Anti-Hero! Snubbing Celine Dion at the Grammys… ANOTHER album exploiting a failed romance… CAROLINE BULLOCK asks: Is nothing or no one sacred in Taylor Swift’s all-consuming lust for domination?

She picked up a record-breaking fourth gong for Album of the Year at the Grammys this weekend, but Taylor Swift’s disdain for Celine Dion struck a somber tone.

This is the moment everyone is talking about: During a rare public appearance to present the historic award, 55-year-old Dion, stricken with a debilitating and terrifying terminal illness, was shrugged off by the billionaire hit creator and totally ignored as Swift indulged in a self-righteous love-in with her posse on stage.

Enjoy adorable ‘secret handshakes’ and long hugs with producer Jack Antonoff and current best friend Lana Del Ray.

“A legend in her prime right now,” Swift said of Lana, after she ungratefully took the trophy from Dion – clearly not in the same regard.

The award was largely expected, but it didn’t stop Swift from sporting a wide-eyed, open-mouthed look of “shock.” Who me?

Of course, such arrogant expressions are nothing new in the ego-laden world of planet pop, but this stupidity was particularly painful.

The Heart Will Go On crooner appeared in an official capacity at a public event for the first time since her crushing 2022 diagnosis of “stiff person syndrome” — a rare autoimmune neurological disorder that typically causes muscle stiffness and painful spasms.

Taylor’s big diss to a vulnerable and withdrawn icon doesn’t look good – and the 34-year-old’s actions are rightly called out.

Tellingly, it exposes the odor of hypocrisy and self-interest lurking behind Swift’s money-making juggernaut, propelled by catchy songs, a string of famous boyfriends and a story of female empowerment, with much of the focus on women supporting women.

“I think one thing I believe in as a feminist is that in order to achieve gender equality, we have to stop making it a girl fight and we have to stop being so interested in seeing girls trying to tear each other down . “It should be more about encouraging each other as women,” she once trilled.

Too bad that in reality such sisterly support seems to be given selectively.

Dion himself has received five Grammys and sold 230 million records worldwide, and has never needed an assembly line of press-friendly contacts for attention or lyrical inspiration.

Perhaps Swift, buoyed by overwhelming recent success, simply wasn’t in the mood to share the spotlight and acknowledge another, much better-established legacy.

Maybe she’s starting to believe her own hype. Who wouldn’t do that?

When she set up her stall with a late arrival for Sunday’s ceremony, she stepped into a night that was very special I i i celebration, marinating in the fervent belief of her frenzied fans that she is the one and only living pioneer.

Is it any surprise that she feels invincible in the year she became a billionaire, was named TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year and saw her Eras world tour attract three million people to the US alone?

Not to mention new boyfriend, NFL dreamboat Travis Kelce – who offers Swift the perfect opportunity to play out her latest love story, cheering from the sidelines – but never far from the cameras – in a new set of stadiums.

Meanwhile, there is her growing political influence, with commentators suggesting that an endorsement of Joe Biden in 2024 would tip the fate of the election in his favor.

This level of stardom obviously comes as no surprise to her loyal ranks of Swifties – largely made up of young girls who fund her stratospheric ambitions while thinking they’re the life of the party.

There’s no doubt that her appeal is rooted in accessibility: the image of a more natural, healthier antidote to the puffy lips and more aggressive sexuality of her pop peers.

This may be her most powerful weapon, but it also belies a more calculated, ruthless side that seeped through at the Grammys, where — while the champagne flowed — so did the full extent of her ego.

The truth is: Swift is not at all ordinary or accessible as a 34-year-old billionaire who has reached the top in the cutthroat world of entertainment.

Armed with the financial knowledge of her banker father, her rise has been carefully and perfectly orchestrated.

A favorite weapon is her association with celebrities: high-profile friendships with other photogenic A-listers, from Selena Gomez to Cara Delevingne and Karlie Kloss. Many do not last the season.

But for all her supposedly feminist credentials, Swift remains largely defined by famous men: Joe Jonas, Harry Styles, Tom Hiddleston — all of whom became her boyfriends, coincidentally because their own stars were on the rise.

Her many divorces have left her typewriter with a lot of ink, leaving her with a songbook full of spirited responses to those she has left in her wake.

That brings us to her latest album – which was announced on stage on Sunday evening – ‘The Tortured Poets Department’.

Fans and online sleuths have already linked the title – and the names of several songs such as ‘So Long, London’, ‘I Can Fix Him (No Real I Can)’ and ‘The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived’ – to the British actor Joe Alwyn, her most recent ex.

Their breakup in 2023 came after a six-year love that many hoped would last.

Although the reports are minimal, it is believed that the reason behind the split was a common one: they just wanted different things. Alwyn intensely protects his privacy, while Swift wanted to take her career to a very public next level.

How kind then, how respectful of six shared years, to throw your dirty laundry to the rabid Swifties, ready for very public dissection, doxing and dog fighting on social media.

Of course, Swift’s team immediately scrambled to do some damage control after Sunday’s awards show mishap — arranging a backstage photo session that showed Taylor with a rictus grin and Celine hanging from her head like new best friends .

Dion was probably too well-mannered to say what we are all thinking.