Ahlgrim: This song is sublime on its own, but the way it ties back into the perception of female freedom and “madness” on “The Last Great American Dynasty” makes it even better.
Larocca: This track does an excellent job at showcasing how anger and pain can leave an indelible mark on you. Swift went mad years ago, and that’s just an accepted part of her narrative now. But for the first time, her rage sounds like freedom.

–Callie Ahlgrim and Courteney Larocca for Insider

More delightfully unexpected language from America’s one-time sweetheart, who asks the person (or people) witch-hunting the title character what they see when they envision her face: “Does she smile? / Or does she mouth, ‘F— you forever’?”

–Mikael Wood for LA Times

Swift’s longest lyrical obsession is the loss of innocence, a theme she makes fairly devastating here… The tense, slippery Mad Woman traces the self-perpetuating cycle of women being angered by being labelled angry…

–Laura Snapes for The Guardian

It’s a message song, and the message is: Swift still really wants her masters back, in 2020. And is really still going to want them back in 2021, 2022 and 2023, too. Whether or not the neighbors of the exec or execs she is imagining really mouth the words “f— you” when these nemeses pull up in their respective driveways may be a matter of projection, but if Swift has a good time imagining it, many of her fans will too.

–Chris Willman for Variety

“mad woman” debuted at #47 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the chart week of August 8, 2020.

Shortly before the release of her August 2019 album Lover, Swift became involved in a battle with entertainment mogul Scooter Braun, who purchased Big Machine Records along with the rights to her first six albums. In November 2020, news broke that Braun sold her masters to the Disney-affiliated Shamrock Holdings. Swift took to Twitter to explain her knowledge of the deal, sharing that Braun tried to manipulate her into a deal with him:

[After Braun purchased Big Machine in 2019] my team attempted to enter negotiations with Scooter Braun. Scooter’s team wanted me to sign an ironclad NDA stating I would never say another word about Scooter Braun unless it was positive, before we could even look at the financial records of BMLG (which is always the first step in a purchase of this nature). So, I would have to sign a document that would silence me forever before I could even have a chance to bid on my own work.

Swift, of course, turned down his request.