11 Taylor Swift 'Reputation' Lyrics About Kimye
As you have no doubt heard by now, Taylor Swift has a new album out. The title Reputation was a hint that she planned to address some of the controversies she's dealt with in the past year or so; one such controversy was her 2016 feud with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. Last winter, Kanye mentioned Taylor in the "Famous" line, "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous." Taylor later called him out in her Grammys speech, but in the summer, Kim Kardashian claimed that Taylor had approved the line and posted Snapchat videos of Kanye discussing one part of the song with Taylor.
The first Reputation single, "Look What You Made Me Do," seemed to reference the situation, but there are two other songs on the album that apply to it as well: "I Did Something Bad" and "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things." Here, a list of all the Taylor lyrics that are probably about Kimye.
"I Did Something Bad"
1. I never trust a narcissist / But they love me. As with "Look What You Made Me Do," the target of this song's lyrics is a little vague, but few people would disagree with the characterization of Kanye as a narcissist. He's definitely not the only one Taylor knows, though, so you can interpret this one at will.
2. If a man talks shit, then I owe him nothin' / I don't regret it one bit 'cause he had it coming. While this line could also apply to Calvin Harris and the whole "This Is What You Came For" mess, Kanye did talk shit about Taylor in "Famous," and she clearly has no regrets about cutting him out of her life.
3. They say I did something bad / Then why's it feel so good? "They" is Kanye, Kim, "the media," and everybody who bombed Taylor's Instagram with the snake emoji after Kim produced her receipts.
4. But if he drops my name, then I owe him nothin' / And if he spends my change, then he had it coming. Kanye quite literally dropped Taylor's name in "Famous," but this is another one that could be a Calvin reference. When they were dating he told Ryan Seacrest that he couldn't see them collaborating, despite the fact that they cowrote "This Is What You Came For."
5. They're burning all the witches even if you aren't one / They got their pitchforks and proof / Their receipts and reasons. See number three re: the use of the word "they," and recall how frequently the world referred to Kim's Snapchats as "the receipts."
"This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things"
6. So why'd you have to rain on my parade? / I'm shaking my head / I'm locking the gates. Taylor was on a hot streak before the "Famous" debacle; she released 1989 to critical acclaim and massive commercial success in 2014, then followed it up with a tour that made headlines all the way through the end of 2015. No matter which side you're on in this feud, there's no question that Kanye's song is what started the wave of bad press Taylor repeatedly references on Reputation.
7. This is why we can't have nice things, darling / Because you break them / I had to take them away. Prior to "Famous," Taylor and Kanye were on the road back to friendship - the "nice things," maybe - but she shut that down at the Grammys while accepting her trophy for Album of the Year.
8. It was so nice being friends again / There I was giving you a second chance / But you stabbed me in the back while shaking my hand / And therein lies the issue / Friends don't try to trick you / Get you on the phone and mind-twist you / And so I took an axe to a mended fence. After Kanye interrupted Taylor at the VMAs in 2009, the two made nice in a much-discussed bit at the 2015 VMAs where she presented him with the Video Vanguard Award and they hugged it out. There was even talk of a Kanye/Taylor musical collaboration, but any hopes for that died once he mentioned her on "Famous" in 2016. The Kimye side of the story is that Taylor signed off on the lyrics, although the Snapchat video evidence only showed Taylor hearing one particular lyric. Taylor's lyrics here imply that she feels she was duped by whatever else transpired on that phone call.
9. But I'm not the only friend you've lost lately / If only you weren't so shady. Here she's probably talking about Jay-Z, Kanye's one-time BFF who doesn't seem that into him anymore. In November 2016, Kanye said during one of his concerts that Jay-Z wasn't returning his calls. Then in August 2017, Jay-Z confirmed that he'd had some sort of falling out with Kanye, made worse by the fact that Kanye had brought Beyoncé and Blue Ivy into it. "He knows he crossed the line," Jay-Z said. "He knows. And I know he knows."
10. Here's a toast to my real friends / They don't care about the he said, she said. Aside from the fact that "Real Friends" is the name of a song on Kanye's 2016 album The Life of Pablo, this part is likely a reference to those squad members who came to Taylor's defense after Kim's infamous Snapchats - particularly Selena Gomez, with whom Taylor is still very close. "There are more important things to talk about," Selena tweeted in the aftermath of Kim's posts. "Why can’t people use their voice for something that fucking matters?" Selena drew ire for these comments due to her perceived lack of interest in "important things," but she never backed down from her support of Taylor, and as recently as October said that Reputation was "everything you would want and more."
11. And here's to you / 'Cause forgiveness is a nice thing to do / Hahaha, I can't even say it with a straight face. Don't expect that Taylor/Kanye collaboration anytime soon!
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