"The haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate..."
An immortal lyric from Grammy winning superstar Taylor Swift's hit song "Shake It Off."
Indeed, throughout her award winning career, the chart topping music star has amassed enough fans (or "Swifties," as they have come to be known) to break down Ticketmaster, but has also met her fair share of adversaries.
The latter group have come out in abundance with the release of her latest album, The Life of A Showgirl.
In addition to music critics decrying the album as "charmless," "mediocre," and even "a masterpiece of cringe," people wasted no time in blowing up social media with their negative reviews of Swift's twelfth studio album.
So, has Swift "shaken off" all the hate The Life Of A Showgirl has received?
No she has not.
In fact, as she said during a recent interview with Zane Lowe for Apple News, Swift is almost relishing all the negative attention her latest album has received.
@zanelowe ‘I welcome the chaos’. Caught up with Taylor to chat all things #TheLifeofaShowgirl. Out now. #taylorswift #tloas #newmusic #zaneloweinterview
Lowe asked Swift, point blank, how she handled all the widespread attention her new album received only days after its release, leading Swift to confidently declare that she "welcome[d] the chaos."
Swift proudly revealed that she possessed the "all press is good press" mentality:
"The rule of showbusiness is: If it's the first week of my album release and you are saying either my name or my album title, you're helping."
Additionally, the pop icon also emphasized that art is subjective, and no one should be called out or criticized for their opinions:
"I have a lot of respect for people's subjective opinions on art."
"I'm not the art police."
"Everybody is allowed to feel exactly how they want."
"What our goal is as entertainers is to be a mirror."
"Often times an album is a really, really wild way to look at yourself."
"Right?"
"What you're going through in your life is going to affect whether you relate to the music that I'm putting out at any given moment."
Swift also pointed out that she's no stranger to her albums getting a polarizing reception from fans and critics alike, but over the course of time, people's opinions of her albums have changed:
"What I often love seeing my fans say is, 'I used to be someone who didn't, like, relate to 'Reputation' and now that I've been through some other things in my life, that's my favorite album.'"
"Literally me, by the way."
"Or, 'I used to be a, like, 'Fearless' girlie; now I'm obsessed with 'Evermore.'"
"We're doing this thing for keeps."
"Like, I have such an eye on legacy when I'm making my music."
"I know what I made."
"I know I adore it."
"And I know that, like, on the theme of what the showgirl is, all of this is part of it."
As the interview began to make the rounds on social media, Swifties and non-Swifties alike were impressed by Swift's classy, and dignified stance on all the attention, good and bad, that The Life Of A Showgirl has received.
As one might expect, however, not everyone was sold on Swift's defense, with many seeing an opportunity to take another jab.
Taylor Swift is one of those celebrities that will illicit an equal amount of glee and groans at the very mention of her name.
However, as Oscar Wilde once so deftly put it, "the only thing worse than being talked about, is not being talked about..."
