Much like double-layered tank tops, Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift’s feud is back and has no intention of leaving anytime soon. These billionaires have been beefing since back in 2016, and eight years later Tay is out here with a new Kim-coded track somewhat unsubtly called “thanK you aIMee” (note the caps).
If you’re in desperate need of a refresher…you are not alone! Time for a drama-filled rewind to kick off your week.
February 11, 2016
Kim Kardashian’s then-husband Kanye West drops his song “Famous,” which unfortunately features the lyric, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / I made that bitch famous.”
Taylor’s brother Austin Swift reacts by throwing away his Yeezys on Instagram. The fact that this video’s still up is truly a blessing to society.
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February 12, 2016
New York Times writer Jon Caramanica posts a statement from Taylor’s publicist, saying in part that Tay was not made aware of the line “I made that bitch famous.”
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February 15, 2016
Taylor subtly seems to reference Kanye’s controversial lyric during her Grammys speech, saying, “As the first woman to win Album of the Year at the Grammys twice, I want to say to all the young women out there, there are going to be people along the way who are going to try to undercut your success, or take credit for your accomplishments or fame, but you just focus on the work and you don’t let those people sidetrack you.”
April 14, 2016
Taylor speaks about drama with Kimye during a Vogue interview, saying, “I think the world is so bored with the saga. I don’t want to add anything to it, because then there’s just more.”
June 16, 2016
Kim claims Taylor approved Kanye’s “I made that bitch famous” line in GQ. Here’s how the outlet puts it:
“She totally approved that,” Kim says, shaking her head in annoyance. “She totally knew that that was coming out. She wanted to all of a sudden act like she didn’t. I swear, my husband gets so much shit for things [when] he really was doing proper protocol and even called to get it approved.” Kim is on a roll now, speaking faster and more animatedly than at any other point during our time together. “What rapper would call a girl that he was rapping a line about to get approval?”
She adds:
“So many respected people in the music business heard that [conversation] and knew. I mean, he’s called me a bitch in his songs. That’s just, like, what they say. I never once think, [gasping] ‘What a derogatory word! How dare he?’ Not in a million years. I don’t know why she just, you know, flipped all of a sudden…It was funny because [on the call with Kanye, Taylor] said, ‘When I get on the Grammy red carpet, all the media is going to think that I’m so against this, and I’ll just laugh and say, ‘The joke’s on you, guys. I was in on it the whole time.’ And I’m like, wait, but [in] your Grammy speech, you completely dissed my husband just to play the victim again.”
Tay’s spokesperson then tells the outlet:
“Taylor does not hold anything against Kim Kardashian as she recognizes the pressure Kim must be under and that she is only repeating what she has been told by Kanye West. However, that does not change the fact that much of what Kim is saying is incorrect. Kanye West and Taylor only spoke once on the phone while she was on vacation with her family in January of 2016 and they have never spoken since. Taylor has never denied that conversation took place. It was on that phone call that Kanye West also asked her to release the song on her Twitter account, which she declined to do. Kanye West never told Taylor he was going to use the term ‘that bitch’ in referencing her. A song cannot be approved if it was never heard. Kanye West never played the song for Taylor Swift. Taylor heard it for the first time when everyone else did and was humiliated. Kim Kardashian’s claim that Taylor and her team were aware of being recorded is not true, and Taylor cannot understand why Kanye West, and now Kim Kardashian, will not just leave her alone.”
June 17, 2016
Kim tweets THIS:
And Taylor Swift’s comments are promptly flooded with snakes.
July 17, 2016
Kim Kardashian drops videos of Kanye and Taylor’s call on Snapchat in snippets (but FWIW there’s no video of him specifically asking Tay for permission to use the “that bitch” line).
July 18, 2016
Taylor drops a Notes App statement:
“Where is the video of Kanye telling me he was going to call me ‘that bitch’ in his song? It doesn’t exist because it never happened. You don’t get to control someone’s emotional response to being called ‘that bitch’ in front of the entire world. Of course I wanted to like the song. I wanted to believe Kanye when he told me that 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. Being falsely painted as a liar 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 asked to be a part of, since 2009.”
