The Taylor Swift and Kanye West saga is a drama of headlines, Twitter, Instagram, phone calls, scandals, and snakes that has already lasted 11 years. And it shows no signs of ending anytime soon. Even more so considering that Kim Kardashian is now caught in the middle of the controversy. The latest chapter in the war between Taylor Swift and Kanye West came a few days ago with the leak of a video of a phone call between the two stars. In the recording, it's revealed that Taylor Swift wasn't lying: Kanye hadn't warned her that he would insult her in his song "Famous."
History of Taylor Swift and Kanye West summarized chronologically
Next, at Postposmo, we give you a summary of the whole controversial story between the protagonist of the Miss Americana documentary, Taylor Swift, and the best rapper that Chicago has ever produced, Kanye West, creator of the no less controversial Jesus is King.
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But before we begin, a word of warning. Do you remember when Nicki Minaj insulted Miley Cyrus live on air when Cyrus was hosting the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards? Perhaps unintentionally, Miley Cyrus revealed (partially) the secret behind the Taylor Swift vs. Kanye West feud and, in short, all the supposed controversies in the entertainment world. Specifically, those between pop and hip-hop artists.
It's all part of the music industry. It's all show and spectacle that, at the end of the day, translates into tweets , stories, headlines, and clicks. Notoriety. People talking about you. Even if it's bad. No publicity is bad. It's well worth not taking any of this too seriously.
2009: VMA, the beginning of the war in the history of Taylor Swift and Kanye West
Kanye's interruption of Taylor Swift while she was accepting her award for Video of the Year remains the most famous interruption of all time. It's a moment on par with Nipplegate (when Justin Timberlake exposed Janet Jackson's nipple at the Super Bowl) or the infamous kiss between Britney Spears, Madonna, and Christina Aguilera.
It was 2009. Taylor Swift was only 19 years old, and her video for "You Belong to Me" beat Beyoncé's in the Best Female Video category at the MTV VMAs. Ironically, neither of them is the ACTUAL director of their music videos. But who cares? The important thing here is that Kanye West jumped on stage, snatched the microphone from Taylor, and blurted out:
"Yo, Taylor, I'm so happy for you, I'm letting you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time."
Even US President Barack Obama weighed in on the controversial Taylor Swift and Kanye West saga. It wasn't in a speech, but rather during an open mic interview with NBC where he called Kanye a "jackass." It 's worth remembering that, at the time, Kanye West and Beyoncé's husband, Jay-Z, were practically brothers. Kanye had produced numerous songs for Jay-Z, and the two had collaborated on tracks, the most notable being " Niggas in Paris," released years after the Taylor Swift incident.
2010: Kanye apologizes to Taylor
Not only did the rapper apologize, but he also deleted his Twitter account. At the time, the public wasn't yet used to this kind of outburst from Kanye. A decade later, we're all more than accustomed to the outlandish and erratic behavior of Kanye West , who even declared during a concert that he was going to run for president. Something that, incidentally, was never heard of again. Perhaps his unexpected friendship with Donald Trump had something to do with it. Who knows?
2010: Swift releases Innocent
Taylor Swift could have stayed silent , and perhaps all this would have ended. But no. The young artist released the single " Innocent," full of barbs aimed at a clear target:
"Thirty-two and still maturing/Who you are is not what you did/You're still an innocent."
According to the BBC , Kanye West heard the song and immediately apologized and removed it, accusing Taylor Swift of using the MTV VMA moment to gain publicity. The Taylor Swift and Kanye West saga was far from over.
2013: Kanye justifies himself in an interview
During an interview with The New York Times, Kanye blamed the pressure to justify his apology to the " Shake It Off" singer . The history between Taylor Swift and Kanye West is full of moments like this where each justifies their actions. He added, "If anyone is reading this expecting some kind of full-on apology for whatever, they should stop reading this right now."
2015: West, Swift and Kardashian together… are they hugging!?
EVERYONE took for granted that the embrace between the three protagonists of this mess during the ceremony of the MTV VMA 2015 was synonymous that the war was over. Everybody was wrong. Would Taylor Swift and Kanye West already know? Would they know the headlines that awaited them in the future?
2016: an atomic bomb called Famous
A year after the hug between Kanye, Taylor, and Kim Kardashian, the rapper released his song "Famous," included on the album *Life of Pablo*. The now-famous video leaked this week, featuring a 25-minute phone conversation between the rapper and Taylor, alludes to a very famous line from the song.
"I feel like Taylro and I could still have sex. Why? I made that bitch famous."
We can see the rapper noticeably nervous, even going so far as to prolong the moment of revealing the line where he talks about Taylor, claiming that his wife initially disagreed ("she thought it was crazy") with the inclusion of the phrase "Taylor Swift owes me sex." However, he also says that Kim Kardashian now likes the line so much that it's "her favorite part."
