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Taylor Swift on Forgiving Kanye West: It Took Mutual Respect, a Jay Z Intervention

Pop star talks “the sisterhood,” the music industry and learning to forgive Kanye in new interview with Vanity Fair

Aug 5, 2015 09:18 GMT  ·  By
The moment a drunk Kanye West told Taylor Swift in 2009 “Imma let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time!”
   The moment a drunk Kanye West told Taylor Swift in 2009 “Imma let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time!”

In 2009, at the MTV Video Music Awards, Kanye West turned himself into America’s most hated celebrity (albeit briefly) by interrupting Taylor Swift as she accepted the award for Video of the Year, to say that Beyonce was the rightful winner.

About 6 years later, at the Grammys 2015, the two spoke face to face for the first time and even had their photo taken. A years-long feud had ended - and Taylor reveals now for Vanity Fair that what it took for that to happen was mutual respect and a Jay Z intervention.

Taylor opens up on Kanye West feud

Kanye’s “Imma let you finish” moment at the VMAs 2009 is now Internet gold, cementing his reputation as the rapper with the biggest ego in showbiz. In his defense, he did try to apologize, both publicly and privately to Taylor (or so he claimed), but that wasn’t convincing enough for all those Taylor fans who saw in his interruption the rudest and most unprofessional thing he could have done.

Taylor, on her part, never engaged in the gossip around her supposed “feud” with Kanye, though she made it clear from the start: she wasn’t happy with what he’d done to her.

So when their photo was snapped at the Grammys 2015, it came as a surprise because here were 2 people who openly disliked each other and who had not spoken for years, chatting it up and having a laugh.

The fact that Jay Z was also with them got some wondering whether he might have played a part in the reconciliation. Taylor confirms he did, but respect also played an important part in it.

“I feel like I wasn’t ready to be friends with [West] until I felt like he had some sort of respect for me, and he wasn’t ready to be friends with me until he had some sort of respect for me - so it was the same issue, and we both reached the same place at the same time,” she says. “I became friends with Jay Z, and I think it was important, for Jay Z, for Kanye and I to get along... And then Kanye and I both reached a place where he would say really nice things about my music and what I’ve accomplished, and I could ask him how his kid’s doing.”

Taylor and the sisterhood

In the same interview, Taylor talks about her standing up to Apple in an open letter she penned on their plans to not pay artists for the 3 months of free trial users would get for Apple Music, the new service.

She talks about her love life and how she doesn’t want it to be playing out in the media as it did some years ago, and of her group of close friends, who are mostly women. She even calls it “the sisterhood” and stresses that it comes before anything else, even boys.

Apparently, some of the girls in the group even dated the same guys but you would never hear them fight about it.

As for role models, Taylor lists Oprah Winfrey and Angelina Jolie, in that they both accomplished a lot and made fortunes, but have also been giving back to society whichever way they can.