The bad blood between Katy Perry and Taylor Swift has been under debate ever since the 2014 single dropped. Perry recently explained to James Corden during “Carpool Karaoke” what the feud is all about. Here, we break it down for you.
Fast friends
Back in 2009, the two pop stars were friends. They tweeted, went to parties together and took pictures together at award shows. But Swift says she didn’t know if the friendship was genuine or not. “She would come up to me at awards shows and say something and walk away, and I would think, ‘Are we friends, or did she just give me the harshest insult of my life?” Swift told Rolling Stone in a 2014 interview.
Back-up dancer drama
Three back-up dancers–Lockhart Brownlie, Scott Myrick and Leah Adler–agreed to dance for Katy during her “Prism” tour in 2013, but also wanted to tour with Swift for her “Red” tour. The dancers agreed to leave Swift’s tour early in order to join Perry.
Perry explains
Perry told James Corden during her recent “Carpool Karaoke” segment about the drama. “It’s so crazy!” Perry said. “Okay, so there are three backing dancers that went on tour with her tour, right? And they asked me before they went on tour if they could go, and I was like, ‘Yeah, of course. I’m not on a record cycle and get the work, and she’s great and all that. But I will be on a record cycle probably in about a year. So be sure to put a 30-day contingency in your contract so you can get out if you want to join me when I say I’m going back on.’ That year came up, right? And I texted all of them because I’m very close with them and I said, ‘Look, just FYI, I’m about to start. I want to put the word out there. They said, ‘Okay, we’re going to go and talk to management about it.’ And they did, and they got fired.”
Swift’s version
But Swift didn’t see the incident as a misunderstanding. She saw it as a calculated business move meant to sabotage her tour. She did something so horrible,” Swift said in that Rolling Stone interview. “I was like, ‘Oh, we’re just straight-up enemies.’ And it wasn’t even about a guy! It had to do with business. She basically tried to sabotage an entire arena tour. She tried to hire a bunch of people out from under me.”
Bad Blood
So in 2014, on Swift’s first pop-only album, “1989,” is the song “Bad Blood.” The music video features several of Swift’s best gal pals–definitely not Perry, though.
The lyrics speak for themselves: “You know it used to be mad love
So take a look what you’ve done
’Cause baby, now we’ve got bad blood, hey!
Now we’ve got problems
And I don’t think we can solve ’em
You made a really deep cut
And baby, now we’ve got bad blood, hey!”
Boy trouble
Last year, when Swift broke up with boyfriend Calvin Harris, he tweeted and then deleted: “I know you’re off tour and you need someone new to try and bury like Katy ETC but I’m not that guy, sorry. I won’t allow it,” further confirming suspicions that the “someone” Swift was talking about in 2014 was Perry.
Perry claps back
And so, in true musician-beef style, Perry has now responded in her latest single, “Swish Swish.” The lyrics make it clear that Perry isn’t messing around. “Your game is tired
You should retire
You’re ’bout cute as
An old coupon expired
And karma’s not a liar
She keeps receipts”
What’s next?!
Well, Perry has said that because Swift started it, “it’s time for her to finish it.” This feud probably won’t be solved with subtweets or music videos. The ball’s in your court, Taylor. Swish.
