After spending months away from the public eye, Taylor Swift has re-emerged from her self-imposed exile to embark on her world tour, and she has things to say about the drama that’s followed her in recent years. Swift kicked off the tour in Glendale, AZ, on Tuesday night, telling the audience that in some recent “low times,” strongly suggested to be in the midst of all the Kanye West drama, she “didn’t know if [she] was going to get to do this anymore.”
Whether or not you believe the world’s most successful living pop singer actually worried about the end of her career, Swift is clearly ready to open up about what, for the most part, she’s recently only discussed in song lyrics. And between that and the signs pointing to a high-profile detente with another frenemy, Katy Perry (more on her later), is the Reputation tour going to be all about Taylor making amends?
“A couple of years ago, someone called me a snake on social media and it caught on,” she said, seated at a grand piano, during the Arizona concert. “Then a lot of people were calling me a lot of things on social media. And I went through some really low times for a while because of it. I went through some times when I didn’t know if I was going to get to do this anymore. I guess this means I wanted to send a message to you guys that if someone uses name-calling to bully you on social media, and even if a lot of people jump on board with it, that doesn’t have to defeat you. It can strengthen you instead. And I think something that came out of it that was good is that I learned a really important lesson that I’ve been telling you from the stage for about 10 years, but I never had to learn it so harshly myself—and that lesson has to do with how much you value your reputation.”
The “snake” name-calling Swift is referring to began in July 2016, after Kim Kardashian released videos of Swift speaking to Kanye West over the phone, discussing the lyrics to his song “Famous.” West previously claimed that Swift knew and approved of a lyric calling her a “bitch,” while Swift denied it. The “bitch” lyric isn’t explicitly discussed in the videos, but rather a line where West raps, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex.”
Swift is no stranger to public feuds. Her ongoing tête-à-tête with Katy Perry has been well documented over the years through subtweets and Top 40 singles. But the long battle seemed to come to an end on Tuesday, when Swift posted a video of a literal olive branch sent to her by Perry along with a handwritten note that began, “I’ve been doing some reflecting on past miscommunications and hard feelings between us. I really want to clear the air.”
Swift’s 1989 World Tour in 2015 was marked by dozens of guest appearances and performances by Swift’s very famous friends, including Selena Gomez, Mick Jagger, and Lorde. While she may not employ the same tactic for the Reputation tour, the door seems open for a “surprise” cameo by Perry, allowing the pair to patch up their friendship in a way they both seem to prefer: very publicly.
On Tuesday night, Swift ended her monologue by thanking her fans. “I think that the lesson is that you shouldn’t care so much if you feel misunderstood by a lot of people who don’t know you, as long as you feel understood by the people who do know you; the people who will show up for you; the people who see you as a human being,” she concluded. “So thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time to get to know me. For seeing me as a human being.”
