#here meaning the swiftie fandom not tumblr

[jakeperalta]

looking back in my archive (a hobby of mine) and I'd totally forgotten how many angry messages I got back in spring/summer 2020 for daring to be critical of taylor like I was fully prepared to leave the fandom in that time and in hindsight if I hadn't been lured back in by the excitement of folklore I probably would've been out of here years ago

[girlkisser13]

ADDRESSING THE ACCUSATIONS

if you haven’t read the post by @valsverse, you can read it here.

i want to clear the air regarding the accusations being made against me. i understand that this situation has caused a lot of concern, but i need to be very clear: besides the situation that happened months ago (that had already been resolved) i did not engage in any plagiarism. i have also never harassed anyone. the claims being made are false, and it’s disheartening to see someone spreading misinformation about me in the community. i value the tumblr space and have always worked to contribute positively.

The Original Incident + The Resolution of that Incident

as many of you may know, approximately four to five months ago, i was caught plagiarizing the work of a well-known writer in the pjo fandom. when searching for "pjo dating headcanons," @valsverse's posts consistently appear among the top results. after reading her content, i made the regrettable decision to extract her writing from multiple posts and consolidate it into a single post for each character. this choice was both unethical and misguided, and i take full responsibility for my actions.

on june 3, 2024, after being contacted about the plagiarism accusation, i did block the user— not out of malice, but because i was overwhelmed and didn’t know how to handle the situation. this was a mistake, and i apologize for how it may have come across. however, once we reconnected, we did resolve things privately, and I took responsibility for my actions. i never should’ve copied anyone’s work.

regarding the request to take down the post, it wasn’t an attempt to avoid accountability, but rather an effort to move on from the situation. the backlash was intense, and it was emotionally challenging to cope with. it was to the point that i was receiving death threats and messages in my inbox telling me that "my parents should have hit me harder as a child". i appreciate that the post remained up as a matter of principle for the other user, but i also felt that once we had come to an agreement, i was still facing more negativity than i knew how to handle.

since then, i’ve made a conscious effort to learn from this and be more respectful of others’ work. i’m committed to improving and being part of this community in a positive way.

MultifandomBisexual13

with the permission of this account, i have added screenshots of the conversations between their account and @valsverse.

@valsverse has claimed that @multifandombisexual13 and i are the same person. this argument hinges on circumstantial evidence, but it doesn’t actually prove that we are the same person. similar usernames, reposting content, or replying within a short time frame can easily be coincidences, especially within fandom spaces where people often support similar creators and engage with their content closely.

while it’s true that both of our accounts include the number "13," this does not imply we are the same person. as many of you may know, i’m a swiftie, and the number "13" holds significant meaning within that fandom. furthermore, suggesting that i am behind the other account simply because it includes "multifandom" in its username, and i happen to write for multiple fandoms, is unfounded. by that logic, would every account featuring "multifandom" also be attributed to me? such an assumption is both unreasonable and baseless.

she also claims that we share the same "writing style." if using all lowercase is what defines having the same "writing style," then sure, we share that. but by that logic, i also share the same style with the majority of the pjo fandom. does that mean i’m secretly running every single pjo account? of course not— that’s an absurd assumption.

furthermore, i do not know why @multifandombisexual13 only reblogs my posts and why my account is the only one featured in the "check out these accounts" section. however, i want to stress that @valsverse doesn’t have any credible evidence to support the claim that we are the same person. it’s important to avoid jumping to conclusions without solid proof, and I hope this helps clear up any misunderstandings. i understand that @valsverse feels harassed, and it’s fair to address that. however, accusing someone of operating multiple accounts without solid evidence is wrong.

The Anonymous Messages + My Brother's Involvement

so, when i received the screenshot sent to my account, i genuinely didn’t know what to expect. honestly, the reaction i got was a bit overwhelming. yes, i told @valsverse that my brother sent that message. for anyone with younger siblings, you know how it is—sometimes they grab your phone without you realizing it, and things can get messy. it’s not unusual for a sibling to get involved, especially if they’re curious about what you’re up to online.

but instead of understanding that, i was met with accusations and skepticism. suddenly, it felt like i was being scrutinized for having family access to my account, and they implied that it was ridiculous for my brother to have any involvement at all.

the absurdity of the situation was hard to digest. i was just trying to explain what happened, but instead, it felt like i was being painted as a liar. it’s disheartening to see my honest intentions twisted into something malicious. i was being transparent, but all i got in return were assumptions about my character.

and when i tried to apologize after being caught off guard, it only seemed to add fuel to the fire. i felt like my attempts to clear the air were dismissed, and i wish you could all see it from my perspective. i’m just a person navigating a complicated situation with a younger sibling who sometimes doesn’t understand the implications of their actions.

in the first screenshot, @valsverse asserted that i should "either deactivate my account or admit the truth." while i cannot definitively ascertain whether this statement was intended as a threat, it nonetheless raised concerns for me. i want to emphasize that throughout this situation, my intention has always been to convey the truth. i believe in the importance of honesty and integrity, and i hope this clarification sheds light on my perspective. my goal is not to evade responsibility, but rather to communicate openly about my actions and the circumstances surrounding them.

as i write this, i am acutely aware of how absurd it may sound. the assertion that "my brother sent that message" might seem implausible at first glance, yet i invite you to consider that it could, in fact, be true. my brother, who is twelve years old and actively engaged in the pjo fandom, has a keen awareness of the ongoing "drama" between myself and @valsverse. from his perspective, the message he sent to her was intended as a harmless "joke".

furthermore, it's important to note that my brother has adhd, which contributes to his tendency toward impulsive behavior. this characteristic can lead him to act without fully considering the consequences of his actions. given his familiarity with the dynamics of the fandom and his impulsivity, it is entirely plausible that he may have sent the message in question without fully understanding the context or the potential ramifications.

in light of these factors, i hope you can appreciate the complexity of the situation and recognize that the possibility of my brother’s involvement deserves thoughtful consideration rather than outright dismissal.

