I’m obsessed with like being in the same place as my friends. Taylor Swift is bringing so many people on stage. Like our squad just keeps growing and [music] growing. Tell me if you think the feud is on or gone. Kim, you and Taylor Swift still a beef with Taylor after all that went down. She legitimately quote says, “As soon as I get on that Grammy red carpet, I’m going to tell all the press like I was in on it.
” Another way to play the victim. Definitely got her a lot of attention the first time. I’m really happy for you. I’m let you finish. [music] And she writes a song about me and I’m like, “Okay, cool, cool, cool. That’s how you want to deal with it?” Karma. [music] Since the dawn of the entertainment industry, public friendships and relationships have always been the main factor when it comes to fame.
Whether you’re going to fade into obscurity or be swallowed up by Hollywood as their latest main stay, over the years, ironclad clicks have risen and fallen throughout Hollywood, creating iconic moments that have changed pop culture forever. Today’s subject carried pop culture throughout the late 2010s and completely changed the way we see celebrity friend groups.
Taylor Swift and her squad link up would be the most talked about celebrity event for years and years. Taylor Swift and her best friends would not only dominate every headline, but would command attention at every award show, truly transforming her friend group into the IT girls of 2015 and in return transforming Taylor Swift into the biggest pop star of the 2010s and 2020s.
But this wasn’t without fight and consequence. Taylor would have everything ripped away from her in the blink of an eye, forcing her to rebuild. [music] Various feuds and breakups would unfold, and Taylor Swift would find herself at the epicenter of one of the biggest celebrity scandals of all time. Uh, I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative.
So, buckle up and polish off your award shell because today we’re taking a look into the most legendary friend group Hollywood has ever seen. The takeover of Taylor Swift’s celebrity squad ends their battle with Kanye and Katie. If you’re a fellow Swifty, then you know that Taylor’s had to deal with stalkers and hackers for years.
From her Twitter account getting hacked to Instagram to even eras tour tickets getting swiped. By the way, Jake and I have a wild era tour story that we’re going to have to tell you all about one day. Anyways, this all happens because our whole life is pretty much all online now. Just Google your name and you’ll see all your personal information available for anyone to see.
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In those two weeks, you’ll see where your data is being exposed and [music] sold. I’m not leaving myself vulnerable, and you shouldn’t either. Thank you again to Aura for sponsoring our videos, allowing us to make the content we love. Now, let’s get back to the wild world of Taylor Swift Squad. To start talking about Taylor Swift Squad, we unfortunately have to bring up two somewhat unsavory characters in the media right now.
And I want to differentiate both for two very different reasons. Let’s go chronologically and start with the fallen squad member that would become public enemy number one. From the years 2008 to 2011, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift would blow up together as friends, being seen on multiple red carpets together with Miley Cyrus and dominating award show season side by side.
But in 2012, before Taylor had formed the squad, Katy Perry would seemingly make direct shots at Taylor, attempting to hire multiple of Taylor’s backup dancers from her Red Tour and right onto Katie’s prismatic world tour. This would come very shortly after Katie began her relationship with Taylor Swift’s ex, John Mayer.
Now, it’s important to note that at the time, Katie’s name wasn’t as bismerged as this today. She had just come off of her two most successful albums of her career, Teenage Dream and Prism. She was Capital Records Golden Girl, and anything she released turned to gold. Taylor Swift was also making a huge pop debut at the time.
Katie and Taylor, often fighting for that top spot on the charts, and Katie was directly trying to get Taylor’s dancers onto her own world tour. Taylor Swift’s dancers told publications at the time, “Obviously, we were with Katie for 2 and 1/2 years. She’s like family to us.” So, we were like, “Absolutely.
” We weren’t really dancing in Taylor’s tour anyway. So, I had got a little bored and I really wanted to do a promo tour. Taylor is very untouchable. When we did see her, we had so much fun with her, but she’s a lot more protected than Katie a little bit just about the whole Taylor Swift drama, which I know cuz I have to give you a little shining light as well, but like was it was it crazy for you to see that in the I mean, dancers have drama too, you know.
Oh, not even my drama. I mean, it was I mean, you know, there’s so many sides of it, but it was just it was it was ridiculous the fact that we were caught in the middle of this like thing when realistically I’m just, you know, trying to take care of my own career, you know? So, I I wanted to do what I wanted to do, and that was to go back to Katie, who is family to me, and that’s it.
