**First and foremost I am not at all trying to invalidate Taylor’s feelings of abandonment and isolation during that year. It is undeniable that she pulled back her public presence significantly. I believe her when she says she felt the need to hide away and she was afraid to take phone calls. I believe her when she says she thought her career was over. I believe her when she says she thought that people wanted her to go away. All of this is understandable considering the way social and traditional media was discussing & dismissing her during that time.**
However, I often see swifties interpreting and quoting the line “nobody physically saw me for a year” from the Miss Americana documentary as literal fact and/or claiming that she was abandoned by her fans. In this week’s Time interview she says “I didn’t leave a rental house for a year.” While this may be how she felt, these are not literally true statements.
The following is a timeline of her public activity & announcements from July 2016 to December 2017. (I have not included pap pics or articles about Tom Hiddleston/Joe Alwyn, or the social media posts wishing her friends happy birthday and promoting their music.)
July 13, 2016: [Calvin Harris goes on a twitter rant](https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a37769/calvin-harris-taylor-swift-this-is-what-you-came-for-tweets/) about Taylor which results in [#taylorswiftisoverparty trending on Twitter](https://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/slideshows/taylor-swift-is-over-party-twitter-users-celebrate-singers-downf/).
July 17, 2016: [Kim K releases snippets](https://people.com/celebrity/kim-kardashian-releases-phone-call-between-taylor-swift-and-kanye-west/) of the infamous phone call recording on Snapchat, #kimexposedtaylorparty [trends on twitter](https://www.complex.com/music/a/chris-mench/kim-exposed-taylor-party-memes-kim-kardashian-taylor-swift-drama), Taylor responds with a [notes app screenshot](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/07/was-taylor-swift-betrayed-by-her-own-notes-app.html)that includes the infamous “I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative,” Kim tweets about [National Snake Day](https://twitter.com/yuki07_twt/status/1241228136353652736), Taylor’s comments are flooded with the snake emoji, and #taylorswiftisoverparty trends on twitter
Aug 30, 2016: Taylor misses the MTV VMAs because she’s called for[jury duty in Nashville](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/gossip/la-et-mg-taylor-swift-jury-duty-nashville-20160830-snap-story.html), where she signs autographs and takes photos with fellow jurors.
Sept 9, 2016: [Taylor sits front row at the runway show for Gigi Hadid’s collab with Tommy Hilfiger.](https://www.vogue.com/article/tommy-hilfiger-fall-2016-runway-cast-gigi-hadid)
Oct 13, 2016: Taylor attends a private [Kings of Leon concert](https://www.eonline.com/news/801680/taylor-swift-enjoys-private-kings-of-leon-concert-with-lorde-dakota-johnson-cara-delevingne-and-more-squad-sisters) with Lorde, Dakota Johnson, Cara Delivigne, Zoë Kravitz, Suki Waterhouse, Lily Donaldson, and Martha Hunt.
Oct 22, 2016: [Taylor performs at the F1 US Grand Prix in Austin Texas to a cheering crowd of 80,000.](https://youtu.be/EE-qELtt4AQ?si=Wyj79ioUy2_uDvxk)
Oct 24, 2016: [Taylor attends Drake’s 30th birthday party](https://www.etonline.com/news/201110_inside_drake_30th_birthday_party)ft every famous person in LA that Drake could think of.
Oct 31, 2016: [Taylor posts pics from a Halloween/birthday party for Kennedy Raye Black, featuring Gigi Hadid, Lily Donaldson, Camila Cabello, and Martha Hunt. She thanks Ryan Reynolds for lending her a costume costume, which is the actual suit used in the movie Deadpool, which at the time held the record for highest grossing R rated film.](https://www.vogue.com/article/taylor-swift-deadpool-halloween-costume)
Oct 20, 2016: Little Big Town releases “Better Man,” a song Taylor originally wrote for her 2012 album *Red*
Nov 1, 2016: Taylor makes a post revealing herself as the “Better Man” songwriter, and wishes Little Big Town luck at the Country Music Association Awards (CMAs).
Nov 1, 2016: [Taylor’s surprise appearance at the CMAs](https://www.eonline.com/news/806701/taylor-swift-makes-surprise-appearance-at-the-2016-cma-awards) to present Entertainer of the Year is met with cheers. [She hosts an after party](https://tasteofcountry.com/taylor-swift-cma-awards-afterparty-little-big-town/) ft Little Big Town, Kelsea Ballerini, and Elle King.
Nov 2, 2016: “Better Man” jumps to #1 on the iTunes chart.
Nov 8, 2016: [Taylor throws Lorde a star studded 20th birthday party](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/taylor-swift-lorde-20th-birthday-party) ft everyone from Lorde’s New Zealand friends to Karlie Kloss to Mae Whitman to Aziz Ansari.
