After getting political in the 2018 midterm elections, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift is hoping to continue to bring about discussion when it comes to politics.
In an interview with Variety published on Tuesday, Swift talks about her new song, “Only the Young,” and how dipping her toes into politics shaped the song.
“I wrote it after the midterm elections, when there were so many young people who rallied for their candidate, whether it was a senator or congressman or congresswoman,” Swift told Variety.
She continued to explain how she saw “a lot of young people’s hopes dashed” in the 2018 midterm elections.
“It was hard to see so many people feel like they had canvassed and done everything and tried so hard. I saw a lot of young people’s hopes dashed. And I found that to be particularly tragic, because young people are the people who feel the worst effects of gun violence, and student loans and trying to figure out how to start their lives and how to pay their bills, and climate change, and are we going to war — all these horrific situations that we find ourselves facing right now.”
Taylor endorsed Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) during the 2018 Senate race. However, then-Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R) pulled out the victory in the Tennessee race. The loss hasn’t kept Swift silent, as she has pushed for legislation to be passed, such as the Equality Act.
“I was really upset about Tennessee going the way that it did, obviously,” Swift continued in the Variety interview, adding, “And so I just wanted to write a song about it.”
The singer-songwriter noted that she hopes when the song comes out that it would “stoke some fires politically.”
“I didn’t know where it would end up. But I did think that it would be better for it to come out at a time that it could maybe hopefully stoke some fires politically and maybe engage younger people to form their own views, break away from the pack, and not feel like they need to vote exactly the same way that people in their town are voting.”
A few of the lyrics from the song read: “You did all that you could do / The game was rigged, the ref got tricked/ The wrong ones think they’re right / We were outnumbered — this time.”
The Grammy award-winning artist’s song comes ahead of the 2020 presidential election. She has previously criticized President Donald Trump, as she told The Guardian in August of 2019, “We’re a democracy – at least, we’re supposed to be – where you’re allowed to disagree, dissent, debate. I really think that he thinks this is an autocracy.”
Swift’s song will be made public through the documentary “Miss Americana,” which will debut on Jan. 23 at the Sundance Film Festival, and then will be in theaters, as well as on Netflix, on Jan. 31.
