Pop superstar and billionaire Taylor Swift is speaking out on the effects of reality TV star Kim Kardashian and her ex-husband, Kanye West‘s accusations made against her in 2016 about a phone call with the rapper where she allegedly gave him consent to sing about her with vulgar lyrics.
The incident blew out of proportion and caused Swift to be branded a liar by many, mainly due to Kardashian releasing alleged audio of the phone call on social media in an attempt to “defend” her then-husband.
In a new interview, Swift called out the pair, saying her career was “taken away” from her and that she believed it was “career death.”
Taylor Swift Says Feud With Kim And Kanye ‘Took Her Down Psychologically’
Swift, who was recently named Time magazine’s Person of the Year, shared how much of an impact her feud with West and Kardashian had on her career and well-being.
The singer, while referencing the 2016 spat between her and the former couple, noted that it felt like “career death” being called a snake after denying ever consenting to West singing about her with vulgar lyrics in his song, “Famous.”
“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,” Swift to the publication.
She continued, “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.”
The backlash Swift received at the time led her to create her most rebellious album yet, “Reputation,” with the lead single “Look What You Made Me Do,” featuring several snake references.
How The Feud Began
West had released a song titled “Famous,” which included the controversial lyrics, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have 𝑠e𝑥 / I made that b—- famous.”
These words caused Swift to release a statement via a representative, claiming that she never approved of West singing about her with such language.
The statement read, “Kanye did not call for approval, but to ask Taylor to release his single ‘Famous’ on her Twitter account. She declined and cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message. Taylor was never made aware of the actual lyric, ‘I made that b—- famous.'”
The “Out of the Woods” singer went on to subtly address West, referring to her as a “b—-” in the song during her acceptance speech for Album of the Year in 2016 for her record-breaking album, “1989,” at the Grammy Awards.
“I want to say to all the young women out there,” Swift stated at the time, “there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments, or your fame. But if you just focus on the work, and you don’t let those people sidetrack you, someday, when you get where you’re going, you’ll look around and you’ll know that it was you, and the people who love you, who put you there.
Kim Kardashian Claims Taylor Swift Was ‘In On It The Whole Time’
Following Swift’s speech at the Grammy’s, Kardashian said, in an interview with GQ magazine, that the “Wildest Dreams” singer was aware West was releasing “Famous” and that she also “approved that line.”
“She totally knew that that was coming out. She wanted to all of a sudden act like she didn’t. [She] totally approved that [line in the song about Swift]. I swear, my husband gets so much s— for things [when] he really was doing proper protocol and even called to get it approved,” Kardashian said at the time, per Pop Sugar.
She continued, “What rapper would call a girl that he was rapping a line about to get approval? [She] totally gave the okay. Rick Rubin was there. So many respected people in the music business heard that [conversation] and knew. I mean, he’s called me a b—- in 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.”
The SKIMS co-founder claimed that Swift said she would make it clear on the Grammy Awards red carpet that she was “in on it the whole time.”
Kim Kardashian Drops Audio Of Taylor Swift & Kanye West’s Conversation
Kardashian proceeded to release the alleged phone conversation on Snapchat, as seen in an episode of “Keeping Up With The Kardashians,” where Swift could be heard saying, “Go with whatever line you think is better. It’s obviously very tongue-in-cheek either way. And I really appreciate you telling me about it, that’s really nice!”
The “Blank Space” singer quickly dropped a statement about this, saying she was not made aware of the specific line, “I made that b—- famous,” and she “would very much like to be excluded from this narrative, one that I have never asked to be a part of, since 2009.”
Swift has since moved on from the controversy and has gone on to experience her most successful year yet with her critically acclaimed Eras Tour and the commercially successful re-recording of her past albums.