Summary

to sum it all up, after the resolution of the initial plagiarism incident, i can confidently state that i have not engaged in the plagiarism of anyone's work. the only instances of plagiarism i have committed were specifically related to the pjo fandom. since that time, i have made a conscious effort to create original content that reflects my own ideas and creativity. for all other fandoms in which I participate, I take great pride in the fact that the work i produce is entirely my own. i believe in the importance of intellectual honesty and integrity in writing, and i am committed to upholding these values in all my future endeavors.

i would like to clarify that i harbor no animosity toward @valsverse. in fact, i hold her in high regard as both a writer and a creator, which is, regrettably, a factor in why i plagiarized her work in the first place. i would never condone or encourage anyone to harass her, and i take full responsibility for the circumstances surrounding this situation. furthermore, @multifandombisexual13 has engaged in harassment toward a mutual of mine and has unfoundedly accused her of plagiarizing my work. due to these actions, i blocked her. when @valsverse requested that i reach out to her, i had to unblock her in order to do so.

@valsverse, if you’re reading this (and you likely are), i understand your desire to make this situation public. if i were in your position, i likely would have done the same thing. however, i want to clarify that the apologies i offered— those that you referred to as "pulled out of my ass"— were genuinely aimed at salvaging our relationship. at one point, we were mutuals, and i valued that connection. when you unfollowed me, i reciprocated by unfollowing you as well. i'm not sure why you unfollowed me, but i want to sincerely apologize for the impact my actions have had on your mental well-being. it pains me to know that i contributed to any distress or discomfort you have experienced. please understand that it was never my intention to cause you harm, and I am truly sorry for the damage I have inflicted.

i hope that the evidence i have provided in this post enables you all to draw your own conclusions about me. it is important to consider the context and nuances surrounding the situation, as well as my actions and intentions. i encourage you to reflect on the information presented and assess it critically. ultimately, i understand that perceptions can vary, and i respect your ability to form your own judgments based on the details i have shared. your understanding of my circumstances is valuable to me, and i appreciate your willingness to consider my perspective.

if anyone has questions or seeks clarification regarding any aspect of what i’ve wrote, please do not hesitate to reach out. i am more than willing to engage in a conversations and provide any additional information you may require. your understanding is of great importance to me, and i welcome the opportunity to address any concerns you might wish to raise.

[avonne-writes]

Hello! I’m kind of new to the fandom (I mean I watched mota few weeks ago) and now I’m going insane with searching the tags on tumblr and consuming all the content haha. I was wondering do you have any recommendations for fics that are focused on Gale leaving Bucky behind when he went over the wall? I need to read fics about that because i’m just hyperfixated on that episode and the way Bucky helped Gale escape 😭 also love your blog

Hi dear, welcome to the fandom! ❤️🎉 It’s always nice to see new people joining.

I'm glad you're enjoying all the lovely content out there, and thank you for reading my blog! I think this fandom is exceptionally creative and the quality of the fics and art posted here and on AO3 are amazing. Please let the creators know if you like their work 💕

Regarding your recommendation request, I have to ask my followers for help here, because I’m blanking on this. Could you guys please comment / reblog if you know fics dealing with Gale's escape specifically?

I know @swifty-fox 's Kingdom for a Kiss includes discussion of this event, but it's a 100k fic and not specifically focused on this.

[bettyshoweduptotheparty]

My Exit Note (for now) - and A Letter to Taylor

I’m so very sorry to the lovely people on here who will be saddened to read this, but this will be my last post for a while. I re-joined tumblr in June last year to re-reconnect to this lovely community, and it genuinely seemed so much safer to do than back in 2017. I thought the fandom had gained some perspective as a whole. But after only 7 months, the fandom (and by that I mean swifties) has once again become a battle ground for us, fuelled by none other than Taylor herself, and I’m no longer willing to gloss over that. I’m choosing my own peace.

It may seem like a very fickle move after only 7 months in this space, when the good people on here are genuinely some of the kindest and most intelligent people I’ve ever met online, but let me explain why I need to take a break. I don’t intend to leave Taylor Swift and her art behind and never look back. In fact, I have Eras tour tickets for the summer and I want to give myself a chance to actually be excited about that by the time June comes around. But it’s all too familiar, pretty much exactly the same reason I left tumblr the first time in 2017. I’m here to discuss and analyse Taylor’s art with likeminded (queer) people and I can’t respect the artist of that very art when she continually gives her toxic ‘fans’ ammunition to come into our safe space and harass us and then watches as we scramble to keep ourselves safe amidst abuse and threats. They are doing this in HER name. Members of a marginalised community she claims to be an ‘ally’ to are being doxxed and harassed in HER name and she’s doing nothing. If anything she’s fanning the flames while it burns. Whatever it is that she’s doing with her brand right now, her silence when her own crazy fans are sending DEATH THREATS to people for simply interpreting her art, means that I cannot be part of that right now. I thought the fandom had changed, that Taylor had grown more confident defending what she stands for, but clearly, I was wrong.

The tipping point back in 2017 for me, was when she told those kids from the rep secret sessions that the album was all about her darling bf and gave them permission to go after anyone who said otherwise. And boy, did they take that seriously. They came after us in our little corner for gushing over how beautifully gay those songs were, fuelled by words straight from the horse’s mouth. SHE sent those people after us. Because she wrote the gayest album in history and she couldn’t deal with the noise getting too loud. And I lost all respect for her. It was only in 2019 when she was suddenly draped in rainbows that I carefully looked at gaylor spaces online again, because it seemed like she was finally actually committing to it. But we all know how that ended… So, to see one of those very rep secret session kids on my YouTube feed yesterday picking apart this beautiful NY Times article with lies and inaccuracies in the name of Taylor’s straightness, just reminded me whose side she decides to put herself on. She invited those people to her house. She caters to them, not us. She made them think they were her friends and then sent them after us. With HER OWN WORDS. And I can’t be in the trenches for someone who hands my bullies a gun and points at the target.

