Taylor Swift Responds to Criticism of New Album: “I Welcome The Chaos”

Taylor Swift wants to let everyone know she’s unbothered by the haters.

Yesterday, the world’s biggest pop star went on Apple Music’s The Zane Lowe Show to address the mixed reviews that her 12th studio album The Life of a Showgirl has received.

“I welcome the chaos. The rule of show business 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,” she said during the interview. “And art, I have a lot of respect for people’s subjective opinions on art. I’m not the art police. It’s like everybody is allowed to feel exactly how they want. And what our goal is as entertainers is to be a mirror.”

For an artist as ever-present as Swift, the middling response to The Life of a Showgirl has been surprising. While the album has plenty of great reviews, including a perfect 10/10 from Rolling Stone, other critics have been less than kind. Pitchfork, for example, rated the album a 5.9/10—the lowest rating the publication has ever given her. At time of writing, the album sits at a 69/100 on Metacritic.

Again, though, Swift doesn’t seem to be worried. She mentioned that several of her fans have mentioned not liking an album at release only to come back and love it years later.

“What I often love seeing my fans say is, ‘I used to be someone who didn’t relate to Reputation. And now that I’ve been through some other things in my life, that’s my favorite album.’ Or, ‘I used to be a Fearless girlie, now I’m obsessed with Evermore.’ We’re doing this thing for keeps,” Swift said. “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 on the theme of what the Showgirl is, all of this is part of it.”

She also said that her albums are a “really wild way” to self-reflect on life, saying, “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.”

Watch the interview with Zane Lowe below.