When the song came out, Taylor Swift's reps called her a misogynist and claimed that Kanye West hadn't warned Taylor that he was going to call her a whore. They claimed that he only called Taylor to ask her to release the song on her personal Twitter account (something he politely refused).
In the 25-minute call, there's no trace of the controversial line : "I made that bitch famous." What we do hear is Kanye asking Taylor to be the one to exclusively tweet the song's release, even offering her a sneak peek. It's possible that, faced with Taylor's refusal, the Chicago native included the controversial line that so deeply offended her.
2016: Taylor attacks at the Grammy ceremony
Taylor pulls out his assault rifle and takes no prisoners. “There will be people who stand in your way and try to diminish your success or take credit for your achievements or your fame. But if you just focus on the work and don’t let those people distract you, one day when you get where you set out to be, you’ll look around and know that it was you, and the people you love, who put you there. And that will be the most wonderful feeling in the world.”
2016: Kim Kardashian joins the fight
The Taylor Swift and Kanye West saga takes another turn with the entry of Kim Kardashian, who claims that Taylor consented to her husband calling her a whore. As we've seen this week, it's false that Taylor was aware Kanye was going to insult her so severely in "Famous ." During an interview with GQ , Kim Kardashian revealed the existence of the recording and said that Taylor Swift's lawyers had asked her to delete it.
No one knows who was responsible for leaking the video a few days ago, but it's clear that if it benefited anyone, it was Taylor Swift. Suffice it to say that one of the trending topics (and in the midst of the Coronavirus crisis!) was the hashtag #kanyewestisoverparty, which means something like "Kanye West is over."
2016: Taylor Swift nude in the controversial video clip
The " Famous" video is easily one of the most talked-about music videos in the entire music industry. It's Taylor Swift's only nude video. Essentially, it's a video that's 100% self-aware of the formats that are most likely to go viral today; a video that emulates the technique of amateur sex tapes (which, ironically, catapulted Kim Kardashian to fleeting stardom, but stardom nonetheless).
All naked and in bed in post powder mode. The craziest moment in the history of Taylor Swift and Kanye West They are wax figures, but they couldn't look more real. In addition to nude Kanye West and Taylor Swift, there are nude Kim Kardashian, George W. Bush, Donald Trump, Anna Wintour, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Ray J, Amber Rose, Caitlyn Jenner, and Bill Cosby.
All of them naked and sharing a gigantic bed. You can even see Taylor Swift's breasts. Few documents better demonstrate Kanye's lifelong thirst for the spotlight, including the times when he made good music ( The College Dropout, Late Registration, and Graduation, his best albums).
2016: Kim Kardashian brings out all the artillery against Swift
Kardashian tweeted a message filled with snakes, clearly directed at Taylor Swift. On her Snapchat, Kim Kardashian posted part of the video of the conversation between Kanye and Taylor prior to the release of " Famous." It is an intentionally edited video. According to Rolling Stone, Taylor Swift tweeted (in tweets that have since been deleted) the following:
"Where's the video of Kanye telling me he's going to call me 'that bitch' in his song? It doesn't exist because it never happened. You can't control the emotional reaction of someone who's been called 'that bitch' in front of the whole world."
2017: Taylor Swift releases video of Look what you made me do
The music video for "Look What You Made Me Do" (from the album Reputation) includes clear references to the issue, such as the piled-up bodies and the snakes. And the lyrics are no less explicit:
«I don't like your little games, I don't like your staged set / The role you made me play, I don't like you / I don't like your perfect crime, The way you laugh when you lie / You said the gun was mine / It's not cool, no, I don't like you / But I got smarter, I got tougher real fast, baby, I'm back from the dead, I do it all the time / I got a list of names and yours is in red. Check it once, check it twice / Oh, look what you made me do.»
2020: the complete recording is leaked
As we already told you, a few days ago the full recording of a 25-minute conversation between the two was leaked, with producer Rick Rubin present in the room with Kanye.
Two years after the first release of the edited clip by Kim Kardashian, we've learned the truth about the scandal. In short, the story leaves Taylor Swift as the winner: yes, Kanye called her to inform her about the content of his song "Famous" ( from the album *Life of Pablo*), but he forgot to mention the controversial and misogynistic line that caused this whole mess : "I made that bitch famous."
Taylor Swift tweeted that she slept like a dream "knowing I was right," and Kim Kardashian said she was confused because "the video didn't show anything new." In addition, she has criticized him for launching this issue again in the midst of the Coronavirus crisis:
. @taylorswift13 has chosen to reignite an old exchange – that at this point in time feels very self-serving given the suffering millions of real victims are facing right now.
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) March 24, 2020
Along the way, both Taylor Swift and Kanye West became massive millionaires.
More millionaires than they already were in 2009.
