These are what we call the 'YMMV items.' Things that some people find in this work. We call them 'your mileage might vary' because not everyone sees these things in the same way. This starts discussions in the trope lists, a thing we don't want. Please use the discussion page if you'd like to discuss any of these items.
Covered Up: Not many people realize that "Untouchable" from Fearless: Platinum Edition is actually a cover of a song by the Nashville rock band Luna Halo. And then there's her cover of "Last Christmas" by Wham!, which is so wildly different in instrumentation and tempo that it might as well be a different song.
Critical Research Failure: "Love Story". Not only does Swift have lines like "Romeo, stay away from Juliet" (quite the opposite in the actual story), she actually goes the extra mile with research failure by saying "You were Romeo, I was a Scarlet Letter", which is, in fact, a badge of shame given for adultery. A perfect storm of Critical Research Failure and Mainstream Obscurity right there. That said, it's entirely possible Swift is well aware of both The Scarlet Letter and Romeo and Juliet, and that the whole thing falls squarely under Poe's Law. Alternatively, it's possible that the scarlet letter refers to her parents' reaction to the boy she wanted to date.
Ear Worm: "If you could see that I'm the one who understands you, been here all along so why can't you see..."
"Swift's third album, Speak Now, is roughly twice as good as 2008's Fearless, which was roughly twice as good as her 2006 debut."
Family Unfriendly Aesop: "The Way I Loved You". All in all, the Aesop here is "Nice guys that respect you are boring, the best relationships are the ones that keep you up all night crying and cursing the other person." That's just a terrible message in general, but it's even worse when you consider that her biggest fans are teen girls.
Fandom Heresy: Claiming to prefer her debut over Fearless and either over Speak Now leads to this.
Newer country music fans who would like to see their genre have a return to public prominence if it means shedding some old bonds, versus traditional country music fans who would like to see her head on a stake. Taylor's clean sweep of the CMAs and AMAs in the fall of 2009, combined with the outpouring of support from the Kanye West incident and a critically praised Saturday Night Live hosting, have led to a massive backlash from the country music community at Taylor's media oversaturation.
Harsher in Hindsight: "Half of My Heart" considered that she and John had a real relationship and he treated her very badly as the song suggests
Hollywood Homely: In the "You Belong With Me" video, she dons a pair of glasses and braids her hair in order to play the "ugly" girl.
Internet Backdraft: Compare her, Carrie Underwood and/or Kellie Pickler to each other in a thread related to any of the three. Fans of any individual artist will viciously state that "their" artist is superior to the other two.
Misaimed Marketing: A relatively mild example, but there are dolls of her out there, aimed at much the same demographic as Barbie. Granted, Swift is more than a little popular with prepubescent girls, but with such lovely revenge fics as "Picture to Burn" and "Better Than Revenge", some mild swearing in the debut album and a recent song ("Sparks Fly") that is as close as Swift can get to Intercourse with You without inciting the wrath of the Moral Guardians, she's not exactly suited to the preschool set.
Pandering to the Base: She's been accused of this by some fans after Fearless, which, in stark contrast to her first album (which, for the most part, was startlingly mature and dark, but well-liked by listeners of all ages), is more decidedly geared towards teenagers. Let it not be ignored that the small majority of her first album's sales were from the teenage crowd.
Periphery Demographic: Some of the older generation of country music singers, including at least two of The Oak Ridge Boys, have stated that they enjoy Taylor because of how well she knows her target audience.
She Really Can Sing: While she's getting further than ever away from her country roots, this is not an uncommon reaction to "Safe and Sound."
They Changed It, Now It Sucks: One of her songs which didn't make it onto an album, "I'd Lie", had a very similar chorus melody to "Girl Next Door" by Saving Jane, so for later live performances of it she had to sing it in a very odd key.
Oh, where to begin with the music video for "You Belong With Me" (and possibly the whole song)? Taylor, with thick glasses, plays the dogged childhood friend longing to win the heart of another childhood friend. This friend is involved with a cheerleader also played by Taylor, though with a straight brown wig and lipstick. In the end, the nerdy girl character she plays does win her friend's heart, but only after ditching the glasses and putting on a white dress. And seeing her play both the Hollywood Nerd and the Cheerleader brings stalkeriffic implications that the guy can never be involved with anybody but her. Seriously, it feels even more stalkeriffic that The Police's "Every Breath You Take".
The song "Better Than Revenge" has some pretty unfortunate implications. It's catchy and has some great lines ("sophistication isn't what you wear or who you know, or pushing people down to get to where you want to go" and "no amount of vintage dresses gives you dignity") but in the chorus there is also the line "stealing other people's toys on the playground won't make you many friends". Given that the song is about a girl who stole the singer's boyfriend...yeah. The song is also rather blatant in slut-shaming and invoking the Madonna Whore Complex ("she's better known for the things that she does on the mattress (whoa!)")
What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: Some people have assumed she's a children's musician because she's commonly associated with Disney (she's never been with the company, but she's frequently played on Radio Disney and appeared on an episode of Take Two With Phineas and Ferb). Many little kids like her and don't know what she's talking about. Not to mention she has a squeaky-clean image-no tattoos or piercings (unless you count earrings), for starters. But have parents (or the kids) bothered looking at the lyrics to her songs, what with such lyrics as "That's fine, I'll tell mine you're gay" ("Picture to Burn"), "She's better known for the things that she does on the mattress" ("Better than Revenge") and "You touch me once and it's really something. You find I'm even better than you imagined I would be" ("Sparks Fly")? Moreover, "Teardrops On My Guitar" and "Cold As You" both make use of "damn", while "The Way I Loved You" delivers a rather Family Unfriendly Aesop and "Fifteen" hints at a friend's virginity loss.
Yoko Oh No: When she was dating Joe Jonas. Then Joe infamously dumped her via a phone call *
She was actually the one who hung up
and the fans took her side. The fact Joe started dating Camilla Belle so soon after did not help matters (the popular opinion Joe and Camilla look creepily alike also didn't help).
