(LEFT) NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 06: Taylor Swift leaves the "Poor Things" premiere at DGA Theater on December 06, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by James Devaney/GC Images) (RIGHT) Kim Kardashian and Kanye West at the Theatre des Bouffes du Nord to attend Kanye West's Sunday Service on March 01, 2020 in Paris, France. (Photo by Mehdi Taamallah/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
This year, TIME Magazine named pop-country sensation Taylor Swift Person of the Year. In her cover story interview, Swift discussed critical moments in her decorated career.
Despite being a record-breaking, ticket-selling vocal machine, the singer admits to feeling waves in her career.
“I’ve been raised up and down the flagpole of public opinion so many times in the last 20 years,” Taylor told TIME.
One ride on that flagpole was her public drama with two other major stars — Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. Back in 2016, Taylor publicly reacted to Kanye name-dropping her in his song ‘Famous.’
“For all my Southside n****s that know me best. I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why? I made that bitch famous (Goddamn). I made that bitch famous,” Kanye rapped in the track.
The video also showed West in an extra-large bed alongside nude figures of other celebrities, including Taylor. When the singer publicly said she hadn’t consented to the lyrics or videos, Kimmy Cakes joined the public chat, siding with her now ex-husband.
The reality TV star released a recording of Taylor Swift and Ye speaking on the phone, where Swift seemingly gives the track the okay.
See the clip below.
That moment felt like “career death,” the singer told TIME. It made her look like a snack, the publication added.
“Make no mistake, my career was taken away from me,” Swift said.
Taylor is still standing by her story that Kim and Ye illegally recorded and edited the video.
“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,” Taylor Swift said. “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.”
By the time ‘Famous’ dropped, that had been the second public run-in Taylor Swift had with Ye. In 2009, he stormed the stage, took over Taylor’s microphone, and declared Beyoncé was a more deserving artist. At the time, Taylor was in the middle of her acceptance speech for a 2009 Video Music Award.
Taylor initially thought the 2016 celebrity beef would follow her career. And while, yes, they are recorded in pop culture history, they don’t compare to the impact of her music. This year alone, Taylor Swift ATE in sold-out national and international arenas while on tour and followed up with an Eras tour film.
“I thought that moment of backlash was going to define me negatively for the rest of my life,” she said.
In 2020, Kim K spoke out about the 2016 beef, saying the situation forced her to defend Ye. She pledged it was the last time she’d speak on that drama.
See her full comments below.
