Taylor Swift and Kanye West have been at odds with one another for many years at this point. Overall, it is easy to see how this has become the case. After all, Ye did go up on stage during the VMAs and steal her moment. Furthermore, his bars on the song “Famous” left a sour taste in a lot of people’s mouths. To this day, the two are on bad terms. This past week, both artists were competing for the number-one spot on the Billboard charts.
After dropping Vultures, Kanye was trying to keep his number-one album streak alive. However, Taylor has proven to be formidable with her album The Tortured Poets Society. Going into the weekend, it had spent 13 weeks on top of the album charts. Now, you can officially make it 14. She sold 142K units while Ye sold just over 100K. Needless to say, it appears as though Swift has gotten her revenge on Ye, whose latest effort was not enough to get fans truly excited.
Let us know what you think about Taylor Swift and her chart dominance, in the comments section down below. Do you believe that she has gone too far with the alternate versions of her album? Do you believe Kanye and Taylor will ever get along again? Additionally, stay tuned to HNHH for the latest news and updates from around the music world. We will continue to keep you informed on all of your favorite artists and their upcoming projects.
While receiving the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album on February 2, 2024, Taylor Swift announced her eleventh studio album. As expected, fans all over the world went berserk over the surprise announcement, and have eagerly awaited the album since. Then, on April 19, 2024, Taylor Swift finally dropped The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD), shocking fans again by delivering having a double album. Without a doubt, it is currently the biggest musical release of 2024.
Since the album dropped, it has accomplished some groundbreaking feats, and Swifties can’t get enough of it. They’ve also enjoyed deciphering many of the somewhat cryptic lines the singer included in most songs. Taylor Swift seemingly references several people throughout the songs on TTPD such as Jack Antonoff, Charlie Puth, Dylan Thomas, Patti Smith, and Stevie Nicks, among others, throughout the album. Here’s a list of people she references.
Taylor Swift and Matt Healy met in 2014, but it wasn’t until 2023 that they got romantically involved. The two dated for a while in 2023, but broke up in June of that year. Following the release of TTPD, many fans believe Taylor Swift indirectly refers to the 1975 frontman in some songs. She seemingly references Healy on “My Boy Only Breaks His Favorite Toys,” and “Down Bad,” where fans believe she sings about their breakup. This also happens in “The Black Dog,” “I Can Do It With A Broken Heart,” and “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived.” However, Taylor also sings about when she was head over heels for the singer on some tracks. She does so on “But Daddy I Love Him,” “Guilty As Sin?” and “LOML.”
“God save the most judgmental creeps who say they want what’s best for me / Sanctimoniously performing soliloquies I’ll never see / Thinking it can change the beat of my heart when he touches me,” Swift sings on “But Daddy I Love him.” Fans believe the lyrics are a response to the reproach she got for dating Healy after it was revealed he had made racist remarks and offensive jokes in the past.
Joe Alwyn
Before Matt Healy, Taylor Swift dated the British actor and heartthrob Joe Alwyn, and many Swifties thought the two would be endgame. However, they broke up in April 2023. Following the release of TTPD, many listeners believe that Taylor Swift references Alwyn and their breakup on a few songs. These include “So Long, London,” “Fresh Out the Slammer,” “LOML,” and “How Did It End?” Swifties believe “So Long, London” is a heartbreaking sequel to “London Boy” from Lover, which she also wrote about Alwyn. On “So Long, London,” she seemingly refers to Alwyn as “London,” saying goodbye to their romance.
On TTPD, Taylor Swift lovingly sings about Travis Kelce on the tracks in which she references him. After going through the motions of heartbreak, she moves on to a glowing new love on tracks like “The Alchemy” and “So High School.” Swift and Kelce have been dating since late 2023, and the fire of their romance seems to be burning brighter than ever. Many who have listened to TTPD are convinced that Taylor Swift wrote “The Alchemy” about Kelce.
For one thing, the song contains many football references. Also, it is one of the songs in which Swift does not reminisce but sings about a current lover. All evidence points to the song being about the football player she is madly in love with right now. She also briefly references Kelce on “Chloe or Sam or Sofia or Marcus.” On the track, she sings, “And you saw my bones out with somebody new / Who seemed like he would’ve bullied you in school.”
