Taylor Swift is not always known for being subtle with her references—just ask Jake (or John, or Joe, or…you get the idea). So when The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology dropped on 19 April with a whopping 15 additional bonus tracks, including “thanK you aIMee,” Swifties immediately clocked those capitalised letters as a likely reference to Kim Kardashian, with whom Swift has had a beef since 2016.
In the song Swift sings about a high school bully, one whose “bronze, spray-tanned” statue stands in her hometown. While there are no other explicit references to her particular feud with Kardashian, the takeaway—that her experience with the bully only made her stronger—in addition to the title, seem to confirm the theories that “thanK you aIMee” is about K-I-M, not anyone named “Aimee.”
Swift is not afraid to give names.
The song's title may also allude to Britney Spears’s 2008 song “If You Seek Amy,” another pop anthem that is...not about a woman named Amy but about something else that's being spelled out.
In her 2023 Time person of the year cover story, Swift delved into greater detail about her fall from grace after Kardashian leaked an edited cut of Swift's phone call with Kardashian's then-husband Kanye West, who had asked Swift permission to name-drop her in his song “Famous.” In the edit, Swift appeared to give West her consent; she later said that she had not heard the lyric in full, in which Kanye refers to her as a “bitch” that he “made famous.”
“That took me down psychologically to a place I’ve never been before,” she said of the fallout from the leaked recording. “I moved to a foreign country. I didn’t leave a rental house for a year.
“I was afraid to get on phone calls," she added. “I pushed away most people in my life because I didn’t trust anyone anymore. I went down really, really hard.”
It was worth the 5 am wake-up call.
After the Time article was published, TMZ reported that Kardashian had never offered an apology to Swift for the leak, or the vitriol she faced in the aftermath. “Our sources say Kim's never apologized to Taylor for the call,” TMZ claimed. “And even after the Time article, it's still crickets.”
In “thanK you aIMee,” Swift sings, “It wasn't a fair fight or a clean kill,” and rather cuttingly, “Everyone knows that my mother is a saintly woman / But she used to say she wished that you were dead.”
Ultimately, however, the song is about rising from the ashes. “But when I count the scars, there's a moment of truth,” Swift sings. “That there wouldn't be this, if there hadn't been you.”
You can read the full thanK you aIMee’ lyrics here:
1st verse
When I picture my hometown
There's a bronze spray-tanned statue of you
And a plaque underneath it
That threatens to push me down the stairs at our school
Pre-chorus
And it was always the same searing pain
But I dreamed that, one day, I could say
Chorus
All that time you were throwin' punches, I was buildin' somethin'
And I can't forgive the way you made me feel
Screamed "Fuck you, Aimee" to the night sky as the blood was gushin'
But I can't forget the way you made me heal
2nd verse
And it wasn't a fair fight or a clean kill
Each time that Aimee stomped across my gravе
And then she wrote hеadlines
In the local paper, laughing at each baby step I'd take
Pre-chorus
And it was always the same searing pain
But I prayed that, one day, I could say
Chorus
All that time you were throwin' punches, I was buildin' somethin'
And I couldn't wait to show you it was real
Screamed, "Fuck you, Aimee" to the night sky as the blood was gushin'
But I can't forget the way you made me heal
Everyone knows that my mother is a saintly woman
But she used to say she wished that you were dead
I pushed each boulder up the hill
Your words are still just ringing in my head, ringing in my head
3rd verse
I wrote a thousand songs that you find uncool
I built a legacy, which you can't undo
But when I count the scars, there's a moment of truth
That there wouldn't be this if there hadn't been you
Bridge
And maybe you've reframed it
And in your mind, you never beat my spirit black and blue
I don't think you've changed much
And so I changed your name and any real defining clues
And one day, your kid comes home singin'
A song that only us two is gonna know is about you, 'cause
Chorus
All that time you were throwin' punches, it was all for nothin'
And our town, it looks so small from way up here
Screamed, "Thank you, Aimee" to the night sky and the stars are stunnin'
'Cause I can't forget the way you made me heal
Everyone knows that my mother is a saintly woman
But she used to say she wished that you were dead
So I pushed each boulder up that hill
Your words were still just ringin' in my head, ringin' in my head
Outro
Thank you, Aimee
Thank you, Aimee
Swifties have some thoughts.
