I assume it will take Taylor Swift to make it official: 2024 is the yr of the diss observe. January ended with an all-out blood tub (and, principally, a horror present) between Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion after years of delicate pictures between the 2. Then Ice Spice and Latto entered the ring, and now, principally each rapper, singer, or producer who’s collaborated with Drake is teaming as much as take him down (Kendrick Lamar, Future, Metro Boomin, Rick Ross, and The Weeknd being essentially the most notable Avengers). In the midst of all of this, followers are satisfied that Swift has tapped into the pattern, reportedly digging up an nearly decade-old grievance by sending pictures at Kim Kardashian in a observe that she named “thanK you aIMee.”
It’s price noting, after all, that Swift has been recognized to put in writing songs from the attitude of assorted fictional characters (notably from the Folklore period onwards), however—if the Taylor Nation chatter proper now could be something to go by—that is very a lot a query of Taylor addressing Kim immediately, à la 2010’s “Higher Than Revenge.” Among the many observe’s spicier lyrics: strains about her mom, “a saintly lady,” wishing Aimee “had been lifeless” for “beat[ing]” her daughter’s “spirit black and blue.” Then, just like the film villain who can’t assist herself from strolling us by her twisted scheme, Taylor tells us, in a bridge of exposition, that she’s erased any clues of who she may truly be singing about! Solely the 2 of them will ever know, until, someway, somebody can piece it collectively… Masterful gambit, ma’am!
No matter Taylor’s intentions, Swifties have been fast to flood the web with theories a few drama so historical that my Gen-Z workmate, Riann, was initially confused as to why Taylor would take difficulty with Kim. “I didn’t know they’d beef,” she wrote on Slack. “Have I been residing below a rock?” No, Riann, it’s the meat that was fossilized, and I’m not satisfied it wanted to be dragged up once more by the use of The Tortured Poets Division discourse. Diss tracks have to be good, sure, however additionally they have to be delivered inside a calendar decade. If Swift actually needs to play on this pool, she must be again within the studio as we communicate, recording a response to Drake mocking Kendrick Lamar rapping “for Swifties” on his personal diss observe “Push Ups,” launched simply hours after TTPD. (Drake, in a type of diss observe mise en abyme, is after all referencing Lamar’s verse on Swift’s reported Katy Perry takedown “Dangerous Blood”.)
On the whole, whereas diss tracks could also be again with a vengeance in 2024, most of them have left quite a bit to be desired. We’ve fallen so removed from Nicki’s “Roman’s Revenge,” a basic that can nonetheless gentle up any membership flooring, or Pusha T’s “The Story of Adidon,” a observe so highly effective it was capable of make its goal a extra energetic father. Now, it’s extra typically a query of puerile baiting about nostril jobs and spray tans. It speaks volumes that the perfect diss observe this yr has obtained to be “Suppose U the Shit (Fart)” by Ice Spice, a track so addictively, deliberately silly that it borders on genius. Possibly, because the style has change into so juvenile, North West will reply to Taylor’s alleged call-out in her upcoming debut album, Elementary Faculty Dropout. Within the meantime, I’m satisfied J. Cole was proper to faucet out when he did.
