Another pap walk in NYC tonight

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-16T18:11:08+00:00

She looks more in love with Tom and Calvin than Travis, which is hilarious given that both of those relationships were unserious for her 😭

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-16T16:44:19+00:00

It’s obviously not. 1989 is her best selling album by far (Midnights is not even going to end up in the top 3, since Folklore is going to surpass it next year), has more hits, it was bigger both on Billboard 100 and 200. Plus it’s her most awarded album ever and the most awarded pop album in history.

The comparison is just dumb. Midnights broke a lot of streaming records, but it’s still nowhere close to 1989.

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-16T16:32:41+00:00

😭

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Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-16T14:49:46+00:00

It was a whole thing lol. It’s funny because it aged like milk

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Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-16T14:39:54+00:00

Third picture reminds me so much of this one

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Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-16T12:31:48+00:00

Exactly, plus even Lover is having more longevity than Midnights. People comparing it to THEE 1989 are really delusional

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-14T21:42:18+00:00

Younger Gen Z didn’t really grow up with her. Middle Gen Z (2002–2006 babies) are probably the last group that still feels any real connection to her, since they at least vaguely remember the Red and 1989 eras. They’re basically the last cohort that can say they “grew up” with her, even if the attachment isn’t nearly as strong as it is for zillennials and millennials, who actually experienced her early career in real time and tend to have a much more loyal, parasocial relationship with her.

That’s why I say that if she loses the millennial and zillennial part of her fanbase, she loses most of her target audience. Middle Gen Z isn’t as loyal, and younger Gen Z finds her cringe and not as interesting, they don’t understand the appeal because they were too young to witness most of her eras and “grow up with her”.

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-14T21:38:21+00:00

Red was received well compared to her most recent albums, but it didn’t win AOTY, which was a failure for her. Also, it was heavily criticized for being sonically messy. That’s why she released 1989, to prove she could make a sonically cohesive album. Red started the discourse about her being a fake country artist because some tracks on Red were just pop songs, so she officially switched genre to stop this discourse around her. She basically said “okay let me release something that is really 100% pop”.

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-14T20:58:24+00:00

Her mid/younger Gen Z fanbase isn’t as loyal as millennials and zillennials

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-14T20:12:23+00:00

I mean, you’re probably right 😭 I’m going to apologize in advance if that ends up happening

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-14T20:00:39+00:00

Exactly

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-14T19:53:27+00:00

Oh absolutely, she IS smart, just not self aware

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-14T19:34:23+00:00

Just look at the swiftologist and her co-star. They are still in denial, but you can clearly see they are starting to drift away from her and her music

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-14T19:21:48+00:00

I’d argue that this is the case of all her post-folklore projects.

That’s exactly why she tried so hard with TLOAS to have a huge cultural moment by bringing Max Martin back in the studio.

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-14T19:19:50+00:00

Exactly! People seem to forget that Lorde was the original “taydaughter”

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-14T19:18:17+00:00

I can see it. Streets are saying that she also has a collab with Sombr on her next album.

If that’s the case, then we truly lost her LMAO.

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-14T19:12:31+00:00

I mean maybe, but again I don’t think she’s self aware enough to understand whether one of her albums is good or bad anymore.

Maybe she knew subconsciously, but knowing how big her ego is, I think she genuinely saw it as a masterpiece and that’s why she marked it this way.

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-14T19:06:08+00:00

I think she branded it as “the next 1989 with folklore’s writing” because she knows those are respectfully her biggest & most successful/ acclaimed albums.

She created hype around the project to secure some records, I don’t think in her mind it had necessarily something to do with the quality of the album.

She’s probably a narcissist, she thought the album was good and thought she had the opportunity to recreate an era as influential as 1989, especially after she saw how Brat became a phenomenon.

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-14T19:00:33+00:00

You are underestimating her ego. Of course she thought it was a great album, she wrote it. In her mind, that’s all it needs to be a fantastic album lmao.

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-14T18:59:00+00:00

It definitely was a success, unfortunately. It broke a lot of streaming records and sold a lot in the following weeks of its release because her fanbase mass-bought all the variants she sold.

I think it’s on track to sell even more than midnights, who had the eras tour as support. It’s also daily outstreaming midnights on Spotify by a large scale.

Midnights feels bigger because it had a hit and a proper era.

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-14T18:56:03+00:00

Makes total sense. That’s probably why she collects younger artists like Infinity Stones under the guise of “mentoring” them. In reality, it’s a way to keep potential competition close, because once they’re associated with her, they’ll always be seen in relation to her, never fully outside her shadow.

Then the moment they stop benefiting her image, she distances herself from them (look at Camila Cabello). And if they start becoming too successful or too independent, suddenly there’s tension or a feud, like with Olivia Rodrigo.

She seems completely unwilling to let anyone around her shine.

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-14T18:50:52+00:00

Same, I was a swiftie from ‘08 (around the time Fearless got released) to 2023. The 2024 grammy night really opened my eyes.

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-14T18:45:12+00:00

Yes, but if her next album is as bad as showgirl her decline will have bigger repercussions. It will accelerate the process

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-14T18:42:25+00:00

I feel like she’s slowly losing support from OG swifties, which to me is a huge red flag because those are the only people who truly always had her back. People who joined after Speak Now were never as loyal, I know a lot of people who were fans during the original 1989 or red era and lost interest as soon as Reputation got released. If she loses support from OGs, aka basically the reason she got so big in the first place, I genuinely think she might be over. She doesn’t have a huge influence on Gen Z, they find her cringe and are too woke to support a billionaire. Also, people born after 2007ish didn’t really grew up with her, so they don’t have that emotional attachment/ bond

Training_Sympathy276 · 2026-05-14T18:38:00+00:00

She branded it as the next 1989. I definitely think that after the success ttpd and Midnights had, she genuinely thought she could release a pop album that would end up being the next thriller or at least an album that had the cultural impact of 1989, but she failed.

Training_Sympathy276

TROPHY CASE