In the social media era, pop artists with massive fanbases have become almost beyond criticism — both from click-chasing media outlets and from other artists wary of stans.

Even takes that aren’t particularly harsh can generate headlines, hyperbole and, sometimes online, harassment. Case in point: All the knickers in a twist about Courtney Love’s recent interview with the London Evening Standard.

Love — a ‘90s icon for her band Hole’s grunge hits, her acting in films like “The People vs. Larry Flynt” and her marriage to Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain — is promoting her new BBC Radio series.

The eight-part “Courtney Love’s Women” finds Love sharing music that’s soundtracked her life and reflecting on women whose music has shaped her. Subjects include Love’s fondness for ABBA and L7, her pre-fame stint as a stripper in Japan, and how she might be related to actor Marlon Brando.

Much like Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, in interviews or otherwise Love isn’t a ring-kisser or a politician. Over the decades, Love, who moved to London about five years ago, has had spats with the likes of Cobain’s mom, Axl Rose, Madonna, Dave Grohl and Trent Reznor, among others.

In the new London Evening Standard piece, as the conversation turns to women dominating popular music in recent years, Love’s quoted as saying, “It’s great that there are so many successful women in the music industry, but lots of them are becoming a cliché. Now, every successful woman is cloned.” She adds, “If you play something on Spotify, you get bombarded with a lot of stuff that’s exactly the same.”

It’s true. Algorithms play a huge role in shaping our consumption of entertainment today. That said, the music business has long cloned successful acts, regardless of gender. The countless knock offs of The Beatles, Stones, Led Zeppelin and Nirvana, for starters.

But it’s Love’s comments about Taylor Swift that are getting media attention. In the Standard article, Love is quoted as saying, “Taylor is not important. She might be a safe space for girls, and she’s probably the Madonna of now, but she’s not interesting as an artist.”

It’s a fair take. Just because Swift is massive and a hero to millions of girls and women doesn’t mean she’s a timeless artist whose appeal will echo across generations and demographics, like say Stevie Nicks or Bob Dylan.

Love’s new radio series’ eighth episode is titled “From The Blues to Lana Del Rey” and highlights, per the BBC description, “some of the most influential female artists from across her life.”

In The Standard article, Love is quoted as saying, “I haven’t liked Lana since she covered a John Denver song, and I think she should really take seven years off. Up until ‘Take Me Home Country Roads’ I thought she was great. When I was recording my new album, I had to stop listening to her as she was influencing me too much.”

Mixed messaging, sure. As for the aforementioned Madonna, whose 1995 MTV Video Music Awards interview a wild-eyed Love infamously crashed, Love says now, “I don’t like her, and she doesn’t like me. I loved [1985 film] ‘Desperately Seeking Susan,’ but for the city of New York as much as her.”

In The Standard article, the subject of Beyonce also comes up. Love is quoted as saying, “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.”

Rolling Stone’s aggregation of Love’s interview — headline: “Courtney Love Vs. Taylor, Madonna, and More: An (Incomplete) Beef Timeline” – claims Love “spoke negatively about Beyoncé’s music.”

USA Today’s headline: “Courtney Love slams Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Lana Del Rey in interview.”

Meanwhile, People’s writes, “Courtney Love Says Taylor Swift Is ‘Not Interesting as an Artist,’ Criticizes Beyoncé, Madonna and More.”

Buzzfeed, also on the case, published, “Courtney Love Takes Aim At Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, And Lana Del Rey.”

But not liking someone’s music isn’t speaking negatively about it – it’s just not speaking positively about it. Turning that into “slams,” “criticizes” or “takes aim at” is at best a distorted account.

Most reports are completely missing the real news from The Standard’s article on Love. She’s finished her long-gestating memoir, and her next solo album is nearly completely. As The Standard’s Dylan Jones writes, “Both of these projects will reconfirm that Love isn’t just a bold-faced name, she’s an artist.”

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