Taylor Swift Wrote a Song About Kanye West After He Interrupted Her
Everyone remembers that Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. Not everyone remembers that this controversy inspired the “Look What You Made Me Do” singer to pen a pop ballad. Swift revealed why she felt the need to write the track. Interestingly, this forgotten song was a top 40 hit when it came out.
Taylor Swift wrote a ballad after Kanye West said her video wasn’t as Beyoncé’s
A quick recap: Swift won the award for Best Female Video for “You Belong With Me.” West came onstage to tell her that Beyoncé should have won for the iconic clip for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).” This incident resulted in the crowd booing. It was a massive story in the entertainment industry, with many commentators feeling that West’s actions were inappropriate and cruel even if Queen B released the superior music video.
Swift poured her feelings about West into a ballad called “Innocent.” During a 2010 interview with New York, “I think a lot of people expected me to write a song about him,” the “Love Story” singer said. “But for me, it was important to write a song to him.”
The ‘Love Story’ singe didn’t want to get too upset about Kanye West
Swift discussed how she felt about the infamous incident. “How it affected me,” the “Cardigan” singer stated. “It doesn’t really add anything good if I start victimizing myself and complaining about things. Because I’m proud of that performance at the VMAs last year, where my fans helped me get through it.
“And there was a lot that went down backstage that I will always be thankful for, and the fans in the subway [where she sang ‘You Belong With Me’ shortly after the interruption] know exactly what happened that night,” she added. “I feel everything. I’ve never had this thick skin that can’t be … It’s not like I am bulletproof in any sense of the word.” Anyone who knows Swift’s discography knows she is not bulletproof, but that’s why she is so compelling as a performer. Her flaws and insecurities make her relatable to millions of fans.
Taylor Swift’s ‘Innocent’ became a hit song for a brief moment
“Innocent” was not a single and but it still managed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. “Innocent” reached No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100, charting for a single week. Perhaps “Innocent” reached the top 40 merely because the feud between Swift and West had garnered so many headlines by the time Swift released the song.
The tune appeared on the record Speak Now. That record reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for six weeks, charting for 193 weeks in total. Speak Now was a big hit, but it wasn’t even the fifth-biggest record of Swift’s career.
Speak Now released five top 20 singles: “Mine,” “Back to December,” “Mean,” “Sparks Fly,” and “Ours.” Another single from the record — “The Story of Us” — peaked at No. 41. The true legacy of Speak Now is that it was the first album Swift wrote entirely by herself.
“Innocent” was not one of Swift’s bigger hits but it’s part of one of the most legendary feuds in the history of popular music.