August 27, 2017
An entire year goes by and then Tay emerges with the video for “Look What You Made Me Do,” which is full of allegorical snakes.
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May 9, 2018
Taylor starts her Reputation World Tour and tells the crowd, “A couple of years ago, someone called me a snake on social media and it caught on. Then a lot of people were calling me a lot of things on social media. And I went through some really low times for a while because of it. I went through some times when I didn’t know if I was going to get to do this anymore.”
January 15, 2019
Kim goes on Watch What Happens Live and is asked whether or not she and Taylor are still beefing. “Over it,” Kim says. “We’ve all moved on.”
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Kim Kardashian Says Beef With Taylor Swift Is Over | WWHL
April 26, 2019
Taylor drops the music video for “ME,” which features a snake transforming into butterflies (a clear reference to her moving on from the Reputation era).
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Meanwhile, Kim goes ahead and posts THIS on her Instagram Story:
Instagram
August 8, 2019
Taylor talks about her experience being “canceled” by Kim with Vogue, saying, “A mass public shaming, with millions of people saying you are quote-unquote canceled, is a very isolating experience. I don’t think there are that many people who can actually understand what it’s like to have millions of people hate you very loudly. When you say someone is canceled, it’s not a TV show. It’s a human being. You’re sending mass amounts of messaging to this person to either shut up, disappear, or it could also be perceived as, Kill yourself.“
November 1, 2019
Kim drops a video from set and has Taylor’s music playing in the background:
March 21, 2020
A new video leaks of Kanye and Taylor’s call. In the new extended video, Taylor can be heard saying, “I’m glad it’s not mean, though. It doesn’t feel mean, but, like, oh my god the build up you gave it, I thought it was going to be like, ‘that stupid dumb bitch.'”
Obviously, fans feel like this vindicates Taylor, who, again, claimed she never approved of Kanye calling her a “bitch.”
March 23, 2020
Taylor Swift breaks her silence on the leaked footage:
“Instead of answering those who are asking how I feel about the video footage that leaked, proving that I was telling the truth the whole time about *that call* (you know, the one that was illegally recorded, that somebody edited and manipulated in order to frame me and put me, my family, and fans through hell for 4 years)…SWIPE UP to see what really matters.”
She then posts a donation link to Feeding America.
Instagram
Meanwhile, Kim denies editing the footage on Twitter:
March 24, 2020
Taylor’s publicist, Tree Paine, responds to Kim with a statement denying that Kanye called for approval.
January 5, 2023
Years go by and then one day, Kim and her daughter North West are seen dancing to “Shake It Off” in a since-deleted TikTok.
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October 1, 2023
Kim uses “Speak Now” on her Instagram Stories.
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December 6, 2023
Taylor brings up the drama with Kimye during her TIME Magazine Person of the Year interview, saying, “Make no mistake—my career was taken away from me. You have a fully manufactured frame job, in 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 people in my life because I didn’t trust anyone anymore. I went down really, really hard.”
April 19, 2024
Taylor drops “thanK you aIMee” on her album The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, and it’s….very clearly about Kim. For starters, her initials are spelled out in all-caps in the title. But the lyrics? 😱
“When I picture my hometown
There’s a bronze spray-tanned statue of you
And a plaque underneath it
That threatens to push me down the stairs, at our school”
Oh, and:
“And maybe you’ve reframed it
And in your mind, you never beat my spirit black and blue
I don’t think you’ve changed much
And so I changed your name, and any real defining clues
And one day, your kid comes home singin’
A song that only us two is gonna know is about you”
April 22, 2024
Us Weekly reports that Kim has lost more than 120,000 followers since Taylor’s new song dropped, while her Instagram comments are flooded with “Aimee” references:
Instagram
April 23, 2024
Only a day later (!!!), the reality TV star posts an old selfie that includes Tay’s former bestie Karlie Kloss while wishing her pal Derek Blasberg a happy birthday via Instagram Stories.
Kim Kardashian//Instagram
Yiiiiiiiikes. Btw, to get a refresher on that saga, head right on over this way:
