Controversial pop musician Taylor Swift is getting rave reviews for her new album folklore—her second release since left-wing billionaire George Soros helped finance the hostile acquisition of her music catalog in 2019.
"Her emotional acuity has never been more assured," the Guardian wrote in a five-star review of Swift's performance. NME praised the album's "elegant melodies" and "glittering production."
Swift, who is best known for writing songs about failed relationships, was heartbroken after the Soros family backed ex-manager Scooter Braun's successful bid to acquire the rights to her music catalog for $330 million. Soros and Braun are both major donors to the Democratic Party and other left-wing activist groups.
This heartbreak is woven through nearly all of the 16 tracks on folklore. For example, Swift laments the purchase of her music catalog in "hoax": "You knew it still hurts underneath my scars / From when they pulled me apart / But what you did was just as dark." In this case, we can all assume the "you" is Mr. Soros himself.
Swift continues to rage at Soros in "illicit affairs," an emotionally complex examination of the secret scheme to steal the rights to her music: "Look at this godforsaken mess that you made me / You showed me colors you know I can't see with anyone else / Don't call me 'kid,' don't call me 'baby' / Look at this idiotic fool that you made me."
The album's lyrics are a creative manifestation of public comments Swift made prior to the release of folklore. The musician lashed out at the Soros family while accepting an award at Billboard's "Women in Music" event in December, just weeks after Braun exercised his legal right to ban Swift from performing a medley of her songs at the American Music Awards. She accused the liberal billionaire of having "enabled" Braun's malicious actions.
"This just happened to me without my approval, consultation, or consent," Swift said at the Billboard event. "After I was denied the chance to purchase my music outright, my entire catalog was sold to Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings in a deal that I’m told was funded by the Soros family, 23 Capital, and the Carlyle Group."
Swift attacked Soros again in April after learning that Braun was planning to release a live album of a radio concert she performed in 2008. "It looks to me like Scooter Braun and his financial backers, 23 Capital, Alex Soros, and the Soros family and The Carlyle Group, have seen the latest balance sheets and realized that paying $330 million for my music wasn't exactly a wise choice and they need money," Swift wrote in a post on Instagram. "In my opinion, just another case of shameless greed in the time of Coronavirus. So tasteless, but very transparent."
Soros, 89—whose ex-girlfriend Adriana Ferreyr is only seven years older than Swift—knows a thing or two about painful breakups. In 2012, Soros reportedly offered Ferreyr's cousin $250,000 to persuade his former lover to drop a $50 million lawsuit. The lawsuit alleged that Soros choked and slapped Ferreyr during an argument after he reneged on a promise to buy her a luxury condo in Manhattan.