Taylor Swift vs. Kanye West

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She was already a hit single machine and platinum recording artist who was gaining notoriety for stomping the competition at every award giving when, on September 13, 2009, Taylor Swift became immortalized as the poor girl Kanye West humiliated at the MTV Video Music Awards. It was Swift’s first win at the show, as she represented the first major crossover from country to pop music since Sheryl Crow, and it was definitely not one anyone would forget.
 
While accepting her VMA for Best Female Video for ‘You Belong With Me,’ West stormed onstage, snatched the microphone and gave a rant that would live in infamy. Kanye, who already had a reputation for his bizarre outbursts and childish behavior, told a stunned crowd and an even more stunned Taylor that, “Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time…one of the best videos of all time!” He then shrugged to the booing crowd and strutted offstage.
 
The 32-year-old bully effectively crapped all over a 19-year-old girl’s moment of glory and left Swift humiliated and shell-shocked in front of millions of viewers. Thankfully, Beyoncé had the class to invite Taylor onstage after she won Video of the Year to let her finish her acceptance speech.
 
As for the outspoken rapper, everyone already knew West had a penchant for sticking his foot in his mouth, but he was ousted as the biggest douche in the music industry, sending him into hiding for the better part of a year. But not before he posted some defiant entries, as well as a half-assed apology that he promptly took down, on his blog.
 
Needless to say it created some bad blood between the two pop stars, and Swift modestly expressed her dislike for Kanye West for months afterwards as she reflected on the traumatizing experience. However, after Swift appeared on The View, West called her to apologize and she accepted. This didn’t mean the rest of the world forgave West for his actions though.
 
West largely disappeared for a while as he reflected on how he was going to make his comeback. In an interview with XXL, West said he felt “very alone” after the fiasco. However, he began to reemerge in the late spring and early summer of 2010, promoting his latest album Dark Twisted Fantasy by performing virally at the offices of Facebook and Twitter. With his first released song ‘Power,’ West’s ego clearly hadn’t shrunk and was basking in his own spotlight even after taking a beating from the media.
 
However, his real comeback wasn’t complete until he performed at the 2010 VMAs, one full year after the controversial incident. He was slated perform alongside with none other than Taylor Swift, but she wanted nothing to do with the rapper’s performance. They did both perform, separately, and used their songs against each other.
 
Swift performed her single ‘Innocent’ and it didn’t take much interpretation to figure out that the lyrics, which included the line “32 and still growin’ up now,” were pointed at West.

Kanye, responded with a performance of ‘Runaway,’ which paid a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the “douchebags,” “a**holes,” “scumbags,” and “jerkoffs.”

It’s doubtful this will be the last of the Kanye West-Taylor Swift saga.


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Tags:   Taylor Swift , Kanye West , VMA , Music
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