I will leave my blog active this time, so my content will be here for people to engage with if they want. But I won’t be on here to receive your messages or dm’s. I’m sorry that I’m leaving you guys at a time where we need to stick together, but I’m getting more anger and hurt out of this than joy atm and that’s always the time for me to put myself first and step away. I hope that we will come together again when the tide changes, I’m still somewhat convinced that the clock is ticking towards a better time for us, but I need Taylor to come through for us (and herself) before I can look at her again. And I promise if that happens, I won’t hold a grudge.

And lastly, here’s something I’ve never done because I’m not crazy enough to think that Taylor sees us on here, but I don’t have any other social media and I had to get this off my chest. (If you have twitter/instagram, maybe do something similar, you never know, she might actually see it and I think she needs to know how much hurt she’s causing with this)

Dear Taylor, @taylorswift

What are you doing, love? I wish I could actually ask you that. In fact, I’ve wished it many times throughout the decade that I’ve been a fan of your music. I’ve wished that I could tell you what your music meant to me when I was heartbroken, and how much joy it brought me when I was young and felt invincible. You changed my life when you proudly held a girl’s hand in public with a smile that showed me that love is there for people like me to find, after all. And when the world was hard on you, I wished I could ask you if you were ok. But today, I just want to ask you this: what have I done to deserve you sending the worst kind of people after me? Time and time again. And you can’t tell me you didn’t know that would happen, I know you’re smart. I know you know the kind of people I’m talking about, the ones that worship you like a God, that will stop at nothing to defend the version of you they have in their heads. The ones you built your empire on. Good on you, but when did you stop caring for the people that actually see you and read the words you put out into the world for us? Was that not what you wanted? I can’t claim to understand how you live the life you’ve chosen, but at least your art was always there to bring joy to my life and community when I needed it. I didn’t need you to be a hero, but now you’ve become part of the problem.

So, here’s the thing: choose a side. Commit to us, or let us go. This line that you’re walking has reached the end. You want to be an ally? Fine. Let me help you with that: Don’t claim to be a safe space for queer people and then throw a grenade into our community and watch it burn. That’s not what an ally does. Don’t appropriate our culture by using our pride flag colours or the colour lavender and then deny the cultural and historic significance of those colours, effectively erasing their meaning. That’s not what an ally does. And most importantly, don’t let people be slaughtered, gaslit and harassed on the internet, or mainstream news, for interpreting your music as queer. A young queer woman, who is an incredible journalist, got called ‘inappropriate’ and a liar on national news yesterday, because she picked up what you’re putting down in your music and wrote an article about it. An incredible article by the way, one that made us all feel seen and validated. And then you’re letting old white men on national television call that inappropriate and invasive. You may not have said those words, but you let them stand there uncommented, let your cultish fans think that their hero is offended by being presumed to be gay. You guessed it, that’s also not what an ally does. A marginalised group of your fans got DEATH THREATS in your name in the last 24 hours because we pick up on queer flagging in your art. And you did nothing. You handed our bullies weapons and left us to fend for ourselves. That is not a safe space for LGBTQ people. And for that reason, you’re losing me.

Because I have nothing to believe. Unless you actually choose me (and yourself for that matter). Just once.

Until then,

J

[pinkpastels113]

intro post

okay so i realized that i've never done one of these and i kinda want to!! esp for the new people following me and my side account @caitlynspistol, which i plan on keeping even if my fandoms and otp brain rots change

name: wenz (pronounced as when-zzz, or if you're anne, whence is fine too LMAO). it's not my real name but that's what i'm comfortable with on here!

pronouns: she/her.

nicknames: i respond to girl, girlie, dude, or any cute pet names hehe

age: 22

personality type: enfj (protagonist mbti personality). i also relate to harley quinn, lexie grey, annabeth chase, red of hearts, and chloe beale (besides the barging into other people's shower part). more of a golden retriever than a black cat, esp at work and around people i like and can be myself with, but can be a standoffish opinionated moody lil binch if im pissed or annoyed lmao

lgbtq?: yes. i think im labeling myself as bi but leaning towards wlw

country: usa (even tho i be so tired of it sometimes 💀)

comfort fandom: pitch perfect and bechloe! it's the fandom that i originally joined tumblr and got an ao3 account for, and the pairing that i feel the most comfortable and natural writing for

type of content creator: i'm more of a writer than an artist but i'm trying to explore more of my artsy side. i've loved drawing since i was 5. it's just difficult sometimes to motivate myself and practice my art when everyone else is so much better HAHA

i prefer to write drabbles and one-shots more than multi-chapter fics bc my attention span and motivation just. won't let me. but if enough people encourage me and ask for them-!! i also like to write aus? and fluff? and meet-cutes i think :)

current obsession/brain rots: glassheart from descendants the rise of red but im scared that caitvi will take over this spot when the new arcane season releases lmao

others: wenclair from wednesday, chaggie from hazbin hotel, harlivy from dc but mostly the tv show, damie from the haunting of bly manor, percabeth from percy jackson

guilty pleasures: nikkenzie (dork diaries), miraculous ladybug (ADFSJHDSLK MY SISTER GOT ME INTO THIS DON'T COME FOR ME-), sunset shimmer x twilight sparkle

