Taylor Swift vs. Katy Perry: Who’s Playing the Victim?
By Kara Johnson
Once upon a time, there were two famous superstars, one became wildly successful in both country music and pop, the other changed her name and wrote a song about fireworks and teenage dreams. Both, according to what has been seen in photos were once friends or friendly acquaintances. And then one day, something happened. We can’t really say what it was, but we know there was a fallout. Two friends became enemies, so we think.
The first superstar, Taylor Swift penned a song called “Bad Blood”. She wrote it about a loss of a friend, and that ex-friend still remains unnamed. Swift has never once told anyone who the track is about, and she won’t. The second superstar, Katy Perry, claims that the song is about her, but there is no evidence to the fact. Since then, Perry won’t let it go. It’s almost as if she’s the one holding a grudge, while Swift is happily living her life.
So how did all of this happen? In 2014, Swift had an interview with Rolling Stone. This was the same year her top-selling album 1989 was released. During the interview, Swift opened up about “Bad Blood”. Here’s what she said:
“For years, I was never sure if we were friends or not,” she explained to Rolling Stone. “She would come up to me at awards shows and say something and walk away, and I would think ‘Are we friends, or did she just give me the harshest insult of my life?” A year before 1989, this friend did something Swift states as horrible. “She did something so horrible. I was like, ‘Oh, we’re just straight-up enemies.’ And it wasn’t even about a guy! It had to do with business.” After the article ran via RS, Perry sent out a shady tweet.
1989 came to be the best selling album of 2014, and “Bad Blood” won “Video of the Year” at the MTV VMA’s. 2014 and 2015 were both big years for Swift, and “Bad Blood” was a huge part of that. Now it may seem that Swift talked about Perry a lot, but she didn’t. In fact, Swift has never come out and said if the song was even about Perry.
“”You’re in a Rolling Stone interview, and the writer says, ‘Who is that song about? That sounds like a really intense moment from your life.’ And you sit there, and you know you’re on good terms with your ex-boyfriend, and you don’t want him—or his family—to think you’re firing shots at him. So you say, ‘That was about losing a friend.’ And that’s basically all you say,” Swift told GQ. “”But then people cryptically tweet about what you meant. I never said anything that would point a finger in the specific direction of one specific person, and I can sleep at night knowing that. I knew the song would be assigned to a person, and the easiest mark was someone who I didn’t want to be labeled with this song. It was not a song about heartbreak. It was about the loss of friendship.”
Needless to say, Swift could have written the song about anyone. Perhaps, the song isn’t even about Perry to begin with. But it seems like Perry loves talking about Swift so much, that she spent the majority of her time during the promo of her new album Witness talking about, yes you guessed it, Swift. Here’s a breakdown of everything she said over the past month:
Let’s begin with this not so subtle diss track toward Taylor?
And now the comments:
Needless to say, Perry doesn’t seem to want to promote her album as much as she wants to talk about Swift, and the whole situation that should have been let go a long time ago. Everyone else has let it go, why can’t you, Katy? But there’s more. Just 48 hours after another diss at Taylor, Perry went to her live stream to let everyone know she’s forgiven Swift, and apologizes.
What? why the sudden heart change? Was it a heart change at all or was it a sudden turn of events because Perry realized her way of promoting her album wasn’t working? It sure seems that Perry loves to play the victim even though she claims it’s the other way around. In this narrative, it isn’t working out in Perry’s favor. Most are getting annoyed, and we all just want her to stop obsessing over something she claims is Swift’s fault. Let’s be honest, if Ms. Perry wasn’t the one to blame or isn’t holding a grudge and just wants women to come together, why won’t she let it go? Why is she harboring it? Most importantly, why does she want to play the victim so much?
Most attack Swift daily, speaking out and complaining that she plays the victim. But if Swift is the one who plays the victim, how come it isn’t her playing the blame game? How could someone who plays the victim all the time move on and live her life? Because, if we’re being honest, Swift is not a victim and she doesn’t pretend to be one. Let’s break down all the times she has brought up Katy in the last couple of years:
Exactly.
While Swift has dealt with her fair share of pain, hurt, and happiness, she doesn’t speak about others in interviews in a bad way. In fact, Swift encourages and lifts people up. Her music is from her perspective, and it is her feelings. There is nothing wrong with an artist writing a song about how she feels about a certain situation. Every artist does it. “Bad Blood” isn’t a song geared toward Perry or Swift playing the victim. No, it’s a song she wrote because she lost a friendship due to something that was hurtful and painful. There is not one lyric in the song that gives anyone an idea that it could be about Perry, nor does it speak about assassinating anyone’s character.
So, Ms. Perry, you are the one that should be apologizing and sincerely mean it. Swift didn’t do anything wrong unless you count songwriting as wrong. Therefore, you’re just attacking both sides. We’re tired of this story and the narrative you are trying to push here. All this feud is based on is a rumor. Yes, a rumor, that you, Ms. Perry started. No one else did that. All Swift did was take an artistic approach on what we now have, which is “Bad Blood”. It’s a good song, and relatable for anyone who’s lost a friend.
So, please keep changing your stories and talking about Swift. While you’re doing that, 1989 will continues to sell more copies thanWitness.
Admit it: you’re secretly praying for TS6 just like the rest of us.
The End.