Celebs Who Taylor Swift Clearly Can't Stand
As a chart-topping titan of her era, Taylor Swift hasn't just made a splash in showbiz; she's practically rewritten the playbook. Even after those rough days, the singer never forgets why she started in the first place. "There are days when I am so physically exhausted like if I'm playing a bunch of shows and dancing around in high heels for two hours. But my mind rarely gets tired of this whole exciting adventure that I get to be a part of," she once explained to Vogue. Unsurprisingly, Swift's artistry, long-standing success, and outright dedication to her fans have sealed her status as an icon.
Along with her success, Swift has also found herself entangled in an array of celebrity feuds. In 2014, Swift hinted at a feud with another female artist — whom many presumed to be Katy Perry — after confirming to Rolling Stone that her song "Bad Blood" was about an industry colleague. "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," she explained.
However, after years of back and forth, diss tracks, and online jabs, Perry revealed she was open to a reconciliation. "I'm ready to let it go. Absolutely, 100 percent," Perry expressed. "I forgive her, and I'm sorry for anything I ever did, and I hope the same from her, and I think it's actually... I think it's time," the "Roar" singer explained in an online live stream (via ET Online). While the two stars have since called a truce, the same cannot be said for many of Swift's other feuds.
Kanye West
On September 13, 2009, Kanye West stage crashed Taylor Swift's Best Female Video Award acceptance speech at the VMAs, setting in motion one of the longest-running feuds in modern music. "Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you, I'ma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time!" West infamously proclaimed after climbing on stage during Swift's acceptance speech. A few days later Swift confirmed she had received an apology from the rapper, noting that it felt very heartfelt. But this was only the beginning of their years-long feud.
In 2016, West released "Famous," a track on which he took credit for Swift's successful career. "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/Why? I made that b**ch famous," West rapped in the song. Despite claiming to have received permission in an hour-long phone conversation with Swift, the pop star denied being aware of the song's exact lyrics. "While I wanted to be supportive of Kanye on the phone call, you cannot 'approve' a song you haven't heard. Being falsely painted as a liar when I was never given the full story or played any part of the song is character assassination," she wrote on Instagram (via People).
Given that their feud is nowhere near its end, Swift has continued to shed more light on the tumultuous beef, recounting to Time in 2023 the mental toll it had on her. "That took me down psychologically to a place I've never been before ... I pushed away most people in my life because I didn't trust anyone anymore. I went down really, really hard," she told the publication.
Kim Kardashian
They might have started friendly but things between Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift turned sour after the reality star jumped to defend her husband, Kanye West, by accusing the pop star of lying. In addition to releasing edited clips of West's phone conversation with the "Cruel Summer" singer, Kardashian also spoke to GQ, backing up her husband's previous approval claims. "She totally approved that. She totally knew that that was coming out. She wanted to all of a sudden act like she didn't. I swear, my husband gets so much s**t for things [when] he really was doing proper protocol and even called to get it approved," she told the outlet.
Speaking on her decision to open up about the feud in the GQ interview, Kardashian explained that she got tired of hearing the negative narratives surrounding her husband and the infamous song. "I never talk s**t about anyone publicly, especially in interviews. But I was just like, I had so had it. I wanted to defend him in it," she said during an episode of her family's reality show "Keeping Up With the Kardashians," according to People. The reality star also notably turned down momager Kris Jenner's advice to reconcile with Swift.
Though Kardashian's marriage to West has since come to an end, sources close to the singer confirmed to TMZ in December 2023 that she is yet to get an apology from the reality star. So, for all we know, there is still a lot of bad blood between these two!
Scooter Braun
Taylor Swift's feud with manager Scooter Braun dates back to 2019 when he acquired Big Machine Records, the label with which the pop star recorded her first six albums; "Taylor Swift," "Fearless," "Speak Now," "Red," "1989," and "Reputation." As part of the deal, Braun got full control of the albums, having received the master rights as a part of the acquisition. And then in 2020, Braun sold those master rights in a deal reported to be valued as high as $450 million. Expectedly, Swift was not particularly pleased about Braun's move.
Responding to the purchase of Big Machine, Swift took to Tumblr, alleging that Scott Borchetta, the label's CEO, had previously prevented her from acquiring the rights to her music. "For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work," she explained. "Instead I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and 'earn' one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in." In the post, the "Blank Space" singer also accused Braun of manipulating and bullying her through the years.
Even worse, in 2020, Swift explained that attempts at renegotiating with Braun to get back the rights to her music fell through, leaving her no other choice but to re-record her older music. "I have recently begun re-recording my older music and it has already proven to be both exciting and creatively fulfilling," she wrote in a statement shared on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Justin Bieber
Despite their years-long friendship, Taylor Swift's relationship with Justin Bieber has crumbled like a house of cards. Back in 2016, amid Swift's feud with Kanye West, Bieber shared a photo of himself talking to the rapper and Scooter Braun on a video call, with a caption reading: "Taylor Swift what up." While she did not respond at the time, three years later, amid the fight to get back her master rights, Swift called out Bieber in a Tumblr post, accusing him of teaming up with West and the famed talent manager to bully her.
Though he would later apologize for the Instagram post, Bieber made it quite clear that he was supportive of Braun amid his feud with the "Shake It Off" singer. "Scooter has had your back since the days you graciously let me open up for you.! As the years have passed we haven't crossed paths and gotten to communicate our differences, hurts or frustrations. So for you to take it to social media and get people to hate on Scooter isn't fair," Bieber wrote in an Instagram post. In his caption, Bieber made a peace offering, asking Swift for a meeting to resolve all conflicts.
While it is unclear if the two ever resolved their differences, Bieber's decade-long tumultuous relationship with Swift's best friend, Selena Gomez makes it all the more difficult. "In my life, I have the ability to forgive people who have hurt me. But I don't know if I can forgive someone who hurts her," Swift told WSJ Magazine about her friendship with Gomez.
Calvin Harris
After being introduced by a mutual friend in February 2015, Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris immediately hit things off, eventually going public with their relationship in April 2015. Sadly, after a 15-month whirlwind romance, the couple called it quits in June 2016. "There was no drama. Things just don't work out sometimes. No one cheated," a source told People at the time. Things took a messy turn shortly after.
In July 2016, TMZ confirmed that Swift wrote Harris' summer hit "This Is What You Came For" under the pseudonym Nils Sjoberg, but felt disrespected after the DJ alluded he would never collaborate with her. Responding to the report, Harris acknowledged Swift's contribution to the song, noting that they had both decided to keep it under wraps. "Hurtful to me at this point that her and her team would go so far out of their way to try and make ME look bad at this stage, though. I figure if you're happy in your new relationship you should focus on that instead of trying to tear your ex-bf down for something to do," he added in a series of now-deleted tweets, as reported by Billboard.
Though Swift has never publicly addressed the feud, Harris has since expressed regrets over his social media outbursts. "It was completely the wrong instinct. I was protecting what I see as my one talent in the world being belittled. It felt like things were piling on top of me, and that was when I snapped," the famed DJ told British GQ.