comfort/fav shows: grey's anatomy and friends

comfort/fav movies: tangled, mulan, mean girls, just chick flicks in general ig, the pp franchise

music: i'm a swiftie so pop :) not the ones that are too techno but like soft? but also catchy. i also like throwback 2010s music bc those SLAP

hobbies besides being a part of the fandom: i like to play card games, read/discover contemporary romance books, paint, text or hang out with my friends, do puzzles, be a couch potato, play wild rift (league of legends on mobile), watch asmr videos on tiktok, and just explore the city ig

special tags?: "wenz can talk" for my posts that i just yap in, "w writes" for my writing, "w sketches" for my art

anything else to share: i love getting asks! like from ask meme games or just getting to know you questions, nothing too personal tho! i also welcome any kind of interaction that gets me to talk about my fandoms/brain rots/ships. pls don't be shy lmao: you can interact through tags in a reblog or through an anon ask if you don't know how ima react. worse case scenario i just won't reply? but i'm not gonna judge or bash on you or anything unless you come for me first 😭

[daenerys-targaryen]

i actually have immensely enjoyed the last three years of tumblr with you all. no hate or shade to those who left for other platforms (who self admittedly only did so to get attention from taylor, but i digress), but i really truly and genuinely have loved being in this community and making friends and building lifetime memories with you guys. like yeah, there was maybe some drama here and there but overall i have so much love in my heart for tumblr swifties it's remarkable how much this fandom feels like HOME to me. when i say "this is my home" i mean that with everything in me. this is a place where i've built friendships and a place where we have fun game nights and a place where i know pretty much everyone on my dash and a place where i can be myself. i love you to those who stayed even though taylor was gone because we were never here for the attention from her to begin with, we were here to have a community and friends and fun and that's exactly what we did. even if everything remains the same, i just wanted to say that to you all <3

[taylortruther]

Idk if this is an unpopular opinion or more of an observation: this fandom is very much not normal about gay men. It makes a 100% sense that conversations about homophobia in the fandom mainly are about sapphic swifties, because they are a huge part of the fandom and face intense harassment. Men generally are less prominent within the fandom, so I see why people don't always think about how they are spoken about. However, because of this and the fact that "twitter gays" are enemy of the state for swifties on that platform because of their frequent dislike of Taylor, it can feel like homophobia geared towards gay men is a free for all. And I don't just mean the absolutely horrendous comments people leave on Twitter, but also the way people talk about Joe's "lack" of masculinity or make jokes about him being bi* in a way that reduce (male) bisexuality to something ridiculous. Even the anon you got after somebody said Joe would have been good in Challengers felt (unintentionally) dismissive of him potentially playing a gay role. Why is that? This might also be a tumblr thing where the demographic of the website is a bit different then on twitter, but the fact that one of the main groups that regularly get harrassed by Swifties are gay men is frequently ignored and that rubs me the wrong way, and I think it relates to how the fandom in general talks about gender and sexuality.

*addition: the assumption that Joe must be queer because of his quiet demeanor or the field he works in was huge in the fandom at some point and it has always felt icky to me and very much tied to traditional gender roles, which is something this fandom is very infected by. But this was also very en vogue in gaylor spaces, for obvious reasons, but there is also a convo to be had about how gay women don't always treat gay men with dignity or respect. (Their male privilege is not a catch all excuse.)

you're preaching to the choir here. it stems from the same issues of misogyny and homophobia as the anti-wlw sentiments though. like, it's wrong for women to express sexual desire over another woman, especially one like taylor, whose femininity is pretty paramount to her persona. and in comparison to uber-masculine travis, joe becomes "gay," just like josh kushner was called gay in kaylor circles because of his ~mannerisms~ or perceived lack of masculinity. there are many other things to say about this phenomenon but it should be very obvious to everyone by now that swifties (like the rest of the world, but it's highly visible in this fandom due to who taylor is and how she looks) have very intense opinions about what femininity and masculinity should look like. and if someone in the universe steps out of line then it's criticized pretty openly.

[kellykswift]

Yesterday was a shock in so many ways. Not only were the shows we had all been waiting for so long cancelled, but also because we were suddenly confronted with the fact that there was a planned terrorist attack, where people could/ would have died while enjoying a concert. 💔😭

I am from Austria, and when the news dropped (around 10 am on 07.08.) that there was a suspected terrorist attack, I had a feeling that a cancellation might happen. Because the police and authorities usually do their job properly, this must have been a serious concern (they evacuated the town of the suspect until late afternoon). So I really wanna thank the authorities for acting quickly! 🖤

I am still very sad that we couldn’t go to the show as planned and that I might not be able to see Taylor ever in my home country. But I am also very grateful that this decision was made in order to keep everyone safe. Even if the danger had been minimized (they never wrote "eliminated" for a reason), there would still have been a weird atmosphere where people didnt feel safe. We wouldn’t have had the show Taylor was so proud of over the last 1.5 years. Taylor and her crew deserve better. She put her whole heart into that show and it makes me sick to my stomach that she probably feels very bad about the cancellation (please don’t).

Another thing I realized yesterday was the solidarity in the Swiftie community. As part of this small corner of the internet, we know how messy it can get within the fandom. But not yesterday. Swifties from different parts of the fandom comforted each other. Swifties from all over the world tried to organize friendship bracelet trades, and Swifties who have a ticket to the London show offered theirs for face value. I could go on and on and on about this….

I know a lot of people feel heartbroken right now, and I am one of them. But I also feel very proud at this moment to be part of this amazing community and fandom (especially my bubble here on Tumblr). Those terrorists might have taken the concerts from us, but they will never take what it means to be a Swiftie. We can get through this together. There might be another chance to see her (well, my dream would be that she adds another date for all those who had tickets in Vienna, maybe in Munich or another European city), and if not, I have made my peace with it because I ll still gonna have her music.