The Katy Perry team was caught red-handed attempting to jock Taylor’s dancers, but Taylor would get her [music] revenge, and it would blow up in Katie’s face, but we’ll get to that later in the video. Taylor Swift’s other enemy would take form in rapper Kanye West. To briefly summarize it, it all started in one of the messiest music award shows of all [music] time, the 2009 Video Music Awards.
Taylor Swift was up for the best female video award, and she took home the gold. As we all know, Taylor would go up on stage to accept her award, all to be greeted by a disgruntled Kanye, who had assumed the lead position of the Beehive, and felt it was his mission to protect Beyonce. Kanye would rudely interrupt Taylor.
So much so that later in the night when Beyonce was accepting her award, she called Taylor Swift back up to the stage to give her her moment. Taylor gave the acceptance speech she was never able to give. And Kanye was in every headline the next day. [cheering] I remember being 17 years old up for my first MTV award with Destiny’s Child and it was one of the most exciting moments in my life.
So I’d like for Taylor to come out and have her moment. [cheering] [music] [cheering] Um, [music] maybe we could try this again. [cheering] Were you expecting Beyonce to bring you up and what did you think of that gesture? Um, they told me to stand by the side of the stage. Um, and I didn’t really know what was going to go down, but I thought it was just so wonderful and gracious of her to do what she’s always done.
She’s always just been a great person before anything else, before the talented artist, the superstar. She’s always been a great person. And I just I thought that I couldn’t love Beyonce more tonight. And then I I then tonight happened and it was just wonderful. Great. And what went through your mind when he came up and then he like like they cut off the um Well, I I was standing on stage and I was really excited because I had just won the award and then I was really excited because Kanye West was on the stage and then I um then I wasn’t so
excited anymore after that. And and Taylor, are there any hard feelings towards Tim? I I don’t know him and I’ve never met him. So, so were you a fan before? Yeah. Scanyia West. Are you still a fan? I take it now. You know, I just I don’t know him and I don’t want to start anything cuz I just, you know, I had a great night tonight.
I immediately knew in this situation that it was wrong and it wasn’t a spectacle. I just, you know, it’s actually someone’s emotions, you know, that I stepped on and it was very, it was just, it was rude, period. And you know, I’d like to be able to apologize to her in person and you know, I wanted to. So, when did you know you were wrong? Was like soon as I gave the mic back to her and then she didn’t keep going.
I’m like, if he came to you, would you want to meet with him face to face? Sure. I mean, he has not personally reached out or anything, but if he wanted to say hi. He hasn’t called or sent a message or an email or anything. No. Um, but do you feel more feelings about it, Taylor, or not? You know, I’m not going to say that I wasn’t rattled by it.
Uh, I had to perform live 5 minutes later, so I had to get myself back to the place where I could perform. Yeah. So, you were proud of it. Thank you. How did you feel? [applause] I think Beyonce’s a classy lady for what she did at the end. How was that? Um, I just think he’s an idiot. He’s just a waste. She’s just a toolbox.
I want to thank BET for Excuse me, Kanye. I’m going to let you continue. But yo, Kanye, I’m really happy you’re getting this nomination and all. I’mma let you finish, but I have one of the best interruptions of ALL TIME. OF ALL TIME. Carry on. when you got an artist there for the first time and you go and you you want to tell them like we know Beyonce is great of course you know that like there’s nobody that’s this that’s confused in that actual area but Taylor Swift is great and is new at that point and you can’t replace it even
apology can’t replace what it feels like for the very first time receiving that award now in her head my first award was Kanye West now remember Taylor Swift was only 15 at this time and Kanye West was a grown man who’d been in the industry for years. Taylor would reveal that Kanye apologized and it seemed like the drama was water under the bridge.
However, Taylor Swift would perform her song Innocent the next year at the VMAs and it was highly rumored the song was about Kanye. Well, we were all watching you on the VMAs and were really impressed by the Innocent song that you Yeah. that you had and especially because that was the way you chose to handle that situation with Kanye.
Have you heard from him since that show? I don’t really talk about that. I do love you though. And four years later in 2013, Kanye West would take back his apology to Taylor. This was the start of a massive blowout fight I’m going to get to later in this video. It was clear Taylor Swift was an open target for celebrities, corporations, and comedians to publicly slander.
She was the antithesis of Kanye and Katie, both attempting to appeal to popular culture while Taylor was still the girl next door. [music] Taylor needed a defense squad. She needed to build an army of celebrities like Katie and Kanye had already had. Luckily for Taylor, though, it would actually happen organically.
