Taylor Swift Reignites Feud With Kim Kardashian In New Song From The Tortured Poets Department?

Taylor Swift launched her eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, on Friday. Just hours later, she dropped a surprise "2am version" of the record, adding 15 more songs to the list. Now, after listening to the tracks fans of the singer are certain that she is referring to her long-running rivalry with Kim Kardashian in the song thanK you aIMee. 

Taylor Swift shades Kim Kardashian

The title of thanK you aIMee seems to capitalize random letters but as they looked closer, fans saw that the capital letters stood for a name: Kim. Fans of Taylor will be aware that the 34-year-old has a history of using capitalization to obliquely convey meaning in her songs; this practice was maintained for each of her albums until the release of Reputation. But when she started dropping hints about TTPD in the run-up to the record's release, she brought the game back.

The narrative of the song revolves around a local bully who is "throwin' punches" at the narrator. She eventually discovers that, despite the "searing pain" caused by the attacks, they have ultimately strengthened her.  Taylor sings about her hometown, describing a "bronze spray-tanned statue" of "Aimee" with a “plaque underneath it that threatens to push me down the stairs at our school.”

There are other hints that the singer might be alluding to North West, Kardashian's ten-year-old daughter, dancing on TikTok to her 2014 track Shake It Off. She can be heard singing, “And so I changed your name, and any real defining clues / And one day, your kid comes home singin' a song that only us two is gonna know is about you.”

Taylor Swift-Kim Kardashian feud

Taylor and Kim’s feud dates back to 2016 when the reality star’s then-husband Kanye West released a song titled Famous, claiming that he made Taylor famous. Although there were rumours that Swift had given the OK to Kanye’s lyrics, the Grammy winner refuted this assertion. Kim, then, shared an edited recorded phone conversation on social media,  for which Taylor was dragged all over social media for lying about not being aware of the track. 

That year, Kim also mocked Taylor by posting a ton of snakes in honour of National Snake Day. While the incident forced Taylor to go underground for a while, the singer returned with a vengeance and released her revenge album Reputation in 2017. The full version of the infamous phone call was also released online in 2020, proving Taylor was telling the truth all along.