Here are some photos from the kickoff performance of Taylor Swift’s Reputation Tour, which was last night at the University of Phoenix. You guys, her stage props involve an absolutely giant SNAKE. I don’t want to hear anything else about not calling her a snake or calling her fans “the Snake Fam.” She wants to be called a snake. And her fans ARE the Snake Fam. Before her concert, Taylor received a very special gift, and it wasn’t a gilded snake crown. No, it was an honest-to-God olive branch from Katy Perry.
After a nearly five-year feud, it appears that Taylor Swift and Katy Perry are finally ready to put their bad blood behind them. On Tuesday, Swift, 28, shared an Instagram Stories clip of a good-luck card she’d apparently received from Perry, 33, on the opening night of her “Reputation” stadium tour. Enclosed along with the note was an actual olive branch, officially ending the pop duo’s long-simmering rift.
“Hey old friend,” the note appears to read. “I’ve been doing some thinking on past miscommunications and feelings between us and wanted to clear the air.” The words “deeply sorry” are visible as well.
“Thank you Katy,” Swift captioned the video, adding a double-heart emoji.
This is not anything new – after the 2016 election especially, Katy Perry repeatedly referenced her desire to bury the hatchet with Swift. I got the feeling Katy was going through a “let’s make peace with everyone” phase of life. Taylor never said a thing publicly, and this is the first time Tay has ever seemed receptive whatsoever towards Katy’s peacemaking overtures. Personally, I’m not even sure Taylor was even still “mad” at Katy – back in 2014, Taylor used a dumb excuse about backup dancers (an excuse that didn’t hold up, given the backup dancers refuted Tay’s story) to launch her massive Mean Girl campaign against Katy. That was the whole Bad Blood era: Taylor trying to tell Katy that Tay had more friends than her. It was juvenile, to say the least. While I think Katy is showing and has shown remarkable maturity towards this whole Bad Blood situation, I wish she wouldn’t bow and scrape to “make up” with Swift. Swift is Forever Snake and she’ll bite Katy again.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
God I hope this is the end of it. I can’t believe a feud about John Mayer and non-contracted back-up dancers went on this long.
Yup, It was always about Dear John… time to move on!
I’m not expecting any photo-ops of them hanging out. But I’d guess the silly back-and-forth games will finally stop.
I always get second hand embarrassment for Taylor that she’s trying to “reclaim” that snake image. Girl, this wasn’t because you got in a petty squabble like with Katy Perry. You actually did something problematic. Please just learn from that and move on, not pretend you’re reclaiming it.
I blame her fans for feeding into that. I feel if she had gotten enough feedback saying the new “bad b*tch who dgaf” persona wasn’t working from the only people she cares about (the ones giving her money) she might’ve switched gears. As it is now if they don’t care about the underlying reasons why she got called a snake (plus the new stuff that came out) then they’ll never care, and she’ll continue with the eDgY cosplay
I watched some footage of her performing “Long Live” at the rep tour and she had this whole speech about being bullied on social media. I don’t have particularly strong feelings about Taylor as a person (though I like all of her albums except rep) and I agree. I feel like it would have worked in her favor if she just stuck to the “dgaf” persona or poked more fun at herself like she did with “Blank Space” but the switching between the “badass” and “victim” narratives aren’t working for her. Or at least they’re not working for her brand. I’ve gone through the Taylor tag on tumblr (don’t judge I have insomnia and go down some serious rabbit holes #kaylor) and I feel like having thousands of people kiss your ass every day would do a number on the most humble people. It’s kind of scary how people are so desperate for her attention.
And LMAO at “edgy cosplay”. So true. Girl, you are as edgy as an avocado. And that’s ok! Just own it!
Lol not judging I’ve gone through my fair share of tumblr rabbit holes (pro tip: do not ever go through the tags of the teens actively trying for a baby on there). But yeah no joke the relationship between her and her fans is not healthy for anyone involved.
People who have grown out of her fandom and left it have said that it did have a cult like feeling that they had to do anything and everything to prove to her and each other how loyal and protective they were of her.
“You actually did some thing problematic.”