While Taylor Swift’s squad would peak in 2015, I want to briefly run down how the squad era, aka 1989, even came to fruition. Since the dawn of Hollywood, fame has been determined by three things: money, power, and connections. Because social capital is so highly valued in the entertainment world, it’s often impossible to trust anyone’s intentions.
[music] So, it gets really lonely at the top. Often times, the only people who really understand the struggle of being a public figure are other public figures. Thus, Taylor would gravitate towards her fellow singers, models, and actresses to hopefully find a friendship she could actually relate to for once. The 1989 era represented the transformation of Taylor Swift, the girl next door, into Taylor Swift, the global pop phenomenon that everyone’s talking about.
She would be transformed from the girl everyone felt like was their best friend to the girl that everyone wanted to be friends with. Yes, that would come from Taylor’s new music and messaging. But most of all, this transformation would come from her friend group. Taylor Swift had been in Hollywood for nearly a decade at this point and had acrewed numerous friendships.
One of her first public friends she acrewed being Selena Gomez in 2008. At the time, Taylor was dating Joe Jonas and Selena Gomez was dating Nick Jonas. Not only bonding over their boyfriend’s last name, but they would also bond through each of their breakups, causing something beautiful to form from the chaos. How’d you guys meet? We both dated the Jonas brothers.
Did you really? Yeah. I didn’t know that. Yeah. I was like 15 and she was, I think, 18 at the time. Like the same brother? No, I don’t. No, I didn’t know. [laughter] I No, I was with the younger one. She was with the older one. Got it. Got it. Um, but it was but it was the best thing that ever happened.
Honestly, it was so fun. Taylor and Selena would gush about each other in interviews, saying that they truly understood each other on a sole level. This would materialize in the form of red carpet appearances together and hitting every award show by each other’s side. This was one of the first times a major Disney Channel celebrity had a public mainstream friendship with a traditional celebrity, and it would become an object of the media’s obsession.
Selena is one of those people. She is. And by the time we start to to to put this out, there’ll be music. It’s just I’m so proud of her. She’s been through so much. I’ve watched so much happen in her life. It’s [music] the best thing she’s ever done. She came over. She played me the video. It’s just I’m so proud of her.
She’s been through so much. I’ve watched so much happen in her life and had a front row seat to so much. And I’m so proud of her. Taylor. Oh, [snorts] that was very sweet. Yeah. Yeah. You’ve known each other for a long time? Yeah. About [music] uh 13 years. The challenges and the triumphs of sharing these things with friends. She was frustrated when I was frustrated.
[music] She was sad when I was sad. Um but more than anything, my friends stood by my side. And I think they they visibly saw me in so much pain and they didn’t want it for me, but they Sorry. Oh, no. Um, they never stopped loving me. Um, and I played her the song and and [music] I played it with her mom and dad and I showed her the video and her mom and and Taylor started crying.
During Selena’s public and nasty breakup with pop superstar Justin Bieber, Taylor would publicly stand by Selena, making it clear that if Selena was hurting, Taylor was hurting, too. They were just that close. Selena Gomez is one of Taylor’s closest and longestterm friends. But Taylor would also befriend Haley Steinfelp from Pitch Perfect, the Hyam Sisters, the Hadid sisters, Zenaia, Lena Dunham, Lily Aldridge, Lord, Martha Hunt, Cara De Lavine, Ruby Rose, Haley Williams, the lead singer of Paramore, and of course, Carly Clauss. Now, Taylor
would meet most of these people at red carpets and various fashion shows, a majority of the events being around 2013. This was the year Taylor was working on one of her biggest projects to date. Just coming off the Red Tour with multiple songs that dominated the charts like Trouble and 22, Taylor Swift had officially made the transition into pop music.
But 1989 would represent Taylor’s transition from songstress to pop legend. And her elite friend group she was forming was about to blow up. From 2012 to 2014, Taylor Swift would record one of her biggest albums to date, 1989, she would embark on a massive tour to promote the album. But the biggest promotion came from her celebrity guest she brought out each night on tour.
Now, this was the age of Snapchat discover. And I swear every single day there was a new update saying Taylor Swift brought out a new surprising celebrity that no one would ever expect. From Nelly, FettyW, Julia Roberts, Ellen, Justin Timberlake, Nick Jonas, MC Jagger, Mary J. oblige. And not to mention nearly her entire squad. Each public appearance Taylor would make would be sprinkled with celebrity after celebrity.
