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For almost half her life, Martha harbored an obsessive attachment to Taylor Swift.
But the 32-year-old hit a breaking point last May when Swift began dating the 1975 front man Matty Healy.
Suddenly, it felt like leaving a cult.
Martha deleted her accounts, blocked Swift on Spotify, and drove her merch down to the nearest Goodwill.
I felt less alone, says Martha.
It was liberating knowing people cared more about these issues than their idolatry.
After the release of Swifts latest album,The Tortured Poets Department, it climbed another 7,000.
I just feel a little disillusioned with her now, he adds.
When we say Eat the rich, Taylor is not an exception.
Are you for real?!)
and the ways her concerts have impacted lawmakers in the Philippines.
In one of the sub-Reddits early posts, a member described the forum as a collective awakening.
But some have handled the exodus from Taylors world worse than others.
Horrified and Emotional, one member posted four months ago, after Taylor was spotted dining with Brittany Mahomes.
Im sobbing as Im unfollowing her on everything.
Thinking about boxing up all my merch as well.
She really is the industry of music.
Ruthless and inhumane, said another r/SwiftlyNeutral member a few days later.
I turned almost all of my friends into Swifties, she says.
I made it my entire personality.
A large influx of toxic fans made the entire community worse, Samantha says.
It took a while for her fellow Swiftie friends to accept her indifference.
It was a long time before people stopped buying me Taylor Swift merch for my birthday, she says.
No other artist quite hits the same.
Whats happening in Palestine is atrocious, and her refusal to use her powerful voice is questionable.
I absolutely see the masses recognizing that celebrities cannot be trusted, she says.
They are in it for themselves, and they simply cannot relate to the struggle of other people.
She herself did not go from rags to riches.
Martha knows the struggle.
Two days after the albums release, she emailed me: OK, I caved lol.
This weekend, she heard the album in its entirety while scrolling through the sub-Reddit.
So was the playback worth it?
No, she says.
Listening to someone whos perpetually 15 has aged me.
But I just couldnt help myself.
