1. 2008–2010: Taylor Swift vs Joe Jonas
Back in 2008, Taylor Swift was a fresh-faced, curly-haired country singer who was taking the world by storm with her second album, Fearless. Joe Jonas (along with his brothers) was a fresh-faced, Disney-branded pop singer who was taking the world by storm with ~his~ band's second album, A Little Bit Longer. It was basically inevitable that they would date. And, lo and behold, they attended the MTV VMAs together on 7 September that year.
(FYI, the MTV VMAs are inexplicably a huge constant in the history of Taylor Swift's celebrity feuds.)
Joe started to date actress Camilla Belle pretty soon after he broke up with Taylor, and then came an avalanche of songs released one after the other, all of which were very thinly veiled jabs at one another. This went on for another two years.
As if all of that wasn't complicated enough, along with the release of Taylor's third album, Speak Now, in October 2010 came "Better Than Revenge".
2. 2009–present: Taylor Swift vs Kanye West
Cut to 2015, and Taylor was photographed hanging out with Kanye at the Grammys. She even presented him with the Vanguard Award at the 2015 VMAs, almost six years after the original drama. Everyone assumed the feud was over. That is, until "Famous".
Kanye 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, “I made that bitch famous.”
Taylor then appeared to make reference to the drama a few days later at the Grammys, where she discussed the importance of taking credit for your own success during her acceptance speech for Album of the Year.
3. 2010–present: Taylor Swift vs Demi Lovato
The crux of the feud occurred in January 2010, when this infamous video surfaced.
In the video – taken by a fan while Demi was in London – Demi is signing autographs when someone in the crowd says, "Demi, how's Selena?"
Her forever iconic response? "Ask Taylor!"
A few months later, it was reported that Demi was dating Taylor's ex, Joe Jonas, who, as we now know, Taylor was still engaged in a feud with.
Now, while Demi's friendship with Selena was dwindling, Selena was becoming a full-blown original member of The Taylor Swift Squad™.
Cut to 2016: Musician Kesha was embroiled in a lawsuit against her producer, Dr. Luke, and celebs the world over were speaking out in support of her. One of those celebs was Demi Lovato, who, for some reason, appeared to call out Taylor Swift for not providing the same support.
4. 2014–present: Taylor Swift vs Katy Perry
She did something so horrible ... It had to do with business. She basically tried to sabotage an entire arena tour. She tried to hire a bunch of people out from under me.
Of course, Swifties the world over put on their detective hats, and discovered an interview with an ex-dancer of Taylor's who – along with two other dancers – had quit Taylor's Red Tour in favour of Katy's Prismatic Tour.
The feud was pretty much confirmed when Katy tweeted this the day after Taylor's Rolling Stone interview was released:
Watch out for the Regina George in sheep's clothing...
👀
Taylor's 1989 was released a few weeks later, and quickly became the biggest-selling album of the year. The feud with Katy seemed to die down. That is, until the release of the "Bad Blood" music video.
5. 2015: Taylor Swift vs Nicki Minaj
Taylor appeared to take Nicki's tweet personally, because she took it upon herself to respond, accusing Nicki of "pit[ting] women against each other".
@NICKIMINAJ I've done nothing but love & support you. It's unlike you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot..
Nicki immediately responded to Taylor, saying, "I love you just as much. But you should speak on this."
She then continued to favourite and retweet her fans who stuck up for Nicki and suggested that Taylor should – to put it simply – stay in her lane.
Like I said, though: This particular feud didn't last long. In fact, it would be tough to define it as a feud at all. Taylor apologised to Nicki, and Nicki accepted. Nicki even brought Taylor onstage during her VMAs performance. All was well.
6. 2016: Taylor Swift vs Calvin Harris
The shit hit the proverbial fan, however, when it emerged that Taylor had begun dating actor Tom Hiddleston just a few weeks after her relationship with Calvin had ended.
After this news emerged, Calvin posted a stream of tweets confirming that yes, Taylor had written the song, and her vocals are even sampled in the final cut. He said that they had originally planned to keep Taylor's involvement a secret, so she used a pseudonym. And then HE. WENT. IN.
I figure if you're happy in your new relationship you should focus on that instead of trying to tear your ex bf down for something to do
Alongside a tweet accusing Taylor and her team of trying to make him look bad, Calvin referenced Taylor's new relationship with Tom Hiddleston.
And then he went in for the kill with this:
I know you're off tour and you need someone new to try and bury like Katy ETC but I'm not that guy, sorry. I won't allow it
Remember the Taylor Swift/Katy Perry feud we were JUST talking about? Yeah, Calvin brought that up. Salt in the wound, Calvin.
And if you're wondering, of course Katy (allegedly) responded. With a GIF.
7. 2016: Taylor Swift vs Kim Kardashian-West
Kim went on record saying that Kanye had proof of the phone call in which Taylor had approved the lyrics she had subsequently labelled as "misogynistic".
Then, when everyone was poised and ready to receive it, Kim published video evidence of said phone call on her Snapchat story for the whole world to see. Here is part of that conversation:
Taylor Swift: Yeah. I mean, go with whatever line you think is better. It’s obviously very tongue-in-cheek either way. And I really appreciate you telling me about it, that’s really nice!
Kanye West: Yeah. I just felt I had a responsibility to you as a friend. I mean, thanks for being so cool about it.
Taylor then released a statement on her Instagram account saying that she didn't know that she was being recorded and that her main issue is with the fact that she never knew Kanye would refer to her as "that bitch".
And there you have it. You're all caught up on the long-living drama of Taylor Alison Swift.
But who even cares about drama when you have The Squad™? 💖💖💖