The press started feverishly reporting on Taylor’s squad, framing her as the queen bee of young Hollywood. This is when Katie and Kanye would rear their ugly heads. Taylor was explaining the meaning behind her song Bad Blood to Rolling Stone magazine. Taylor clarifying, “For years, I was never sure if we were friends or not. She would come up to me at awards shows and say something and walk away.
And I would think, “Are we friends?” Or did she just give me the harshest insult of my life? She did something so horrible. I was like, “Oh, we’re just straight up enemies.” And it wasn’t even about a guy. [music] 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, and I’m surprisingly non-confrontational.
You would not believe how much I hate conflict. So now [music] I have to avoid her. It’s awkward, and I don’t like it. The next day, Katie would tweet ominously, “Watch out for the Regina George in sheep’s clothing.” When asked about the feud by Billboard magazine, Katy Perry threatened that if someone’s trying to come for her, quote, “You’re going to hear about it.
” In May 2015, Taylor Swift would drop the music video heard around the world, Bad Blood. It would feature her entire squad in a Mad Max style action movie, each with their own persona. This was the official launch of the squad as the world knew it. And like Taylor said in that interview, the song was a direct reference to a feud she had with a major star, one who had tried to sabotage her tour.
In multiple interviews, Taylor Swift would be asked directly who the song and video were about, and Taylor would respond saying she didn’t want to give anyone anything to write about, opting to stay silent and let the music speak for itself. Bad Blood would go on to be one of the most prolific music videos in pop music history and even nominated at the 2015 Video Music Awards for best female music video of the year.
When the VMA nominations were announced, the queen of rap, Nicki Minaj, would go on a Twitter tirade, seemingly aimed at Taylor Swift. See, Nikki was in her pink print era and had released the jaw-dropping music video for Anaconda. Yet, the Video Music Awards failed to recognize Anaconda as they didn’t nominate the video at all.
This was obviously a large oversight as Anaconda was one of the most influential music videos of the decade, if not all time, and deserved more than just female music video of the year. For it to not even be nominated didn’t just feel like sabotage. It felt like Nikki had been effectively black ballalled from the industry.
Nikki would tweet saying, quote, “If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for Vid of the Year.” Taylor Swift replied in a now deleted tweet saying, “I’ve done nothing but love and support you. It’s unlike you to pit women against each other.” Maybe one of the men took your slot. Nikki responded, “Huh? You must not be reading my tweets.
Didn’t say a word about you. I love you just as much, but you shouldn’t speak on this.” Taylor replied to that saying, quote, “If I win, please come up with me. You’re invited to any stage I’m ever on.” And this is the Taylor Swift MO. I mean, she’s always bringing a million people on stage with her, but they would take it a step further.
On the night of the VMAs, Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift would get on stage together and perform The Night is still young. But like Kanye, Katie was not amused. Very confusingly tweeting that same day, quote, “Finding it ironic to parade the pit women against other women argument about as one unmeasurably [laughter] about as one unmeasurably capitalizes on the take down of a woman.
” Comment below what y’all think that means. I have tried to read it like literally 50 times. That took me so many takes. But I want to hear what y’all think. Anyway, just a few days later, one of Taylor’s backup dancers would dress up in a shark costume during a performance of Bad Blood. Now, obviously, we all know Bad Blood is rumored to be about Katie Perry and how she stole one of Taylor’s dancers away.
More specifically, the one who played Left Shark at the Super Bowl. So, as you can imagine, when the Shark briefly showed up on stage during TA’s performance, well, people couldn’t help think it was quite the dig at KP. This seemed like direct shots at Katie, as it was the same year as her Super Bowl performance, famously featuring the left shark dancing out of sync.
That same month, when asked by GQ who Bad Blood was about, Taylor Swift would clarify her previous comments in the Rolling Stone article, saying, quote, “You’re in a Rolling Stone interview, and the writer says, “Who is the song about? That sounds like a really intense moment from your life.” And you sit there and you know you’re on good terms with your ex-boyfriend, and you don’t want him or his family to think you’re firing shots at him.
So, you say, “That was about losing a friend.” And that’s basically all you say. But then people cryptically tweet about what you meant. I never said anything that would point a finger in the specific direction of one specific person. And I can sleep at night knowing that I knew the song would be assigned to a person.
