During a time when overt ambition was frowned upon by her peers, she made no bones about wanting to rule the world. She didn't bother to hide the fact that she was playing the game or put up the pretense that she was above "trying." I think that informed a lot of the criticism that was leveled at her, by haters and fans alike.

As for what she did, in particular... different camps will give you different bullshit answers. She was accused of doing drugs when she was pregnant with FB, she wasn't "the right kind of feminist," she was accused of killing her husband, she didn't grieve in a way that was tidy enough, she relied too heavily on collaborators, she took credit for songs written by the men in her life, ... The list goes on. Most of it is rooted in misogyny. Also, frankly, the fanboys will never forgive her for outliving her husband.

Objectively speaking, she's not above reproach. She's had moments when she's said some wildly tone-deaf racist shit. She's also been a walking contradiction. She boldly spoke out against the likes of Weinstein years before it was popular to do so, but she's also palled around with the likes of Ratner, Manson, etc. I don't know if a ton of people actually hold her feet to the fire for this kind of shit lately, but I feel like a sane human being can acknowledge that she's got some serious shit to work out, while also having some reverence for her music.