Taylor Swift Just Ruined Her Image For Good

I regret to inform you that Taylor Swift cannot be trusted. And it sucks, because I really wanted to believe her. I, like many others, have been riding this emotional roller coaster that is the romance between Tom Hiddleston and Taylor Swift. Are they? Aren't they? Is it fake? Is it real?

But after what took place on Sunday night, that is all on the back burner. That boiling pot of Hiddleswift is quietly being brought to a simmer and placed in the shadows of the back of the stove, because apparently Swift is all about that shady life now. If you're like most normal people in the world, last night you were tucked into bed, sleeping away the Sunday scaries to prepare for a manic Monday. So if you missed what happened on July 17, an event that changed the course of Swiftory, let me start at the beginning. In February of 2016, Kanye West rapped in his song "Famous" that he thinks he and Swift "might still have sex" because he "made that bitch famous." Everyone was like, "Um what the fuck, Kanye?" and Swift's people were like, "Swift isn't cool with this," and then Swift trash-talked West in her Grammy acceptance speech for claiming that he had something to do with making her famous. And now, six months later, Kim Kardashian West, like the loyal wife she is, leaked a video on Snapchat revealing that Swift not only heard the lyrics, but thought they were funny and promised to defend Kanye at the Grammys. In the video below, you can hear Swift on speakerphone giving Kanye her permission to use the lyric. She thanks him for being a good friend and asking for her approval.

Kim basically gave out copies of the receipts to all of her social media followers when she urged them to go watch her Snapchat story. A couple hours after the buzz surrounding Kim's Snapchat video began, Swift crawled out of her love nest with Hiddleston and addressed the Kim and Kanye's actions head-on with a note. Said note appears to have been written in advance. Eagle-eyed iPhone sleuths point out that, in order for the word "Search" to appear in the corner, Swift must have searched her archives for a previously written note (most likely sandwiched between musings for future song lyrics about her breakup with Calvin Harris) and uploaded the screenshot to social media. In the note, Swift basically accuses Kim of slandering her with a secret (and possibly illegal) recording. I'm sure Kim has lawyers ready to go if this leads to a legal dispute, and yes, what Kim did is also pretty shady — but we all expected more from Swift. That is what hurts so much. So far this year, Swift has been named Forbes' top-earning celebrity and hosted the fashion event of the year, the Met Gala. We, the public, trust her. We trust her to tell us how to handle mean boys and wicked girls. We trust her to give us music to cry to, music to dance to, and music to believe in. We trust that she likes the same shows we do, like Grey's Anatomy and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and to name her cats after the lead characters. Something I totally would do, too. She was a nice girl. And then she shattered. She took a baseball bat, à la Beyoncé in "Hold Up," and crushed her image into a million pieces. Let us not forget that Calvin Harris also exposed Swift last week, in a series of damning tweets regarding his song "This Is What You Came For." Apparently, Swift wrote the song for Harris and then requested not to be acknowledged in the credits. He agreed. Then, behind his back, her people released a statement saying that Swift wrote the song. For obvious reasons, it made Harris look bad, making it seem like he tried to take credit for her work. Why is she always lying? There are so many questions that she will have to answer in the months to come, and I hope she doesn't slink further into Shadesville in the process. For example:

Why did she agree to be in the song? She has such a rough history with Kanye — why would she trust him? I wouldn't. Why didn't she just apologise for lying about not having prior knowledge of most of the lyrics? Why is she not taking responsibility and being the bigger person?

Your girl squad won't get you out of this, Swift. And I'm rooting for you. I really am. Just don't be so sketchy ever again, okay? Can Taylor Swift make Taylor Swift great again?