The singer Taylor Swift is being blasted by the Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant, who has branded her music “disappointing” one week after the release of her new album The Tortured Poets Department.

Tennant Rips Swift

During a Guardian Live event earlier this week, Tennant brought up Swift, saying “of course, I have listened to Taylor Swift’s album.”

“Taylor Swift sort of fascinates me as a phenomenon, because she’s so popular, and I sort of quite like the whole thing,” he continued, “but then when I listen to the records — we both held the same feeling, actually — for a phenomenon as big [as her], where are the famous songs? What’s Taylor Swift’s ‘Billie Jean’?”

“Shake It Off’?” Tennant’s bandmate Chris Lowe chimed in to say.

“Is it, though?” Tennant replied. “Because actually, I even know that’s the answer. But I listened to that the other day, and it’s not ‘Billie Jean,’ is it?”

That being said, Tennant acknowledged that Swift has “got a great voice” and “beautiful” production.

“I like the fact that it brings all these people together, even multigenerational,” he concluded. “I just think the one disappointing thing is the music. Not even the lyrics, the music.”

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Swift’s Hits

Entertainment Weekly fired back by pointing out that Swift “hasn’t released a pre-album lead single for any of her new albums since 2019’s ‘Lover,’ so none of her subsequent albums (‘Folklore,’ ‘Evermore,’ ‘Midnights,’ and ‘The Tortured Poets Department’) have generated singles for audiences to obsess over before the entire album is accessible.”

Swift has also scored many hits, with “Cardigan” from “Folklore,” “Willow” from “Evermore,” “Anti-Hero” from “Midnights,” and “Is It Over Now?” from “1989” (Taylor’s Version) all hitting No. 1 on the Billboard charts in the past two years,

Earlier chart successes for Swift include “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “Blank Space,” “Bad Blood,” “Look What You Made Me Do,” and “Shake It Off,” which all also hit No. 1.

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Swift Defended After Mixed Reviews For Album

Unfortunately for Swift, however, her latest album “The Tortured Poets Department” has been met with mixed reviews, with outlets like The Atlantic and The New York Times describing it as “a dreary muddle” and “unnecessarily verbose,” respectively.

Some have rushed to Swift’s defense in the wake of this backlash.

“I watched the Eras Tour and I really love the fact that she does an acoustic bit all by herself,” Heart’s Nancy Wilson told The Tampa Bay Times. “It’s such a global event, her show, but to make a point of doing that inside of her show was actually really amazing and cool of her to do. She’s a great songwriter.”

While appearing on Wednesday’s episode of Hot Ones Versus, Machine Gun Kelly was dared to say three bad things about Swift, but he wasn’t having any of it.

“Ladies and gentlemen, you have got to be out of your motherf—king mind if you think I want any smoke with that fanbase,” he said. “Also, Taylor is a saint and very nice to me. And [her boyfriend] Travis [Kelce] is my bro.”

While Swift is incredibly popular at the moment, she’s also somewhat of a polarizing figure, as there are some people like Tennant out there who simply do not understand her music. Her fans are so obsessively loyal to her, however, that any criticisms will likely do little to hamper her appeal.