Is Taylor Swift renewing hostilities with Kanye West? A tweet supporting Halsey has some folks wondering if Swift is secretly slamming her longtime rival. West and Swift have stayed on ugly terms for years, so anything’s possible.
Dualing Release Date
West’s album Donda has finally been released after months of false starts and listening parties. Whenever West releases a new album, especially as erratic as this release has been, he tends to dominate the discourse. When Swift publicly endorsed a different album, one from Halsey, many thought she may be strategically dissing West in the process.
A flame war ensued on Twitter between fans of West and Swift. West fans are accusing Swift of trying to sabotage West’s release by endorsing a competitor. Swift’s fans are clapping back, saying West fans are feeling threatened by Swift merely supporting a friend. This begs the question: what’s going on here?
Halsey Coming In
Halsey first came to prominence by doing Swift covers on YouTube back in 2013. She’s grown into an accomplished artist in her own right and befriended Swift along the way. Halsey continues to cite Swift as a major influence on her music.
August 27 marked the release of her fourth album, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power. She announced the album on June 28 and released it on time, as musicians usually do. It’s a concept album about childbirth, and Swift is a big fan. She took to Twitter to help get the word out and had some very kind words.
Halsey thanked Swift in response, and said: “means so so much.” One can only imagine what it’s like to admire an artist for years, only to have that artist compliment them in return. Not everything in the world has to do with West.
A Coincidence
This couldn’t really be a diss on West because West didn’t even intend to release this album. He said so on Instagram, attacking the label for removing his collaboration with disgraced rapper DaBaby as well.
Halsey’s fans were hoping to launch her album to number one on the charts, but that won’t happen with Donda in the mix. It’s ludicrous to think Swift is treating her friends like pawns and only supported Halsey to try and hurt West. This had nothing to do with Donda whatsoever.