According to Breitbart, pop superstar turned activist Taylor Swift revealed that her upcoming song “Only the Young” was written in response to the 2018 midterm elections that saw Republicans take key seats in her home state of Tennessee. Her said her song was released to encourage young voters to get engaged in left-wing causes, and “hopefully stoke some fires politically.”
Her new tune, “Only the Young,” is featured in “Miss Americana,” the documentary about Swift premiering at the Sundance Film Festival this week and on Netflix on Jan 31. The documentary covers Swift’s music career, following the singer over the course of a few years, Including the moments leading up to Swift’s turn to political activism, specifically the moment the singer decided to speak out against Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.
In an interview for this week’s Variety cover story, Swift described the inspiration behind the new song and her political activism, which involved promoting Democratic candidates in Tennessee during the 2018 midterms. She said she couldn’t stand by idly as someone who voted against LGBTQ rights was voted into office.
During the interview, Swift took aim at conservative politicians describing their stances on certain policies as “sinister” and “so dark.”
Swift specifically criticized Republican politicians for their stance on policies like the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
“When you’re saying that certain people can be kicked out of a restaurant because of who they love or how they identify, and these are actual policies that certain politicians vocally stand behind, and they disguise them as family values, that is sinister. So, so dark,” the singer said.
Swift said she wrote “Only the Young” in the emotional aftermath of the 2018 elections.
“I was really upset about Tennessee going the way that it did, obviously. And so I just wanted to write a song about it,” Swift told Variety.
“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.”