Taylor Swift: Villain or Victim?
The widespread notoriety of the clash between Taylor Swift and Kanye West spanned the Internet for months. Until the height of the feud was reached on July 17 this year, the dispute had no apparent outcome and the media continued to mull over the details. However, Swift is manipulating the tensions between her and West to make herself seem innocent.
The infamous feud began when West interrupted Swift at the 2009 VMAs, saying that Beyonce should have won the award for best music video of the year. The next six years were filled with tension and hostility, but by 2015, West and Swift were able to reconcile their differences and become friends.
This era of peace was short lived. In April of this year, Kanye released his single, “Famous”, which mentioned Swift in a controversial lyric. West’s line took credit for Swift’s career and called her a derogatory name.
There was an eruption of discontent at the misogynistic message, but West informed the media that Swift approved the line over a phone call. However, Swift adamantly denied all claims about knowing anything concerning the lyric.
In response, West’s wife, Kim Kardashian-West, released a series of Snapchats of the phone call which proved Swift’s approval of the line. On Swift’s Instagram, she released a note about how the Snapchats were “character assassination”.
As a household celebrity and highly public figure, Swift’s large and devoted fan-following is quick to come to her defense. In reaction to Kanye and Swift’s turmoil in 2009 and now, Taylor utilized her fanbase to get more attention. Swift is notorious for throwing other celebrities under the bus and using them for attention: Katy Perry, Calvin Harris, Joe Jonas, and now Kanye West are all examples. Until Kardashian exposed her, Swift was able to continue to damage the public image of other celebrities to make herself seem like the victim. She used this pity to advance her career at the expense of others, including her own friends. Swift is a powerful adult, yet she plays the part of an innocent child – it’s time to choose.
After the backlash from the lyric, Swift changed her story from what she originally told West in order to be make herself seem in the right. Though writing misogynistic song lyrics is not acceptable, West is not the antagonist of this story. Swift continually uses underhanded actions in order to promote herself in a positive light. She has easily swayed the view of the public for years by using the careers of others as steps to her throne, and it’s about time someone called her out.