And the easiest mark was someone who I didn’t want to be labeled with this song. It was not about heartbreak. It was about the loss of a friendship. Katie and Taylor would continuously fire shots back and forth. Katie even releasing a fragrance called Mad Love, which many pointed out as a direct lyric in the chorus of Bad Blood. When it was revealed that Taylor Swift had written ex-boyfriend Calvin Harris’s song, This Is What You Came For Rihanna, Calvin Harris would go on a Twitter tirade, ending the tweets by firing the entire Katy Perry situation back up,
saying, “I know you’re off tour and you need someone new to try and bury like Katie, etc., but I’m not that guy. Sorry, I won’t allow it.” Katie replied with a gif of Hillary Clinton raising her eyebrows and then went on her own Twitter and tweeted, “Time, the ultimate truth teller.” And Katie and Calvin would collaborate very shortly after that on their hit track Feels.
In that same time span, one of Katy Perry’s fans asked her if she would ever collaborate with Taylor Swift. And Katie replied saying, “If she says sorry, sure.” But Katy Perry would take matters into her own hands. Entertainment Weekly would ask Katie if any of her new music she was releasing directly responded to Bad Blood by Taylor Swift.
Katie spouted off saying, quote, “One thing to note is, you can’t mistake kindness for weakness and don’t come for me. anyone, anyone, anyone, anyone. And that’s not to any one person. And don’t quote me that it is because it’s not. [music] It’s not about that. Honestly, when women come together and they decide to unite, this world is going to be a better place.
Period. [music] End of story. But let me say this. Everything has a reaction or a consequence. So don’t forget about that. Okay, honey. One week later, Katie would make the massive move to drop Swiss Swiss, a supposed diss track at Taylor Swift alongside the queen of rap, Nicki Minaj.
Many people would think Nikki was directly shading Taylor by collaborating with Katie. Katie would be asked many times what Swish Swish was about, and this felt intentional. Most of the time, if an interviewer asks a question, it’s already been preapproved. And this seemed to be Katie’s press tour against Taylor. There’s Taylor beast.
Well, there is there IS NO FOR SURE. And that’s true. There’s When are we going to clear that up? There’s a situation. Honestly, it’s really like she started it and it’s time for her to finish it and I tried to talk to her about it and she she wouldn’t speak to me. Oh, you tried to talk to her about it. You you did the you did the phone call.
I do the right thing. So, you did the phone call and it feels like a fumble. IT WAS A FULL SHUTDOWN AND THEN SHE WRITES a song about me and I’m like, “Okay, cool, cool, cool. That’s how you want to deal with it?” karma. But I THINK BUT BUT WHAT I WANT TO say is that like I’m ready for that BS to be done. Now there is the law of cause and effect.
You do something and there’s going to be a reaction. And trust me, Daddy, there’s going to be a reaction. That is one of the most candid moments I’ve ever seen of a celebrity talking about a actual feud that they’re in. A carpal karaoke scene never ceases to amaze me. Taylor Swift’s close friend Ruby Rose would shade Katie on Twitter, saying, “I just think with everything going on in the world to go from rebranding as a political activist only to ditch it and go low is a bummer.
” On June 8th, when Katy Perry dropped the disastrous album Witness, Taylor finally gave in to her year-long battle with Spotify and released her entire catalog on streaming the exact same day Katie’s album dropped. A few days after this, as Katie’s album was flopping and Taylor’s music was getting more streams than ever, Katie pleaded with Taylor.
She said she just wanted the feud to be over and that Taylor was an amazing songwriter, saying she knows Taylor doesn’t agree with everything she does, but she really hopes they can come together. Soon after, Taylor Swift would announce her new album, Reputation. And the next day, Katie would drop her music video for Swish Swish.
But things got even messier when fans began speculating that Taylor Swift’s longtime bestie turned enemy, Carly Clauss, may have aligned herself with someone from the other side, Katie Perry. When the New York Times asked Carly directly about rumors of a falling out with Taylor, she offered a cryptic response. Quote, “Don’t believe everything you read.
” It wasn’t a denial, but it wasn’t a confirmation either. And yet, despite years of friendship, Taylor didn’t attend either of Carly’s weddings to Joshua Kushner. Meanwhile, two very familiar faces did show up to the second ceremony in June 2019. Katie Perry and Scooter Braun. Two of Taylor’s most public and painful nemesises.
