In most circumstances, you wouldn’t see the following artists shown together…
This is the playlist of curated songs that I created for my Remix. At the bottom of the article, there is an explanation for each pair!
In crafting this playlist, my goal was to select songs that directly address the issue of misogyny in the music industry, as explored in my RSA essay “Taylor Swift’s ‘Reputation’ of ‘Self-Victimization'”. By strategically pairing five songs each from Taylor Swift and Kanye West, I aim to showcase the stark differences in lyrics and theme in male-written music and female-written music.
While brainstorming project ideas, I wanted to make sure that I was accurately portraying songs that were relevant to the issue of misogyny in the music industry, as discussed in my prior assignment, my RSA essay “Taylor Swift’s “Reputation” of “Self-Victimization”. For this reason, I thought that the best genre would be a playlist because it shows solid evidence to support my argument. I began my brainstorming for the playlist by thinking of each of the controversies that were written about in my RSA to directly connect the audience with direct evidence. I finally decided that my playlist should have ten songs, five Swift and five West, with each Taylor song added strategically with each Kanye song to show the vast difference in meaning behind each lyric. While one playlist for both artists works to show comparison between the songs, the playlist would improve if it were separated for each artist to have more songs for a better representation of the artists music. However, given that each of the artists are represented in the playlist with some of their most popular songs, one playlist may be adequate to represent their output of music. Additionally, keeping the playlist to a minimal amount of songs allows for a more cohesive analysis by the audience, giving them more time to analyze each song instead of the all-encompassing theme.
Deciding which songs were appropriate was a large part of my research for this project. This is not only because of my lack of knowledge of Kanye and his music, but also because music is very interpretive to each and every individual, especially when switching between audiences. Due to West’s explicit lyrics, one audience that I hope is not reached would be children. Because the playlist has a theme of feminism vs. misogyny, women are one of the large audiences that are associated with my playlist and, because one of my audiences for the project was music-enjoyers, I wanted to select songs that demonstrate similar themes to the one they were being compared to.
In order to find such songs, I had to use Spotify and pop culture sites, like Entertainment Tonight, or ET, to figure out the meanings behind his music without listening to every one of his tracks. However, due to my RSA project on the controversy between the celebrities, it was much easier to identify the song’s interpretations when it was written by Swift.
A screenshot of the “Taylor Swift – Innocent (Taylor’s Version) (Lyric Video), released July 7, 2023; However, the song was originally written and released under the name of “Innocent” on October 25, 2010.
As a “Swiftie”, I already knew Taylor’s discography which is why I started the playlist with Innocent, (which is an obvious choice if you know anything about Taylor Swift). Innocent was supposedly written about Taylor’s experience with Kanye West at the VMAs, where Kanye, at 32-years-old, rudely interrupted the young 19-year-old star whilst she was receiving her first VMA to tell her that she does not deserve it. In 2011, Taylor released “Innocent” where she speaks about how she forgives him through her lyrics explaining that “It’s okay, life is a tough crowd, 32 and still growin’ up now. Who you are is not what you did. You’re still an innocent.” When the record Speak Now was rerecorded in 2023, Swift got plenty of backlash from haters for “bringing up old sh**” when she released “Innocent (Taylor’s Version).” However, thirteen years after Taylor’s original release of “Innocent” and one year after the release of “Innocent (Taylor’s Version)”, Kanye came out with “Carnival”, which has a strong theme of misogyny with poor sexual themes towards women.
This is the “Carnival” album, by Kanye. The woman pictured is his current girlfriend whom he consistently posts nude pictures of.
In the 2024 release, Kanye begins by asking “Why she say she sucked my dick? Then she say she ain’t sucked my dick? She gon’ take it up the ass like a ventriloquist.” Directly after this strange sexualization of women, Kanye name-drops saying that “since Taylor Swift, since I had the Rollie on the wrist. I’m the new Jesus, bitch.”. This song is Kanye’s 21st Hot 100 Top 10.
The comparison of “Innocent” by Taylor Swift and “Carnival” by Kanye West as explained above was repeated four other times for eight other songs to complete 10 songs in a specifically formatted playlist, made to show misogyny and common themes in popular female-written and male-written music. The rest of the song pairings are listed and briefly explained below.
Altogether, through carefully curated pairings of songs, this playlist aims to highlight the differences in perspective, tone, and portrayal of gender dynamics between the two artists, directly showing misogyny in the music industry.
“The Man”, written by Swift about how it is to be a woman in misogynistic territories, is paired with “Feedback”, a song written by Kanye about his success in the industry, which is ironic due to his controversies.
This is a screenshot from the “Look What You Made Me Do” Music Video, by Taylor Swift.
“Look What You Made Me Do”, written by Taylor Swift about her changing her public image in the face of hate, is paired with “Mercy”, a song Kanye is featured in about how he has “[people] still hating, so much hate that I need an AK”.
“False God“, written discreetly by Taylor Swift about intimacy, is paired with “I’m In It” by Kanye, where he is quoted “Eatin’ Asian pussy, all I need was sweet and sour sauce”, showcasing the different vocabulary used when talking about intimacy in female-written and male-written songs.
“thanK you aIMee”, written and released this year by Taylor about how the people who she thought contributed to her downfall, such as Kanye and Kim Kardashian, actually helped her in the long run. This is compared to “Famous” by Kanye, which is an infamous song where he is quoted that he “feel[s] like [him] and Taylor might still have sex”, “Why? [He] made that bitch famous”.
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