In a 2016 phone call heard ’round the world, Taylor Swift seemingly permitted Kanye West to use her name in his song “Famous” from his album The Life Of Pablo. When the song was officially released, Swift noted that she had not permitted West to refer to her as “that b*tch,” a lyric that also was not mentioned in the phone call.
When Kim Kardashian first leaked footage of the 2016 phone call via her Snapchat Story, Swift and West fans were left divided, with some saying that West was transparent and Swift was purposely trying to play the victim in the situation. Others deemed West a misogynist and called Kardashian out for bullying Swift.
Following the leak of the phone call in 2016, Swift went into hiding for the remainder of the year, and for much of 2017, until the rollout for her sixth studio album Reputation began. In her interview for her Time Person Of The Year 2023 profile, Swift revealed what she was doing during that time. But in Swift nature, she remained fairly secretive about her exact whereabouts.
“You have a fully manufactured frame job, in an illegally recorded phone call, which Kim Kardashian edited and then put out to say to everyone that I was a liar,” Swift said. “That took me down psychologically to a place I’ve never been before. I moved to a foreign country. I didn’t leave a rental house for a year. I was afraid to get on phone calls. I pushed away most people in my life because I didn’t trust anyone anymore. I went down really, really hard.”
Elsewhere in the interview she teased Reputation (Taylor’s Version) — specifically its vault tracks, which she said will be “fire.” She also described her album re-recording process as a mythic quest, similar to that in fantasy and superhero franchises.
“I’m collecting horcruxes,” Swift said. “I’m collecting infinity stones. Gandalf’s voice is in my head every time I put out a new one. For me, it is a movie now.”
You can learn how to buy Swift’s Time Person Of The Year 2023 issue here.