The Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj Twitter feud, explained

Taylor Swift (left) and Nicki Minaj, in happier times. Specifically, 2011.Larry Busacca/Getty Images



Late Tuesday afternoon, acclaimed pop star Taylor Swift sent an emotionally wounded retort to fellow acclaimed pop star Nicki Minaj. Swift was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for Best Video, while Minaj was not. Swift thought Minaj was unfairly directing blame for the snub at her, when Minaj should really be blaming one of the men nominated for said award.

Naturally, since this is 2015, Swift launched her reply on Twitter, where everybody could see it.

It was just the latest development in a long, unfolding saga that ended up involving people with very, very carefully sculpted images behaving like, well, human beings on social media, and learning a lesson all parents should tell their children when tucking them in at night: No matter what it is, never tweet.

Minaj is upset she wasn't nominated for Video of the Year at the VMAs




The MTV Video Music Awards are now primarily known in the public consciousness as a platform for unusually bananas musical performances. (It's where, for instance, Miley Cyrus twerked and launched a million think pieces.) But like music's other big awards — the Grammys — those performances are just there so you'll watch while awards are handed out, and even if the audience doesn't particularly care who wins, the artists very much do



Minaj's video for "Anaconda," a riotous, gleeful celebration (and satirization) of female sexuality, was by far one of the biggest videos of the year. Essentially everything Swift touches nowadays turns to gold. It made sense to assume they would both be nominated.


Except that Minaj — who did receive three other VMA nominations in lower ballot categories — was passed over, while Swift was nominated for the overstuffed, overhyped"Bad Blood" video, filled with celebrity cameos and a far cry from essentially any other music video she released in the past year:




Here were the five nominees MTV arrived at:
Beyoncé – "7/11″
Ed Sheeran – "Thinking Out Loud"
Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar – "Bad Blood"
Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars – "Uptown Funk"
Kendrick Lamar – "Alright"


In terms of sheer artistic impact, this is a pretty weak crop. (Arguably, "Uptown Funk" is the one that's had the most cultural reach, and that's a pretty bland video.) It's hard to see why "Anaconda" doesn't belong on the list, and Minaj felt similarly.




It's those last two tweets Swift took umbrage at.
Swift felt unfairly maligned; Minaj says the tweet was never about Swift in the first place

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