Well, there are all kinds of singers with all kinds of on-stage personae. Vince Furnier/Alice Cooper played a psycho killer on stage, but was always careful to show himself as a pretty normal guy in real life.He’d have gladly TOLD you the guy on stage was a character, that he was just doing a schtick.
Other performers try hard to maintain a pose 24/7.
Sure. I believe Kesha is/was the same way – presented herself as a crazy party girl on stage but then openly stated in interviews that her stage persona was just that. I think that’s different from someone running a 24/7 social media and marketing campaign to be seen as whatever.
I’m not reading “hating black people and raping cheerleaders” into it, those are the literal words you posted. It’s an incredibly unfair comparison, regardless of how you tried to explain it.
Shrug I explained it wasn’t meant to be taken literally. If you want to take it literally and be mad, knock yourself out.
To quote a song from the late Tim Wilson: “If you’ve been married 4 times then maybe it’s you.”
You literally made the comparison between writing songs about a bad breakup and writing songs about white supremacy and cheerleader rape. Trying to defend a completely unreasonable comparison by saying that it was not meant to be taken literally doesn’t work. If you didn’t want to compare her songs to songs about hating black people and raping cheerleaders, you shouldn’t have compared her songs to hating black people and raping cheerleaders.
Rage on, kiddo 
I won’t pretend to know much about Taylor Swift. I’m not really a fan of her music, I don’t read that much gossip press, and I don’t listen to her lyrics too closely.
I assume the song lyrics are somewhere between greatly exaggerated for effect and completely made up. I can’t draw any conclusions from those.
Ms. Taylor seemed grounded enough to listen to her parents early in her career and to manage her career extremely well as she’s gotten older. This weighs against any suggestion she is crazy.
There is a widely acknowledged “feud” between her and Kay Perry related to Ms. Perry poaching a backup dancer from Ms. Swift. Maybe this is completely made up for PR purposes – see the Kanye West feud over the “made that bitch famous” song. If it’s not made up, it suggests that Ms. Swift believes she should exercise control over her backup dancers’ careers. I have a real problem with her believing that her backup dancers owe her fealty and shouldn’t be free to pursue a better opportunity when one presents itself. The right answer to “my backup dancer is leaving” is either to congratulate them on accomplishing something good for their life or to ask why and make the backup dancer a better offer. The right answer is not to trash the backup dancer’s new employer. Maybe Ms. Taylor’s reaction suggests that she has real trust issues and that both Ms. Perry and the dancer really hurt her. I could trust issues being an outgrowth of people trying to take advantage of her youth and inexperience as her fame grew. Maybe I’d be the same way if I were in her shoes but I hope I’d be able to overcome it as I grew up.
Ms. Swift comes across as guarded but intelligent in interviews. She doesn’t much let people know how she really feels. She manages her persona closely. I thought she did an amazing job on the stand in the groping lawsuit. She seems really smart to me.
Ms. Taylor doesn’t seem to punch down. She writes songs about her famous exes and Katy Perry. They have platforms to defend themselves. Ms. Taylor didn’t go after the groping DJ until he sued her. She never criticized the dancer who left her even though whatever bad feelings she had about Katy Perry could also have been at least partially directed at the dancer. I think this shows strength of character, rather than just a recognition that punching down would hurt her brand.
When Kesha’s career was on hold due to a lawsuit with her producer over sexual assault allegations, Ms. Taylor gave Kesha money to get by. Other people criticized Ms. Taylor for not speaking out against sexual assault. I think her actions probably helped Kesha more than hollow words. Good for Ms. Swift. This was a classy gesture.
Ms. Swift isn’t public about her politics. Maybe this is because she has no strong political views and doesn’t want to be judged due to them or because she fears having undue influence. I could understand showing restraint for these reasons. Unfortunately, I believe she’s smart enough to have real views. If she’s withholding them, I’m guessing it’s because one way or another, her views would limit her appeal and might hurt her career. If I had already made the money she had made, I’d like to think that standing for my principles would outweigh my need to protect my financial interests. If I’m right, refusing to engage in politics doesn’t speak particularly well for her.
Other than John Mayer, all of her public exes have the types of rumors that would put them in a position to benefit from a “mutual bearding relationship.” I can think of at least a couple of the men who’ve had multiple rumored fake relationships besides her and persistent gay rumors. She has a rumored long-term girlfriend I won’t name but it’s easy to find and obvious. Again, all rumors/gossip.
If you are trying to be a heart throb for women, nothing makes you seem more manly man than being an asshole. It’s not about being a terrible boyfriend. It’s about being the sort of man who can break a woman’s heart and have her still pine after him. I mean, people don’t write songs or seethe about exes who left them with indifference. Being wronged and seething about it shows passion and a longing for someone worth longing for.
I think the Mayer and Hiddleston things may have been more general PR than any sort of effort to cover for sexuality. The relationships with her and Katy Perry probably offered John some professional opportunities and some good PR after his previous meltdowns. Though Swift seems to have the most rumors about having “PR relationships,” at least exclusively, it’s not uncommon in showbiz. Taylor Lautner, Harry Styles, Aaron Rodgers, Bradley Cooper, Zack Efron, and many others appear to go that route. It’s also been rumored about all of Dicaprio’s models and Clooney’s serial relationships (gossip sites always joke about “the contract’s up” when any of these people breakup).
Natalie Maines being public with her politics didn’t help the Dixie Chicks much. Perhaps Taylor Swift decided that she doesn’t need the headaches if her views happen to run counter those of large swaths of her fans. Being generally a lefty (ISTM) with a lot of righty fans, there’s not much upside to being very vocal about her politics.