Taylor Swift and Kanye West Again Dominate The News

BuzzFeed
Jason Tate

I can’t believe that with everything going on in the world right now the internet is parsing words about if Taylor Swift knew, or didn’t know, about specific words in a Kanye West song. But, that’s what the internet is doing. It’s newsworthy enough that I feel it’s worth covering – even if I don’t feel great doing it. Jemima Skelley, writing for Buzzfeed, details what’s happened now that Kim Kardashian has uploaded to Snapchat a phone call Kanye had with Taylor Swift discussing his song “Famous,” a video that does not ever mention the specific portion Taylor Swift apparently had a problem with in the song, but has still tossed the internet into pure chaos:

Though Taylor never denied that she had a conversation with Kanye, it does seem weird that she would publicly call the song misogynistic when she told Kanye that it was a compliment. It does prove, however, that Taylor never actually heard the lyric where Kanye calls her “that bitch”. On the other hand, Kim should have released this right at the beginning of all this drama, instead of holding it to promote her show. Kanye also shouldn’t have recorded Taylor without her permission.

The song bugs me, the video bugs me, and the internet reaction bugs me. Nothing about this feels right.

Behind the Playlist Professionals

BuzzFeed
Jason Tate

Reggie Ugwu, writing at Buzzfeed, with a really great profile on the professional playlist creators at Apple, Spotify, and Google:

We’ve come to expect that virtually all of our problems can be solved with code, so much so that we summon it unthinkingly before doing almost anything: from choosing what movie to watch, to finding a doctor, to deciding where to wake up the next morning and who with. But what if music is somehow different? What if there’s something immeasurable but essential in the space between what is now called “discovery” and, you know, that old stupidly human ritual of finding and falling in love with a song? Algorithms excel at the former, but the latter is stubborn heritage: It’s your father’s old record collection, your sister’s stash of mixtapes, a close friend’s desert island soundtrack of choice.

Mötley Crüe Singer Sued by Assault Victim

Mötley Crüe Singer Sued by Assault Victim
Jason Tate

Kimberly Lawson, writing for Broadly, on Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil being sued for physical assault:

Guerrero said Neil and Cage were engaging in “horseplay”—Cage had put Neil in a headlock—as she attempted to catch Cage’s attention.”My son loved you in Ghost Rider and City of Angels,” she called out to him as the group passed by.

“Then,” the suit contends, “as Mr. Cage let go of Vince Neil and was walking away, Vince Neil attacked Kelly without warning or provocation. Neil grabbed Kelly’s hair from behind, yanking her down to the pavement on her back.”