Todd Rundgren has delivered a blistering assessment of Taylor Swift, calling the pop star “the apotheosis of mediocrity” and arguing that there is a case that she “ruined music.”
The singer-songwriter and producer behind “Hello It’s Me” and “I Saw the Light” made the comments during a recent interview, where he was asked which present-day artist he would target if he were producing an album intended to make fun of someone.
“Taylor Swift, of course,” Rundgren replied. “There’s an argument to be made that she ruined music. It’s an understandable phenomenon.”
Why Rundgren singled out Swift
The question drew on Rundgren’s history with Meat Loaf’s “Bat Out of Hell,” which he produced in 1977. Rundgren famously said he did not care whether the album succeeded because he wanted to make fun of Bruce Springsteen.
Turning his attention to Swift, Rundgren offered an uncompromising verdict on her position in contemporary pop. “To me, Taylor Swift is the apotheosis of mediocrity,” he said, before adding: “It’s the era of the female artists.”
Rundgren then linked the rise of the world’s biggest female artists to changes he believes took place in entertainment spending during the 1990s. In his telling, boys increasingly directed their money toward video games rather than music, prompting the music business to focus more heavily on young female consumers.
“Back in the ’90s, boys stopped spending money on music and started spending it on video games, and that left the music market with, ‘Well, where do we go here?’” Rundgren said. “And they said, ‘Well, there’s all these young girls and they’ve got their allowances, too.’”
He continued: “Why don’t we start making music for young girls instead of Pearl Jam or something like that?” Rundgren presented that shift as his explanation for why female performers now occupy many of music’s biggest positions.
Swift’s latest release sets Spotify records
Rundgren’s criticism arrives alongside major new streaming milestones for Swift. Her most recent musical release, “The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore,” is the deluxe version of her 2025 album.
A new song from that release, “Patient Zero,” established a Spotify record for the most-streamed track by a female artist in a single day so far this year. Swift also generated more Spotify streams than any other female artist in one day during 2026, giving her two records connected to the deluxe release.
Swift received another distinction at the 2026 MTV VMAs, where she was presented with the inaugural Artist-Director Award.
Those achievements place Rundgren’s remarks in stark contrast with Swift’s current streaming performance and industry recognition. While he characterized her success as part of a wider change in the music market, her latest release has continued to produce record-setting results.