Lots of Backlash, Some Love for New Taylor Song

As promised after days of hype, Taylor Swift released a new single Thursday night. Reactions to "Look What You Made Me Do"—and Swift in general:

• Swift has made it clear that her upcoming album, Reputation, will signal a shift in her previous sweetness-and-light persona, and the New York Times notes that the new single does indeed go to "a darker place." The first single appears to place the blame for this shift on Swift's enemies.
• Specifically, "Look What You Made Me Do" calls out Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, and if you're not up to date on that feud, BuzzFeed writer Anne Helen Petersen tweets that today is a good day to read BuzzFeed's epic January article on the subject—and on how Swift has based her entire career on "playing the victim."

• Bustle has a number of articles side-eyeing Swift: this one and this one serve up reminders of all the reasons she's "problematic," including accusations of cultural appropriation and fake feminism, and this one, published after the single dropped, says it's clear she's learned nothing—and certainly isn't apologizing for any of her past behavior.
• Of course, quite a few Taylor fans are in love with the "savage" new anthem, and Refinery29 rounds up some of the best Twitter reactions on that side.
• But the Grapevine rounds up reactions on the other side, particularly from black Twitter users.
• And Bustle rounds up a list of things listeners think Swift might be copying in the new single, from West himself to Beyonce to ... Arya Stark.
• Yes, but how is the actual song? Billboard's critic notes that it "slams a ton of different sonic ideas on the table" in a way that's not perfect, but says this is still a "gloriously spiteful opening statement" for her upcoming album.
• Reviews, however, are most definitely mixed: Vulture, for example, complains that "Look What You Made Me Do" is "dead on arrival."
• Swift will be debuting the song live at the VMAs Sunday, MTV announced.

(More Taylor Swift stories.)