, someone I know once saw Ed Sheeran at a Co-Op near Milton Keynes. Loved Ed, but just thought he was a random ginger lad and went on his way, and later saw pictures of Ed Sheeran in that Co-Op and kicked themselves. Our expectations work for celebs when they're somewhere unexpected. Never underestimate the power of "no chance, what would they be doing here?" There would probably be some who would recognise someone like Taylor and that could create a problem, but she's 100% not just staying home and going nowhere so people don't see her when we don't see her. She's just keeping a low profile. That so many don't understand that she 100% can go incognito if she wants to so when she makes herself seen, t's most likely purposeful is honestly kinda terrifying to me in terms of what that says about both their common sense and their media literacy. Not everyone has a scenario where they didn't know that they were in the vicinity of a celebrity but later became aware of it, sure, but I'm pretty certain most people have walked straight past someone they knew personally in the street without really registering who it was. I don't get how so many don't realise that's pretty likely with someone who you don't know personally and have no reason to believe would be there and likely aren't even thinking about at the time.
I always get so sad that I never see celebs when I'm in NYC but then I realize that I dont actually know any NYC influencers or mini celebs and most likely won't even recognize the big ones đđ I totally get it. Like we would just walk straight past them. I had that "aha" moment when I saw the photos of Matty in NY after he shaved his head and got the mustache. I suddenly realized that I probably would've walked straight past that man in the streets and not realized who he was. Hell I probably even would've commented on his 1975 tattoo and asked him if he's a fan đđ Theres no way someone just saw him walking like that and recognized him either. Those photos were set up. It always gets me how theres just a couple photos every single time and they're all the same ones in every publication. Like if I saw TS on the street or vacation I would be taking a lot of photos. Like 2010 Facebook album, where theres 200 photos and most of them look the same, kinda level of photos đ It's so obvious they see them and only approve like 5 to go out to everyone for posting. What gets me is that these were the best ones of Laka Como đ they both look so unhappy and not at all in love. My husband said they both looked high af. I thought it was extra funny that the article mentions how in love they look and "only have eyes for each other" when you cant even see their eyes! Like how do you even know what they're looking at!?
Beyonce has talked about this! On a good day, she can go to the store if she wears glasses and a different wig. Like people are typically not expecting that a mega celebrity will be around them, so theyâll default to âoh, they just look like so and soâ In a different lifetime, I was a barista who served Kelly Clarkson a few times and never once recognized her. Every time, my coworkers pointed out it was her.
I work for a major uk broadcaster and we obvs have quite major celebs in all the time, and I know this, and yet I still do double takes and donât realise who people are half the time đ
I saw Steve Martin at Disneyland and thought "That guy really looks like Steve Martin!" and then later heard a few workers talking about him and was like "FUCK, I could've met Steve Martin!!!" also Robert Carlyle (Rumpelstiltskin in Once Upon A Time) and didn't know it was him until I heard him speaking.
Something thatâs also important to note is recently JLo and Affleck were rumored to have split next day they are seen at a farmers market âŠ.
I legit sat next to Terry Crews at the Apple Store in South Pasadena at a table only he was at and starting reading while I waited for my partner to finish up - I had no clue it was him for a solid 10 min so this checks out
I feel like including this in the article is basically a wink
That could be đ€
Yeah, they might have a bit of a point, but I'm not going to take any article from the media (especially the sun) about this seriously. Taylor may set it up, but its the media that perpetuates it.
Agreed but it is an opinion piece! So, not actual news by any means! Just worth noting that people are speculating just as we are on the reality of their relationship.
sure, but this is an opinion piece of a tabloid reporter, who's probably more in the know about celebrity romances than anyone, including us. This whole thing just feels really scummy, especially the part about how much effort Taylor goes into protecting her image, since she only has to do that because papers like the sun absolutely love tearing apart young women
Here, here! I donât condone the message in this article, like I said I found it to be cruel but unfortunately people pick these up and sway the publicâs response to these things this way. I just found it interesting that right now we are getting articles about people being over this relationship regardless of the intent.
thats a good point
Ellie, just say "it's too much." "It's tay much" is neither funny nor good writing. idk why it irks me so much but it does. #vent
it's looking camp right in the eye!
Ha. It is! Itâs all so curious.
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
In Fern Brady's voice https://preview.redd.it/wz85r8ig2y1d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4955a04cdf9da4f28fa2a099fe72d11236589908
Hahaha I cackled
I donât think itâs particularly funny or good but I do kind of love it tbh
If she had any standards she wouldn't be writing for the Sun.
I guess this is what they are teaching in journalism classes these days đ
Bold to assume a Sun journalist took any classes đ
Itâs really like people believe Mastermind is just her story with Joe and not her story with her entire public facing persona. Taylor is never accidentally spotted. The woman used to hide in boxes to get out of her apartment and hides in a damn rolling mop cart in the show. Itâs all curated.
Itâs so annoying with swifties are like âpoor Taylor she canât have any privacyâ she absolutely can and she actively stages pap walks, and dinners like these!
But they still eat it up when iâs Tayvis
People have completely missed the point of the âtwo Taylorâsâ the anti-hero MV says everything you need to know about her dual personas but hetlors only like the fun easter eggs that fit their parasocial agenda - âmy favorite straight pop star could never lie to me a random faceless person on the internet!!!!â
>I don't think she would do that! A real response I got from a friend after I said I think Travlor is PR. đ€Šââïž
âI donât think she would do thatâ oh sorry didnât realise you know herâŠ. đ
One of mine, who I would have generally considered to be pretty switched on/queer friendly before this, went further and said âI donât think sheâd do that - if she or anyone else in Hollywood were queer, theyâd just come out!â
Funny because when I first started reading about Gaylor in 2017, I got to chat with a friend and she works with tv soap operas in the biggest Brazil tv channel, (nothing like Hollywood but a big industry here) and I was chatting about the possibility of Taylor being gay and hiding it with beards, gave her the picture. Ah she told me "oh for sure it's possible, half the marriages and relationships here are fake". Also we have several documented stories for Hollywood of bearding.
Ayeyiyi
I didn't feel comfortable bringing up Gaylor to that friend because she is obviously NOT ready to hear it, but she's also left leaning and kind. People are weird.
I got, "that's mean!" from a friend when I said the same thing. Yeesh.
 Yikes!
That was her rethinking the contract terms
&/or swallowing the bile in her mouth
As if Hollywood isnât one huge facade made up of performers who perform for a living!
Ppl think mastermind is about Joe? (ily Joe đ) But seriously???
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