Coincidence? Well, we may never know. However, all of this would come to an end when Katie infamously sent Taylor an olive branch. Yes, a literal olive branch that had a heartfelt note written by Katie to Taylor. Now, if you’ve seen the You Need to Calm Down video, you know that Katie and Taylor made up in front of the entire world, hugging each other as a burger and fries, truly becoming a happy meal.
But the same couldn’t be said for Taylor’s long-standing feud with Kanye West. Circa 2016, Taylor Swift would find herself as the target of the Kardashian clan and in the center of the biggest feud of her career. The year before the feud went down in 2015, contrary to popular belief, Kanye and Taylor would become public friends.
They’d be seen at the Grammys together and even hint at multiple collaborations. Taylor said that she felt Kanye had to actually respect her before she befriended him. But now there was a mutual respect. Their friendship would peak in summer of 2015 when Taylor would present Kanye with a video vanguard award. So, I guess I have to say to all the other winners tonight, I’m really happy for you.
And I’mma let you finish, but Kanye West has had one of the greatest careers of all time. [cheering] And right now, I am honored to present the 2015 Vanguard Award to my friend Kanye West. Kanye even gave Taylor a humongous bouquet of flowers that very night. Everything actually seemed okay for once between Taylor and Kanye, who had had such a tumultuous relationship.
But of course, all good things have to come to an end. Less than 9 months after presenting Kanye with a video vanguard award, Kanye would release his new song, Famous, at his Yeezy fashion show, bragging on the track, quote, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have.” Yep, I made that [ __ ] famous.
Multiple members of the squad were caught in the crossfire as the Hadid sisters were in attendance for the Yeezy fashion show that he premiered the song at. Of course, the press would jump on this and Gigi would have to speak out in support of Taylor, tweeting, “My attendance somewhere does not mean I agree with everything being said in the music playing there.
My friends know of my loyalty.” After this song dropped, that lyric immediately went viral. Kanye spoke out on Twitter saying that Taylor gave him permission to say that line, but Taylor’s spokesperson said otherwise. According to Taylor Swift’s team, Kanye had in fact called Taylor, but it was instead to ask if Taylor could premiere his new song, Famous, on her own Twitter account.
Taylor declined the offer and allegedly strongly urged Kanye against releasing a song with such a misogynistic message. 3 days later, Taylor would seemingly address Kanye in her Grammy speech. There are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame.
Someday when you get where you’re going, you’ll look around and you will know that it was you and the people who love you who put you there. And that will be the greatest feeling in the world. Thank you for this moment. And I mean, wow, how much more graceful can you get in a situation like this. I mean, Taylor at this point is in the eye of a hurricane against Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.
She’s having music videos made about her, and the way that she reacts with this is so graceful. So, when all of this was happening in 2016, what were y’all thinking? Because I was so on the fence because I loved the Kardashians. I watched every single episode. But I also loved Taylor Swift. I mean, I went to the 1989 world tour.
I was super young at the time and to me, Kim had posted receipts, so it felt like she was the one who was coming through with the proof. And we’re going to get into those receipts in a second, but obviously those receipts were completely cherrypicked and Taylor was gracefully playing the long game.
Now, the song famous was controversial enough, but Kanye being Kanye had to take it that extra uncomfortable mile. Kanye would film a music video with wax figures of various celebrities, including his mother-in-law at the time, Caitlyn Jenner, Kim Kardashian, ex Amber Rose, and of course, Taylor Swift. In this music video, Kanye would depict every celebrity completely in bed together.
We can’t even show the music video here on YouTube. It looked way too realistic. Like, Madam Tous could never. and Taylor was rightfully mortified. In July of 2016, the Kardashian episode would air where they directly addressed Taylor Swift. Kim said she felt Kanye shouldn’t still have to be punished for something he did years ago and attempted to shift the blame and narrative.
It’s like Amber, Rose, Ray J, Chris Brown, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, and Caitlyn. Caitlyn Caitlyn Jenner. There’s nudity technically. There’s sheets over everyone. I think he’s obsessed with Caitlyn, though. I am still trying to understand the whole feud between Taylor Swift and Yay that happened about this whole song cuz I thought she knew about it.
She did. Chris Jenner explains that Kim just needs to go give Taylor a call. What would happen if you just called Taylor up and just say what just you know what happened? How did this go so south and I really like her team and I really like her mom. that Kim completely denied this advice on the show and instead took to social media to leak a recorded phone call of Taylor Swift and Kanye [music] West.
