In the eyes of Swifties, nothing is ever an accident. That’s why some fans are convinced that Taylor Swift subtly shaded Ye — formerly known as Kanye West — at her latest Eras Tour show following the rapper’s reference to her on his new album with Ty Dolla $ign, Vultures 2, which dropped hours before her performance in Warsaw Saturday (Aug. 3).
On the track “Lifestyle (Demo),” Lil Wayne name-checks the 14-time Grammy winner and her boyfriend — Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce — on his guest verse. “I twist my Taylor spliffs tight at the end like Travis Kelce,” he quips.
Though Ye himself doesn’t mention Swift, his choice to include a nod to her on his second joint LP with Ty Dolla $ign is noteworthy considering the “Donda” artist’s past feud with the pop star. That’s why the “Anti-Hero” musician’s wardrobe choice on her first Eras show after the track’s release turned some heads, with Swift sporting a T-shirt during the Red set reading, “I Bet You Think About Me.”
“She’s so funny for wearing the I bet you think about me shirt after Ka*ye name dropped her and Travis in his song an actual comedian,” one person tweeted.
Though Swift has worn the shirt at past shows, a few fans think her choice to sport it at this particular performance at the PGE Narodowy was intentional. “saw the k*nye thing a little bit ago and I knew she was gonna wear it lmao,” the same Swiftie tweeted, to which another fan replied, “it makes so much sense now.”
Swift’s tumultuous relationship with Ye is one of the most storied music industry feuds of the past decade-plus. It all started when he interrupted her acceptance speech at the 2009 VMAs to declare that Beyoncé deserved the best female video honors more, after which they eventually patched things over — that is, until he bragged that the incident launched Swift’s career on his 2016 track “Famous.”
When Swift slammed Ye for the song, he claimed that he got the “Karma” singer’s blessing on a phone call before its release, which she denied. After that, his then-wife Kim Kardashian posted an edited recording of their conversation to portray Swift as a liar, something the latter spoke about as recently as last year.
“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,” she told TIME in her Person of the Year cover story in December. “That took me down psychologically to a place I’ve never been before. I moved to a foreign country. I didn’t leave a rental house for a year. I was afraid to get on phone calls. I pushed away most people in my life because I didn’t trust anyone anymore. I went down really, really hard.”