Taylor Swift: The beauty and the dancer

Taylor Swift is lying in the bathtub, wearing a revealing swimsuit adorned with metallic embellishments. She leans against the wall, exposing her entire hips.

Taylor Swift (Photo: AFP)

Taylor Swift wore elaborate lingerie like a Victoria's Secret angel.

Is Taylor Swift no longer the "innocent beauty"?

The promotional images for her upcoming album, The Life of a Showgirl (an equally provocative title: The Life of a Dancer), have once again thrust Taylor Swift into controversy.

In the tracklist, the second track of The Life of A Showgirl is titled Elizabeth Taylor , the legendary Hollywood actress who had eight marriages with seven husbands during her lifetime. During her life, she was often condemned for her "promiscuous love life."

By playing with the theme of sexuality, Taylor Swift seems ready to shed her "American Sweetheart" moniker.

Taylor Swift promotes her new album.

Following her "darkening" phase with the serpent-like image in the album Reputation, this could be the biggest controversy regarding image building in Taylor Swift's career.

Some praised her boldness, others reminisced about the sweet girl next door, the innocent fairytale princess of her twenties. Hadn't she already asserted her feminine strength without resorting to provocative images? Why should she chase trends?

And her true disciple Sabrina Carpenter

Around the same time, Sabrina Carpenter, considered Swift's protégé and the pop phenomenon of 2024, released her studio album, *Man's Best Friend*, a product that made people cringe from the cover art and title alone, not to mention the suggestive lyrics and blunt statements about sex.

Sabrina Carpenter sparks controversy.

Is she trying to attract the attention of men? Is she belittling women?

Even those who understand that Carpenter is merely mocking and satirizing the portrayal of female subservience, a common theme in patriarchal cultures, still argue that it does more harm than good: Carpenter is only reinforcing gender stereotypes.

It seems that over 30 years ago, when Madonna released her personal photobook with a series of artistic nude photos, and when the pop queen's music video "Justify My Love," about female sexual fantasies, was banned for "fully exposing a treasure trove of deviant behaviors," and then re-evaluated as an expression of "true feminism," audiences gradually became accustomed to normalizing the idea that every woman should have the right to control her own body.

But no.

Controversy still arises whenever a pop artist chooses to express their thoughts on sexuality or explore the dimensions of sensuality. To a greater or lesser extent, audiences still consider this a taboo subject.

Lisa and the controversial image.

Two years ago, when Lisa shattered the ideal image of a K-pop idol to perform at the Crazy Horse Club with strippers, she became the target of much criticism. It would be understandable if it were just love/hate.

But a series of comments on social media asserted that Lisa was becoming a tool for the amusement of the wealthy. They predicted that she would soon be discarded by the tycoons once her peak and she was no longer useful.

In the name of protecting a woman's future dignity, people believe they have the right to objectify her in the present. And most notably, many of those commentators are women.

This brings to mind Madonna's sarcastic statement about sexism: "Be the kind of woman men want. But more importantly, be the kind of woman that makes other women feel comfortable when you're around men."

Indeed, from Madonna to Britney Spears, from Miley Cyrus to Lisa, from Taylor Swift to Sabrina Carpenter, whenever a female star (especially those who once had a pure, princess-like image) explores other boundaries, the question of "what can women do with their bodies" is brought up for debate as if it were a new topic.

But only the woman herself can answer that question.

Back to the topic

Hien Trang

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/taylor-swift-ngoc-nu-va-vu-nu-20250907092625.htm