Kanye West and Taylor Swift have had a tumultuous dynamic over time — however what began the unhealthy blood between the artists?
The notorious feud between the duo started when West shockingly ambushed Swift in the course of the 2009 MTV VMAs. Whereas Swift was giving her acceptance speech after taking house the trophy for Greatest Feminine Video, West took the stage to interrupt her and let the world know that Beyoncé ought to have received as an alternative.
After West acquired tons of backlash from the incident, he in the end apologized. Whereas the pair seemingly made up after the awards present, the truce didn’t final for lengthy.
Their bitter rivalry — which spanned for greater than a decade — impressed a number of songs for each artists. The drama even led to Swift creating a complete period for herself along with her iconic Popularity album.
Hold scrolling to see Swift and West’s historical past over time:
2009
The feud began when West interrupted Swift as she accepted the Greatest Feminine Video Award for “You Belong With Me” on the MTV Video Music Awards in September 2009. Throughout her speech,
West grabbed the microphone out of her hand and yelled, “Yo, Taylor, I’m actually completely satisfied for you. Imma allow you to end, however Beyoncé had the most effective movies of all time.”
The digital camera instantly panned to a horrified Beyoncé, who was nominated in the identical class for her “Single Women (Put a Ring on It)” video, saying, “No, Kanye.”
On the finish of the evening, Beyoncé got here to Swift’s rescue. When she received her award for Video of the 12 months, Beyoncé introduced Swift on stage to let her end her speech.
West was instantly hit with backlash from celebs and followers alike. Then-president Barack Obama even referred to as the rapper a “jackass” for the incident in an off-the-record remark throughout a CNBC interview.
Two days after the VMAs, West made a tearful look on The Tonight Present With Jay Leno. “It’s been a tough day. … I instantly knew within the state of affairs that it was improper and it wasn’t a spectacle,” he defined on the time. “It’s truly somebody’s feelings that I stepped on. It was impolite, interval. I’d wish to apologize to her in individual.”
After West shared his intentions to say he was sorry, Swift confessed the pair had spoken in regards to the incident.
“Kanye did name me and he was very honest in his apology, and I accepted that apology,” Swift instructed ABC Radio on the time. “The assist I acquired from different artists and from the followers, and so many individuals sticking up for me, that’s what acquired me to the place the place I might settle for that apology. And I’m simply very grateful that everybody confirmed me a lot love.”
Taylor Swift and Kanye West Steve Granitz/WireImage; Allen Berezovsky/WireImage
2010
Swift launched the monitor “Harmless” on her Communicate Now album. The tune alluded to her drama with West.
“It’s all proper / Simply wait and see / Your string of lights remains to be shiny to me / Who you’re is just not the place you’ve been / You’re nonetheless an harmless / … It’s okay / Life is a troublesome crowd / 32 and nonetheless rising up now,” she sings.
Later that yr, Swift took the stage on the 2010 VMAS to carry out “Harmless,” which was broadly interpreted as a dig at West.
2013
Whereas the whole lot gave the impression to be at peace for West and Swift, issues escalated for the musicians three years later. In June 2013, West sat down with The New York Instances for an intensive Q&A and the notorious second with Swift was introduced up. When requested if he regretted the outburst, West stood by his resolution to storm the stage.
“I don’t have one remorse,” he stated to the outlet. “If anybody’s studying this ready for some sort of full-on, flat apology for something, they need to simply cease studying proper now.”
2015
West and Swift made headlines in February 2015 once they had been photographed smiling and having a dialog on the Grammy Awards. The following day, West instructed Ryan Seacrest in an interview that Swift approached him after Beck received the Album of the 12 months Award over Beyoncé and instructed him he ought to’ve gone on stage. “That is the irony in my life,” he quipped.
Seven months later, Swift revealed within the Self-importance Truthful September 2015 challenge that she was step by step contemplating West as certainly one of her buddies.
