As the American public skyrockets Taylor Swift to record-breaking heights of popularity, it’s time to start wondering when they will turn their back on her again.
The world-famous singer achieved a new level of success at the Grammys on Feb. 4 when she became the first person to win Album of the Year four times. This is a great honour for Swift, who has come a long way since her 2009 MTV Video Music Awards encounter with Kanye West – an encounter that West claims “made that b**** famous.”
While I would argue that the success of Swift – who happened to be accepting an award at the time of the rapper’s interruption – has little to do with West, the aftermath of this interaction did lead to scandal.
In 2016, West released his song “Famous,” accompanied by a music video that depicted Kanye in bed surrounded by incredibly lifelike nude figures of various celebrities, one of which was Taylor Swift. As far as we know, this sexualized depiction of Swift was used in the video without her permission, but this was far from the main controversy associated with “Famous.”
Upon the song’s release, West clarified that he had called Swift before it was dropped to ask for her permission regarding the verse that references her. The verse in question states “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that b**** famous / God damn / I made that b**** famous.”
While Swift’s team maintained that she hadn’t cleared the verse, an audio clip released by West’s then-wife Kim Kardashian-West later toppled this claim.
The clip showcased West calling Taylor to ask for permission, during which he read her the lyric “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex.” Swift audibly gives her permission, telling West she appreciates him telling her about it and noting that the line is “all very tongue-in-cheek either way.” While this may seem all very cut and dry, the video is edited together awkwardly. It is never made clear whether Swift heard the line “I made that b**** famous,” something that her team stated she hadn’t been made aware of. Either way, the fallout was explosive.
This led to the first deposing of America’s sweetheart Taylor Swift.
While this may seem like ancient pop culture history for many, history is known to repeat itself, and Taylor Swift’s upward trajectory in 2024 is reminiscent of a period in her recent past.
Prior to the singer’s fall from grace, Swift found herself breaking a different record when she accepted her second Album of the Year award at the Grammys for 1989.
The original version of 1989, released in late 2014, sold 1.29 million units in its first week, a record Swift only broke with the release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version). On top of that, the album hit number one on Billboard and stayed in the top 10 for an entire year. While 1989 was the singer’s first foray into pop music, it is still widely considered to be her best album.
During her acceptance speech at the Grammys in 2016, Swift touched on this, emotionally remarking, “As the first woman to win Album of the Year at the Grammys twice, I want to say to all young women out there, there will be people along the way who will try to undercut your success, or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame.”
This comment, which seemed to reference West’s line “I made that b**** famous,” was a pretty solid PR win for Swift. She was at the top of her game, breaking records and staying true to herself and her work in the face of adversity.
When this later turned out to be untrue, the public ripped Swift to shreds. The scrutiny was so intense that the singer disappeared from the public gaze for an entire year. She only emerged in 2017 with the release of her sixth studio Reputation, a clap back at West’s behaviour and a reinvention of Taylor Swift as the world knew her.
In 2024, Taylor has once again found herself at a career peak. Breaking another record in the Album of the Year category, Swift seems to have nowhere to go but up. With her widely successful Eras Tour, a brand-new album on the horizon and her incredibly public relationship with football player Travis Kelce, people can’t help but talk about her.
But ten years after the massive success of 1989, one must question when the American public will become fed up with Swift once again.
It seems to already be happening.
Upon winning the Album of the Year Grammy for Midnights, viewers of the broadcast began to call Swift out for apparently snubbing Celine Dion, who had presented the award to her.
Overwhelmed with excitement, Swift accepted her award from Dion but did not acknowledge her, instead turning around to share her joy with some of her collaborators. While the singer had been dancing and singing along to Dion’s “The Power of Love” minutes earlier, many people found Swift’s lack of eye contact to be disrespectful.
Dion and Swift would go on to pose together backstage to prove that the lack of interaction had more to do with Swift’s all-encompassing excitement than it did any tension between the singers.
There is also the matter of the highly controversial pornographic AI images of Swift which appeared on X (formerly Twitter). The sharing of these images got so out of hand that X temporarily disabled the ability to search the singer’s name on their platform in an attempt to stop the spread.
These images come after Swift’s appearances at her partner Travis Kelce’s football games, which many have claimed is ruining the sport. One of the biggest complaints lodged by football fans is Swift’s screen time on the broadcasts. One viewer wrote online, “the wall-to-wall coverage of Taylor Swift at this game is annoying AF. I don’t even like football, and I agree it is destroying football. Just enough.”
A breakdown from the New York Times revealed that the longest the singer has been shown in one of the typically three-hour-long broadcasts is one minute and 16 seconds. This was during the Jan. 13 game that the Chiefs played against the Dolphins. I would argue that a minute and 16 seconds is not wall-to-wall screen time, but it’s worth noting I don’t watch football.
While being in the public eye comes with both praise and scrutiny, no one is as big or as talked about as Taylor Swift is right now. Is Taylor, like Icarus, flying too close to the sun? Or will she continue to soar into further success in 2024? It is impossible to know for sure, but if history repeats itself (as it often seems to do), Taylor Swift should watch her back.