Kanye West looks to be on the receiving end of a Taylor Swift taunt after being denied a 12th number one album by the pop star.
On Thursday (August 15), Swift announced yet another digital version of her album The Tortured Poets Department featuring a live version of her song “Thank You Aimee.”
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For the release, the singer has changed the stylization of its title to “thank You aimEe” so that the letters “Y” and “E” are capitalized — an apparent nod to the rapper’s name.
A previous stylization had the letters “KIM” capitalized (“thanK you aIMee”) which many thought was Swift making a reference to West’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian.
Taylor Swift’s new digital version of ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ has retitled track ‘thank You aimEe’ to spell out ‘YE.’
The original version ‘thanK you aIMee’ spelled out ‘KIM.’ pic.twitter.com/PxUCQkxcxt
— Pop Base (@PopBase) August 15, 2024
This latest chapter in the long-running saga between the two stars comes shortly after Taylor Swift scored a small victory over Kanye West on the charts.
Last week, The Tortured Poets Department returned to the top of the Billboard 200, preventing Ye’s new Vultures 2 album with Ty Dolla $ign from debuting at No. 1.
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Vultures 2 earned 107,000 equivalent units in its first week of release, falling short of the 142,000 amassed by Swift’s album in its 14th week.
The project is Kanye’s first since his 2004 debut The College Dropout not to debut atop the chart and would have moved him up to fourth on the list of artists with most number ones on the Billboard 200.
Despite losing the sales race, Vultures 2 still ruffled the feathers of Swift’s inner camp as the father of her boyfriend Travis Kelce took issue with the singer being named on the album.
In a Facebook post, Ed Kelce hit out at Kanye for the song “Lifestyle,” which includes a guest verse from Lil Wayne where he raps: “Ice up in my veins, old flames tryna melt me / I twist my Taylor spliffs tight at the end like Travis Kelce.”
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Despite the lyrics coming from Weezy, the older Kelce directed his frustration at West by sharing a Daily Mail article about the song and writing: “Mental illness on full display.”
Kanye was also criticized by Taylor Swift’s producer Jack Antonoff in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times.
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“I’m a little bitch sometimes,” the Grammy-winning musician said. “But you come after my friend Taylor, you’re toast to me.”
He added: “It’s been a long time since I would’ve taken Kanye’s call. I’m so incredibly bored when someone doesn’t have the sauce anymore, so they go elsewhere to shock. It’s just a remarkable waste of space.”
