Kim Kardashian loses more than 300,000 followers after Taylor Swift’s diss track
Kim Kardashian is taking a hit in the wake of superstar Taylor Swift’s scathing diss track on her new album.
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Kim Kardashian has lost more than 300,000 followers on Instagram - and counting - since Taylor Swift dropped her diss track on her new album The Tortured Poets Department.
Last month, Kardashian’s Instagram account boasted 364.3 million followers, which had dropped to 363 million by Tuesday following the release of Swift’s song thanK you aIMee.
The epically sarcastic thanK you aIMee (the upper case letters spell Kim) dispenses with any expectation the boiling bad blood stirred by their “snake” war over Kardashian’s former husband Kanye West’s song Famous will ever simmer down.
In 2016, Swift said she almost left the music industry after Karsdashian and then husband West called her a “snake”.
On her new album, Swift describes the “searing pain” she endured during that public scandal which informed much of her Reputation record.
The lyrics read: “All that time you were throwing punches, I was buildin’ somethin’ / And I can’t forgive the way you made me feel / Screamed “F … you, Aimee” to the night sky, as the blood was gushing/But I can’t forget the way you made me heal.”
Swift goes on to sing about that episode not being a “fair fight or clean kill” and accuses Kardashian of “laughing at every baby step I’d take.”
She tells the reality star the scars inflicted by their toxic back and forth over Kanye West’s Famous lyrics, which infamously called the Karma pop star “bitch”, had helped her to write the songs which have built her legacy. Hence the “thank you”.
But the most vicious verse comes when she sings about changing Kardashian’s name to Aimee for the track.
“And so I changed your name, and any real defining clues / And one day, your kid comes home singin’ / A song that only us two is gonna know is about you.”
Following the release of the song, Kim’s birthday tribute to her older sister Kourtney Kardashian was flooded with comments by devoted Taylor Swift fans.
“thanK you aIMee. The mother has spoken,” one wrote.
Another said: “ You should definitely listen to the song thanK you aIMee.”
Another agreed: “You should’ve just apologised like your mum told you too. thanK you aIMee.”
The brutal takedown comes as Swift shared an intimate moment with her NFL star boyfriend, Travis Kelce, in a rare private video.
In a clip on YouTube celebrating the release of her Fortnight music video, Swift gave fans a glimpse of her cozy home life with one snippet showing the loved-up Kelce giving her a kiss on the cheek as she cooks dinner.
The compilation video, which included a cameo from Swift’s cat Benjamin Button, showed the star working out in the gym, sewing, playing pickleball and hanging out with friends on a boat.
Swift captioned the clips: “Share your ‘fortnight’ recap with #ForAFortnightChallenge brought to you by YouTube Shorts.”
It came after Swift released her highly anticipated eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, as well as her new music video Fortnight, starring Post Malone.
The savvy star also paid tribute to the 1989 film Dead Poets Society by featuring actors Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles in cameos.
Swift fans have continued to analyse the new album’s lyrics since its release, with some convinced she has taken a swipe at rumoured ex Fernando Alonso, the Formula One veteran and Aston Martin driver who was rumoured to be dating the pop star last year.
On track 18, titled ‘imgonnagetyouback’, she references an Aston Martin being driven into a ditch.
Fans have speculated that Super Bowl champ Kelce – who started dating the pop superstar in mid 2023 – was the focal point of the song The Alchemy, while others suggested the track So High School was all about Kelce.
Swifties across the globe posted lyrics to prove their point.
“Get my car door, isn’t that sweet? (That sweet)/ Then pull me to the backsеat,” on X along with photos from Kelce and Swift’s October 2023 date in New York, where the Kansas City Chiefs star held the car door open for Swift.
“So High School is 100 per cent about Travis Kelce. She talks about pulling him into the back seat of the car. The Marry, Kiss, kill game. About watching his [Saturday Night Live] skits and says, ‘You know how to ball, I know Aristotle.’
“You knew what you wanted & boy you got her’ - SCREAMING,” another fan wrote on social media.
Kelce played a round of Kiss, Marry, Kill in a 2016 interview with AfterBuzz TV that included Swift, Katy Perry and Ariana Grande. He chose to kiss Swift at the time.
