Courtney Love Says Taylor Swift Is ‘Not Interesting as an Artist’

Courtney Love is not a Swiftie.

The Hole frontwoman sat down for an interview with UK publication The Standard recently, where she opened up about which female artists she likes (Patti Smith, Nina Simone, PJ Harvey and Debbie Harry) and which ones she doesn’t, leading with Taylor Swift.

“Taylor is not important. She might be a safe space for girls, and she’s probably the Madonna of now, but she’s not interesting as an artist,” Love told the outlet, before adding that she’s growing tired of Coachella 2024 headliner Lana Del Rey. “I haven’t liked Lana since she covered a John Denver song, and I think she should really take seven years off,” she said. “Up until ‘Take Me Home Country Roads’ I thought she was great. When I was recording my new album, I had to stop listening to her as she was influencing me too much.”

Lastly, Love said that she’s not a fan of Madonna either. “I don’t like her and she doesn’t like me. I loved Desperately Seeking Susan, but for the city of New York as much as her,” she said.

While Love is quick to criticize the women she doesn’t like, she also has a history for standing up for women in music. Back in March 2023, the 59-year-old rocker wrote an op-ed for the Guardian aimed at the lack of female representation in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The piece, titled, “Why Are Women So Marginalised by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?,” opens with Love describing her lifelong obsession with rock n’ roll by stating, “I got into this business to write great songs and have fun.”

Love said that the 2023 nominations provided another reminder of “just how extraordinary a woman must be to make it into the ol’ boys club,” noting that more women were nominated this year than at any time in the organization’s 40-year history. That group included Kate Bush, Cyndi Lauper, Sheryl Crow and Missy Elliott, as well as the White Stripes’ drummer Meg White and New Order keyboardist Gillian Gilbert.

“If the Rock Hall is not willing to look at the ways it is replicating the violence of structural racism and sexism that artists face in the music industry, if it cannot properly honour what visionary women artists have created, innovated, revolutionised and contributed to popular music – well, then let it go to hell in a handbag,” Love concluded the piece.