Taylor Swift Gets Personal In Her Netflix 'Reputation Stadium Tour' Special

Taylor Swift’s 2018 Reputation stadium tour sold out in many cities, meaning that there were many fans who weren’t able to get tickets to see their favorite performer live in their city. Such misfortune has to be rectified, and so, Taylor Swift had the foresight (or hindsight, perhaps) to present Netflix with the very last date in her all-stadium tour. The Taylor Swift Reputation Stadium Tour documentary on Netflix included all of the best moments from the Reputation tour, from the dancers and a giant snake to opening artists Charli XCX and Camila Cabello joining Swift for a rousing rendition of the singer’s hit “Shake It Off.”

But Swift was also able to get serious in the show — Taylor Swift’s comments about rumors during the Netflix reputation Stadium Tour doc show that she is not nearly as tough as she seems.

Swift has always been a lightning rod for controversy. Ever since Kanye West stormed the stage on Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, the two have been inextricably linked in drama. West apologized, and the two seemed to bury the hatchet, but in 2016, West released Life Of Pablo, which included the song “Famous,” which included the lyric, "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / I made that b*tch famous." Swift balked, West and his wife, Kim Kardashian West, said West reportedly had permission from Swift to write the line, Swift was called a snake, and it was ugly there for a while.

Then, “Look What You Made Me Do” came out, and Swift reclaimed the narrative, for better or for worse. But in a transitional speech during the show in Dallas, which is the one in the Netflix special, Swift commented that having a bad rep such as hers is scary because it makes people not want to connect with you. She says:

“I think that’ what we’re really all looking for in life, and I think the things that can scare us the most in life are the things that we think will threaten the prospect of us finding something real. For example, having a bad reputation, in our mind, could get in the way of you finding real friendship, real love, real acceptance, people you really fit in with. Because you think to yourself, ‘what if they’ve heard something about me that isn’t true? What if they’ve got these preconceived notions about me that they heard from gossip? And then they never even wanna meet me, and then we’ll never know what could’ve happened.’”

Gossip or a simple rumor could very easily ruin a “delicate” (that was the song the intro was leading up to) relationship, Swift explains, and it’s hard. “We’re so scared of something fake, like gossip, or a rumor about you, or a name you got called, getting in the way of you finding something real,” she says.

Swift is now dating actor Joe Alwyn, and the low-key couple has been very, well, low-key. Swift may have realized that having to act things out in the press isn’t to her benefit, or perhaps she, wounded by the rumors and the drama of the past, has opted to keep her personal life, well, personal. The Reputation tour's aesthetic and symbols of revenge, fire, and brimstone works well from an entertainment level. But on a personal level, Swift’s hurt and sadness over being called so many names is there, and in her new Netflix special, she’s giving fans a look into some very private emotions.