All I can do today is stream her songs and remind myself how many times Taylor's music has been a source of strength, comfort, and joy in my life. Her lyrics put me through moments of heartbreak, celebration, a coming out and everything in between. Since 2009, her music has been there for me, and I know it will continue to be there, especially today ( I can do it with a broken heart ).

Last but not least, I hope that everyone, including Taylor and her team, are safe, and please don’t be afraid of our beautiful country. I would rather mourn over a concert than someone losing their life.

Thanks so much to everyone who has reached out to me on here! It truly means a lot! 💜🫶

So my friends and I are doing a movie night on Saturday, wearing our costumes, watching the Eras Tour and move on from this. I am wearing a very specific bracelet today because thats what i am going to do today. @taylorswift @taylornation

[didnt-hear-cold-as-you-live]

slightly random, but: i remember once, years and years ago, there was a coding fuck up on livejournal and suddenly ip addresses were visible next to all anonymous comments, and it turned out soooo many people had been anonymously saying hideous things to their own friends and then swooping in on their logged-in account to "defend" the friend from the mean "anon". whenever i see mean anons being sent to people on here all i can think of is that. there's no way the angry swiftie hater who spends all day long on swiftie tumblr sending unhinged messages ISN'T one of us 👀👀👀 one day they'll fuck up and forget to click anon and we'll finally work it out

I will not spill the beans on it exactly, however there is very fucked up evidence of this being the case across this fandom at least one time. So I would not be surprised at all!

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Sorry pls ignore my last ask BPP. Your point about Seven being the 'Dynamite' equivalent in solo era is a good one and explains the treatment it got. After the BB article I also now understand why BH dropped LC. If BB believed the LC record was 'tainted' with Chinese cash and BH never had that 'Dynamite' promotion plan for it, everything that's happened makes sense. But it still leaves a nasty taste in my mouth. I can't wash it out. Are we now at the mercy of BB's whims? Also don't you find the support for Seven excessive? Is the elimination of direct to consumer sales enough to explain that kind of support to keep it number 1? I'm just trying to understand how the company is thinking about things without victimizing the members. They all seem to be still working with purpose so I feel they don't feel shortchanged, but from the outside looking inside it doesn't feel fair.

*

Ask 2:

Hi BPP,

Re: bb article

1. Do you think there will be additional changes coming, making sales even less relevant for bb charts?

2. I absolutely hate that it is again Jimin that takes the brunt of all this bulshit, I really do. He doesnt deserve this at all. But he is strong, he will be OK. That being said, its making me really upset IRL, so I will have to do some me time.

3. I would be interested to know your outlook on BB as a whole when it comes to BTS and their future in US market (if you have talked about this pls refer me to the post)

My opinion is, that while BB is paramount when it comes to big awards season, eventually BB and the awards themselves serve as a kind of promotion, to validate the artist to their (potential) fanbase, keep them invested etc. BTS guys do all of that on their own, with their music, personalities and lyrics. So going forward, if they dont chart as much, dont win as much... It will not matter in the long run. Their fan base is so solid that I trully believe they will have no problem selling multiple stadium stops 25 years from now. Easily.

There will be a significant fandom fall off, when all the people who are here for bragging rights lose their interest. And that is a good thing... But the people who will stay, who love the guys for who they are and for their art, those whose love does not depend on how many grammy noms or BB H100 they recieve... These people will stay and buy the tickets. And their numbers will still be enourmous. Enviable. More than the majority of the western industry plants can only dream of.

Rant over. Have a good weekend

*

Ask 3:

The latest Billboard discussion is disheartening, but the NYT article description of U.S. conservatives aping the tactics of Swifties and BTS fans to get their nefarious messaging across is even more so. Have we opened the gate for the Trumpsters of the world?

I was struck by this partvof the original question to you"

'... figure out a way to truly determine which songs are most popular (whatever that even means anymore)....'

So, how can we ever know what is truly popular? Are fervent fans willing to devote time and resources to get their fave to the top really the best arbiters? Even if they number in the millions, we are still looking at support that is far deeper than it is wide.

I mean, better than the suits deciding, I guess? Or is it just another group--this one outside of the target country--imposing their agenda on the population? One has the goal of making money; the other of winning a fan war.

So, how do we ascertain what is truly popular with the much-vaunted GP? Or doesn't it matter?

***

I've said many times on this blog that I'm not a writer, and that English isn't my first language, so I suppose it's unsurprising that despite my efforts putting my thoughts to paper/Tumblr, I'm still unable to fully communicate it in a way people understand right away, to eliminate/answer a lot of questions that I believe should be clear to infer from what I've written before. So rather than write a massive post like before where my key points could get lost, I'll pick out key questions from your asks and give fairly brief answers to each one. I'll work my way from the top, down.

Hi Anon(s),

Select answers below:

"Also don't you find the support for Seven excessive? Is the elimination of direct to consumer sales enough to explain that kind of support to keep it number 1?"

I think the results speak for itself. Dynamite and the PET got what is easily the biggest support any BTS release had gotten to date at the time - all of it tailored to mirror how American labels promoted their tracks, *and* the fandom had D2C sales buttressing it as the primary support mechanism. Like, please read that sentence again and think about what it means. Sales are the easiest and most transparent way for the fandom to influence charts, and so was always preferred for ARMY. Even if you weren't in the fandom then, understand it's impossible to overstate how much D2C sales mattered. With that now out of the question, everything we're seeing for Seven for me feels like a given, especially after the Billboard article.

"Do you think there will be additional changes coming, making sales even less relevant for bb charts?"

Yes. But not 'less relevant' in a sense, more like differentiated and treated as its own thing, perhaps in a separate chart.

