“I’m an enormous fan of this good artist and after attending to know her I can verify: she is THE ONE to look at,” the pop star stated about Ice Spice in a tweet Wednesday. “Sweetest particular person ever thank u sm,” Ice Spice replied in a quote tweet.
The collaboration comes amid swirling rumors that Swift and Healy, the lead singer of the 1975, are courting. Some followers are skeptical of her resolution to work with Ice Spice after Healy confronted backlash for agreeing with racist feedback made about Ice Spice in a February podcast.
Right here’s the Taylor Swift-Ice Spice-Matty Healy drama, defined:
What did Matty Healy say about Ice Spice?
Whereas a visitor on “The Adam Friedland Present” in February, Healy laughed as the 2 podcast hosts, Friedland and Nick Mullen, made enjoyable of Ice Spice utilizing derogatory phrases about her physique and ethnicity, calling her an “Inuit Spice Woman,” and “chubby Chinese language girl,” whereas utilizing contrived Chinese language and Hawaiian accents to imitate her.
Within the episode, which was deleted from Spotify and Apple Music, Ice Spice was talked about by Healy, who stated he tried to message on Instagram. When Healy was requested by the hosts, who’re recognized for his or her racially insensitive jokes, if she sounds the way in which they mimicked her, he informed them, “Yeah, that’s what Ice Spice is like” after which referred to as her “dumb.” Later within the episode, Healy requested the hosts to do mock-Japanese folks working in focus camps and did a Japanese accent himself.
Healy later apologized after going through backlash in April whereas performing a live performance in Auckland, New Zealand. He informed the viewers: “I simply really feel a bit unhealthy, and I’m sort of a bit sorry if I’ve offended you,” he stated. “Ice Spice, I’m sorry. It’s not as a result of I’m irritated that me joking received misconstrued. It’s as a result of I don’t need Ice Spice to suppose I’m a d—. I really like you, Ice Spice. I’m so sorry.”
Earlier than the now-deleted podcast, Ice Spice, who’s Dominican and Nigerian, had expressed her love for Healy’s band the 1975 in a January video for Elle.
Representatives for Healy and Ice Spice didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, and Swift’s group declined to touch upon the report.
Why are folks upset with Taylor Swift?
The singer, who’s presently touring the nation on her Eras tour, has been associates with Ice Spice. In March, Swift wrapped the “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2” rapper in a hug onstage on the iHeartRadio Music Awards.
Swift has not commented on the controversial statements made by Healy, who she’s additionally been noticed hanging out with in current weeks.
Some pop music followers have accused her of staying quiet on necessary social and political points, corresponding to LGBTQ rights, and publicly taking a stance solely when it’s handy for her.
Swift didn’t publicly touch upon politics till 2018, when she named two Democratic candidates on Instagram she can be supporting in that yr’s midterm election. When Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) ran for the Senate, Swift condemned her stance in opposition to LGBTQ rights and voting report in opposition to the Violence Towards Ladies Act, which addresses home violence and stalking.
“I consider within the struggle for LGBTQ rights, and that any type of discrimination primarily based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I consider that the systemic racism we nonetheless see on this nation in direction of folks of colour is terrifying, sickening and prevalent,” she wrote on Instagram in 2018.
The music video for her 2019 hit music “You Must Calm Down,” which was made in assist of the LGBTQ group, was met with backlash, as some followers stated it featured stereotypical depictions of homosexual folks whereas she financially benefited throughout Pleasure Month. (On the time, she did additionally make a “very beneficiant” donation to the Homosexual & Lesbian Alliance Towards Defamation, the advocacy group stated.)
Some Swifties have come to her assist over time, arguing that she’s a musician not an activist, and isn’t answerable for making a press release about each human rights situation — or each problematic assertion her associates or companions say.
Healy is the lead singer of the 1975, a British different band recognized for songs corresponding to “Chocolate,” “Anyone Else” and “The Sound.” The group was named band of the last decade by British information outlet NME in 2020, has received 4 Brit Awards and was nominated for a Grammy for “Give Your self a Strive.”
Healy’s conduct has raised eyebrows earlier than. Followers have expressed discomfort together with his apply of kissing followers onstage, even when it’s consensual. He was accused of utilizing the Black Lives Matter motion to advertise the band’s music “Love It if We Made It” in a deleted tweet, in keeping with Selection. Whereas performing the music final January, he was accused of being antisemitic after he appeared to do a Nazi salute whereas singing the lyric, “Thanks, Kanye, very cool.” (Kanye West, also referred to as Ye, has come below fireplace for his personal antisemitism.)
And Healy informed the Fader in 2018 that “misogyny doesn’t occur in rock and roll anymore,” though he later tweeted out an apology. “I used to be simplifying a fancy situation with out the correct amount of training on the topic,” he stated.
Ice Spice, whose actual title is Isis Gaston, is a rapper from the Bronx who has exploded in recognition within the final yr. She’s recognized for TikTok-famous songs corresponding to “Munch (Feelin’ U),” and the pink-centric “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2.,” which she labored on with PinkPantheress.
Recognized for her Annie-esque crimson hair, Ice Spice’s songs have typically been used because the backdrop to fashionable TikTok dances. She began rapping whereas a school scholar at State College of New York at Buy.
Is Taylor Swift really courting Matty Healy?
Swift and Healy haven’t publicly confirmed or denied courting rumors. However many Swifties are satisfied they’re romantically linked.
Along with Swift and Healy musically collaborating — acting at one another’s concert events and making unreleased “Midnights” songs — the pair had been seen holding arms this month, and followers have speculated that they mouthed the identical phrases — “That is about you. You already know who you’re. I really like you” — throughout their concert events one evening aside.