Site last updated: Thursday, April 25, 2024

Log In

Reset Password
MENU
Butler County's great daily newspaper

Swift's image takes hit during rough month

Taylor Swift

NEW YORK — Taylor Swift probably wishes she could time travel back to “1989” after the month she’s having.

On Sunday, her bitter feud with Kanye West and his wife, Kim Kardashian, exploded after Kardashian released a series of Snapchats that seemed to suggest that Swift lied when she said she didn’t know about, or approve, West’s infamous “Famous” line where he raps that he and Swift might have sex because “I made (her) famous.” The drama came just days after her ex, DJ Calvin Harris, called her out on Twitter and accused her of sabotage, and unfavorable public scrutiny of her much-photographed new romance with actor Tom Hiddleston.

It’s an avalanche of bad publicity. The question is, can pop music’s golden girl shake it off?

“What (Kanye has) done now is to at least try to say to the world, ‘I’m exposing this person. I am laying her naked. Here is a naked image of her in my video and here is the footage of her talking with me, having a conversation that you may believe we didn’t have,”’ Rolling Stone Contributing Editor Joe Levy said in an interview. “And once you go that far, it’s very, very hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube.”

After the battle between West, Kardashian and Swift played out on social media, many were quick to weigh in. Some celebrities, from Justin Bieber to Selena Gomez, posted that the world should be focused on more love and less hate, others didn’t hold their tongues.

“This is a God’s dream,” rapper Vince Staples tweeted of the drama. The takedown of Swift had some looking at her differently on Monday.

“People are scratching their heads saying, ‘You know what, is she all that great? Is this someone I can believe?’ ... Between the recent Calvin Harris tweets, the Tom Hiddleston news and now this, I think people are taking a step back — even some of her biggest fans — and wondering if this ‘is the Taylor I know. Is this person I’ve adored for how many years?”’ said Lauren Moraski, Huffington Post’s entertainment editorial director.

Kardashian delivered what seemed to be a knockout punch Sunday with the videos. They featured Swift’s phone conversation with West about his song “Famous.” Swift later posted a lengthy statement saying not all of West’s lyrics about her were revealed to her.

During the very friendly phone call, West, 39, tells Swift, 26, he wants to use the line, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex.” While Swift didn’t scream out of excitement, she told West it was fine and said she appreciated the heads up, and the pair talked about their friendship — which at one time seemed unlikely given their first meeting in 2009 led to one of the most publicized feuds in music history (that was when West hijacked the stage from Swift as she was accepting an award and said Beyonce did better work).

The pair made up in 2015 and seemed to be on good terms when the song was released in February.

More in Arts & Entertainment

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

* indicates required
TODAY'S PHOTOS