Taylor Swift Draws Backlash for ‘All the Racists’ Lyrics on New ‘Tortured Poets’ Album

Taylor Swift released a new album Friday, but not all listeners are loving a controversial line from her new song, “I Hate It Here.”

In the track off of “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology,” a deluxe version of her new album, the Eras Tour singer sings about discontent and the way our recollections are distorted by nostalgia. In it, she says she wants to return to an era that ended more than a century before her career began.

“My friends used to play a game where we would pick a decade we wished we could live in instead of this / I’d say the 1830s but without all the racists and getting married off for the highest bid,” Swift sings in the track.

The Civil War began in 1861, more than 30 years after the decade Swift references in the song. Slavery was still active in the United States during this time.

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The controversial line has drawn the ire of the internet and fueled conversations around Swift’s lyricism. {snip}

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