The scornful lyrics to “thanK you aIMee” tell the story of a high-school bully, and a number of signs suggest that the song might be inspired by Kim and the “snake-gate” scandal.
By
Hot Topic
Thanks to a seemingly shady song on Taylor Swift’s new album, it looks like Kim Kardashian is still facing the repercussions of the infamous “snake-gate” feud all these years later.
Variety / Variety via Getty Images
As a quick reminder, Taylor and Kim’s beef starts in 2016, when Kim’s then-husband, Kanye West, dropped a controversial song called “Famous.” On the track, he raps the line: “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous,” — which is a seeming reference to when he interrupted her acceptance speech at the VMAs in 2009.
Kevin Mazur / WireImage
After the lyrics sparked a ton of backlash, Ye defended himself by posting on X — then called Twitter — that he’d sought Taylor’s permission for the name-drop before releasing the track. However, Taylor publicly denied that this was the case.
Ashok Kumar / Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
“Kanye did not call for approval, but to ask Taylor to release his single ‘Famous’ on her Twitter account,” her spokesperson told BuzzFeed News in a statement at the time. “She declined and cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message. Taylor was never made aware of the actual lyric, ‘I made that bitch famous.’”
Hot Topic
Think you’re Blondie’s biggest fan? Put your ~reputation~ to the test.
See our Taylor Swift Discussions
Kim then came to her husband’s defense by refuting Taylor’s version of events and subsequently releasing footage of Taylor and Ye’s phone call, which appeared to show that Taylor did approve the line after all.
Wait it's legit National Snake Day?!?!?They have holidays for everybody, I mean everything these days! 🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍🐍
— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) July 17, 2016
“Yeah. I mean, go with whatever line you think is better. It’s obviously very tongue-in-cheek either way. And I really appreciate you telling me about it, that’s really nice!” Taylor could be heard saying in the now infamous phone call clip, which Kim posted on Snapchat hours after noting that it was “National Snake Day.”
With seeming evidence that Taylor had lied, many people on the internet swiftly turned on her as her social media accounts were flooded with snake emojis and the hashtag #TaylorSwiftIsOverParty trended on X.
Kevin Mazur / WireImage
As you’ll probably remember, this all prompted Taylor to go into hiding, only to resurface a year later with her Reputation album, which centered prominently around snake imagery as a nod to the whole controversy.
Three years later, the full phone call between Taylor and Ye was shared online, seemingly revealing that Taylor had never actually approved of the “that bitch” lyric.
In the years since, Taylor has referenced the feud multiple times, both in her music and interviews. Most recently, she told Time magazine that Kim and Ye’s “fully manufactured frame job” meant that her career was briefly “taken away” from her.
Steve Granitz / FilmMagic
“Make no mistake — my career was taken away from me,” she told the outlet in December. “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.”
“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,” she continued. “I thought that moment of backlash was going to define me negatively for the rest of my life.”
And while Kim hasn’t discussed the scandal since, it seems Taylor’s adamant that people shouldn’t forget how things went down — from her perspective, at least.
Lionel Hahn / Getty Images
The 24th track on Taylor’s new album, The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, immediately piqued fans’ interest with its unusual title, “thanK you aIMee” — mainly because the capitalized letters spell out Kim’s name.
Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images
Of course, this wouldn’t be the first time a pop star has used the name Aimee/Amy to mask a deeper meaning. Britney Spears memorably did it on her 2008 song, “If U Seek Amy” — IYKYK.
And as listeners delved deeper into the lyrics — which depict a high-school bully — speculation that the song was inspired by Kim and their infamous feud only became more intense.
Axelle / FilmMagic
We obviously must first acknowledge that lyrical analysis is entirely subjective, however, along with the title, Taylor’s opening reference to a “bronze spray-tanned statue” was interpreted as a pretty pointed reference to Kim.
Dia Dipasupil / Getty Images
“When I picture my hometown / There's a bronze spray-tanned statue of you / And a plaque underneath it / That threatens to push me down the stairs, at our school,” the song begins, as she goes on to sing about the “searing pain” caused by the bully in question.
“All that time you were throwin' punches, I was buildin' somethin' / And I can't forgive the way you made me feel,” Taylor sings of her resentment for this individual. “Screamed, ‘f*ck you, Aimee’ to the night sky as the blood was gushin' / But I can't forget the way you made me heal.”
Ashok Kumar / Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
Notably, Taylor’s management shared the “f*ck you, Aimee” line to X alongside a GIF from the Reputation era, which only sought to bolster theories that the song is inspired by Kim and the “snake-gate” feud.
Later in the track, Taylor looks back on a conflict she deems was not a “fair fight,” and sings the line: “Everyone knows that my mother is a saintly woman / But she used to say she wished that you were dead.”
James Devaney / GC Images
However, one of the most talked about lyrics in the song is the seeming reference to Kim’s oldest daughter, North, who previously posted a video of her and her mom dancing to Taylor’s song, “Shake It Off,” on TikTok. She sings: “And one day, your kid comes home singin' / A song that only us two is gonna know is about you.”
Allen Berezovsky / Getty Images
In the last chorus, Taylor switches up the lyrics, going from cursing Aimee to thanking her — which perhaps indicates that Taylor is now grateful for the controversy between her and Kim.
Needless to say, fans online quickly began losing it over the alleged “diss track,” with one user writing on X: “[Taylor] really said ‘here’s 30 songs, and also f*ck you Kim Kardashian.’”
She really said “here’s 30 songs, and also f*ck you Kim Kardashian”
— ryan (@OhItsRyan) April 19, 2024
And now that the dust has settled on TTPD release day, it seems the song — regardless of whether it really was inspired by “snake-gate” — drove thousands of fans to unfollow Kim on Instagram.
Nbc / Nathan Congleton / NBC via Getty Images
On the day of the album’s release last Friday, Social Blade indicates that Kim’s following dropped by nearly 53,000, and since then, even more users have followed suit.
Andrew D. Bernstein / NBAE via Getty Images
As it stands, Kim has lost over 120,000 followers since the “diss track” was released. Her account remains the eighth most-followed on the platform with 363 million followers.
For what it’s worth, Kim has not addressed the song. And while it’s unlikely that she will, we’ll be sure to keep you updated in the event that she breaks her silence on the topic.
Hot Topic
)
