Courtney Love Says Taylor Swift Is ‘Not Interesting as an Artist’

Courtney Love is not mincing words when it comes to how she feels about other female artists like Taylor Swift.

“Taylor is not important,” Love, 59, told the Evening Standard in a new profile published Friday, April 12, while promoting her new eight-part BBC Radio 6 series, Courtney Love’s Women, in which she reflects on women in music who have shaped her career and journey.

She added, “She might be a safe space for girls, and she’s probably the Madonna of now, but she’s not interesting as an artist.”

The “Celebrity Skin” rocker’s comments about Swift, 35, did not go over well with fans, many of whom shared their grievances via X.

“100 years from now, the name Courtney Love will mean nothing. Not a single person will know who she is. But when Taylor Swift is mentioned, people will remember how she was able to connect with millions of people through her music, cherished her fans, and fought for artists’ rights,” wrote one fan.

Another social media user added, “I’m not a Taylor Swift fan, but Courtney Love hasn’t been relevant since the ’90s.”

In addition to her thoughts on the Midnights artist, Love also shared her feelings about Lana Del Rey, whom she said was “great” up until she covered John Denver‘s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and should “really take seven years off” of music.

She also said she isn’t a fan of Beyoncé‘s music, though she appreciated the concept of her country album, Cowboy Carter.

“It’s great that there are so many successful women in the music industry, but lots of them are becoming a cliché,” she told the outlet. “Now, every successful woman is cloned, so there is just too much music. They’re all the same. If you play something on Spotify, you get bombarded with a lot of stuff that’s exactly the same. I mean, I like the idea of Beyoncé doing a country record because it’s about Black women going into spaces where previously only white women have been allowed, not that I like it much. As a concept, I love it. I just don’t like her music.”

Love rose to fame in the ’90s as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist in the now-disbanded alternative rock group, Hole. In February 1992, she famously married Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, who died by suicide in April 1994. Together they share daughter Frances Bean Cobain.

Though Love is clearly not a Swiftie, fans of the 14-time Grammy Award winner have been counting the days until the release of Swift’s 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, which she announced while accepting the award for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2024 Grammys.

“[The way I can celebrate] is by telling you a secret that I’ve been keeping from you for the past two years, which is that my brand new album comes out April 19th,” she told the crowd. “It’s called The Tortured Poets Department and I’m going to go post the cover right now backstage.”