Kim Gordon just made one of the most divisive, incendiary statements one can make in 2024: she doesn’t like Taylor Swift.
In an interview with The Guardian published Wednesday (July 17), the musician revealed that — in spite of the “Karma” singer being at a popularity apex thanks to the Eras Tour’s prowess and The Tortured Poets Department‘s 12-week reign atop the Billboard 200 — she part of what appears to be an increasingly smaller group of people who don’t identify as Swifties.
“I don’t know if it’s controversial but I’m not really a fan of Taylor Swift,” she told the publication when asked for her most polarizing pop culture opinion. “I couldn’t tell you what her music sounded like, actually.”
Gordon did, however, offer up another musician she can get behind. “When it comes to pop icons, I would choose Billie Eilish,” she said.
The interview comes just a day ahead of the former Sonic Youth band member’s July 18 and 19 performances at the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ Volume festival. Her remarks about Swift follow harsher criticism from stars like Dave Grohl and Courteney Love; at a recent Foo Fighters concert, the rocker implied that the pop star doesn’t perform live, while the Hole frontwoman told The Standard in April that Swift “is not important … she’s not interesting as an artist.”
In both cases, Swifties united to defend the “Fortnight” musician’s name online.
As for musical icons of the past, Gordon has a couple that she looked up to. “As a teenager, I listened to Billie Holiday and Joni Mitchell but I never actually thought it was possible to become a musician,” she told the publication. “There are certainly artists, but not necessarily female artists, who I was influenced by – artists like Lucio Fontana or Yves Klein, even Andy Warhol.”
