Taylor Swift has been named TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year and, in an extensive interview, discussed various aspects of her life and career. She opened up about the challenging period following the leak of a phone call between her and Kanye West by Kim Kardashian. Swift stated that her career was “taken away” from her, describing the leaked phone call as a “fully manufactured frame job” that had a severe psychological impact on her. The fallout led her to take a break from the spotlight, moving to a foreign country and avoiding phone calls for a year.
Addressing the controversy, Swift emphasized that she was pushed into a place she had never been before and struggled with trust issues. Despite Kim Kardashian’s denial of editing the footage, Swift asserted that the leaked phone call was a pivotal moment in her life. She retreated from public life and faced challenges in trusting people. However, she eventually returned with the album “Reputation,” describing it as a “goth-punk moment of female rage at being gaslit by an entire social structure.”
To be clear, the only issue I ever had around the situation was that Taylor lied through her publicist who stated that “Kanye never called to ask for permission…” They clearly spoke so I let you all see that. Nobody ever denied the word “bitch” was used without her permission.
— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) March 24, 2020
Swift also discussed her upcoming re-release of “Reputation,” known as “RepTV,” expressing excitement about the vault tracks, which she teased as “fire.” In a lighthearted remark, she compared her re-recordings to collecting horcruxes and infinity stones, incorporating a playful reference to Gandalf from “The Lord of the Rings.” Swift has been re-recording her early albums to regain control of her master recordings after the rights to her original recordings were acquired by others.