The feud between two of the most popular American performers started back in 2009. Since then, Kanye’s hardcore fans and the so-called “Swifties” haven’t stopped arguing and defending their idols all over social media.
By Raya Georgieva
As Taylor Swift was accepting her award for Best Female Video at MTV’s biggest music celebration in 2009, she was interrupted by no one than Kanye West. The rapper, now officially known as simply Ye, jumped on stage and declared that Beyoncé actually should have won the award. “Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’mma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time,” he said. “One of the best videos of all time!”. The video of the speech later appeared all over social media and caused a lot of talking. Even though she was only 19 at the time, Swift did not allow that comment to affect or break her, or at least did not show it. But this incident sparked one of the most well-known fights between contemporary global superstars.
Swift is an American singer recognized for her songwriting, musical versatility, artistic reinventions, and influence on the music industry. She is among the most prominent cultural figures of the 21st century. Swift is known for venturing into various music genres and undergoing artistic reinventions, having been described as a “music chameleon”.
West is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. His musical career is defined by frequent stylistic shifts and different musical approaches. In the subsequent years since his debut, West has both musically and lyrically taken an increasingly experimental approach to crafting progressive hip-hop music while maintaining accessible pop sensibilities.
Seven years after the MTV awards ceremony, the controversy between them continued with another episode. In 2016, the singers had a phone call, which West recorded and then edited. Shortly after, it leaked everywhere after his now ex-wife Kim Kardashian posted three minutes of it on her Snapchat to depict Swift as a liar, which was clearly the man’s intention since his associates edited it. In the original 25-minute conversation, which became public later, they talk about West’s later released song “Famous”, which came out on April 1, 2016. On the phone, West is telling Swift that he is thinking of saying “I made her famous” without including the “b**ch” part of the line. That is followed by her “Well, what am I going to do about it?”. He chuckles and says “Uh, like, do the hair flip?”. The irony is that, he somehow “made her famous” while she was winning an award and had two multi-million-selling albums before he stepped onto that stage. West also promised that he would send her the whole song, but he never followed up on that and once again lied to her.
After Kardashian posted the edited conversation, Swift “disappeared” as a result of the accusations against her. On November 10, 2017 though, she returned with a new album called “Reputation” and a tour, which used snake imagery to play off Kardashian’s tweets in which she uses the snake emoticons when referring to Swift. There are speculations, of course, that in the songs “Call It What You Want” and “Look What You Made Me Do” she is referring to her adversaries West and Kardashian.
There are many allegations about the full phone call, as well as many questions that remain and probably will continue to be unanswered. Hardcore fans of either artist may not have their mind changed about which one is the snake. And probably not every one of them knows about the existing phone call, the tweets, West’s song, or even Swift’s disappearing. What is known, is that Swifties are still making the #KanyeWestIsOverParty hashtag viral on Twitter and supporting her endlessly.
