Taylor Swift Kate Green/Getty Images
Taylor Swift made an interesting change in a new title for her The Tortured Poets Department track “thanK you aIMee.”
On Thursday, August 15, Swift, 34, released a new digital version of TTPD on her website that includes a new spelling of the song, which has been speculated to be about Kim Kardashian. Instead of spelling out “KIM” in the title, the only capital letters are “YE,” which is the moniker rapper Kanye West currently goes by.
The retitled song is also the live version Swift performed at her July Eras Tour show at Wembley Stadium. At the concert, Swift did a mashup of “thanK you aIMee” and her song “Mean” which is from her Speak Now album. According to Swift’s official website, the package will be available until 11:59pm ET on Thursday.
Following the surprise drop, many Swifties took to social media to share their reactions.
Taylor Swift continues to be in her record-breaking era with the release of The Tortured Poets Department. Swift, 34, released her 11th studio album on April 19, and it immediately began shattering sales and streaming records left and right. TTPD racked up 2.6 million equivalent album sales in the first week of its release, with […]
“Doing this right after blocking his album from number one … Taylor Swift the legend that you are!” one user wrote via X, while another quipped, “The charts are shaking already #ReputationTaylorsVersion.”
Swift’s decision to change the song title comes days weeks after West, 46, name-dropped the singer and her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, on his new album Vultures 2.
“I twist my Taylor spliffs tight at the end like Travis Kelce,” West, 46, rapped on the track “Lifestyle (Demo).”
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian Marc Piasecki/WireImage
Neither Swift nor Kelce, 34, have publicly reacted to the mention. However, Travis’ dad, Ed Kelce, was not happy with it.
“Mental illness on full display,” Ed wrote via Facebook in August, reposting a Daily Mail article about the lyric.
However, many fans believe the singer subtly reacted to the diss during her Eras Tour concert in Warsaw, Poland. At the show, Swift donned the “22” T-shirt that read, “I Bet You Think About Me.” While “I Bet You Think About Me” is the name of a Red vault track, many thought it was a subtle clapback at West.
One week after the song dropped, Swift had another victory on the Billboard Chart as TTPD remained No. 1 for the 14th week while West’s new album came in second place.
Swift and West’s feud started at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards when the rapper infamously interrupted her acceptance speech for Best Female Video. West declared on stage that Beyoncé should have won instead.
While Swift and West seemingly worked out their differences after the incident, their drama was reignited seven years later when West name-checked Swift on his song “Famous.” West claimed he sought Swift’s approval to include the line, which she denied.
Kardashian, who was married to West at the time, then released an edited clip of a phone call between West and Swift. Kardashian, 43, stated that the conversation corroborated West’s account. After the drama, Swift stepped out of the public eye for a great deal of time and then made her triumphant return in 2017 when she dropped her album Reputation.
“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,” Swift reflected in her 2023 interview with TIME magazine. “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.”