All that Kanye’s archivist had filmed previously. For all my Southside [ __ ] know me best. I feel like me and Taylor [music] might still have sex. Um, yeah. I mean, what go with whatever lines is better? It’s obviously very tongue and cheek either way. And I really appreciate you telling me about it. That’s really nice.
Yeah, I really appreciate it. Like the heads up is so nice without like even asking or seeing if I’d be okay with it. And I just really appreciate it. Like I never would have expected you to like tell me about the line and your song. Taylor would immediately respond on Instagram saying where is the video of Kanye telling me he was going to call me quote that b in his song.
It doesn’t exist because it never happened. You don’t get to control someone’s emotional response to being called [music] that b in front of the entire world. Of course, I wanted to like the song. I wanted to believe Kanye when he told me I would love the song. I wanted us to have a friendly relationship.
He promised to play the song for me, but he never did. While I wanted to be supportive of Kanye on the phone call, you cannot approve a song you haven’t heard. 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 been asked to be a part of since 2009.” End quote.
Now, it’s important to note that many of the artists coming against Taylor Swift were managed by Scooter Braun. And she even alleged in a Tumblr post a little later on that he triangulated all his clients to actively take her down. And this video is already extensive, so we’ll have to save that drama for another one.
But just know Taylor has alluded to him being behind a lot of this. [music] Anyway, fortunately, Taylor Swift wasn’t alone in the Firestorm. Her squad quickly rallied behind her, offering public support as a media frenzy intensified. Selena Gomez took to Twitter with a passionate message saying, quote, “There are more important things to talk about.
Why can’t people use their voice for something that actuallying [music] matters?” Truth is, last thing we need right now is hate in any form. Khloe Grace Morettes also weighed in, calling out Kim Kardashian’s decision to release private video footage of Taylor Swift, but this didn’t sit well with the Kardashian camp.
Khloe fired back at the other Khloe with a petty and public clapback. Then came Ruby Rose. And I’m not talking about wifey Ruby Rose. This is the model Ruby Rose from 2015. Another loyal member of Taylor’s squad at the time who directly called out Khloe Kardashian as well, saying, quote, “Yo, Chloe, I thought you were rad when I met you, but this is awful, and this is a 19-year-old girl.
Nobody likes being bullied or made to feel worthless.” Yet, so many people will go above and beyond to make others feel this way. Model Martha Hunt added her voice to the chorus as well, tweeting, “It’s pathetic how quick our culture is to sensationalize a fabricated story. Take interest in the real problems going on. Spread love.
The support for Taylor was unwavering, but it also highlighted just how intense and polarizing the battle lines had become. In the court of public opinion, this wasn’t just a feud. It was a cultural moment. And Taylor’s squad was at the center of it. But as we know, someone’s not truly taking over pop culture unless there’s a huge group of haters against them.
And this pains me to say, but Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovado were two of the most outspoken critics of the squad. Demi directly coming for the squad saying quote she doesn’t see anybody in any sort of squad that has a normal body. Quote it’s kind of this false image of what people should look like and what they should be like and it’s not real.
Even the queen of Disney Channel herself, Miley Cyrus said she doesn’t do celebrity squads and she likes to hang out with real people who inspire her. Really an interesting time for her to be talking about Taylor Swift during her dead pets era because she also hosted the VMAs where Taylor and Nicki made up.
the same BMAS where Nicki Minaj infamously called out Miley Cyrus, saying, “Miley, what’s good?” Nicki had seemingly taken Taylor’s side on multiple occasions. That’s why Swiss Swiss was so shocking. But amidst the bombshells Miley Cyrus was revealing during the Something Beautiful press tour, she revealed she actually did have a squad before Taylor, revealing that her track 4×4 from her best album Bangers was supposed to have a music video featuring not only Miranda Kerr, Madonna, but Miranda Cosgrove from IIC Carly All Mud Wrestling, saying quote,
“Madonna was down to do the music video. Miranda Cosg Gro. Like I had all these people lined up and this was before Taylor had like a lot of people first and I had a [ __ ] squad. Okay, but imagine Miranda Cosgrove reprising as the idiot farm girl for 4×4. Oh my gosh. Amidst all of this, Katie Perry, who was still feuding with Taylor at the time, posted videos of her at Kanye’s concert, dancing to the song Famous.
On August 25th, 2017, Taylor would release her music video for Look What You Made Me Do with multiple Kardashian references, including Taylor getting into a Caitlyn Jenner-esque car crash, crashing into a parody of the Kardashian store, even featuring a Kardashian characterization of Taylor, who is quote editing screenshots.