For those not following this drama, does this refer to one act?
Swift’s success hinges on victimhood and controversy. No way is this the last of anything. She’s got bigger issues anyway. Low sales. Shrinking fan base. And association to neo nazism.
Omg please… Not Nazi talk again. It must be awful to be connected to pure evil and while i do think Tay Tay is high school mean girl, there’s no way she’s a Nazi supporter.
In fact, many famous singers performed for dictators, but Taylor got stuck with the worst label possible. And based on what?
+1
Like it or not, she *is* associated. FLORC didn’t say she was a nazi. It would go a long way if she would do something to distance herself, but she doesn’t seem to care. I’m sure she doesn’t want to step on anyone’s toes to protect her bottom line, but… I think it would be okay to step on nazi toes. I think most reasonable people would feel that way. If she isn’t a nazi, then she really needs to grow some balls, figuratively speaking.
FFS. Taylor should have spoken out, but the smearing her as a nazi is so OTT and ridiculous. And no, her sales aren’t low even if they aren’t quite up there with her last album. She’s still selling a crazy amount of albums compared to the other pop girls with the exception of Adele who outsells everyone. Katy, Miley, Rihanna, etc. usually sell in 250k and under, Beyonce in the 600k range, Taylor sells in the million range, and Adele sells in the two million range.
She can be problematic, but her detractors ignore facts (her sales) or go overboard sometimes.
If you take away all the multiple albums that her fans buy, her sales would be like all the others.
I watched some clips of the show on youtube and…I don’t get it. Good staging in parts ok but I don’t get the absolute mania and devotion her fans have for her. There was one where she points at a very bored looking Joe Whatsisface during Gorgeous and they lost their shit. HE LOOKED SO BORED. It all seemed so juvenile for a near 30 year old and her voice is meh.
Also until she publicly denounces all the neo nazi support she gets then she can eff off.
Just to show another side there was a sweet clip on instagram of her singing to him during King of My Heart and he’s smiling at her… I’m not a teen or a tween and I’m seeing her in London in a few weeks and can’t wait. One thing Taylor does do well is put on a good show , and manages to make a large crowd still feel like a more intimate affair .
I have an acquaintance who is a hard core swift fan and it gives me so much secondhand embarrassment watching her fans trying to get her attention on social media (particularly tumblr). Before rep was released and she was doing her secret sessions they were all “look how much she loves us and cares”. I mean I’m sure she does appreciate her fans and she’s always very gracious with them, so no shade, but it’s like some of them don’t realize they don’t actually know her…they know the persona she puts on. Which is true for most people! But guys, come on, she had an album to promote and it’s good PR to interact with your fans like that especially when you’re not doing press. Y’all aren’t friends.
And yeah, I don’t believe Swift is a white supremacist but I do think it would serve her to just say “I would like to be excluded from the neo nazi narrative”. I understand not wanting to respond to every rumor/controversy as a celebrity but I think people would let it go if she released some kind of statement.
The part I like least about this is the giant crappy snakes. And makes me ❤️KP a little red.
I looked up her setlist for this tour and I’m kind of disappointed. It’s pretty much all songs from Reputation with 7~ of her older songs, mostly in medley format. No thanks.
I like how when she opened the envelope she went around the pupper sticker. That’s all I got when it comes to the feud.
[Tinfoil hat on] Why would Katy extend a hand again, though? As pointed out in the article, she has already! So… who’s to say the Snake hasn’t faked that message for publicity? Being the Queen of Pettiness, she would probably love to pull one over Katy like that, and there’s no way Katy could ever deny it, or she would come out looking like the bad guy…
Seems far-fetched, but I don’t put anything past Taylor!
[rummages around for my own well-used tinfoil hat] The timing of the gesture is highly suspect. Wouldn’t surprise me if the package was sent weeks or months ago and only publicly acknowledged now for obvious PR for Taylor’s world-tour.
Yep! At the very least, yes.
Oh well, manipulators will manipulate I guess… How she still has fans is beyond me!