Nov 23, 2016: [Taylor goes to see Kinky Boots on Broadway and hangs with Todrick Hall and the cast.](https://playbill.com/article/exclusive-see-taylor-swift-put-on-her-kinky-boots)
Nov 24, 2016: [Taylor celebrates Thanksgivingat her Rhode Island beach mansion](https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2016/11/131036/taylor-swift-squad-2016-thanksgiving-photos)with Todrick Hall, Martha Hunt, Leah McCarthy, Lily Donaldson, and her brother Austin.
Dec 8, 2016: The song “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever,” a collab with Zayn for the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack, is released.
Dec 9, 2016: “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” [debuts at #1 on the iTunes chart](https://headlineplanet.com/home/2016/12/09/zayn-taylor-swifts-dont-wanna-live-forever-rockets-1-us-itunes-sales-chart/).
Jan 27, 2017: “I Don’t Want To Live Forever” music video is released.
Jan 29, 2017: [Behind the scenes video](https://youtu.be/QIUWI7dfnC0?si=-fT7J2SRqAMXFjij)for the “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever” music video is released. The song then peaks at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Feb 5, 2017: [Taylor performs at the DirecTV Pre-Super Bowl concert](https://youtu.be/b8lUwqlMoxU?si=JflRz4oET8h1gFBe), marking her live debut of “Better Man” and “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever.” The cheering crowd of 9000 sings Zayn’s part of IDWLF. She announces that this is her only show planned for 2017.
Mar 2, 2017: [Ed Sheeran shares that Taylor will release music toward the end of the year.](https://ew.com/music/2017/03/02/ed-sheeran-teases-taylor-swift-next-album/)
April 4, 2017: [ET reports that Taylor is working on her new album in Nashville.](https://www.nickiswift.com/55027/taylor-swift-reportedly-working-new-music-nashville/)Their source confirms that Taylor plans to release her next album by the end of the year.
June 9, 2017: [Taylor allows platforms other than Apple Music, which has enjoyed exclusivity over her streaming catalogue since 2014, to stream her albums.](https://amp.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/09/taylor-swift-returns-to-streaming-services-spotify-google-play-music)Her music returns to streaming on the same day that Katy Perry drops her new album *Witness.* Swifties rejoice.
June 21, 2017: [In the week after their return to streaming, four of Taylor’s five albums return to the Billboard 200 and Forbes reports that week of streaming generated more than $400K in revenue](https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2017/06/27/why-did-taylor-swift-really-rejoin-spotify/amp/) (total, not just Taylor’s share).
[July 13, 2017: Taylor’s final social media post pre-blackout is a promo of Selena Gomez’s “Fetish” Throughout the last year she’s been posting well received birthday wishes for her friends and promos for their music, I just didn’t think it was needed for the timeline.]
Aug 14, 2017: [The legal battle over groper David Mueller’s attempt to sue Taylor for damages ends in favor of Taylor’s countersuit, and she is awarded $1, a massive symbolic victory.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift_sexual_assault_trial)
Aug 18, 2017: [Taylor blacks out social media.](https://time.com/4906762/taylor-swift-deletes-social-media/?amp=true) Fans excitedly note that it is the 3 year anniversary of Taylor’s announcement of her fifth album, *1989*, and #TS6IsComing trends worldwide on twitter.
Aug 23, 2017: After several cryptic snake videos, [Taylor shares the cover art and release date for her sixth album, *Reputation*,](https://variety.com/2017/music/news/taylor-swift-new-album-reputation-1202535676/amp/) and announces that the first single will drop the next night.
Aug 24: “Look What You Made Me Do” is released.
Aug 27: [Taylor premieres the LWYMMD music video at the MTV VMAs](https://www.ibtimes.com/taylor-swift-lwymmd-music-video-premiere-how-social-media-reacted-2583254). On YouTube it gets 43.2 million views in the first 24 hours alone.
Sept 3, 2017: “…Ready For It?” is released after a [preview on Saturday Night Football](https://www.sbnation.com/platform/amp/lookit/2017/9/3/16248854/taylor-swift-ready-for-it-espn-college-football-better-than-look-what-you-made-me-do).
Sept 5, 2017: [LWYMMD reaches #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and breaks the weekly streaming record for a song by a woman.](https://www.billboard.com/pro/taylor-swift-look-what-you-made-me-do-number-one-hot-100/)
Sept 7, 2017: Taylor announces a new video-on-demand channel in partnership with AT&T and DirectTV called Taylor Swift Now [with an advertisement featuring Andy Samberg.](https://youtu.be/3ZrBYu05OKg?si=9gbLEDJ2n-o9kLPR)
Oct 11, 2017: Taylor announces [The Swift Life app.](https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/11/16457984/taylor-swift-the-swift-life-app-announcement-video-glu)
Oct 20, 2017: [“Gorgeous” is released](https://www.glamour.com/story/taylor-swift-just-released-an-insanely-catchy-new-song-called-gorgeous) featuring the voice of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds’ two year old daughter.
Oct 27, 2017: “…Ready For It?” music video released.
Nov 2, 2017: “Call It What You Want” released with lyric video.
