Paste Magazine on Friday published a scathing review of Taylor Swift’s newest album, The Tortured Poets Department—but didn’t include a byline for the review’s author. That’s because the last time it published an album review for Swift, in 2019, its journalist received a deluge of hate mail that included “threats of violence from readers who disagreed with the work,” the magazine wrote in a statement. That onslaught, something a segment of “Swifties” have become infamous for in recent years, was apparently enough to make Paste not want to risk it happening a second time. “We care more about the safety of our staff than a name attached to an article,” the magazine said. As for Paste’s opinion on the album itself, the it characterized it as being a “relentlessly cringe” flop that showed just how out of touch Swift is with her fans and the real world. Not long after the review published, a writer—who declared she had “nothing to do” with the piece—posted screenshots of messages she was receiving from Swifties who were adamant that she wrote the review, including one who’d baselessly called her a “loser.”
Editor’s Note: There is no byline on this review due to how, in 2019 when Paste reviewed ‘Lover,’ the writer was sent threats of violence from readers who disagreed with the work. We care more about the safety of our staff than a name attached to an article.
