With the release of Reputation, an album whose concept hinges its title on Swift’s persona and how we view it, the pop star’s ability to navigate the tangled web surrounding her name is front and center. Swift remains one of the most powerful figures in entertainment today, with a large bevy of stans who would still follow her anywhere. But can Swift’s way of doing things keep up with the mounting pressures of a culture whose priorities have shifted?

In a behind the scenes clip for the “Look What You Made Me Do” music video, Swift talks into the camera about the decision to wear the same dress in the video that she wore to the 2014 Met Gala, which is colloquially known as the start of Swift’s 1989 era. “This is the shot of, like, me in a grave, as if I was buried in that dress,” she said. “Which is an interesting and thought-provoking idea.” That era, after all, is known in Swiftian history as the period of time when everything went off the rails and the public turned on her.

But the 1989 era started off downright swimmingly. In fact, the time between November 2014 and July 2015 was one of the most fruitful eras of Swift’s career. It wasn’t just her longtime stans who were doing what they do best (stanning); she had won a lot of mainstream goodwill, with a very well-received album, a public declaration that she’d grown to consider herself a feminist, and a music video that poked fun at the persona people had long lampooned her for.

In the slide from 2014 into 2015, Swift’s strategy was working. As Time critic Sam Lansky wrote of 1989, “Thematically, too, Swift breaks from the past, skirting victimhood and takedowns of maddening execs, critics and romantic competitors. Instead, there’s a newfound levity. Not only is Swift in on the joke; she also relishes it.”

Then, in July 2015, the nominations for Video of the Year for the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards were announced. Swift was nominated, for the music video for “Bad Blood.” Nicki Minaj, who was not nominated for the daring, if not provocative, video for “Anaconda,” tweeted an accusation that the VMAs were more likely to celebrate “other” girls for their accomplishments — “women with very slim bodies.” Swift jumped into the conversation, literally making it about her: “I’ve done nothing but love & Support you,” she wrote on Twitter. “It’s unlike you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot..” Minaj responded with confusion: “Didn’t say a word about u.”