One good rule of thumb in the entertainment industry? Never provoke the ire of the Swifties. Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jack White recently learned this the hard way after admitting he isn’t a huge fan of the diaristic songwriting style pioneered by pop star Taylor Swift. Like clockwork, the online backlash arrived rather… swiftly. Now the former White Stripes frontman, 50, is setting the record straight regarding his opinion of the “Anti-Hero” singer’s work.
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Look What You Made Him Do: Jack White Slams “Click Bait” Following Taylor Swift Comment
In a now-deleted statement on his official Instagram account, Jack White clarified that he never called Taylor Swift’s music “‘boring’ or whatever click bait the net is trying to scrape together.”
“What I was trying to say in an interview I did about poetry and lyric writing, was that I don’t find it interesting at all for ME to write about MYSELF in my own lyric writing and poetry because I think that it could be repetitive for ME to always write about and It could be uninteresting for people who listen to my music to delve into, and that imaginary characters are more attractive to me as a writer,” he continued.
White went on to commend the “tremendous success” of Taylor Swift and other confessional songwriters, emphasizing that his word is not the end-all, be-all.
“Just because I say I have a way of doing things doesn’t mean that I think EVERYONE should do it the same way,” he continued. “They should do what works for them. And they do, and it is obviously appealing to many people, and I’m glad to hear that.”
What Did He Say?
Speaking with The Guardian in an interview published online March 8, Jack White said he tends to steer clear of autobiographical material in his own songwriting.
[RELATED: Remember When Taylor Swift Won Her First Grammy Award in 2010?]
“Now it’s become very popular in the Taylor Swift way of pop singers writing about all of their publicly aired break-ups, which I don’t find interesting at all. I think it’s a little bit boring for me to write about myself,” he said. “Even if I’ve had a really interesting day, I feel like I’ve already lived that, I don’t need to go through it every time I sing this song. If it’s something really painful, I’m not going to put this important, painful thing that I went through out there for some idiot on the internet to stomp all over.”
Clearly, White was referring to his own personal preferences. Nonetheless, the Swifties instantly descended to defend their queen’s honor.
Featured image by XNY/Star Max/GC Images
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