"I would be interested to know your outlook on BB as a whole when it comes to BTS and their future in US market (if you have talked about this pls refer me to the post)"

This probably requires its own post but the long-short of it is: just like Ticketmaster, Billboard is only one arm of one of the largest private monopolies in the US entertainment market - PMC, and as such they serve as gatekeepers of sorts. Their interest in BTS (and k-pop by extension) lies primarily in how they can profit off the group/fandom, which so far BigHit and ARMY have created very limited avenues for. BigHit's strategy until now has been to expand BTS's reach without relying on the PMC apparatus, using it only for select releases that are explicitly tailored for it e.g. Seven and PET. While I don't think this strategy will change dramatically, every change from BB is to force more compliance with their apparatus. BTS will continue facing handicaps from PMC so long as BigHit continues limiting how PMC can profit from BTS for each release. (This sentence makes sense in my head but if it's not clear, please let me know.)

*

"Have we opened the gate for the Trumpsters of the world?"

Well, yeah. But ARMYs can't take all the credit. After all, ARMYs are only doing what the Bey Hive and Swifties have been doing for almost a decade with none of the scrutiny. BTS, more than any other group, actually has the absolute numbers in demand and grassroots support to justify it as they're comparable to the afore-mentioned artists, proven by their concert showings not just in the US but worldwide, as far back as 2018. People only started paying attention to ARMYs' movements because BTS didn't look like the sorts of people they expected to see at the top of the charts. Everybody took notice, including a political faction in the US that in recent years has moved more aggressively into the entertainment sphere to influence culture, such as Ben Shapiro's entertainment empire, movies like Sound of Freedom topping box office charts, and conservative country singers pushing Reagan-esque talking points to the top of music charts. So it's basically the result of timing and opportunity.

"So, how can we ever know what is truly popular? Are fervent fans willing to devote time and resources to get their fave to the top really the best arbiters? ... how do we ascertain what is truly popular with the much-vaunted GP?"

I've talked about this before I think. You can find my views on it in my Masterlist, and I've linked the post here.

*

People sent in more asks on BB but I've since lost interest in this topic and will post my responses when I feel like it, much later, using the same format I've used to answer the asks above. The truth is that while I understand why many people feel like everything that's happened so far with Seven and Jimin is unfair, I think a lot of the discourse is awfully reductive, actually does a disservice to Jimin and BTS, and that there's a much bigger picture here that's more consistent with how BTS has operated for the last 10 years.

This is probably not the best analogy, but one way I think of BTS is like a Swiss army knife, with each member being a separate tool. And that at different points, in various markets, BigHit and BTS are testing various approaches to expand their reach while aiming to maintain the market share they've gotten so far. The group has always had projects they release that have more artistic merit and cache, versus projects made by all appearances to be purely for commercial purposes to expand the reach of the group. For example, consider how BigHit promoted Butter/Permission to Dance, compared to the BE album, or how Seven was created and promoted relative to Indigo. To go back in even further in previous years, I remember how BTS appeared to center Jimin in Blood, Sweat & Tears era to build out his and their presence in Korea, and Taehyung in DNA era where his and BTS's presence in China ballooned in 2017.

While in the solo era some people feel like every accomplishment remains solely with individual members, I feel everything serves only one purpose: to further establish the group. Because by BTS's own words, they all have their individual ambitions, they've always had that and each member is aggressively competitive on that note, but they've each all said that their priority remains the group. Not everybody likes that, not everybody believes them when they say it, but the good thing with BTS is that they plan in multi-year stints and time always reveals what the facts of the matter are. We're only one year into Chapter 2, and while certain parts of the fandom are treating their solo debut albums as the be all and end all, I don't think there's anything to suggest this perspective lines up with the reality of how BTS has behaved for the last 10 years. I could be wrong, but either way we're just going to have to wait and see. In the meantime, I believe there's significant artistic merit in what the guys are putting out in Chapter 2, that I hope isn't lost in the noise. The fandom should do a better job of bringing the attention back to this, rather than a tunnel-vision on performance metrics that only tell half of the story.

[house-in-the-cerulean-sea]

17 headcannons for march 17. that are so widely spread in this fandom that I'm not even completely sure what is cannon anymore

1. Neither Linus nor Arthur are coffee drinkers, usually Arthur prefers cocoa and Linus tea but you won't catch these two drinking coffee, even tho it might seem like they'd need it!

2. Arthur Parnassus, a Swifty or lover of 80s tunes? Actually both can be true.

3. Zoe's hair flowers bloom affected by her emotions. When with Helen, they are usually pink. Literally, no idea whether or not that's canon.

4. Helen's a redhead.

5. Linus becomes a true fashionista on the island. It's starts with the egg adventure outfit and once he gets comfortable in his skin, he and Zoe go on elaborate shopping trips and his wardrobe becomes even more colourful than mine.

6. Arthur had an extravagant sock collection with the most colourful and patterned socks possible. Of course this is supported by textual evidence, but if we are honest to ourselves, there's only three pairs of socks mentioned red, purple and the one with the clouds. It's completely possible that he just has colourful but one-coloured socks and just this one pair with a pattern. No, i know that's unrealistic.

7. Mr. Graves. Y'all are gonna tell me that that's Not the canon name of the orphanage Arthur went to? Like i thought this was a fact and I haven't even finished @davidbowielovesyou s amazing fanwork "stay" which you can find on ao3 and should be smarter about then me and read it

8. This might be a personal one but Helen is a skater. It's her and her rollerblades against the sand on the concrete.

9. Everyone is autistic. I was gonna say: "only Linus is confirmed autistic" but that's not actually true is it? Tho i think we can use our critical reading skills here and come to the obvious conclusion that he is. But so are phee and Chauncey and Lucy and...