When fans saw the title of the track “thanK you aIMee,” they assumed it would be about Aimee Mann. However, the capitalized letters that spell out “KIM” eventually convinced them it was about Kim Kardashian. Taylor Swift never actually mentions Kim’s name on this TTPD track. However, from fans’ speculations, the message is pretty clear: the singer is not a fan of the Kardashian. “One day, your kid comes home singin’ a song that only us two is gonna know is about you,” one lyric states. “Everyone knows that my mother is a saintly woman / But she used to say she wished that you were dead,” Swift also sings.
Lucy Dacus
Lucy Dacus is a singer/songwriter, and a third of the Grammy-winning group Boygenius. On “The Tortured Poets Department,” Swift sings, “Sometimes I wonder if you’re gonna screw this up with me / But you told Lucy you’d kill yourself if I ever leave.” Although Lucy’s last name isn’t mentioned on the song, fans believe Taylor is referencing the Boygenius member. Dacus was one of the opening acts for The Eras Tour. Due to their history, it’s very possible Dacus was the one Taylor Swift wrote about on the TTPD title track.
The Starting Line
Throughout TTPD, Taylor Swift namedrops a few people, and on “Black Dog,” she mentions The Starting Line. Matt Healy is a big fan of the pop-rock band, so Swift mentioning them is clearly a reference to her ex-lover. “When someone plays The Starting Line/ And you jump up, but she’s too young to know this song/ That was intertwined in the magic fabric of our dreaming,” Taylor Swift sings on “The Black Dog.”
Clara Bow
When Taylor Swift revealed the tracklist for TTPD, many fans were curious about who or what Clara Bow was. “You look like Clara Bow in this light,” Swift sings in the opening of the eponymous track. Clara Bow was an American actress, and if you’re unfamiliar with the name, there’s a reason why. The actress was a movie star in the silent film era, and she died in 1965. Her name isn’t one that comes up often in recent film discourse. With this in mind, it’s no surprise that young fans of Swift’s music didn’t know her before. However, they certainly do, now.
Taylor Swift’s animosity towards Kanye West and his 2009 shenanigans at the VMAs extends to his former spouse, Kim Kardashian, who, according to fans, caught a stray on Swift’s latest album, The Tortured Poets Department. Social media has been in a frenzy since Friday morning as they unpacked the lyrics and album titles. However, it’s two songs in particular that turned netizens on their head, “Cassandra” and “thanK you aIMee.” On both records, T Swizzy fires back at her detractors but considering that just about everyone and their moms love the Nashville singer-songwriter, it seemed that Kim Kardashian may have been the only rational target. Below, we’ve unpacked the fan theories surrounding the songs, as well as a bit of history behind Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift’s rift.
Though Taylor Swift is on par with the best of ‘em when it comes to dishing subs, many believe that “thanK you aIMee” is as direct as it gets. The capitalized letters spell out KIM, so there’s that. However, the song itself focuses on a bully-like figure named Aimee, who seemingly terrorized her life. On the hook, Taylor sings, “All that time you were throwin’ punches, I was buildin’ somethin’ / And I can’t forgive the way you made me feel / Screamed ‘F*** you, Aimee’ to the night sky, as the blood was gushin’/“But I can’t forget the way you made me heal.”
Many believe these particular lyrics allude to the infamous 2016 phone call that Kim Kardashian leaked online after Taylor Swift expressed her disproval of Kanye’s “Famous.” Though the call suggested that T-Swift gave Ye her blessing, she allegedly wasn’t aware that Ye referred to her as a “b*tch” on the song and claimed the leaked footage was edited.
Elsewhere on the song, Taylor admits to have “disguised” the true identity of Aimee on the song, singing on the bridge, “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.” One could argue that these lyrics paint an image of Kim Kardashian attempting to shift the optics of the damage that she caused. As People points out, many fans also theorized that another bar related to Taylor’s mother Andrea Swift’s feelings toward Kim. “Everyone knows that my mother is a saintly woman/But she used to say she wished that you were dead,” she writes.
“Cassandra”: Taylor Swift Likens Herself To A Greek Goddess
As People points out, once again, the Brooklyn Museum states, “The god Apollo, enamored of [Cassandra], granted her the power of prophecy but, when she rejected him, sabotaged that power with a curse that no one would believe her predictions.” On “Cassandra,” Taylor Swift refers to this specific tale while calling back to that time when KimYe fans flooded the singer’s Instagram comments with snake emojis. “So, they killed Cassandra first ’cause she feared the worst/ And tried to tell the town/ So, they filled my cell with snakes, I regret to say/ Do you believe me now?” she sings.
Although straightforward, Taylor Swift previously opened up about this incident at length, namely when TIME named her Person Of The Year in 2023. Admitting it brought her to a dark place, she stated, “Make no mistake — my career was taken away from me,” Taylor said at the time. “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.”
