of all things to come out of fandom, dw fans trying to claim the hatred of Jodie that is purely misogynistic (as it’s only there because she’s a woman, it has nothing to do with her as a person, it’s literally the definition of misogyny) in No way influenced opinions on the era is the most dangerously naïve and absurd. 

Even when nmd’s (read: MISOGYNSTS. It’s a synonym here.) deliberately conducted review bombing campaigns to make her episodes tank on polls with the express aim of making it seem like everybody hated the episodes, and so new people who might think about watching it will think twice and not do it bc look how shit the ratings are! And therefore drive the general viewer ratings of her episodes down, making it seem like hiring women is not a viable business choice in the future.

Just because you don’t recognise the existence of a long game, doesn’t mean they didn’t. 

Even when the next dude they hire is a damn White Man you think this is in no way routed in the misogynists deliberately hijacking fan spaces with the express and open intent of getting their precious white men back? 

Yeah. Sure. 

a messy review of TTPD

okay i need to preface this that i have the credentials to be able to speak my mind on her. i've been a fan since 2006. i've been a fan since i was 11 so don't get your panties in a bunch.

i think this album is messy. the production is the only thing i can really praise about it. the lead up to it and now the full release has just been so unbelievably messy. i'm going to make a continue reading for the people who still have yet to listen where i won't spoil it for you. PS. i do get mean in this. so if you're not wanting to hear critiques and criticism and taking that in, please scroll.

EDIT: this was pre-anthology release. so this is just based on the original 16 song release.

SPOILERS AHEAD

i am fully aware she is allowed to go through the grieving process of her breakup with joe. i respect that whole heartedly. i completely understand having someone in your life for such a big chunk and for them to be gone and feeling lost and alone and angry. what i don't like at all is essentially telling us in this album that she couldn't handle joe having severe depression. obviously i don't know everything that went down but it seems as though he didn't want to get married until he felt mentally better. and as someone who is also in the same boat as him, i also wouldn't want to fully commit to marriage until i felt like i could give them 100%. and if that's his biggest crime, being too depressed, then that's a her problem. being depressed is not all "haha relatable".

now onto... that man... i did not expect 90% of this album to be about him. i've only hated two people in my life. one being a family member of mine. the other, him (i will not be saying his name because he does not deserve it). the way she spent so much of this album talking about how she will defend him with her life. girl i am begging you to get up off the ground. it felt like a backstab from her in "but daddy, i love him" where she's basically saying fuck everyone for ruining a relationship i wanted. the reason no one wanted her with him is because he's a racist, misogynistic, homophobic asshole. i am aware he supports queer rights but it seems like he only cares about queer rights and the safety of queer people when it involves white queer people (ie. what happened in dubai and malaysia). i'm almost confident she cheated on joe with him while her and joe were still together. i'm sorry to taylor that i care about BIPOC and queer people's rights than making a racist white man happy.

joe truly got the short end of the stick here. he has been treated so horribly this past year by swifties who made up rumors about him just to make taylor seem like the good guy and the only thing this album told me was she was the villain in all of this. i hope joe has a good support system around him and i hope he's able to get any mental health help he needs. i do also think that taylor desperately needs a therapist as well. she is very adament about not having one and just using her mom and her friends but she needs an outside source to really listen and give her advice that isn't "yes man"-ing her all day long.

anyways, like i said at the beginning of this post, i enjoyed the production. my favorite songs were fortnight and who's afraid of little old me. it's gonna take time for me to enjoy this album outside of its messiness. i did enjoy midnights btw. so it's definitely not the sound i don't like it's just everything surrounding it.

70/100

im so ashamed of being an army (like i am most of the time tbh) and so disappointed in bts,,,, from calling out bullying and discrimination in a unicef campaign to completely glossing over - and thus endorsing - violent fan behavior... even if this little thing they did wasn't scripted (it totally was, it was necessary to put an end to the corden fiasco and redeem him in the eyes of the fandom) calling out james was correct, BUT AGREEING WITH LARGE RABID AND VIOLENT FRINGES OF YOUR FANDOM???? MAKING THEM FEEL IMPORTANT AND RIGHTEOUS???????? WHO ARE WE KIDDING.

They could have simply said they don't condone death threats and moved on, they have called out their fans for stalking them before, what's the issue now?????

okay. i'm gonna ramble a little but i need to get this off my chest. i say this as someone who works in PR so i'm talking from hands on experience btw.

one of the cornerstones of hybe's positioning for bts has always been victimization. like i don't think if you guys notice this but it's not NORMAL to have an entire fandom whose introduction to the group is "they are hated by everyone they came from the wittle small company and everyone bullied them these are all the receipts of that one time in 2015 a variety host was rude to them"

the moment you come into the bts fandom the FIRST thing armys tell you is "bts only has army" "all the other groups and the entire industry is plotting against them" "they were the underdogs so everything they do now has a reason" and hybe ACTIVELY feeds these narratives and rewards fans for this blind devotion. do you think it's a coincidence that every single time bts has a milestone celebration namjoon makes sure to mention "the bad years"? reminding everyone of when they were mistreated? bringing up the times when you were kicked while you're on top of the world is really fucking lame.

the thing hybe has failed to take into account is that yes, everybody loves an underdog story and rooting for the outcast. but when you stopped being an underdog 5 years ago a big chunk of your relatability and attraction is lost. hybe built bts' ethos as the "scrappy runt of the litter company" with the "relatable, goofy, humble group who aren't good at being the perfect idols" but that is literally a bygone era. bts have been the biggest act on the planet for 3 years now and hybe is literally the biggest entertainment company in asia.

so what do you do when you can no longer use the underdog story? you reinforce with your built in fandom that bts only has army. you spin the story to make bts look as helpless and hated as possible, with the rest of the industry plotting against them because they're scared of their power. because they're scared of army. you reward armys for being their personal defense squad and feed their delusions while guilt tripping them into supporting every decision the company makes because "they care for bts" and "the members have complete control over their management". by painting the situation as Us vs. Them you isolate the fandom and ensure complete loyalty not only to bts, but to the company.

bts is never EVER going to call out their fandom being racist, misogynistic and bullies in defense of the group and the company. hybe allowed armys to go unchecked for too long, so now they could risk losing money and tarnishing their image if bts were to call out the very thing they created. bts themselves are WELL AWARE of all the vile shit their fans do, such as doxxing black people, sending death threats to reporters, making deep fakes of female idols, harassing celebrities and journalists and anyone who so much as looks at them the wrong way. and they just accepted it with the james corden interview. they don't care about calling it out because the more the fandom perceives bts as the victims, the fiercest their loyalty is and the more cash that goes into hybe.