Pop princess Taylor Swift dropped her new album Reputation on Friday (November 10). Her fans squealed with delight that their beloved “Tay-Tay” was back, but Hip Hop enthusiasts were busy celebrating (or condemning) Eminem’s “Walk On Water” and N.E.R.D.’s return with “Rollinem 7’s” featuring André 3000. But there is a crossover between the two genres — Swift can’t stop talking about Hip Hop luminary Kanye West.
Beginning with “Look What You Made Me Do,” Swift seems to delivers a few subtle references about her nemesis. She sings, “I don’t like your little games/ Don’t like your tilted stage/ The role you made me play/ Of the fool, no, I don’t like you,” which sounds like a jab aimed at West’s stage set-up he used during 2016’s Saint Pablo Tour.
It’s more blatant on the song “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” with lines like, “It was so nice being friends again/ There I was, giving you a second chance / But you stabbed me in the back while shaking my hand.”
AD LOADING...
At the 2015 MTV VMAs, West and Swift seemed to have reconciled, but evidently that didn’t last. Throughout the song, Swift sounds like a jilted lover devastated that she got played.
She goes on to sing, “Friends don’t try to trick you/ Get you on the phone and mind-twist you/ And so I took an axe to a mended fence,” likely a reference to Swift’s social media war with Kim Kardashian-West about the “Famous” song, one of 19 tracks on West’s Life Of Pablo.
“I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/ Why? I made that bitch famous (Goddamn)/ I made that bitch famous,” he raps.
In 2016, the reality television mogul released the audio of a phone call between her husband and Swift where West tells her about the references to her on “Famous.” During the call, Swift gave him permission to use the line in the song, but Ye conveniently (and perhaps maliciously?) left out the second part, “Why? I made that bitch famous.”
AD LOADING...
As Swift’s “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” continues, she touches on Yeezy’s fall-out with JAY-Z. “But I’m not the only friend you’ve lost lately/ If only you weren’t so shady,” she sings.
Whatever her ongoing obsession is with West, it’s been nearly nine years since West all but snatched her Moonman award out of her hands in the name of Beyonce at the 2009 MTV VMAs, so it’s hard to envision that she’s still bitter about that.
Maybe she’s still fuming that West called her a “fake ass” during a backstage rant at Saturday Night Live in 2016. Maybe the scene in West’s “Famous” video where Yeezy is laying down to the naked replica of Swift keeps her up at night. Maybe she’s still seething that West bragged about his wife leaking the phone call, or maybe West acts as some kind of security blanket for the pop star. As long as she’s singing about him, her name will pop up in the headlines.
AD LOADING...
You’d think she’d have something better to do than worry about what West is doing. She’s young, wealthy beyond imagination, reportedly in love and a massive pop star. I don’t know about you, but if I don’t like someone, I’m sure as hell not going to keep talking about them.
Not to mention, the Graduation mastermind endured a mental breakdown last year. It looks more like little “Tay Tay” is the bully in this case.
Word to the wise: just let it go.
