Top 10 Biggest Taylor Swift Feuds
#10: Demi Lovato
The Tragic Life of Demi Lovato
Swift’s feud with Demi Lovato goes way back. The two started out as friends, but Swift eventually became closer with Lovato’s bestie Selena Gomez. When asked by a fan about Selena in 2010, Lovato’s reaction spoke volumes . . . More recently, Lovato has accused Swift of using feminism to further her brand, while undermining feminist ideals. As examples, she’s singled out Swift’s “bad blood” with Katy Perry and her “squad” of super-thin supermodels. Swift’s $250,000 donation to Kesha during the “Tik Tok” singer’s legal battle with Dr. Luke didn’t change matters, with Lovato suggesting that Swift “actually speak out about something”. Lovato has also stepped into the feud between Swift and Lovato’s manager Scooter Braun . . . which we’ll get to soon.
#9: Justin Bieber
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Speculation that Swift wasn’t a Belieber first circulated in 2013, when she stuck out her tongue in disgust at his PDA with Selena Gomez. Of course, she might have just been playing around. However, the feud became real when Swift claimed that Bieber’s music manager Scooter Braun had bullied her, with Bieber’s help. In response, Bieber apologized for an obnoxious, 2016 Instagram post featuring himself, Braun, and Kanye, captioned “Taylor Swift what up”. However, he also defended Braun, and criticized Swift’s use of social media to (in his words) “deface” the music manager, arguing: “For you to take it to social media and get people to hate on Scooter isn’t fair.”
#8: Calvin Harris
After Swift and Calvin Harris broke up in the summer of 2016, drama was inevitable. A few months earlier, Harris had released the EDM tune “This Is What You Came For” featuring Rihanna. The songwriters and producers were supposedly Harris and one “Nils Sjöberg”. But it turns out, “Nils” was actually Taylor. They’d agreed to keep it secret so it didn’t overshadow the song, with Harris even saying in an interview that he “[couldn’t] see” the two collaborating. When Taylor’s rep revealed the truth, Harris took to Twitter to slam his ex, writing, “I know you’re off tour and you need someone new to try and bury like Katy ETC but I’m not that guy.” He’s since apologized and the tweets have been deleted.
#7: Tina Fey & Amy Poehler
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The Golden Globes are a time for celebration and lighthearted jokes . . . unless of course Ricky Gervais is hosting. But it looks like Swift didn’t appreciate Tina Fey & Amy Poehler’s humor at the Globes in 2013. Fey jokingly warned Swift to “stay away from Michael J. Fox’s son,” prompting the “Bad Blood” singer to quote Madeleine Albright: “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.” Fey and Poehler took the sting in stride. Tina stated, “It was a joke. It was a lighthearted joke,” while Poehler said, “I do agree I am going to hell. But for other reasons. Mostly boring tax stuff.”
#6: Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift’s feud was brief, and all due to a huge misunderstanding. It started when Nicki went on a bit of a Twitter rampage after Anaconda wasn’t nominated for Video of the Year at the VMAs. One of the tweets read, “If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year.” Swift thought that this was a dig at her “Bad Blood” video, which WAS nominated for Video of the Year. Luckily, the whole thing was cleared up via a series of Tweets, when Taylor realized that Nicki was speaking generally.
#5: Joe Jonas
Top 10 Most Unhinged Taylor Swift Moments
After her summer fling with Joe Jonas in 2008, Taylor told Ellen that Jonas dumped her via a 27 second phone call. Her version made Joe out to be a heartless bad guy, but he subsequently released a statement saying that Taylor had in fact hung up on him during the conversation . . . So maybe it WAS a 27 second phone call. This eventually spilled over into a feud with Jonas’ new girlfriend, Camilla Belle, who Swift allegedly aimed lyrics at in “Better Than Revenge”, singing: “she’s better known for the things that she does on the mattress.”
#4: John Mayer
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Another ex, another breakup song! John Mayer bore the brunt of one of Taylor’s more infamous and pointed odes. The two broke up in 2010, and that same year, Taylor released the ballad “Dear John” on her album “Speak Now”. It contains lines such as: “Don’t you think nineteen is too young to be played by your dark, twisted games?” Mayer later told Rolling Stone that he felt humiliated and embarrassed by the song, saying, “It was a really lousy thing to do.” He also stated his frustration at not being warned or told about it beforehand. Suffice to say, he was none too happy.
#3: Scooter Braun
It’s a feud that’s rippled out through the music industry. In June of 2019, music manager Scooter Braun purchased Big Machine Records, meaning he now owns Swift’s masters. Swift took to Tumblr to vent, accusing Braun of bullying her, and arguing that she should have been given the chance to buy the rights. Braun’s wife, Yael Cohen, defended her husband, writing that Taylor had actually “passed” on an opportunity to own the masters, and that Braun has never bullied her. The whole drama has sparked a small civil war within the music industry, with Justin Bieber and Demi Lovato taking Scooter’s side, and Halsey and Kelly Clarkson coming out in support of Taylor.
#2: Katy Perry
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And to think, this explosive drama began with backup dancers. In 2012, Taylor hired three dancers for her “Red” tour who had previously worked with Katy. However, Katy then rehired those same dancers for her “Prismatic” tour, pulling them from Taylor’s own. The prompted Taylor to write “Bad Blood” and dish out to “Rolling Stone”. Perry’s track “Swish Swish” is thought to be a response. She also compared Swift to Regina George from “Mean Girls”, and accused her of capitalizing on “the take down of a woman”. It finally ended with Perry sent Swift a literal olive branch as a peace offering. Swift accepted the truce, and the two are back on good terms. Sorry, tabloids.
#1: Kanye West
Top 10 Biggest Kanye West Feuds
Swift’s feud with Kanye is the stuff of legend. It all started at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, when Yeezy infamously interrupted Taylor’s acceptance speech. Kanye later apologized, Taylor wrote the song “Innocent” about it, and the hatchet seemed buried . . . That is, until Kanye’s 2016 track “Famous”, in which he rapped that he thought he and Taylor “might still have sex”. Oh, and that HE had made her famous. Making things even worse, he included a naked waxwork of Taylor in the music video. Taylor called him out online, with her spokesperson claiming that she’d warned him against releasing the song. Kim Kardashian clapped back with a video of Swift pre-approving one of the lines. Pretty sure they won’t be patching this one up . . .
