Last night at the Grammys Taylor Swift became the first woman ever to win album of the year twice. She won the award for 1989 and dedicated her success to ‘all the young women out there.’ In a world where things move on so quickly it's no mean feat that Taylor has won this coveted award twice.
She then went on to call out Kanye with a thinly veiled comeback to his new song Famous, in which he claims he ‘made that bitch famous’ with reference to Taylor. It was only a matter of time until she hit back, in the best possible way of course. Taylor is savvy and shrewd, why enter into a Twitter war with Kanye when you can subtly make your point on stage at the Grammys while accepting an award?!
In 2009 Kanye famously and, arguably, shamelessly crashed the stage when Taylor was giving her acceptance speech after winning the award for Best Female Music video. He cut her off, grabbed the microphone and began to protest that Beyoncé shoulda won, saying: ‘I’m sorry, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time’ while Beyoncé looked on...
He also says in Fearless that he might still have sex with her – a charming statement for sure, which can’t leave you but wondering what Kim K thinks about all of this.
Kanye maintains that he got the OK for the lyric from Taylor. He says ‘I called Taylor and had an hour long convo with her about the line and she thought it was funny and gave her blessings’, something which her spokespeople outright deny. He said, she said aside, it’s still misogynistic.
Taylor was just starting out in 2008 when Kanye stormed her stage but, now, she holds her own even more than she did then. In her acceptance speech she said,
‘As the first women to win Album of the year at the Grammys twice, I want to say to all the young women out there: there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame, but if you just focus on the work and you don’t let those people side-track you, someday when you you get where you’re going, you’ll look around and you will know that it was you and the people who love you who put you there, and that will be the greatest feeling in the world.’
‘Thank you for this moment’, she added. Her speech was all about empowering young women, telling them not to pay attention to the haters and focus on their goals. A message which definitely threw some seriously shade at Kanye, but also something we could all do with paying attention to. But the thing is, it’s all very well and good if you’re Taylor Swift – standing up on stage, after hours of hair and make up, with your squad behind you while you call and out those who’ve tried to pull you down – but, it’s not always that easy.
Taylor’s ‘squad goals’ are great but, they’re not realistic. When all's said an done what Taylor's victory really means is that she's a talented pop star, who now holds a lot of power within the music industry. Her late 00s brand of 'girl power' is something which she's been building into her brand for the last few years.
In reality, confronting people who’ve tried to bring you down, been sexist or misogynist to you, is rarely done while winning a coveted award in front of hundreds of thousands of your supportive fans after hours of hair and make up while you stand shoulder to shoulder with all of your celebrity mates. Taylor's message is good, keep your head down and focus on your goals, but IRL there are lots of systemic inqualities today, not just for women but for younger generations in general, which you can't exactly overcome with some positive thinking.
And, in any case, how likely is it that her acceptance speech will mean that Kanye West never writes anything which could be deemed sexist or misogynistic lyric ever again? Clue: not very.
So, there you have it, Kanye continues to meltdown on Twitter, meanwhile, Taylor swift comes up with the perfect retort – on brand and on point, as ever. How exactly we apply her advice to our own lives remains to be seen.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.