Taylor Swift took home last night's big Grammy for Album of the Year (her second—this one for 1989, with the previous one for Fearless), and in accepting her trophy she used her speech time in the greatest way possible.
Let's back up: when Kanye West was releasing his latest album last week, The Life of Pablo (only available on Tidal!), he released a song called "Famous," with the lyrics: "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous / God damn / I made that bitch famous." He immediately Kanyesplained all of this on Twitter:
Swift didn't respond herself when Kanye declared the lyrics were all her idea and she gave him approval. Instead, she waited to be under the Grammys spotlight, which is pretty bad ass and totally on brand. While accepting her award, she set things straight about how she felt about Kanye's lyrics, all while not using his name once. Which you know he wanted to hear. More importantly, she empowered others listening:
"As the first woman to win Album of the Year at the Grammys twice, I want to say to all the young women out there, there will be people along the way who will try to undercut your success. Or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame. But if you just focus on the work and you don’t let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you’re going. You’ll look around and you’ll know it was you and the people who love you who put you there and that will be the greatest feeling in the world."
Nice moves, Ms. Swift.
Previously a rep for Swift stated: "Kanye did not call for approval, but to ask Taylor to release his single ‘Famous’ on her Twitter account. 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.’”
As for Kanye, who is married to Kim Kardashian, who is criminally wealthy, he is currently begging for $53 million on Twitter. He has yet to respond to Swift's speech.
