Taylor Swift’s former classmate hit with backlash: ‘Looking for clout’

A former classmate of Taylor Swift is facing criticism after she made multiple claims about the singer’s alleged high school experience.

Jessica McLane shared the claims over a series of videos uploaded to TikTok. In the first video, shared in September and captioned: “Everything Ms Swift does is intentional,” McLane began by revealing that she went to Hendersonville High School in Tennessee, the same high school as Swift, and that she and the singer grew up in the same town after Swift’s family relocated from Pennsylvania.

McLane, who revealed that she “just got into Taylor Swift,” recalled the period in 2006 when she was a freshman and Swift was a junior and had just released “Teardrops on my Guitar”. She said Swift “got really big” after the debut of the song and “that’s the year that she left school and got homeschooled”.

However, McLane then claimed that classmates at Hendersonville High School “hated” Swift after she started becoming “super successful”.

“Keep in mind, these are her peers. This isn’t, you know, just random people on the internet,” she continued. “She was literally 16, 17, leaving high school to pursue a career that people were telling her that she could never have.”

McLane also alleged that Swift was writing about individuals who had attended their high school.

“They were still there. And now they have a hit song about them talking about what a sh**ty boyfriend they are,” she said, before adding: “There were a lot of rumours going around about how she got her start in the first place … the fact remains is that there were not a lot of people in high school who had nice things to say about her.”

McLane then claimed that, in 2009, her senior class was invited by Swift to the Country Music Association Awards that year. While the class was “excited,” they also didn’t know why they were invited to the CMAs.

In the video, McLane then recalled how 2009 was the same year that Swift became the youngest artist to receive the entertainer of the year award at just 19, and also won awards for female vocalist of the year, music video of the year and album of the year for Fearless.

“Y’all, she invited us to the CMAs to say ‘f**k you,’” McLane claimed. “And we deserved it. So to Taylor: touché, that was a good one.”

The video also saw McLane share a number of other alleged instances where Swift has been “intentional,” such as her decision to release her newest album Midnights on Kim Kardashian’s birthday.

In a follow-up video, McLane claimed that “jealousy was definitely a thing” because her high school was only 20 minutes from Nashville, and everybody knew somebody “in the music industry, or somebody trying to break into the music industry,” but they were not winning awards like Swift was at the time.

McLane also alleged that there were people in their high school who were “vocally a lot better” than Swift, but they did not achieve fame because they “weren’t Taylor Swift”.

The TikToker’s videos also include her recollections about her fellow classmates’ claims that Swift “bought her fame,” while she also said there were “general rumours” about the singer’s personality.

According to McLane, Swift was “a little rude” when she met her, but she said it was understandable as she claimed she hadn’t known who Swift was at the time.

While the TikToker was unable to show Swift’s yearbook picture in her high school yearbooks, as she claimed the “Bad Blood” singer had dropped out to be homeschooled by that point, she was able to find a group photo of what appeared to be a high school-aged Swift to corroborate her claim that they attended high school at the same time. She also showed a booklet and her ticket from the CMAs.

On TikTok, where McLane’s videos have gone viral, many have accused her of using her connection to Swift to gain internet fame, while others have defended the “Look What You Made Me Do” singer.

“You’re not a fan it’s all over your face, get your lil bit of fame off her though,” one person commented, while another said: “Bringing up high school drama from 2006 is a sure sign of a well-adjusted 32-year-old adult.”

“This woman is just looking for clout,” someone else alleged.

The videos also prompted many fans to come to Swift’s defence on the basis that she is not the same person she was in high school.

“Not a lot of people in high school have nice things to say about anyone,” one person commented under McLane’s video, while another said: “This makes me love her even more! All she ever got was hate and she came out on top in the best way possible.

McLane herself agreed with the defence, writing in the comments: “Who she was in high school doesn’t have anything to do with who she is now either. I would hope nobody would judge me based on my 16-year-old self lol.”

In a follow-up video, McLane also denied the suggestions that she was trying to gain “clout,” as she said that she would have claimed that she knew Swift if that were the case.

“If I were trying to get clout by telling a Taylor Swift story, I would have said that I knew her. And I can just make up stories and have an endless supply and this account would be thriving because I would prey on the Swifties,” she said, before adding: “Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited that it went viral and that I gained followers.”

In a statement to the New York Post, McLane said she stood by her claims, before clarifying that, while she “didn’t know [Swift] personally,” she “was friends with people in her class who knew her”.

As for whether she had any interactions with Swift, she said she “only saw her once at an after school select chorus event”.

The Independent has contacted McLane for comment.