Today has seen a shitstorm of drama between Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, and Kanye West.
The drama began when Kanye West released his track, "Famous" back in February. The song opens with the line "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? / I made that bitch famous."
Naturally, the world went into absolute meltdown, and Taylor denied all knowledge of the song.
Taylor has responded by saying she didn't give approval.
That moment when Kanye West secretly records your phone call, then Kim posts it on the Internet.
So, let's rewind back to February and look at the statement given by Taylor after the song's release.
The statement read:
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.
First of all, it's clear from the video that Kanye did indeed call for approval.
The tape then shows Taylor giving approval, and at no point does she object to the misogynistic message in the song. In fact, she says that the line: "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex" is "a compliment".
Kanye West: “For all my southside niggas that know me best / feel like me and Taylor might still have sex.”
Taylor Swift: I’m like this close to overexposure.
KW: Oh well this one is – I think this is a really cool thing to have.
TS: I know! I mean, it’s like a compliment kind of (laughs).
And what's more, she tells him she doesn't think anyone would find the song offensive.
TS: Yeah. I mean, I don’t think anybody would listen to that and be like, “Oh, that’s a real diss. Like, she must be crying about it…”
In fact, she does this twice.
TS: It’s awesome that you’re so outspoken and it’s gonna be like, “Yeah, she does, it made her famous.” It’s more provocative to say we might still have sex … It doesn’t matter to me. There’s not one that hurts my feelings and one that doesn’t.
She goes on to tell Kanye to use "whatever line he thinks is better", and that the song is clearly "tongue in cheek".
TS: 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!
What's interesting, though, is that Taylor specifically refers to the "it made her famous" line, which makes it clear she understood the concept of the song. It seems that the only part she objects to is the use of the words "that bitch."
In fact, it's her objection to the words "that bitch" that she's mentioned in both her statement after Kim's GQ interview and in her response to the release of the phone call video.
However, arguably, the most misogynistic part of the song lies in the lines that sexually objectify her and where Kanye takes credit for her entire career – the exact lines she heard and approved. Which makes her objections slightly contradictory.
And then there's the fact that the narrative has arguably been manipulated. Because just a few weeks later, it was the line about Kanye "making her famous" that she used in the crux of her Grammys acceptance speech.
Whatever the truth, all of this just gets juicier by the hour.
