This is How Taylor Swift Responded to the Slut Shaming She Faced in Her Early 20s: "Don't Let Anyone Stop You"

Taylor Swift just revealed the four available back covers for the physical copies of 1989 (Taylor's Version), as well as the album's track listing, as the release date of 1989 (Taylor's Version) is set for October 27 and approaches closer. The artwork first makes public the titles of the five vault recordings in addition to her own renditions of the 16 songs that comprised the original version of the album nine years ago. The songs listed are Slut!, Say Don’t Go, Now That We Don’t Talk, Suburban Legends, and Is It Over Now? But the first title is the one that has really drawn the interest of the audience, as per BuzzFeed.

When it comes to sexism and unfair treatment of women in the music industry, Swift has a lot to say. In the song The Man from her 2019 album, Lover, she addressed it issue, too. The singer thought back on the unwarranted scrutiny she endured in her early 20s from others who mocked her love life and thought her music was more of 'a trick, rather than a skill and a craft.' 

"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 slut-shame, you know?" Swift said, reported ABC News. "That happened to me at a very young age, so that was a bit hard. That was one of the first times I was like, 'Wow, this is not fair.'" She added, "Anybody who puts anything out into the world, if it has a bit of success, now that comes with scrutiny. 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?' And I'm like, 'Do not let anything stop you from making art,'" she added. "Just make things."

By seeking 'love, money, and success,' Swift further explained, she was made to feel as though she was 'doing something wrong.' But now that she has experience, she can offer guidance to other emerging female musicians who could be facing similar challenges. The Blank Space singer was in the limelight for her love life by the time 1989 was released in 2014, with her frequently being shamed by the media for her romances with prominent men. At the time, Swift spoke out against the usage of her name frequently as the punchline of several pop culture jokes.

Fans believe that Slut!  will be an even more blatant and honest reaction to the widespread slut-shaming that Swift experienced in her early 20s. During her 2016 appearance on Vogue's 73 Questions series, Taylor notably discussed being slut-shamed and claimed she'd like to warn her younger self about what was to come. She said, “Hey, you're going to date just like a normal 20-something should be allowed to, but you're going to be a national lightning rod for slut-shaming," in response to being asked what she would tell the 19-year-old version of herself.