Taylor Swift looks like she’s reignited her rift with Kanye West. To celebrate her Tortured Poets Department holding off West’s Vultures 2 album from reaching Number One in the US, the all-conquering Swift has released a special version of one of the album’s tracks.
So thanK you aIMee has been mashed up with one of her old tracks, 2011’s Mean and its title is now thanK you aimEe. Recorded live at one of Swift's Wembley dates earlier this summer, it could be heard on digital versions of Tortured Poets Department. But only until midnight last night – if you’re reading this, it’s too late.
But hey, that’s not the point. The point is in the spelling – look at those caps. Yes, what was once a diss track aimed at Kim Kardashian (Kanye West’s ex-wife, if case you’ve forgotten) is now directed at Kanye himself. Clever, eh?
The song itself doesn’t specifically allude to the long-standing feud but it does contain the lines: “All that time you were throwing punches, I was building something / And I can’t forgive the way you made me feel / Screamed ‘F--- you, Aimee’ to the night sky, as the blood was gushing / But I can’t forget the way you made me heal."
The rumpus between Swift and West goes back a long way. It began all the way back in 2009 at that year’s MTV Video Awards when Swift came up on stage to accept the award for Best Female Video. Her speech was interrupted by West who jumped up on stage to claim Beyonce should have won the gong instead.
West later apologised but then, on his 2016 album The Life Of Pablo, the track, Famous included the lines: ‘I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous’. The rapper then claimed that Swift gave permission for him to use the line, which she flatly denied.
And to cap it all, in the accompanying video West decided to feature a naked sculpture of the singer (alongside ones depicting amongst others Kim Kardashian, Rihanna and, er, George W Bush).
The singer got her own back on next album Reputation, particularly on the track This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things when she sings: "There I was giving you a second chance / If only you weren't so shady / But you stabbed me in the back while shaking my hand / And therein lies the issue...Forgiveness is a nice thing to do/ I can't even say it with a straight face."
Now Swift seems to have had the final word. For the moment.
