Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for Billboard’s Woman of the Decade award was a reckoning. After handing off her award to The Good Place’s Jameela Jamil, Swift used her platform to call out the music industry for its treatment of women in general, and her/Lana Del Rey in particular. “What does it mean to be a woman of this decade?” she asked. “Well, it means I’ve seen a lot.” Swift went on to say that she’s seen women’s success questioned “whether a male was really responsible in the studio… or whether it was a savvy record label.” She’s also seen Lana Del Rey “ruthlessly criticized early in her career,” only to become “in my opinion, the most influential artist in pop.”
Swift of course also used her stage time to highlight her ongoing struggle with Scooter Braun, the Carlyle Group et al. over her back catalogue. Swift specifically brought the fight to private equity buying intellectual property “like it’s a shoe line.” Swift also called out supporters of Braun, saying, “The definition of the toxic male privilege in our industry is people saying, ‘but he’s always been nice to me?’ when I’m raising valid concerns about artists to own their music. Of course he’s nice to you. If you’re in this room you have something he needs.”