Nov 8, 2017: “Better Man” wins Song of the Year at the CMAs and [Taylor posts her reaction from New York](https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/taylor-swift-reacts-to-cmas-win/), where she is rehearsing for SNL.
Nov 10, 2017: *Reputation* is released, though it is not immediately available on streaming.
Nov 11, 2017: [Taylor is musical guest on SNL.](https://youtu.be/peLow536nNM?si=FkN0t2kKveqBDA1w)
Nov 13, 2017: [Taylor plays “New Year’s Day” live on The Tonight Show as a tribute to Jimmy Fallon’s mother.](https://youtu.be/U8QV5fa7xa4?si=d4XrAKeLyGwZfUpz)
Nov 20, 2017: [Repuation reaches #1 on the Billboard 200, her fifth album to do so. It holds the spot for three weeks and achieves 2017’s biggest week for an album](https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2017/11/21/how-taylor-swifts-reputation-beat-streaming-become-2017-best-selling-album/885170001/).
Nov 28, 2017: Taylor is nominated for 2 Grammys: best country song for “Better Man” and best song for visual media for “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever.”
Dec 1, 2017: *Rep* hits streaming
Dec 4, 2017: [Vogue UK reveals that the Jan issue’s cover star will be Taylor, styled by newly appointed editor in chief Edward Enninful.](https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/taylor-swift-cover-january-vogue-2018)
Dec 6, 2017: [Taylor’s first time featured for Time’s Person of the Year, as one of the Silence Breakers.](https://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2017-silence-breakers/)
Dec 8, 2017: [Taylor performs at iHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball.](https://youtu.be/GAcqX_vUS8A?si=ymmSEbseduO5mxIb)
Dec 13, 2017: General sale begins for the Reputation Stadium Tour. In order to minimize scalpers, Taylor uses Ticketmaster’s new “slow ticketing” program, resulting in [articles predicting that she’d be playing to empty stadiums.](https://nypost.com/2018/01/01/taylor-swifts-reputation-tour-shaping-up-to-be-a-disaster/) Ultimately the slow ticketing program works as designed and [the tour becomes the highest grossing tour in North American history and the third highest grossing female concert tour of all time.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/brittanyhodak/2018/11/30/taylor-swift-breaks-u-s-record-with-reputation-stadium-tour/amp/).
——————-
Okey dokes lol this ended up being way longer than I thought it would be. Turns out TS did a lot more than I thought she did in this time period! The biggest surprise for me is that she was still posting girl squad hangouts through the end of 2016; in my memory that had ended after the Snake Day drama. I also had it in my head that most of her celeb friends turned the backs on her, besides the names on the shirt in the Reputation video, but it seems that she was still hanging out with plenty of big names.
**As I said, I am not trying to diminish her feelings of isolation , and ofc glammed up pictures don’t tell the whole story, but I am glad she was still getting to do fun things and spend time with her friends and not literally hiding alone in a house!**
by nopenopenahnahaha
6 Comments
I wrote this intending to post on the main Taylor sub, but they don’t allow posts with links to youtube videos (?), but I spent too much time on it to just delete it so I put it in True Swifties, but I also hoped for some more objective responses so I thought I’d post it here!
I’m a little embarrassed by how long I spent on it… honestly I thought it’d be quick because I didn’t realize just how much she actually did, and I kept finding more stuff too add, then I’d put so much time into it that I had to finish it lol.
Damn, you really did your homework
Stepping out of the house probably means more like official pap walks, not work functions.
You get an upvote for the sheer amount of work you’ve put into this
The whole of reputation has been heavily re written and exagerated by both Taylor and swifties for entertainment and victimization sake.
I said in the post about the TIME’s article that its fascinating to hear her talk about the whole thing because its clear that she does not have the ability to see the situation objectively (which i dont blame her honestly)
As far as Taylor fellings go, that phone call ruined her career and she was so hated that she had to go into hidding because she was afraid that her physical safety would be compromised, in reality, the whole situation was just another passing hate train, her profesional and personal life seemingly continued as it had before and at the end of it she was equally if not more popular, well liked and powerful than before the whole thing happened.
Is she being over dramatic because thats just her nature? yes. Is that how she actually felt?, yes. Is she exagerating to be able to better craft her image of a rise, fall and rise again?, yes. Is she exagerating to get people to feel even more sorry for her? also yes.
Also, a part of what happened has also been re written if not completly erased from the original narrative of what happened to present Taylor as a sole victim.
The whole thing actually started at the Grammy’s when Taylor gave her speech and complained that Kanye was taking credit for her success, then Kim responded and Taylor changed the narrative to say that she was upset about being called a bitch (Kim also lied about Taylor telling Kanye that she agreed that he made her famous).
So yes, in the years since, and especially in a post Folklore world where Taylor is seemingly the queen of the universe, a lot of what happened has been modified by the her and the fans for the sake of presenting a better story to the public and this is not the only part of her lore that has seen this happen to it.
https://preview.redd.it/ck0xiezmxb5c1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1676548abc621a45f5b84f2bf5746959b1a7b266