Did Taylor Swift Really Try to Stop Charli XCX from Getting #1?

In June 2024, Salon published a piece titled “Fans are accusing Taylor Swift of intentionally blocking Charli XCX from a #1 debut”. That sounds like a big deal. To ensure it, we can use the SMELL analysis, and look at this article more carefully and figure out if it’s really trustworthy.

Source

The article is from Salon, a website that posts opinion pieces and pop culture news. Salon was been created in 1995. In recent time, it was believed by a lots news viewers. The author of the article mostly uses fan tweets as sources. So here comes a question, are fans really reliable?

Using the PIE test to determine that. First, for Proximity, fans are not close to Taylor or Charli's life and relationship, they’re just guessing. Second, Independence. It is obvious that fans always support the one artist they like and might be biased. Third, fans aren't professional music experts or reporters, and they are just on social media, which means they cannot be considered as Expertise.

Motivation

Salon is an online news company so that they write this article most likely for clicks. In the headline it creates drama between two popular artists and makes fans want to argue with it. The fans who were quoted probably just wanted to support Charli and were upset she didn’t reach #1. But actually no one could proof that Taylor tried to block her.

Evidence

The only evidence given is that both artists released music on the same day. That’s not a big deal because most artists release songs on Fridays. There’s no chart data, no official plans, and no quote from anyone involved, especially Taylor and Charli. So without more facts, the article’s claim doesn’t feel strong.

Logic

We can review the whole logic cycle of this article.

Taylor and Charli released albums on the same day → Taylor is more popular → Charli didn’t get #1 → Taylor did it on purpose.

But that doesn’t really make sense. Taylor Swift is so popular that she could be #1 no matter what time she releases album. Also, artists plan release dates weeks or months ahead of time. The article doesn’t give real reasons to believe Taylor was trying to hurt Charli.

Left Out

There are several Left Out of the article:

1. No response or opinion from Charli XCX—we don’t even know if she cares.

2. No information on when Taylor’s album release was actually planned.

3. No mention of how the music industry and charts really work.

4. No quotes from two artists or their agent and company.

   
   

Without this info, the story feels very one-sided, and can be considered as biased.

Conclusion

After this SMELL analysis, we see that this article is not very trustworthy. It relies only on fan opinions, not expert facts. It doesn’t give solid proof, and it left out important voices. In the end, it looks like the article was made to get attention, but not to tell the full story to their audience.