I wouldn’t be surprised if Taylor held onto it or intentionally showed it JUST before her first tour stop as a “See? I get everything I want. I’m always right.” kind of move. There were other ways that she could have indicated to her fans that the feud was over without literally showing them the first few lines of what I’m assuming was supposed to be a private note.
This feud was always so boring. Her concert last night was interesting though. She still is playing the victim to some extent, but her vocals have improved a lot and as a fan of her music that makes me happy. Her lyrics are often really good but her vocals can suck at times.
It was gloating in the guise of appreciation. This lack of graciousness, IMO, shows us that her true character was the cause of all this mess in the first place. Playing the victim is her biggest PR game but she does it at the expense of other people’s reputations. Her fanbase rally around her because what maturity can one expect from tweens and teens?
This comment is so on point.
Until Taylor acknowledges that the whole snake thing didn’t appear for no reason, this is still just another chapter of her victim shtick.
As much as I loathe Kimye, they rightfully called her out on her lies and she hates that.
Did they? I really couldn’t follow all of that. I read that him calling her a bitch was never on this “receipts” tape.
I also don’t trust an edited clip that only one party to a conversation has in their possession. I imagine there is a lot of contextual conversation missing in what the public heard.
The phone conversation supposedly lasted close to an hour. The released, heavily edited, tape was less than two minutes so 58 minutes missing.
The point is she always denied that this conversation existed. After Kim exposed get, 🐍 team start to point at editing etc. But the most important is that she lied from beginning and was acted as a victim. Like always.
THat’s the point to you. That’s not the “most important” point to me. I think that so called “Kimmy’s got the receipts day!” was way WAY overblown.
It was the most important point in the court of public opinion. You cannot argue that her reputation and image took a major hit after that. It did and she is still reacting from it. Which means Kim actually wins on this.
LOL I can’t believe anyone believed the “I didn’t know he would say bitch!” storyline.
Her initial statement was that not only did he not seek her approval, but that he just wanted her to release it on Twitter and that she “strongly cautioned him” about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message. She then blasted him in her awards speech for trying to take credit for her fame.
In the video, she very clearly states that she’s not offended, and that she’d LAUGH if someone tried to suggest that she was offended, and correct them. She thanks him for calling her and states that he didn’t have to do that. She also points out that he wasn’t aware of her at the time, even though she was popular (which seems to be a direct reference to the “I made that bitch famous” line).
So the video proves that she did NOT caution him about releasing the song, that he did reach out to her about the lyrics, and while it doesn’t directly reference the word bitch, it does reference the idea that he made her famous.
Sooooo the ONLY pivot she could make was that her issue was with the word bitch. Which contrasts her previous statements.
Perfectly stated @Alissa!!!
Can’t wait for a new song called “olive branch” saying something along the lines “you said you wanted to clear the air” next time they have a misunderstanding
LOL
I hope this “feud” is over now. It was interesting for like a year and then it got boring and silly.
I don’t think Katy has shown maturity through this all. Remember, the feud kept being fueled by her saying things and bringing things up. TS didn’t respond to anything. Not to say that she’s totally innocent in this, obviously TS started it and that was super dumb and petty. But I think saying KP showed maturity is a stretch
IMO they are both stuck in junior high, hence two grown women feuding publicly like this to begin with.
Katy had the right to defend herself. Sure, Taylor was “quiet”… after she started it all.
During her show she adressed the snake and said she was being bullied on social media. WHY does this girl always play the victim???
I mean thousands of people were telling her to kill herself over an edited phone call so i dont think its fair to act like she couldn’t have been hurt by it
Well her fans telling every celebs who don’t like her teh same (to kill etc.) and she all the time encourage them, saying that she is grateful that they always protect her etc. I still remember when her fans bullied horribly Michael J. Fox and wish him death for no reason (bcs they wthink he was mean to Kween). She is a mean girl who love to bullied as her fans. This is some crazy cult.
This is the same girl who tweeted a big thank you to her fans for “having her back” after they burned up the internet spewing hate and death threats at Michael J. Fox. There aren’t enough snake emoji’s in the world.
