Taylor Swift’s animosity towards Kanye West and his 2009 shenanigans at the VMAs extends to his former spouse, Kim Kardashian, who, according to fans, caught a stray on Swift’s latest album, The Tortured Poets Department. Social media has been in a frenzy since Friday morning as they unpacked the lyrics and album titles. However, it’s two songs in particular that turned netizens on their head, “Cassandra” and “thanK you aIMee.” On both records, T Swizzy fires back at her detractors but considering that just about everyone and their moms love the Nashville singer-songwriter, it seemed that Kim Kardashian may have been the only rational target. Below, we’ve unpacked the fan theories surrounding the songs, as well as a bit of history behind Kim Kardashian and Taylor Swift’s rift.
“thanK you aIMee”: Is Kim K A Schoolyard Bully?
Though Taylor Swift is on par with the best of ‘em when it comes to dishing subs, many believe that “thanK you aIMee” is as direct as it gets. The capitalized letters spell out KIM, so there’s that. However, the song itself focuses on a bully-like figure named Aimee, who seemingly terrorized her life. On the hook, Taylor sings, “All that time you were throwin’ 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 gushin'/“But I can’t forget the way you made me heal.”
Many believe these particular lyrics allude to the infamous 2016 phone call that Kim Kardashian leaked online after Taylor Swift expressed her disproval of Kanye’s “Famous.” Though the call suggested that T-Swift gave Ye her blessing, she allegedly wasn’t aware that Ye referred to her as a “b*tch” on the song and claimed the leaked footage was edited.
Elsewhere on the song, Taylor admits to have “disguised” the true identity of Aimee on the song, singing on the bridge, “And maybe you've reframed it/And in your mind, you never beat my spirit black and blue/I don't think you've changed much/And so I changed your name, and any real defining clues.” One could argue that these lyrics paint an image of Kim Kardashian attempting to shift the optics of the damage that she caused. As People points out, many fans also theorized that another bar related to Taylor’s mother Andrea Swift’s feelings toward Kim. “Everyone knows that my mother is a saintly woman/But she used to say she wished that you were dead," she writes.
“Cassandra”: Taylor Swift Likens Herself To A Greek Goddess
As People points out, once again, the Brooklyn Museum states, “The god Apollo, enamored of [Cassandra], granted her the power of prophecy but, when she rejected him, sabotaged that power with a curse that no one would believe her predictions.” On “Cassandra,” Taylor Swift refers to this specific tale while calling back to that time when KimYe fans flooded the singer’s Instagram comments with snake emojis. “So, they killed Cassandra first 'cause she feared the worst/ And tried to tell the town/ So, they filled my cell with snakes, I regret to say/ Do you believe me now?” she sings.
Although straightforward, Taylor Swift previously opened up about this incident at length, namely when TIME named her Person Of The Year in 2023. Admitting it brought her to a dark place, she stated, “Make no mistake — my career was taken away from me,” Taylor said at the time. “You have a fully manufactured frame job, in an illegally recorded phone call, which Kim Kardashian edited and then put out to say to everyone that I was a liar."
Conclusion
At this point, it’s all speculation but considering that Taylor Swift has previously aimed at both Kanye West and Kim Kardashian on wax, it wouldn’t be a shock if “Cassandra” and “thanK you aIMee” were both targeted at the billionaire socialite. What do you think? Was Taylor Swift firing shots at Kim? Let us know in the comment section below.
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