Taylor Swift and Kanye West's feud explained in quotes
Thereâs been another twist in the tale of Taylor Swift, Kanye West, and Kim Kardashianâs ongoing feud, as Swift criticises Kardashian in a new song off her eagerly waited album, The Tortured Poets Department.
Fans are drawn to a specific song on her extended double album, which they think is about the 34-year-old reality TV star.
The title of the song, "thanK you aIMee" seems to specifically mention Kim in capital letters.
The lyrics for the song read: "There's a bronze spray-tanned statue of you and a plaque underneath it. That threatens to push me down the stairs, at our school."
Swift has previously opened up about the pairâs feud, where she claimed it "took her down psychologically", in an interview with TIME magazine.
Their feud is long-running, full of carefully worded statements and pointed music awards speeches, with even BeyoncĂŠ (who didnât ask for any of this) dragged into the mĂŞlĂŠe...
For a brief history on Swift, West, and Kardashianâs feud, hereâs a timeline in quotes.
2009 MTV VMAs: Kanye West interrupts Taylor Swift as she wins Best Female Video Award
âYo, Taylor, Iâm really happy for you. Iâmma let you finish, but BeyoncĂŠ had one of the best videos of all time!â
2009: Kanye West apologises on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for the second time
âI immediately knew in the situation that it was wrong and it wasnât a spectacle, itâs actually someoneâs emotions that I stepped on. It was rude, period. Iâd like to apologise to her in person.â
2010 MTV VMAs: Taylor Swift debuts song Innocent, where she seems to accept Kanyeâs apology
âItâs okay, life is a tough crowd / Thirty two and still growinâ up now / Who you are is not what you did / Youâre still an innocent.â
2016: âKanye West releases Famous
âI feel like me and Taylor Swift might still have sex / Why? I made that b***h famous.â
2016: Kanye West claims he had approval from Taylor Swift
âI called Taylor and had an hour-long convo with her about the line and she thought it was funny and gave her blessings.â
2016: Taylor Swiftâs spokesperson claims he did not run the line by her
âKanye did not call for approval, but to ask Taylor to release his single Famous on her Twitter account. She declined and cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message. Taylor was never made aware of the actual lyric, âI made that b***h famousâ.â
July 2016: Kim Kardashian leaks illegally recorded video of Taylor Swiftâs phonecall with Kanye
Wait it's legit National Snake Day?!?!?They have holidays for everybody, I mean everything these days! đđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđđ
â Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) July 17, 2016
"Wait it's legit National Snake Day?!?!? They have holidays for everybody, I mean everything these days!"
July 2016: Taylor Swift responds to Kim Kardashianâs video of her
"Where is the video of Kanye telling me he was going to call me 'that b***h' in his song? It doesn't exist because it never happened... He promised to play the song for me, but he never did.
"While I wanted to be supportive of Kanye on the phonecall, you cannot âapproveâ a song you havenât heard. Being falsely painted as a liar when I was never given the full story or played any part of the song is character assassination. I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative, one that I have never asked to be a part of, since 2009. "
June 2019: Scooter Braun, Kanye Westâs former agent, buys Taylor Swiftâs masters
âSome fun facts about todayâs news: I learned about Scooter Braunâs purchase of my masters as it was announced to the world.
"All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying Iâve received at his hands for years. Like when Kim Kardashian orchestrated an illegally recorded snippet of a phonecall to be leaked and then Scooter got his two clients together to bully me online about it.
"Or when his client, Kanye West, organized a revenge porn music video that strips my body naked."
January 2020: Taylor Swift addresses fallout from West VMAs moment in Miss Americana
âWhen people decided I was wicked and evil and conniving and not a good person, that was the one I couldnât really bounce back from, because my whole life was centred around it.
âI felt really alone, I felt really bitter, I felt sort of like a wounded animal lashing out. I figured I had to reset everything.â
February 2020: Swift talks to Billboard about her video for The Man, which appears to include West references
âIt was a song that I wrote from my personal experience, but also from a general experience that Iâve heard from women in all parts of our industry. And I think that, the more we can talk about it in a song like that, the better off weâll be in a place to call it out when itâs happening.
âSo many things that men do, you know, can be phoned-in that cannot be phoned-in for us. We have to really â God, we have to curate and cater everything, but we have to make it look like an accident. Because if we make a mistake, thatâs our fault, but if we strategize so that we wonât make a mistake, weâre calculating."
March 2020: Kanye Westâs entire phonecall with Taylor Swift leaks, corroborating Swiftâs side of the story
âTo all my Southside nâ that know me best / I feel like Taylor Swift might owe me sexâ â the line Kanye told Swift about, not the real line that ended up in Famous.
March 2020: Swift addresses leaked phonecall as KimKardashianIsOverParty trends to promote charities
âInstead of answering those who are asking how I feel about the video footage that leaked, proving that I was telling the truth the whole time about *that call*. You know, the one that was illegally recorded, that somebody edited and manipulated in order to frame me and put me, my family, and fans through hell for 4 yearsâŚSWIPE UP to see what really matters.â
March 2020: Kim Kardashian responds to Taylor Swift
â.@taylorswift13 has chosen to reignite an old exchange â that at this point in time feels very self-serving given the suffering millions of real victims are facing right now. I didnât feel the need to comment a few days ago, and Iâm actually really embarrassed and mortified to be doing it right now, but because she continues to speak on it, I feel Iâm left without a choice but to respond because she is actually lying.
âTo be clear, the only issue I ever had around the situation was that Taylor lied through her publicist who stated that âKanye never called to ask for permissionâŚâ They clearly spoke so I let you all see that. Nobody ever denied the word âb***hâ was used without her permission... The lie was never about the word b***h, it was always whether there was a call or not and the tone of the conversation. I never edited the footage (another lie) â I only posted a few clips on Snapchat to make my point and the full video that recently leaked doesnât change the narrative."
July 2020: Taylor Swift announces surprise album release at exactly the same time as Westâs Donda
Surprise đ¤ Tonight at midnight Iâll be releasing my 8th studio album, folklore; an entire brand new album of songs Iâve poured all of my whims, dreams, fears, and musings into. Pre-order at https://t.co/zSHpnhUlLb pic.twitter.com/4ZVGy4l23b
â Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) July 23, 2020
âBefore this year I probably wouldâve overthought when to release this music at the âperfectâ time, but the times weâre living in keep reminding me that nothing is guaranteed. My gut is telling me that if you make something you love, you should just put it out into the world.â
April 2024: Taylor Swiftâs new song thanK you aIMee directed at Kim Kardashian
Swift has long placed hidden messages in her lyrics via capitalisation, a tradition she upheld for every album until the release of Reputation.
And she has brought it back with her new song, which spells out Kim.
Swift opens the song by claiming that when she pictures her hometown, presumably Los Angeles, thereâs a âbronze spray-tanned statueâ of âAimeeâ with a âplaque underneath it that threatens to push me down the stairs at our schoolâ.
âAll that time you were throwinâ punches, I was buildinâ somethinâ / And I canât forgive the way you made me feel / Screamed âFâk you, Aimeeâ to the night sky, as the blood was gushinâ,â she seethes on the track, before giving her nemesis some credit: âBut I canât forget the way you made me heal.â