what do you remember the feud between Kanye West When Taylor SwiftPerhaps something about the misogynistic lyrics of West’s 2016 song “Famous” or Swift’s subtle but poignant lyrics? swipe That year’s Grammy, or later Kim Kardashian’s Claim That the truck had Swift’s pre-approval.Sure the snake emoji rings a bell — there was lot of snake emoji.Even if the details were blurred, the overall outline seemed clear to many observers at the time: Taylor Swift did something bad.
The clash of the two stars was a hotly debated subject, attracting die-hard fans to both sides. But in the following years, the conventional wisdom took hold. That’s, fair or not, rooted in the public personas each artist was cast in. In one corner is the West, still popularly known as the Crusades of Justice. faced The other is the blonde-haired, blue-eyed icon who lived at the height of his fame. A welcoming Swift, her longtime apolitical stance was being rapidly restructured in the crucible of Trump-era politics. baseless conspiracy She was a secret Nazi.
This was the context in which Swift returned in the fall of 2017. reputationthe pop follow-up to her mega-hit 1989Like Rob Sheffield, he was acclaimed for his quintessential Swift “ingenious hook.” I have written for rolling stoneand to exist Swift’s first album To have a genuine conversation with pop contemporaries.To many online commentators who remembered But her conflict with Kanye reputation rang as solipsism exercisedeaf to the political crisis with which it arrived.
What’s the difference in 6 years? For example, a recording of Swift’s supposed approval of the lyrics to the infamous “Famous” tampered withBut it can’t quite explain why public opinion on Kanye and Taylor has almost completely reversed since then. passionate democrat She, like many of her peers, is vocal on pressing political issues. West, meanwhile, embarked on a steady descent into MAGAland, accelerating full speed toward far-right hate her speech. Now that we know the rapper who made a sex doll out of Swift in the “Famous” video wants to go to “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” it may be time to finally give Swift the win.
To understand the heated Swift vs. West debates of 2016 and 2017, it’s worth unraveling the conditions that led to them. Swift was riding high 1989a record-breaking album of shimmering synths and soaring drum loops That’s what made her a true pop star. She frequently posted Instagram pics of her with a model-heavy squad of celebrity girls at the lavish Fourth of July party held at her Rhode Island beachside mansion each summer. Swift had developed a fragile friendship between West and his new wife after her 2009 VMAs episode. interrupted Swift’s acceptance speech informing the 9 million viewers of the awards show that Beyoncé has “one of the greatest videos of all time.”Barack Obama had called West has called his antics “jackass,” but Swift hasn’t escaped backlash either. This is fueled by a growing sense among detractors that Swift relies too heavily on her damsel victim and #GirlBoss energy in distress.
Then came the “famous”. West’s first single from her 2016 Life of Pablo He rudely suggested that ‘Taylor might still have sex’ because ‘he made that bitch famous’. . 1989, to call out “Someone who tries to undermine your success or take credit for you along the way.”Kardashian later faced Swift said in an interview in June 2016 GQ, Swift claimed that she “totally approved” the lyrics but still “totally disavowed her husband just to play the victim again.” Kardashian then published what appeared to be indisputable proof of her. It’s a recording of a phone call in which Swift appears to agree with the lyrics. Swift said she “would like to be left out of this narrative,” but the narrative was already set: #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty became the #1 global trending topic for her on Twitter. “Do you know how many people have to tweet that they hate you for that to happen?” reflect in the 2020 documentary Miss Americana.
All of this unfolded against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Swift’s thriving neo-Nazi fantasies, which holds far-right beliefs. She claimed without evidence that she was a “goddess of the world” and was “simply waiting for Donald Trump to make her come out safe” and “secretly Nazi”. posted an image of Swift with the words of Adolf Hitler. Writing in her Breitbart, far-right agitator Milo Yiannopoulos dubiously declared her an “alt-right pop icon.”Swift, on the other hand, Never been more silent: Her latest birthmark seemed to cover her up in a western movie. But instead of self-preservation, people misinterpreted Swift’s actions as political apathy or even tacit agreement with conservative fans.