10. Except for Arthur who has ADHD.

11. The term island dads. I'm not actually sure if the TJ knows that name, it certainly originated on Tumblr. But if he knows it👀 Hiii! Love yr work, obviously. Just think about it, the name could have been Anus and i do not like that

12. Linus and Arthur are constantly dancing. Especially in the kitchen!

13. Young Arthur was a punk and an activist and he probably wore multicoloured doc martens

14. Also Linus is obsessed with Princess Diana. I know I personally made that up but i still forgot whether or not it was true

15. There's an underground rebellion going on, that we don't know anything about but these definitely actions and protests for magical rights going on under the radar

16. Doreen aka Ms. bubblegum is either part of said rebellion or secretly also an unregistered magical being. I think she's very neat and it would fit her character to do something this pretty right one dicomys nose.

17. While Arthur of course is cold resistent due to his phoenix abilities, Linus is not which means that when they put David to bed at night Linus insists to wear winter clothes every time so he can say good night, no matter how often Arthur and David tell him that's really not necessary @islanddads is the mind behind this one

@dontuwishuwerehere

[preraphaeliteknight]

I've spent a few days thinking about what to do moving forward. It's not the breakup of a celebrity couple that's affected me the most, it's the feeling of losing my safe space in the Tumblr Swiftie fandom. Every time I've logged onto this app in the last few days I've flinched and quickly exited the dash to get away from yet another take mocking and ridiculing Joe. Or minimizing his very valid fears. "Unbothered 3.0". Rewriting history to make the last 6 years seem insignificant. Comparing him to CH as if petty jealousy is the issue here and not years of harassment. Celebrating the return of Taylor Swift, The Brand, no matter what that means for her future happiness. And circulating pressers that make it sound like Joe was a therapy dog who's no longer needed. All of which is making me feel physically ill. For both of them. And even when this stuff isn't coming from the people I follow (who for the most part have nuanced and fair takes), it's coming from their anons. And no matter what I do I can't get away from the outright cruelty and shocking lack of empathy for the person Taylor has credited with saving her life. Even though swifties know better than anyone what Joe has had to put up with for over half a decade. Given that treatment, I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that this is how he's being discarded. But fuck it hurts. So where does this leave me? This blog was never supposed to be an update account or an ask blog. I just wanted a space to fangirl over my favorite actor. But in the last few months this has become a space for Joe fans to be excited for his upcoming projects and clown over castings (remember a few weeks ago when we were giddily figuring out his next movie because of insta follows? yeah, take me back to that please). And I know some of you rely on this blog as a space to both appreciate Joe and vent your frustrations with his unfair treatment. I have 70+ asks in my inbox right now, the vast majority of which are well written, thoughtful takes on what's been happening. And I agree with pretty much all of it. Thank you for taking the time to send me your thoughts. But the truth is, I simply don't have the emotional capacity to reply to them right now. I can't do it. I can't talk and think and dwell on this. To quote a song that's too painful to listen to right now: "I'm just too soft for all of it." So I feel like I have two options if I ever want to be able to be active on Tumblr again: 1. Unfollow all swifties. Because just seeing pictures of Taylor (especially from the pap walk) makes me feel ill. And it's affecting my opinion of her even though I'm mad at her fans, and not her. And I don't want that to happen or the music to be tarnished. But I also don't want to break mutuals and hurt someone's feelings. And I want to know what's going on with Taylor. I'm a huge fan of her too, and I want to be excited for tour and the re-recordings. So that's why I'm going with option 2: Take a proper break. A real one, this time. Hopefully this all won't feel so hard with some time and distance. I don't know if it will solve anything, because swifties will get back to talking about Joe in the future (whenever she makes art about this) and then I'll probably have to flinch every time I open this app again. Because he will have been reduced to yet another ex swifties can make fun of. So maybe I have to go with both options in the end. If I do, I hope any mutuals out there know not to take it personally. I wish more than anything that I could return to the days of being a casual fan who wouldn't have thought twice about any of this. And maybe that's what I need to try to get back to. For my own sanity's sake. I'm sorry to any Joe fans out there who need a place to vent. I feel like I'm letting you down, but I just can't do this right now. Maybe I'll be able to in the future. Maybe I'll leave this blog and go back to my main instead where the subjects will be more varied. I don't know. I'll always be a Joe fan though, and no shitty presser or swiftie narrative is going to change that.

Please just be kind to each other, and to Taylor and Joe. Let's hope the best for both of them, and please please please don't tarnish all the good that this relationship gave them. And all the beautiful music it gave us.

All my love

[graciebaberams]

I love tumblr but the swiftie fandom is becoming absolutely insufferable. There is next to no emotional intelligence in any important conversation. It’s exhausting being engaged in the fandom. I have so many friends here but I literally hate that so many of y’all are experiencing excessive hate, which means some of y’all are the haters. Which rubs me the wrong fucking way.

[the-pink-album]

So 1989 TV is here and this is it. This is the re recording I was waiting for. It means a lot to me for so many reasons, and it felt like a good moment to talk about the why.

As much as I love Red and all too well and beging again are so dear to me, and therefore I was so excited about Red TV, truth is I wasn’t a fan when the original album came out, and less so for the other two albums we have Taylor’s version now. So I couldn’t quite go down the memory lane for those. I don’t have the connection of being in the fandom in that era.

But i do have that connection with 1989. Is when I first got to really know about Taylor. It was a funny road, getting there: see back at the end of 2014 two things were happening: i really loved blank space and shake it off. So much so I wanted to check the album. I liked it. I was also becoming a Harrie. Bc somehow even if I didn’t follow 1D blogs he was all over my dash, and I tried to resist it, I didn’t want to stan the guy… I was in my mid 20’s way over boybands… it feel silly to be so taken by a 20 year old guy.

