Taylor Swift Renames Song 'Tortured Poets' in Apparent Aim at Kanye West

Taylor Swift has renamed a song from her latest album, "The Tortured Poets Department," in an apparent take on Kanye West.

• LEARN MORE: Taylor Swift in concert in Edinburgh: the “Eras Tour” finally arrives in the United Kingdom

The original version of the song, "thank you aiMee," appeared on Swift's 11th studio LP in April. "thank you aIMee" led fans to believe the song was directed at the reality star who had a history with the pop singer.

The capital letters in the title spell out "Kim," linking the song to the Kardashians. "Thank You AIMee" also sees Swift discussing a history of feud between the singer and a person named Aimee from her hometown who was a bully and ended up being celebrated.

Now, in the new live version of the song, Swift has changed the name to "thank You aimEe," capitalizing "YE," as a nod to her feud with West. While the song retains its original streaming version, the song with the new name can be found on her online store.

The song was performed during his "Eras Tour" on June 22 in London and was mixed with "Mean" from "Speak Now".

Performing the track in London in June, Swift also explained its meaning: "It really makes me think about how every time someone says shit, it makes me work even harder and makes me even stronger... So it also makes me incredibly grateful for those people."

Taylor Swift updates “thank you aIMee” in new digital release “TTPD” to capitalize on YE.

Swift recently blocked the rapper from the top spot on the Billboard 200, ending her streak of 11 albums debuting at the top of the chart. pic.twitter.com/8Iexngf8tc

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) August 15, 2024

Kardashian and Swift had a falling out in 2016 after the reality star's ex-husband Kanye West released the song "Famous." In the song, West claimed he made Swift famous after the infamous 2009 MTV VMAs, when West interrupted Swift's acceptance speech.

Kardashian claimed that Swift approved the song's lyrics and even released an audio recording of a phone call where she gave her approval.

However, Swift claimed in 2020 that she was "set up" by West after the phone call she had with the rapper to discuss her 2016 track "Famous" leaked online.

The highly publicized feud would inspire the title and themes of her sixth album, released in 2017. "My career was taken away from me," she recalled when discussing the incident with TIME last year, explaining that it felt like "a career ending."

"You set up a phone call, illegally recorded, that Kim Kardashian edited and then released to tell everyone that I was a liar. It caused me to fall psychologically to a level I had never reached before."

Swift continued, "I moved to a foreign country. I didn't leave a rental house for a year. I was afraid to answer phone calls. I pushed away most of the people in my life because I didn't trust anyone anymore. I really, really struggled."

In an interview with Rolling stone In 2019, Swift said she was "done" with the rapper after initially thinking they had gotten over their breakup: "I started to feel like we had reconnected, which felt good because all I ever wanted my whole career after that event in 2009 was for him to respect me."

Meanwhile, last night (August 15) in London, Swift invited Ed Sheeran as a special guest on the opening night of her five-night 'Eras' tour at Wembley Stadium.

During the show's traditional "surprise song" portion, the pop star introduced Sheeran as "one of her best friends in the world" and came out to perform "Everything Has Changed," his duet with Swift on 2012's "Red." They then segued into "End Game" from 2017's "Reputation," followed by Sheeran's song "Thinking Out Loud."