Meanwhile, The Alchemy includes the lyrics, “So when I touch down all that matters/Call the amateurs and cut ’em from the team/Ditch the clowns, get the crown/Baby I’m the one to beat/’Cause the sign on your heart said it’s still reserved for me,” and “Where’s the trophy? He just comes, running over to me,” which some found to be a nod to the couple’s Super Bowl 2024 celebrations earlier this year.
Moments after Kelce won his third Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs in February, he kissed Swift, on the field.
“THE ALCHEMY IS A TRAVIS SONG - WE WON,” a fan said on X.
Another added, “The Alchemy being about Travis is my breaking point. What a songggg. OMG. This album didn’t disappoint one single bit. My jaw is on the floor.”
Kelce is no stranger to Swift’s music lore as the singer has often changed the lyrics to her 2022 song, Karma, from “Karma is the guy on the screen, coming straight home to me,” to “Karma is the guy on the Chiefs, coming straight home to me” during her Eras Tour performances.
It’s been speculated Kelce could join Swift on the road when she resumes her blockbuster Eras tour in Europe next month, which kicks off again on May 9 in Paris.
The pair recently enjoyed a PDA-filled trip to the Coachella music festival.
“I love live music, man,” Kelce said this week during his New Heights podcast. “I just like going to events, going to places where people are, seeing talents.”
It comes as Swift’s new album became Spotify’s most streamed album in a single day in 2024 so far, according to Billboard.
It passes previous record-holder, Beyoncé’s Billboard 200-topping Cowboy Carter LP, which ultimately earned 300.41 million on-demand official streams in its first full week of release.
Spotify is still tracking for other potential records today that could be broken by Swift.
REVIEW: 11TH STUDIO RECORD ‘INDEED TORTURED’
Taylor Swift’s hotly anticipated 11th studio record The Tortured Poets Department is indeed tortured.
The pop queen opens her diary on the emotional devastation she suffered in the wake of the break-up of her six-year relationship with British actor Joe Alwyn and brief but intense summer romance with The 1975’s frontman Matty Healy.
But the songwriting formula, signature vocal phrasing and tried and true motifs which have engaged millions of Swifties to forensically examine every syllable, catch in her throat and sonic detour lose their lustre on TTPD.
While its thematic arc, crafted by Swift with her trusted collaborators Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, explores the five stages of break-up grief, the songs lack the emotional dynamics of the experience.
The tempos of both the music and her vocal phrasing are all too similar throughout the 16 tracks (plus bonus songs depending on which physical version you pre-ordered) to reflect the rage of the anger phase or anguish of the bargaining stage.
With a hard edit, the album would have been a perfect EP to offer the remaining legs of her Eras Tour in Europe and America some fresh tracks for her acoustic set, which Swift could have reinvented as an “electronic” set.
There is no doubt TTPD will go to No. 1 on its debut but it may not command the summit for as long as Midnights.
Fortnight (featuring Post Malone)
Lyric: Your wife waters flowers, I want to kill her
On the album’s first single with Post Malone, Swift’s vocal sounds like a homage to her bestie Lana Del Rey while the synth pop vibe channels The 1975, fronted by Matty Healy, her brief summer beau last year before Travis Kelce swept her off her feet. The line “I love you, it’s ruining my life” is destined for pop culture virality.
The Tortured Poets Department
Lyric: You smoked then ate seven bars of chocolate
The shimmering 80s synths return in this plodding pop ballad about Matty Healy. There are a lot of namechecks which include Antonoff, Grammy winning indie artist Lucy Dacus, and that the lovers “declared Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist.” That must have been a trippy “smoke.”
My Boy Only Breaks His Favourite Toys
Lyric: He saw forever so he smashed it up
Three songs in and there is little vibe deviation. If this is Swift’s 80s Synths Era, perhaps inspired by electronic music master Giorgio Moroder, she has borrowed too much of The NeverEnding Story and not enough Donna Summer’s I Feel Love. The canny lyricist squeezes in a Barbie reference: “I felt more when we played pretend than with all the Kens.”
Down Bad
Lyric: F … it if I can’t have him
Parental advisory: Skip this track if you don’t want your child counting the 17 F-bombs.