So… while I was in denial I was still watching interviews and following along Harrie content on tumblr and on a few they mentioned Taylor. And that’s how I was introduced to Haylor… and the Pandora Box was opened.

And then there was Style. An amazing pop song on it’s own. But also a song about Harry Styles and how it ain’t the easiest to let the guy go… and it sounds over the top but I never had quite the thrill as singing that song when you’re in the process of falling for a certain artist. It made me feel happy, silly and young. It was in ways like falling in love but without the risk of getting your heartbroken. And Taylor gave me the soundtrack for it, and I don’t think I would have become a Harrie in the way I did if it wasn’t for Style.

Style isn’t the only Harry song in 1989, and in the process of getting through those, of seeing Harry through Taylor’s eyes I got to know her too, and she was amazing. Her lyrics were something else (the amount of love i also have for You’re in love… is insane). And so along with a Harrie, a lowkey swiftie was born. (Nowadays while I still would say i’m more of a Harrie than a swiftie, I love Taylor, I feel for her and if I could I would love to tell her I’m going to be forever grateful for Folklore in particular those two songs that feel like she wrote them just for me)

I went from checking tumblr on my free time to endless scrolling between two fandoms, both of which where also touring which meant really fun times here, (and crazy ones too) and if it came with a lot of discourse, fandom fighting, (and getting to know Taylor in a very particular point of her life) also i the moment, those were really happy times. (Yes, even when Harry was clearly 💔 at the 2015 BBMA) I really loved being here for all of it.

2015 was the year that brought me to the two artists that would be a huge source of comfort for the years to come. I often refer to 2015 as my last happy year, in reality it’s just that it was the last time I felt young and carefree and the world didn’t seem as overwhelming. It also gave me friends here that while I don’t talk much to them nowadays they were there for me when life got my heart broken, and to this day I still remember the wise things they told me. I will always remember that year with a fondness and smile, bc nothing has ever been as so naively happy since.

So I’m really excited to revisit and album that was a huge part of that time in my life. It will also remind me of Haylor, I just can’t separe it from that album and in truth I love that. Since 1989 the glimpses we get of Haylor are like Harry said once the most amazing unspoken dialogue ever. Theirs is quite the tale.

So 1989 TV for me is a really special time, that will never be not haylor related, and i’ll be in that headspace for a while. Yes, i know the album is about her, and reclaiming it for her, not about a relationship. But as Taylor herself would say, these songs are also about us, and I want to remember the why and how I came to love her so.

[taylortruther]

I'm late to your discourse discussion, but I want to add...almost ALL discourse in the fandom now LOL. Although I've been a fan since debut, I didn't get on tumblr until mid Rep era. When I think of the fun I had on here over the years! Since Midnights/Eras explosion of popularity, I've noticed almost all my swiftie spaces have become... way less fun. I completely got off Reddit. I only have about three tumblr blogs I visit anymore. Many of the people I loved following on here have stopped posting around the same time. It seems there is a lack of light heartedness here, and so many more people are policing things. Even that anon you just got about Joe! Like...it's so unnecessarily rude, especially since we barely talk about stuff like that here. idk. It makes me sad because I have a feeling many of the people I loved to follow most will also lessen talking about Taylor soon, and I don't blame them tbh. Too many policiers now over dumb stuff.

yeah, the amount of policing, vagueing, and weird-ass parasocial anons people get (if you can get beyond the policing and vagueing) makes it deeply unpleasant to be here sometimes. and the other places to be a fan are just horrific in their own ways. it's like every post you make has to be perfect, you can't ever misspeak or be too general, you have to overexplain your politics, you can't be super casual all the time because someone will demand you explain every human emotion you or taylor has with a psychological text, everyone seems to hold everyone else to really ill-conceived standards (ie, "you're not a real fan if you don't gossip about travis" or "if you aren't speaking up on your blog about X issue it means you don't care and thus we can drag you through the mud for it and ruin your reputation") that make no fucking difference in the real world. it's just frustrating!

[heda-heather]

I don't live in America so I hadn't heard of Taylor Swift until lockdown because that was the first time I was chronically online. Fell down a rabbit hole of english songs (by english I mean the language english not the brits) and came out a swiftie. So anyways, I didn't know about Kaylor back then and Joe was the first person I saw her in a "relationship" with. I was completely unaware of the Gaylor and Kaylor community. Last year I came on tumblr, that was also the time when Taylor and Joe supposedly broke up and a lot of things didn't make sense to me, like the songs, the timings, their whole dynamic and how everybody just believed it, like what? And then I discovered the Kaylor swifties and the way it all fell into place like dominoes, my god it felt good. I just wonder sometimes how swifties can't see past it. Like dude I didn't even know about Kaylor and still figured that something's not right, how do these people manage to be so inherently oblivious?

Well you know, people see what they want to see, and they’ll say the same of us.

It’s actually pretty sad because Taylor is so much more than what they make of her. She’s really deep and thoughtful and she clearly researches the hell out of historical occurrences and influences that she incorporates into her work.

And yet these people obsess over this false idea of her. And I sometimes think that’s why she goes so over the top on the other end. “Oh you think I’m just some dumb girl who fawns over a boy? Well here, I’ll give you the most dramatic version of that ever. See you at the Super Bowl.”

But the problem is, they become obsessed with it and they go all in on it when she does.

And who catches onto that facade and thinks “hey wait a minute this seems weird?” Two sets of people: the ones who see her (us) and the ones who hate her (ex. far right psychos). And since the other side of the fandom will never want to hear from either group of us, they go to bat to defend this facade.

It’s actually insane. And they’re probably all gonna need therapy if she comes out one day 😂

But anyway, glad you see it too! Once I saw how deep the Gaylor/kaylor evidence was I was screwed lmao. There was no going back.