How the Wests Won: Kanye and Kim’s Non-Reaction to Taylor Speaks Volumes

A day after Taylor Swift released the shade-filled music video to “Look What You Made Me Do,” Kim Kardashian dropped her Jackie O inspired cover shoot with Interview. It’s a perfect reaction to a fierce aggressor. In her posts, Kim is thankful and excited as it’s her daughter’s magazine cover debut.

Taylor, if all you think about is karma, all Kim is thinking about helping Houston after Hurricane Harvey.

For a woman who is constantly accused of being nothing but superficial, Kim’s current play with the press makes her look like the bigger, more mature person. In a world where it’s all about branding and how you project yourself, Kim is playing with the upper hand. This is the woman who made an empire after a sex tape scandal. It’s going to take a lot more than a snake-laden video to take her down.

Taylor’s ploy hasn’t worked it seems. She attacked and poked a party that’s moved on. What’s more, has forgotten about it. Taylor, sorry, if you didn’t get the memo but Trump’s president now and Melania is slipping FLOTUS merch at inappropriate times. We have bigger problems.

It’s been a year since #KimExposedTaylorParty. By this time, Swifties moved on and replayed Taylor’s albums to tide them over till the next one. Team Kim survived via Keeping Up with the Kardashians episodes, contour and highlight sticks, and soon after powder palettesLife of Kylie helped a little too.

Kanye, always one to spit fire on social media, has been relatively tame. He’s remained silent since deleting his social media accounts early this year.

Taylor as much as it feels like she’s taken an edgier vibe,  looks like she’s still playing the victim. Only this time, she’s disguised it in bling and sweaters plus a throwback Britney Spears look. The title of the song itself is a dead giveaway. “Look What You Made Me Do” sounds like she didn’t have choice and had to do this.

More than that, Taylor’s narrative falls apart because it comes off as self-centered. Take her “fairweather feminism” as Junkee postulates how she could have helped in the fight against Trump, “She positioned herself as a proud feminist during a moment that suited her and used it to rebuild her identity and sell her music. But now, at one of the most significant times in US history—especially in the Southern states that form the bedrock of Swift’s country base—she’s nowhere to be seen.”

She was hiding in the studio, composing the lyrics to an incident that unfolded in 22 Snapchat videos. An incident she could have just have shaken off. She tried the “rap beef” formula, only she isn’t a rapper. Which is why this whole ordeal makes us scratch our heads.

Of course, I could be speaking too soon. One will be at fault to doubt that Kris Jenner is not cooking up something to make bank out of what’s happening. Kanye could drop another song, and subtlety leave a lyric that will have the world buzzing. Kim could go on Snapchat and spill her tea.

In the meantime as Taylor insists on a new reputation and is twisting an old story to favor herself, Kim is dropping new stuff for The Kids Supply.

 

Art by Lara Intong 

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