Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.

So announced Taylor Swift on Instagram, and the internet promptly imploded. Three days later, the post has over thirty-four million likes, amongst them the Prince and Princess of Wales. Because – as her fans would say with utmost sincerity, and her critics with some bite – Taylor Swift is worthy of royal attention.

Nevertheless, the attention Swift’s news is receiving is not all positive, which is hardly surprising in our ultra-opinionated day and age.

Her post's caption was the first thing to receive backlash. One X user’s observation that it may be ‘the worst caption of all time ever’ has gained one hundred and eighty thousand likes.

Others probed at the caption's deeper implications. TikTok user carriec0urogen discussed how she was ‘so over billionaires trying to cosplay as average working-class Americans’.

Swift’s status as a billionaire has been a source of controversy since it was first reported almost two years ago. In October 2023, Forbes announced that, thanks to the value of her music catalog and earnings from her Eras Tour, Swift had joined the list of US billionaires.

Fans have defended her by arguing that, given the majority of her wealth can be attributed to her songs and performances, she’s more moral than other billionaires. They also point out that she’s been involved in philanthropic activities, such as giving her workers bonuses and donating to food banks. Her critics argue that no matter how much charity work she does, being a billionaire is inherently unethical, regardless of ifs and buts.

Image Credit: iHeartRadioCA from Wikimedia

The announcement of Swift’s engagement has also sparked jokes about her private jet usage. Swift’s private jet has been a running joke amongst both her fans and her critics since it was discovered that she flew in it 98 times in 2023 alone.

One X user posted a photo of a plane captioned ‘Taylor Swift going down the aisle at her wedding’ and received over four hundred thousand likes. Comments included quips such as 'I don't know about you, but I'm feeling CO2'. However, Swift's defenders have been quick to point out that as the pop star doesn't even rank in the top 30 celebrity private jet users, making jokes about her wedding not only unfunny but inaccurate.

American Eagle Ad Controversy

The controversies don’t stop there. One day after their engagement was announced, Travis Kelce posted an American Eagle ad on Instagram. The brand recently received backlash for their ad with Sydney Sweeney, whose pun about ‘great jeans’ – playing on the homophone 'great genes' – was criticized by those who thought the language sounded harmfully eugenic.

Kelce's ad has left a sour taste in some people’s mouths, even amongst Swift’s own fans. One person commented on his post that ‘everything’s a cash grab,’ while another pleaded, ‘Travis read the room, sweetie’.

The ad has also heightened suspicion that Swift and Kelce’s engagement – and perhaps even their whole relationship – is simply an extended PR stunt meant to benefit their public image and bank accounts. Others have argued that such paranoia has no basis and simply stems from people wanting a reason to dislike the couple.

Image Credit: Erik Drost from Wikimedia

Of course, this isn’t to say the response to Swift and Kelce’s engagement has been entirely negative – far from it. Swift’s fans have not been at all shy about vocalising their delight.

One X user posted about how ‘Taylor Swift getting married isn’t so exciting because marriage is the most important thing. It’s exciting because she has spent decades singing about the kind of love she has always wanted and been ridiculed for it. She has been publicly vulnerable about wanting to be wanted’. Indeed, many are praising Swift, pointing out that despite being in her mid-thirties, she never settled and searched for a relationship with someone she was truly happy with.

Despite the many conflicting opinions, no one can deny that Taylor Swift has once again caught the world’s attention. If her engagement post alone has caused this much conversation, it’s difficult to imagine the stir her actual wedding will create.