Instead of an encore to his show last night, Kanye West decided that he was going to give a little speech or rant about Taylor Swift. At first blush it looks like he is trashing her and I guess in a sense he is, but at the same time I think he is comparing her to himself, by saying that he rode the Katrina comments to gain himself a lot of publicity and never really addressed what he said until the past few months.
He says that Taylor Swift has done the same thing with what Kanye did to her at the VMA's in the sense that she has used it and rode the wave of popularity that has come with it and has kept riding while not really ever coming out and directly responding to the comments and never actually speaking to Kanye. For a transcript of what he said, click here.
Unless I am mistaken, Taylor Swift declined to discuss the Kanye incident beginning about two days after it occurred. So how is she to blame that it's still in everyone's consciousness despite her wanting to move on?
ReplyDeleteI think Kanye just wants to believe he helped Taylor's career. He didn't. He's getting more publicity out of this than her.
ReplyDeleteMentally ill. Or maybe he just has some sick obsession with blond white women? LOL.
ReplyDeleteI think what he's talking about is the fact that she didn't talk about it and then a year after the fact wrote a song about it in which she "forgives" him because he's an innocent(When I heard it I thought of Flowers for Algernon for some reason). I think there needs to be a summit between the two of them where they agree to stop talking about it. He interrupted her on a fake awards show. Was he telling the truth? Yes. Beyonce's video was way better than Taylor's. Is it rude that he interrupted her? Yes. Is it song worthy? No. Should either of them still be yapping about it? Hell no!
ReplyDeleteI think this guy is one noodle short of a stir fry.
ReplyDeleteWhat Tessa said.
ReplyDeleteHe's definitely got a case of "need to shut the fuck ups", but damn if he isn't hilarious. Infinitely quotable.
Considering the age difference, I think it's easy to forgive Taylor for writing about things that in her mind affected her (including the song about grossbag Mayer). Hopefully when she is Kanye's age she will show more maturity than he does.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the video not being the best but those shows are popularity contests anyway. Most of the time the 'winners' know beforehand in order to make sure they show up. Not always but it certainly does happen.
At the same time, I do think he has a point about 'the villain' in the media and I'm glad he realizes he's being a hypocrite about the whole thing. He certainly enjoyed all the controversy and hype when he bitched out Bush. Hell, he's STILL not letting it go.
OK Kanye you can quit picking on 20 year old girls anytime now, and carry on with your joke of a music career. BTW Beyonce is doing just fine with one less award. Hardly made a blip on her radar.
ReplyDeleteJoke of a music career? His new album is a masterpiece and will most likely be number one this week! Say what you will about when he opens his mouth to speak. But when he is performing, he is a fricking genious.
ReplyDeleteAs for Taylor, yes she is 20, but she is a 20 year old that has had a record deal since she was 13. She knew exactly what she was doing when she wrote about Kanye. I was on her side until she performed that particular song at the VMA's this year. The "golly gee, I'm just a kid and can't believe my luck" thing expired.
I won't bother reading or listening to what he says. I agree to a point that she did but she doesn't keep doing it over and over and over.
ReplyDeleteMiss X is right that he does believe he pretty much created her career when she didn't need him at all.
I think Taylor Swift and Beyonce both got what they wanted out of that whole I'mma let you finish debacle, but perhaps Kanye thought things would work out in his favour as well...and it didn't, so now he's backpedaling a little bit trying to create more buzz for himself. To me, this is a cry for attention, but I wasn't a Kanye fan in the first place.
ReplyDeleteWhile I admire Kanye as an artist, he really does need to stop yammering on sometimes. He embarrassed and humiliated Swift and yet she was supposed to come to his defense? He really can be quite childlike at times. I'm sure he had mamma issues and her sudden death certainly added a few more cracks to his already fragile psyche.
ReplyDeleteWith Tessa and Mango. The dude's got SERIOUS talent, if you know anything about rap. It bothers me that he just keeps REMINDING people that he knows it, though.
ReplyDeletewhat Tessa said. don't be fooled that TS didn't work this whole thing to her advantage. she road that publicity train from A-Z.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way about Kanye as I do about Lady Gaga ... I'm a fan but sheesh do they have to make it so hard for me to like them?
ReplyDeleteRocketqueen - here's how I picture his life.....kid raised by single mom, had behavioral issues that came from low self esteem. Didn't play nice with the other kids (notice he doesn't seem to have anyone around from when he was growing up). Mom overcompensated his lack of friends and constantly propped him up with compliments because he is obviously gifted in the arts. Now that his ONLY cheerleader in life is gone he has to Stuart Smalley himself. Because he is a public person, the only mirror big enough is in public. And while he seems to be working out his issues musically (thanks for that, it makes for some amazing tunes) he doesn't seem to be applying what he learns to his public persona.
ReplyDeleteOr he's just an asshole. Either way I'll keep buying his albums. It's not like I have to be friends with him.
@Tessa - that sounds about right! He could also learn to take criticism a little better, too. Because although "FUCK YOUR COLORING BOOK!" is an instant Kanye classic, he could sometimes strive to listen to what others have to say. /kanyeshrug
ReplyDelete@RocketQueen - /kanyeshrug indeed.
ReplyDeleteI am a Kanye apologist always and forever. He can pretty much do whatever he wants in my book. As long as the music continues the way that it has (minus 808 and Heartbreaks, yuck).
NO WAY would Taylor Swift have rocketed into the stratosphere the way she did only after that incident. From day one I've more than half thought the whole damn thing was deliberately planned and a little too damn fairy-taleish. Seriously. Hate them both.
ReplyDeleteTo quote MK: "The best part is when some dude in the audience screams "WHO CARES?!" Now that's the real voice of the people. Preach it!"
ReplyDeleteOMG. Someone get Kanye a penis pump, stat!
ReplyDeletehe may have an attitude and put his foot in his mouth and offend people - but he's an AMAZING musician and can do no wrong in my eyes.
ReplyDeletehate taylor swift and her squint expressions and crappy music anyway.
I'm with you Tessa. It's a bizarre and inexplicable thing that I can be an internal constant apologist for this enfant terrible when I've "banned" other celebrities for various lesser infractions, but I am.
ReplyDeleteI find him endlessly fascinating and I've loved every CD (including 808s). Given my current circumstances (unemployed poor student...again) I can't rush out and buy the latest, but my fingers are crossed that Santa provides ;)
Am I delusional in thinking that Taylor Swift was already HUGE before the VMA's fiasco???
ReplyDeleteI love his music but he really needs to STFU. If he wanted a platform he had multiple opportunities to do this after it happened.