Taylor Swift Responds to Lorde’s Criticism About Her Image ‘Or Whatever’

Taylor Swift is known for her squad of celebrity friends. She even befriended people because of criticism that became a conversation. Here’s what we know about her friendship with “Solar Power” artist Lorde.

Are Taylor Swift and Lorde friends?

As two of the biggest names in music, Swift and Lorde were close friends for several years, with the “Fearless” singer even throwing Lorde a surprise birthday party. In 2014, Swift revealed Lorde was one of the very first people that heard 1989.

“I think one of the first people that I played the entire album for was my friend Ella, who goes by Lorde,” Swift said during an interview with PopCrush. “She’s one of my favorite people to kind of bounce ideas off of — she gives really good advice. And it’s interesting to see what her favorites are.”

The two have since taken a step back from their friendship. In 2017, Lorde even compared her friendship with Swift to a disease. 

“It’s like having a friend with very specific allergies,” Lorde said during a 2017 interview with the Guardian. “There are certain places you can’t go together. Certain things you can’t do. There are these different sets of considerations within the friendship. It’s like having a friend with an autoimmune disease.”

Taylor Swift shared how her friendship with Lorde began

During an interview with Rolling Stone, the artist explained some of her “best friendships” came from celebrities publicly criticizing her — and then opening up a conversation. That includes one of the former Lemonade Mouth cast members.

“Hayley Kiyoko was doing an interview and she made an example about how I get away with singing about straight relationships and people don’t give me s*** the way they give her s*** for singing about girls — and it’s totally valid,” Swift noted. 

The artist also mentioned comments from the “Solar Power” singer. Before their friendship began, Lorde told Metro, “Taylor Swift is so flawless and so unattainable, and I don’t think it’s breeding anything good in young girls.”

“Like, Ella — Lorde — the first thing she ever said about me publicly was a criticism of my image or whatever,” she continued. “But I can’t really respond to someone saying, ‘You, as a human being, are fake.’ And if they say you’re playing the victim, that completely undermines your ability to ever verbalize how you feel unless it’s positive.”

Taylor Swift addressed her public image with ‘Reputation’

The artist said that her responses are either: to smile and pretend it doesn’t bother her, which is “fake,” or be honest about her feelings, which some could interpret as her playing the victim. Enter the reputation era, which discussed Swift’s public image.

“Reputation precedes me, in rumors I’m knee deep,” Swift laments in “Endgame.” “The truth is it’s easier to ignore it, believe me / Even when we’d argue, we don’t do it for long / And you understand the good and bad, end up in the song.”