Now, I don’t know if y’all actually remember this as it was happening, but everyone was being asked to take sides. Taylor’s reputation had been completely tarnished as people took that video Kim Kardashian posted and ran with it. The only people Taylor had left were the faithful members of her squad. Even some of her fans had turned on her.
Reputation was a make orb breakak album for Taylor. While the era would launch Taylor to new heights, it also represented what Taylor refers to as a career death. Taylor would open up about the call in 2019 in Rolling Stone, saying that she had grown tired of her dynamic with Kanye. They had gone out to dinner together and Kanye had continually complimented her music, but then she realized he was two-faced.
In private, he would be the sweetest man in the world. But as soon as those stage lights turned on, and he was given a microphone, he wanted to be cool and drag her in front of the entire world. Only one year after this Rolling Stone article, the extended phone call between Kanye and Taylor [music] would leak, and it would provide some muchneeded context to that original clip that was leaked [music] in 2016.
And it’s not really about what Kanye or Taylor say in the clip itself. It’s about what Kanye didn’t say. When Kim Kardashian originally posted the clip to her Snapchat, she seemingly omitted the clip where Kanye asked Taylor about being called that [ __ ] However, when the full phone call was released, it was revealed Kanye never asked at all.
It was also clear from the new unedited phone call that Taylor was very hesitant for the song to come out in the first place. While Taylor did sort of give Kanye approval on the line about having STS with her, it was clear he had never asked her about being called that [ __ ] which according to Taylor’s letter was her main concern.
Kanye West in the Kardashian camp tried to make the situation very black and white. Either she approved or she didn’t approve. When in actuality, Taylor hadn’t even heard the full finished song to begin with. I also find it really strange that Kanye starts talking about how Kim had a problem with the line, “Me and Taylor might still have,” but then that’s the one that he went with anyway.
It just kind of shows that like he did not give a single what Kim Kardashian thought. Anyway, this clip would cause the internet to explode. Everyone who had so half-hazardly taken Kim’s side during the fallout were eating their words. Taylor would respond with a swipe up link to donate to an organization to end world hunger.
But Kim would reply on Twitter saying, “To be clear, the only issue I ever had around the situation was that Taylor lied through her publicist who stated that Kanye never called to ask for permission.” They clearly spoke, so I let you all see that. Nobody ever denied the word Buch was used without her permission. So Kim kind of admitted fault at the very end.
It’s like, “Oh my gosh.” Now, as we all know, Taylor Swift would ultimately prevail, showing through her success, non-stop hard work, and dedication that she had the power and intelligence to supersede the entire Kardashian clan and even Kanye West himself. Taylor Swift is now the highest paid woman in music and has completely dominated the entire planet.
But it’s important to remember that her entire career was under nonstop attack. Whether it was from Katie Perry, Kanye West, or even Scooter Braun, Taylor Swift is a shining example of everything being stripped and taken away from you. the entire world turning on you and flipping that situation into the most lucrative career of all time.
Taylor would further open up about these career struggles in 2023, saying, quote, “Make no mistake, my career was taken away from me. You have a fully manufactured frame job and an illegally recorded phone call, which Kim Kardashian edited and then put out to say to everyone that I was a liar.” That took me down psychologically to a place I’ve never been before.
I moved to a foreign country. I didn’t leave a rental house for a year. I was afraid to get on phone calls. I pushed away most of the people in my life because I didn’t trust anyone anymore. I went down really, really hard. As for Taylor’s squad, while she’s still publicly friends with multiple members of the squad like Selena Gomez, Haley Williams, and the Haim sisters, Taylor notably drifted off from friends like Karly Clauss and Zenaia.
However, Taylor made the conscious decision to not have any big blowout fights. The members of the squad also speak very highly of Taylor even if they don’t speak to her every day. Even Kendall Jenner, who came out during the 1989 world tour, has refrained from speaking on the matter, only liking a few tweets supporting Kanye at the time.
Nowadays, you can see Taylor Swift with her boyfriend Travis Kelce and her new BFF, Ice Spice. And trust me, there is so much more to talk about here, but this video is already getting super long. So, let us know if you want a part two or another video about Taylor Swift. But for now, I’m Jake, and thank you all so much for watching Deep Dive. Bye.
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Disclaimer : This content may be created by AI for entertainment purposes. Any resemblance to real persons, events, or places is coincidental.