“I really feel like I wasn’t able to be buddies with him till I felt like he had some type of respect for me, and he wasn’t able to be buddies with me till he had some type of respect for me — so it was the identical challenge, and we each reached the identical place on the identical time,” she defined. “After which Kanye and I each reached a spot the place he would say very nice issues about my music and what I’ve completed, and I might ask him how his child [North is] doing. … We haven’t deliberate [a collaboration] … However hey, I like him as an individual. And that’s a very good, good first step, a pleasant place for us to be.”
On the 2015 VMAs, Swift and West had a full-circle second. Swift introduced West with the coveted MTV Video Vanguard Award at that yr’s ceremony.
“I first met Kanye West six years in the past — at this present, truly!” she quipped earlier than explaining that the rapper’s debut album, The School Dropout, was “the very first album my brother and I purchased on iTunes once I was 12 years previous.”
She continued: “I’ve been a fan of his for so long as I can bear in mind as a result of Kanye defines what it means to be a artistic drive in music, style and, properly, life, So, I suppose I’ve to say to all the opposite winners tonight: I’m actually completely satisfied for you, and imma allow you to end, however Kanye West has had one of many biggest careers of all time.”
2016
When West dropped his album The Lifetime of Pablo in February 2016, he included a monitor titled “Well-known” — which shaded Swift. “I really feel like me and Taylor may nonetheless have intercourse / Why? I made that bitch well-known,” he raps.
After receiving backlash for the controversial lyrics, West clarified on Twitter that he had an “hour lengthy convo with [Swift] in regards to the line and she or he thought it was humorous and gave her blessings.”
Whereas lots of Swift’s family and friends members addressed the tune, the singer broke her silence on the state of affairs days later as she accepted the Grammy Award for Album of the 12 months.
“I wish to say to all of the younger girls on the market: There are going to be individuals alongside the way in which who will attempt to undercut your success or take credit score on your accomplishments or your fame,” she stated on the time. “However when you simply deal with the work and also you don’t let these individuals sidetrack you, sometime whenever you get the place you’re going, you’ll go searching and you’ll know that it was you and the individuals who love you who put you there. And that would be the biggest feeling on the earth.”
4 months later, West premiered the NSFW “Well-known” music video, which featured bare look-alikes of himself, then-wife Kim Kardashian, Swift, Rihanna, Chris Brown and several other extra in mattress collectively at a star-studded occasion on the Discussion board in Los Angeles. The voyeuristic visible, which was impressed by Vincent Desiderio’s “Sleep” portray, was closely criticized by a number of stars, together with Lena Dunham, who referred to as the clip “probably the most disturbing ‘inventive’ efforts in latest reminiscence.”
The next month, Kardashian got here to West’s protection and claimed that Swift was conscious of — and allegedly endorsed — the rapper’s lyrics earlier than the tune dropped.
“She completely authorized that,” Kardashian instructed GQ journal in July 2016. “She completely knew that that was popping out. She wished to abruptly act like she didn’t. I swear, my husband will get a lot s–t for issues [when] he actually was doing correct protocol and even referred to as to get it authorized.”
Nonetheless, Kardashian’s involvement in Swift and West’s drama didn’t come to an finish. Whereas a July 2016 episode of Conserving Up With the Kardashians was airing, Kardashian launched a sequence of Snapchat movies of West chatting with Swift on the cellphone. Within the clips, Swift seemingly signed off on the controversial lyric and even referred to as it “a praise.”
That very same day, Kardashian posted on her Twitter noting it was Nationwide Snake Day. “They’ve holidays for everyone, I imply the whole lot lately!” she quipped alongside a sequence of snake emojis, throwing refined shade at Swift.
Shortly after the movies had been launched, Twitter went wild and the hashtag #KimExposedTaylorParty grew to become a worldwide trending matter. Swift responded by way of Instagram, saying that she was unaware that she’d be known as “that bitch” on the tune.
“Being falsely painted as a liar once I was by no means given the total story or performed any a part of the tune is character assassination,” she penned. “I might very very similar to to be excluded from this narrative, one which I’ve by no means requested to be part of, since 2009.”
Whereas Swift’s buddies publicly got here to her protection, West noticed the second as a victory himself. “I’m so glad my spouse has Snapchat, ’trigger now y’all can know the reality,” West instructed the group at a Drake live performance in July 2016 the place he got here on stage to carry out their collaboration “Pop Type.”
