What are you calling her?

I was at a dinner party in New Orleans not long ago. The people were smart, educated and hip, as they used to say. I guess I still do. After dinner, we sat around talking. The subject turned to present-day music. Someone said that today’s music couldn’t hold a candle to the music of the 60s.

“Nobody is making music that can compare to the Stones, the Beatles,” one woman said. “Nobody. Not even close.”

Others nodded.

“Look at who’s selling,” another woman said. “Taylor Swift, for God’s sake!”

She said the name disdainfully, as if she were spitting out a bad clam.

“I take it you don’t like her,” I said.

“No, I don’t,” she said, anger rising in her voice. “I do not. I think Taylor Swift is a bimbo.”

All sorts of thoughts raced through my mind. The first was: What?

“Bimbo,” as defined by Oxford U. Press is “an attractive but unintelligent or frivolous young woman.” There are variations on this, but it all comes down to this: pretty but stupid. How, in any universe, in any stretch of the imagination, can you apply that definition to Taylor Swift? How is she unintelligent and/or frivolous? How is she stupid?

There was also something disturbing about one woman calling another woman a bimbo. All sorts of elitist feminism thoughts came to mind.

It’s easy to look down on Taylor Swift, if that’s your choice. There’s her astonishing success, to begin with, always a target. She’s on a tour now that, when announced, broke Ticketmaster. Melted it. Her records have sold—well, we’re talking numbers in the light years range. So, let us not overlook the possibility of envy with this kind of reaction.

Yes, as the common observation goes, Swift writes about her boyfriends and her breakups. So? Joni Mitchell wrote about that, too. (“Help Me”) Many other songwriters have. Swift doesn’t just write about her breakups. Far from it.

Let me direct you to a brief but striking clip, an interview with the late Kobe Bryant about Taylor Swift. Yes, the basketball star. Have a listen to what he says about her. Why am I asking you to listen to Kobe Bryant? Because he represents excellence, determination, hard work and a kind of genius. Because he understands Taylor Swift’s achievement and because he articulates it so well.

As Kobe says, you don’t have to like Swift’s music. Given. That’s not the point.

I like Taylor Swift’s music. Not all her music, but it’s rare that I like all of anyone’s music. I particularly like the two albums she made during Covid, folklore and evermore. Some lovely music there. If you don’t agree, fine. Dislike her music all you want. Again, not the point. But, a bimbo?

Why am I even discussing Taylor Swift? Aren’t there more pressing issues? (Always are.) Because, through the years, I’ve encountered lots of snobbism, much of it in the arts. It’s a kind of elite bullying. Subgenre: hopping on the bandwagon. That goes beyond Taylor Swift. Far. I find it very unappealing. Funny thing, though, people who look down at a certain artist often change their minds when the so-called arbiters decree that artist’s work is worthy.

Stephen King, for instance. He’s never been unpopular, of course, but he was, at one, time, given airport-reading accolades, put in his place. Still is, by some critics. He has been given that most stinging of descriptors, hack. His response? “The intellectual’s definition of a hack seems to be an artist whose work is appreciated by too many people.” (Speaking of, Forbes Magazine reports that 53% of adult Americans are fans of Taylor Swift.) Now, King’s work appears in The New Yorker. Is he a different writer? No, not in the essentials that made him who he is. But now it’s deemed by those who deem these things that it’s acceptable to take him seriously.

Will that bimbo-caller change her tune about Taylor Swift if it’s ever deemed acceptable by the intellectuals to like her music?

No jaw-dropping from me if she does.