2016 didn’t end on a particularly high note for West.he claimed $53 million in debt.critic Declared Yeezy’s New York Fashion Week show, his high fashion lines, ‘Boring’ and ‘Worse than Worse’.he cancel his saint pablo Tour early, but not in front of him shouted About your support for Trump on the November show. But none of West’s losses or political missteps have been redemption for Swift in the eyes of her harshest critics. From the moment we replaced it with one snake video, many still had the perception that Swift was completely addicted to petty celebrity fights. “Look What You Made Me Do” was her first single, reputation Widely interpreted as a shot to the West, it only added to the mood. I have written VultureMark Harris at the time said, “But I’ve heard enough of her songs over the years that of course I know what her politics are: I win, but for the record I’m a victim of haters and losers”
In retrospect, such an analysis reads like a hangover from the feud in the West, unaware of both Swift’s recent actions that year and the broader cultural shift underway. That summer, Swift won A lawsuit against a Denver DJ who touched her in 2013. A few weeks later new york times right Release Explosive exposure of Harvey Weinstein’s assault on dozens of young and vulnerable women. that December, time the magazine is hail Swift as one of the Silence Breakers in the early days of #MeToo controversy, as Swift’s political silence was seen as self-imposed). The #MeToo era has reframed conventional wisdom about power dynamics and toxic masculinity.In hindsight, was it so far Is it fair for West to call a young female artist and ask if she can tell the world that she’s obligated to have sex for the sake of fame?
What Swift learned from her voluntary asylum is that saying more is better than less, and she once again took steps to make sure people didn’t misunderstand her political stance. In 2018, she made her first public political endorsement for a Democratic candidate in the Tennessee Senate election, followed by endorsing Joe Biden’s presidential campaign in 2020. ,” she Said rolling stone“I always regret a lot.” She wrote an overtly political song for the first time. allegorical “Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince” about her own political coming out story and the one-off that followed single, “Only the Young,” about the 2018 Parkland school shooting.When the Supreme Court reversed Law vs Wade In June of this year, Swift issued a statement immediately. “I absolutely fear that this is where we are. After decades of people fighting for women’s rights to their bodies, today’s decision is stripped of it from us. murmured the day the decision was made.
What about West? His image as a crusader for justice was already looking dated in 2016. In his six years in between, it completely imploded. What began as rambling support for Trump’s candidacy on stage Right-wing hatred and anti-Semitism — that choice cost him his Twitter account, his agent, and a bevy of lucrative endorsement deals. His dramatic, self-destructive turn in 2022 reworks Swift’s “This is why we can’t have nice things” line. reputation’“You broke them, so I have to take them.”
The lyrics to “Famous” and the music video, which portrays Swift and others as sexual wax figures, also look different.Taylor slandered by critics playing actually a victim was one. ‘They decided in 2016 that everything about me was absolutely wrong,’ says Swift told later To rolling stone, In a cover story in which she finally broke her silence about the controversy that year. “If I do something good, it’s for the wrong reasons. If I do something brave, I don’t do it right. If I stand up for myself If so, I was throwing a tantrum and I found myself in an echo chamber of this endless ridicule.
reputation, in the meantime, has seen a full recovery of its own reputation. The project cemented her long-standing production partnership with Jack Antonoff and embraced her sound of edgy pop that is now as much a hallmark of her aesthetic as bright red lipstick. . His lyrics reached new levels of sharp precision and laid the foundation for a story-filled work. folklore When Evermore and unforgettable introspection midnight. top song reputationfrom the fluttering romance of “Delicate” to the indelible hook of “Getaway Car,” rank among her best. And a story-filled world tour with tall snakes along the stage broke the record as the highest-grossing North American tour of all time. As she recently put it, today, the fascination with Swift has reached an almost “unmanageable scale.” broke ticket master during her next sale age went around, forcing Congress to hold antitrust hearings on the ticketing giant. At the time, reputation Blurred by a misunderstood controversial lens that has tainted how much of the world sees Swift. Years later, it’s still an album whose merits speak for themselves, much like hers.