2017
Greater than a yr after the drama unfolded on-line, Swift introduced her new album Popularity. Earlier than breaking the information, Swift teased the discharge with a sequence of snake emojis on her social media.
When the album dropped in November 2017, a sequence of songs alluded to her feud with West and Kardashian together with “Look What You Made Me Do,” “This Is Why We Can’t Have Good Issues,” “I Did One thing Dangerous” and “Name It What You Need.”
2019
Two years later, Kardashian cleared the air about the place she stood with Swift following her feud.
“I really feel like we’d all moved on,” Kardashian stated of Swift throughout a January 2019 look on Watch What Occurs Dwell With Andy Cohen whereas noting that she was “over it.”
Swift, for her half, mirrored on the drama and the way she overcame it in a March 2019 interview with Elle.
“I realized that disarming somebody’s petty bullying will be so simple as studying to chortle,” Swift defined. “In my expertise, I’ve come to see that bullies wish to be feared and brought significantly. Just a few years in the past, somebody began a web-based hate marketing campaign by calling me a snake on the web.”
Swift defined that the symbolism of the snake and the way she claimed it as her personal helped her overcome the damaging recollections.
“It will be good if we might get an apology from individuals who bully us,” Swift continued. “However possibly all I’ll ever get is the satisfaction of understanding I might survive it, and thrive regardless of it.”
On this identical yr, Swift engaged in a battle with Scooter Braun over the possession of her masters when he bought Large Machine Data in June 2019. Whereas opening up in regards to the battle, Swift referred to as out how the music supervisor fueled the flames of her feud with West.
“Or when his consumer, Kanye West, organized a revenge porn music video which strips my physique bare,” she wrote in a prolonged Tumblr submit. “Now Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given a possibility to purchase. Basically, my musical legacy is about to lie within the palms of somebody who tried to dismantle it.”
Three months later, Swift confessed to Rolling Stone that she was executed attempting to make amends with West. “I noticed he’s so two-faced,” she stated on the time. “That he needs to be good to me behind the scenes, however then he needs to look cool, rise up in entrance of everybody and speak s–t.”
2020
4 years after the cellphone name incident, the total model of the chat between Swift and West leaked on-line. Within the clip, West requested Swift to assist promote the tune, nevertheless it did comprise a controversial lyric. Swift then requested if it was “gonna be imply” which West acknowledged he tamed it down after consulting with Kardashian. West performed the snippet and Swift laughed and famous it was “not imply.”
Nonetheless, the singer instructed West that she wanted to “give it some thought as a result of it’s completely loopy.” West then promised to ship her the total tune and they might speak by way of it later — which by no means occurred.
When the clip went viral, Swift addressed the state of affairs. “As a substitute of answering those that are asking how I really feel in regards to the video footage that leaked, proving that I used to be telling the reality the entire time about *that decision* (you already know, the one which was illegally recorded, that someone edited and manipulated with a view to body me and put me, my household and followers by way of hell for 4 years) … SWIPE UP to see what actually issues,” she wrote by way of her Instagram Story then concluded the submit shedding mild on organizations that wanted assist in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
2022
When Swift launched her album Midnights, she dropped the monitor “Vigilante S–t” which may very well be referring to her drama with West or Braun.
The second verse finds Swift dreaming about changing into “thick as thieves together with your ex-wife,” which might check with Kardashian or Yael Cohen. “Now she will get the home, will get the youngsters, will get the pleasure,” Swift sings. “And she or he appears so fairly / Drivin’ in your Benz / Currently she’s been dressin’ for revenge.” (Following their feuds, each West and Braun divorced from their wives. West and Kardashian cut up in 2021 whereas Braun and Cohen referred to as it quits in 2022.)
2023
Throughout Swift’s Eras Tour cease in Mexico Metropolis in August, the singer joked to the viewers in regards to the second that ignited her feud with West practically 20 years prior. Whereas on stage sharing the inspiration behind her tour, followers interrupted her speech to cheer her on.
“Individuals chanting your title, it’s actually the one approach to be interrupted,” Swift quipped as she sat at her piano. “And I might know.”
