When Kanye West stole Taylor Swift’s microphone at the 2009 MTV Video Music Award, the audience booed the rapper, but on stage, the singer thought they were against her.

In the documentary Miss Americana ( directed by Lana Wilson ), Taylor Swift, 31, recounted her feelings on stage 11 years ago: “For someone who has built her faith based on the applause of the audience, The protesting crowd was like a traumatic experience.” At that time, Kanye West grabbed the microphone when Taylor received the “Best Female Artist Video” award and said that Beyonce deserved more. The incident opened a decade-long friction between Taylor and Kanye, and had a great impact on Taylor.

Not just the story with Kanye, the documentary about Taylor Swift tells about her emotional journey of 13 years with music. The film focuses on the career-changing events of the “country music princess”, based on videos filmed at home, in the studio, and behind the scenes. In the recorded family video, Taylor was happy to receive her first guitar and perform on small stages. She demonstrated her ability to compose since she was 12 years old, passionate about turning stories in her diary into melodies throughout her teens. “Country Music Princess” is familiar with the image of a girl playing a guitar, singing self-composed songs about pure feelings of love and jealousy.

At the age of 23, the singer You Belong With Me gradually switched to Pop music. At the age of 25, the female singer won the Grammy “Album of the Year” with 1989 . Having many conflicts with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, being called fake, scheming, and liking to play the victim… Taylor gradually appeared less and less, focusing on music. She buried her previous image of a pure girl, appearing with the image of “snake queen” with the album Reputation (2017) full of emotions of anger, revenge and dealing with public opinion through music.

Despite going through ups and downs and constantly changing her image, Taylor Swift is still a girl passionate about music and has excellent lyric writing ability. In Miss Americana , she said: “Every person in the music industry has a special forte. And storytelling is my forte. I know, if I didn’t write my own music, I wouldn’t be in this position”.

Many intimate images of Taylor’s daily life appear in the film. The female singer shared that she once had an eating disorder when she was criticized for being too skinny and her body was not beautiful. No matter how hard she tried, she found she could never meet all the standards of beauty. In the end, Taylor was happy when she ate comfortably, had enough energy to complete the show and felt more positive. The director skillfully combined the images of Taylor beaming on stage and happily interacting with fans with footage with a sadder atmosphere: Taylor was quiet behind the stage, with no one to call to share. , Taylor was bothered by fans and paparazzi. The singer’s mother appears a lot in the film, like a close friend, always worrying and protecting her. The female singer also shared her secret love story with the image of her boyfriend Joe Alwyn’s face hidden: “I fell in love with someone who had a normal, balanced, discreet life… I’m not happy. like how I was trained to be happy before. It’s the feeling that no one interferes. It’s just us, and we’re happy.

Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn in the movie “Miss Americana”. Photo: Netflix.

Taylor continued to speak out in support of feminism and express her political views in Miss Americana . The female singer expressed her difficult and tiring feelings when she sued host David Mueller for groping her while taking photos at an event. A year later, on stage of the Reputation tour, Taylor recalled the day she won the lawsuit and felt lucky to have spoken out and been protected. She worries about victims who never dare to speak or are not believed.

Trained to be a good girl, Taylor was used to not imposing her opinions on others, especially speaking out about politics. She stayed out of the 2016 US Presidential election and was criticized for not calling on her millions of fans to oppose Donald Trump. In 2018, Taylor spoke out about politics for the first time when she was older and stronger. She overcame her father’s and management team’s dissuasion to defend her beliefs and fight for what is right. At the height of her fame, Taylor called on fans to oppose Marsha Blackburn in the election in Tennessa – where Taylor’s family lives, because she did not protect the rights of women and gay people. In the MV You Need To Calm Down on the album Lover , Taylor called on everyone to join the proposal for the Equality Act to support gay rights and reached more than 500,000 signatures.

Miss Americana is named after a song from Taylor Swift’s album Lover – Miss Americana and the Breakheart Prince . In the song, Taylor integrates political elements with a high school love story, expressing disappointment at the disappearance of American values of freedom and democracy. Growing up in a wealthy white family, Taylor revered America and held proud Independence Day parties. After Donald Trump was elected President, the singer no longer held the National Day party and talked about his love for America because he supported the opposition party.

The film is 85 minutes long and was broadcast on the Netflix online system on January 31. The work received many positive comments from experts. Writer Wesley Morris of The New York Times commented: “Lana Wilson has captured the image of Taylor Swift at an extremely convincing turning point.” On Rotten Tomato , the film currently has a 90% positive rating from 51 critics, and a 98% positive rating from 1,140 viewers.

Thu Thao ( compilation )