Did singer Taylor Swift "bid farewell" to music because she is "tired of" the criticism and being called "woke"? No, that's not true: This claim originated from an article on a satirical website known for publishing fabricated content. There is no such announcement on the artist's official website. There is otherwise no publicly available or credible evidence to support this claim.
The claim appeared in an article (archived here) published by Spacexmania.com on May 16, 2024, under the title "Breaking: Taylor Swift Bids Farewell to Music, 'I'm Tired of The Crticism And Being Called Woke.'" It began:
In a stunning development that's rocked the bedrock of pop culture, Taylor Swift, the songstress known for her ability to turn heartbreaks into platinum records, has announced her retirement from music. Swift declared she's hanging up her guitar and glittery outfits to escape the relentless branding of 'woke' and to evade the sharp arrows of public criticism that have increasingly targeted her over her illustrious career.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
(Source: Spacexmania.com screenshot taken on Wed June 5 14:17:40 2024 UTC)
The article has a typo in its headline, making it look less than professional: Criticism is misspelled "crticism." This article also did not cite any credible sources that could substantiate this claim.
The "About Satire" section on the "Disclaimer" page (archived here) of the SpaceXMania.com website, in part reads:
Please note that the article under the category 'SATIRE' are satirical in nature and are not meant to be taken seriously. These articles are meant to be humorous and are often entirely made up. We make no claim that the information presented in these articles is true or accurate.
Lead Stories did a search using keywords on Google, visible here, and found no credible documents or reporting to corroborate the claim. On Swift's own website, there was no such announcement, just a list of upcoming concerts.
Lead Stories reached out to Taylor Swift's publicist for a statement regarding the validity of this claim. This fact check will be updated if a response is received.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks mentioning the SpaceXMania website and Taylor Swift can be read here.
