Taylor Swift has dismissed claims her award-winning single "Bad Blood" is about Katy Perry, admitting she only fuelled speculation it was about a friend to detract from the fact it was about an ex-boyfriend.
Speculation started in 2014 in an interview Swift gave to Rolling Stone , but the singer has since told GQ that she didn’t want to offend an ex-boyfriend she is still on good terms with so suggested the song might be about losing a friend.
“I never said anything that would point a finger in the specific direction of one specific person, and I can sleep at night knowing that,” she said.
“I knew the song would be assigned [by the media] to a person, and the easiest mark was someone who I didn't want to be labeled with this song.”
She describes the moment she was interviewed for Rolling Stone, when the reporter asked who "Bad Blood" was about. Swift says she wanted to avoid causing controversy, although in doing so she’s managed to cause more, with her ‘rivalry’ making headlines ever since.
Speculation only got louder when the much-hyped video depicted Swift assembling a crew of fierce, weapon-toting women to take out a girl who double-crossed her. The video went on to win several MTV VMA Awards earlier this year.
“You sit there, and you know you're on good terms with your ex-boyfriend, and you don't want him—or his family—to think you're firing shots at him. So you say, 'That was about losing a friend’,” she says.
Swift adds that people would have assumed the song was about a former flame as most of her back catalogue is about her turbulent dating life. But despite the interpretation, her peace of mind is most important.
“So I don't necessarily care who people think it's about. I just needed to divert them away from the easiest target.“