So Long, London
Lyric: And I’m pissed off you let me give you all that youth for free
Oh Joe, you really did a number on her heart. But that’s breakups for you. They mostly suck. And it probably doesn’t get suckier than your ex sharing her diary entries detailing the suckiest moments with half the planet. But all’s fair in love and poetry in the Swiftverse.
But Daddy I Love Him
Lyric: I’m having his baby. No, I’m not but oh my god you should see your faces.
A throwback to a tried and true Swift pop song structure, opening with a delicate acoustic guitar melody before busting into big pop chorus. Swift is not having any of your Judgement about “me and my wild boy” in this song about the Healy Era.
Fresh out the Slammer
Lyric: My friends tried but I wouldn’t hear it, watched me daily disappearing
This song should have stayed in the vault for a future anniversary reissue. It’s a pedestrian pop ballad with a jarring indie bridge.
Florida!!! (featuring Florence and the Machine)
Lyric: And my friends all smell like weed or little babies
By this stage of the album, the singsong rhyming and repetitive melodies are deflating the listening experience. It’s just not hitting. And then Florence Welch enters stage right and your ears prick up. This song would have sat nicely on one of the early Florence and the Machine records or an off Broadway musical called … Florida. PS To parents: more of the other F bombs.
Guilty As Sin
Lyric: What if he’s written ‘Mine” on my upper thigh only in my mind.
Skip track. All tortured poets department, no interesting music department.
Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?
Lyric: Don’t worry folks, we took out all her teeth
We’re at the anger stage of break-up grief. And while she is “screaming” Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? on the track, her venom is dulled by the Orchestra Era soundtrack which lacks any of the simmering rage of its lyrics.
I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can)
Lyric: I can handle me a dangerous man
This spaghetti western soundtrack vibe channels her heroine Stevie Nicks and is a sonic detour on this record.
Loml
Lyric: You shit talked me under the table, talking rings and talking cradles.
This heart-wringing piano ballad makes you wonder what Travis thinks. If it’s about Matty Healy … sounds like there might be unfinished business there.
I Can Do It With A Broken Heart
Lyric: I cry a lot but it’s so productive, it’s an art
Finally, a pop single. Taylor may have been soaked up a bit of Kylie shine because this sounds very Tension adjacent with its poptronica soundbed. It’s also sassy and self-knowing as she sings about pulling off those Eras Tour shows after her split with Alwyn became public.
The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived
Lyric: You didn’t measure up in any measure of a man.
Nope, no unfinished business with Healy. They’re done. A classic Swift pop opera with all of the drama and diss. There is a lot of rock star behaviour tea being spilt on TTPD.
The Alchemy
Lyric: So when I touch down, call the amateurs and cut ‘em from the team
There are way too many football references for this trademark synth pop slow-burner to have been completed pre Travis.
Clara Bow
Lyric: It’s hell on earth to be heavenly
The album closes with 90s indie guitar pop inspired by Hollywood silent era star Clara Bow and her tragic struggles with mental illness.
FAN REACTIONS TO THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT
Swifties who braved the ire of their community by sampling TTPD via the social media leak ahead of its official release on Friday had some thoughts.
They were also excited by the revelation Swift’s Grammys dress was an Easter egg for the music video for the record’s first single Fortnight, featuring Post Malone.
“Reading all the #TaylorSwift #Swifties fiercely vocally disliking the #TSTTPD album. #Leaks Ouch,” @RA Dale
“Swifties I have a confession to make, I have already listened to torture poets, I unfortunately listen to the leaks and I’m afraid that some of you all might not like this album. It sounds like Midnights and from the vault of 1989 TV. I’m sorry y’all #TSTTPD” @maxrush1821
“So Matt Healy very publicly loves the Blue Nile, and Taylor Swift references someone sending her The Downtown Lights in a new song. Watch those streams spike in the next few days …” @GraemeAThomson
“I made a stupid quip about a year ago that Taylor was gonna use her break-up with Matt Healy for writing material but I didn’t expect it to be a whole album for a relationship that only lasted less than two months when her previous relationship was six years.” @RasberryRazz
“TTPD just sounds like scrapped songs from Midnights and Evermore. Maybe it’ll grow on me over time but so far it’s … meh.” @rrandiiii_
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