At this point, it’s all speculation but considering that Taylor Swift has previously aimed at both Kanye West and Kim Kardashian on wax, it wouldn’t be a shock if “Cassandra” and “thanK you aIMee” were both targeted at the billionaire socialite. What do you think? Was Taylor Swift firing shots at Kim? Let us know in the comment section below.
Taylor Swift is someone who releases albums extremely frequently. It feels as though every single year, she has a new release. Unfortunately, this isn’t exactly conducive to the best work. Sure, she gets every Grammy in the book, but it seems like folks outside of her fanbase are sick of the mediocrity. Today, the songstress delivered The Tortured Poets Department, an album title that will have your eyes permanently rolled into the back of your head. The type of title that you would expect from a 14-year-olds Tumblr page.
Well, as you can see from the Billboard report below, this project broke a major Spotify record in less than 12 hours. It just goes to show that regardless of the actual music, Swift still has the juice with her fans. So far, many of the “Swifties” are loving the album. As for your average Joe, they find it to be incredibly juvenile, cringeworthy, and at times, downright boring.
These feelings were made clear in the tweets below, which only scratched the surface of how people feel. Screenshots of her lyrics are hitting the internet in droves, and it seems like Matty Healy and Joe Alwyn are getting things the worst. As far as Travis Kelce is concerned, he may have to wait a few album cycles before he gets mentioned in any real identifiable ways. Whether or not Taylor Swift will change things up in the future, remains to be seen. For now, however, its looking like this could wind up being one of her worst showings.
Fans React
Let us know what you thought of the new Taylor Swift album, in the comments section down below. Do you feel as though people are being too harsh about it? Or is this one of the best albums to be released so far this year? Additionally, stay tuned to HNHH for the latest news and updates from around the music world. We will continue to keep you informed on all of your favorite artists and their upcoming projects.
calling urself a “tortured poet” isn’t pretentious. it’s cringe. which is exactly what taylor swift has always done best. if u don’t get that by now, idk what to tell u
Based on Twitter mutual reactions I’m gathering that new Taylor Swift album is simultaneously the greatest thing since sliced bread and just unintelligible Tumblr middle school cringe
— Train man! Fighter of the night man! (@RaOrNothing) April 19, 2024
Taylor Swift new album could just have been compiled into one song instead of 30.
Same sound, same theme. And the songs are just full of self pity, a mix of sometimes witty but also very cringe lyrics.
I’m gonna be honest, I am pretty sure the new Taylor Swift album is supposed to be bad and cringe because the swifties will be there no matter what so the only untapped market left is the hate listeners. What we are witnessing is someone cashing her chips in.
Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, and Kanye West have had their problems in the past. The Swift and Kanye feud dates all the way back to the VMAs, 15 years ago. Furthermore, this feud extended to Kim Kardashian thanks to the infamous “Famous” verse and subsequent leaked phone call. Since that time, it has become clear that the whole thing left a sour taste in Taylor’s mouth. Although, for the most part, she has stayed quiet on it. Now, however, it seems as though she is making her feelings known with some subliminals on a new track.
Today, Swift dropped off The Tortured Poets Department. On top of these 16 tracks, she delivered 15 new songs in the form of The Anthology. On this deluxe version, there is a track called “thanK you aIMee.” Fans immediately clocked the fact that the capitalized letter spell Kim. While this might just be a coincidence, there are numerous lyrics that could be interpreted as about Kardashian. ““All that time you were throwing punches, I was building something / And I can’t forgive the way you made me feel / Screamed ‘F*ck you, Aimee’ to the night sky, as the blood was gushin’ / But I can’t forget the way you made me heal,” she sings.
Moreover, there are lyrics towards the end of the song in which Swift acknowledges she has changed the name of the person she is talking about in the song. She also alludes to the person’s kids singing her songs not knowing they are about them. Uproxx noted that this could very well be a North West reference as North has sung Taylor’s songs on social media before. Ultimately, this all seems very petty, especially given how big of an artist Taylor has become. That said, beef seems to be on the menu these days, and pop stars are not exempt from wanting a taste.
Let us know what you think of the new Taylor Swift song above, in the comments section below. Do you think that she is taking aim at Kim Kardashian here? Have you listened to the Taylor Swift album? Did you enjoy it? Additionally, stay tuned to HNHH for the latest news and updates from around the music world. We will continue to keep you informed on all of your favorite artists and their upcoming projects.