Can’t stand Perry after I saw an old youtube clip of her mocking a clearly high/drunk Amy Winehouse. No wonder she and Rihanna were joined at the hip and overnight Riganna wouldn’t be seen with her and refused to answer questions about her.
Go away Katy.
I did not know that about Katy’s behavior towards Amy, but I read that her and Rihanna stopped hanging out because Katy disapproved of when Rih and Chris Brown got back together the second time
Katy also made fun of mentally ill Britney.
UGh, she is still playing a victim on her tour talking about how being called a snake was so mean to her. Girl, you are a 🐍 and a bully. Why don’t you grow up and say sorry to women you slut shame in your songs, to your exes who you shade in your songs all the time, to using a nice guy as a human shield from the heat that was coming to you. But yeah, it is all about you and your feelings. Get over yourself.
Why does she have to apologize to her exes though? Honestly curious? Isn’t it normal to sing about past love? Adele, bruno, ed Sheeran, pretty much everyone does it so why cant she?
It is one thing to sing about it, it is another thing to blame them as bad as she is in a passive aggressive way that insinuates all kinds of things. So, no passes on it.
So she can only sing about an ex if shes saying nice things? Sounds boring. I live for any artist trash talking an ex
implying someone cheats, lies, and laughingly saying how you use someone else is horrible behavior that goes beyond trash talking. How about some introspection and growth instead of being a one hit wonder kind of singer?
I think its a nice gesture and I am hoping young people see and understand the benefit of mending fences. I know its dramatic and all, but what better way to apologize? I am firmly in the corner of putting good karma into the world.
Absolutely! It’s not weak making peace… it actually shows good character!
No shade question: how did she gain weight so that it looks healthy? I thought may be she just gained relationship weight but she’s kept it on for her your so that’s got to be intentional.
I’m about 15 lbs underweight, I think because of hormones and some must take medications. I’ve been trying to gain weight for over a couple of years and had a set back when I got pneumonia earlier this year. I had all the thyroid tests and everything is normal. The weight loss is mainly body fat so I look at least t 10 years older, I miss my baby face 🙁
Katy reminds me so much of Oscar the Grouch.
I really wish Katy didn’t extend that “olive branch” to her. Even though Katy probably has good intentions, Taylor will see it as she “won” the battle between them and that Katy admitted it was all her fault.
I give Katy credit for taking the high road. So what if Taylor think she won… Sometimes peace is worth it. Plus, I think being attached to this negativity hurt Katy too and she knows it. Better be (or at least to look like) the kind, mature one.
I really, really hope she got Perry’s consent before posting that. Because if not, I suspect this feud may run and run.
I’m sure she’s thrilled… she probably wants everyone to know it’s over. She’s been saying she wants that for ages.
Yeah, possibly I’m being really old-fashioned. I just think it’s incredibly rude to share private correspondence without consent.
I suppose it’s possible Taylor Swift meant this as, “look, what a nice thing to do,” instead of, “look, she admits was the one responsible all along…” which my mind leapt to at first glance. It’s also possible that Perry consented and the post was an agreed one, in which case everyone’s a winner.
And it could all have been cooked up by their publicists, anyway.
I don’t like Taylor or her music. I’m too old to care about a feud. But I do watch American Idol with my daughter and a contestant was hesitant to say that Taylor was his favorite artist, and yes I know it’s edited and scripted, but Katy seemed very gracious and respectful, and just basically told him there would be nothing to be embarrassed about, and yes she’s a wonderful songwriter and was a great choice for a favorite artist. I dunno, I’m gullible! But it seemed sincere?
That post by Taylor came across as something that would be posted when a person is drunk and feeling more powerful/ clever/ smart than they actually are.
I think Taylor has started to have a knack for ruining her own brand…obviously not to the extent that she’s fallen out of popularity, but her antics have started to seem to backfire. That “Thank you Katy” (with what could come across as a snide/ wanna-be “I won” tone), she seems immature and desperate to have the upper hand.
And more and more, Taylor reminds me of watching the scene of the Wizard of Oz, when the “great and powerful” god-like Oz’s curtain is peeled back, and you just see an old man blowing smoke out of an illusion and talking through a microphone.