Are Taylor Swift's 'thanK you aIMee' Lyrics About Kim Kardashian? The Song Meaning Explained

23 June 2024, 18:23 | Updated: 29 August 2024, 16:23

By Katie Louise Smith

Who is Aimee on Taylor Swift's 'thanK you aIMee' lyrics? Fans think the song is about Kim Kardashian.

Did Taylor Swift just drop a song about Kim Kardashian? If the lyrics to 'thanK you aIMee' are anything to go by, it might be her most direct song about Kim to date.

Taylor recently dropped her highly anticipated 'The Tortured Poets Department' album and went on to surprise everyone by announcing that it was actually a secret DOUBLE ALBUM (!). Alongside the original 16 tracks, another 15 were dropped right after it.

One of those tracks is 'thanK you aIMee', which sees Taylor detail the pain she went through at the hands of a bully and how the situation prompted her to build a legacy that cannot be undone.

The song title is stylised in lower case with three very specific letters capitalised: K, I and M. On Spotify and Apple Music, the lyrics are also stylised in the same way. And what does that spell, besties? KIM! (See, spelling is fun!)

As a result, fans believe that the track is a vulnerable and honest confession about Taylor's complicated feelings towards Kim. At The Eras Tour in London on June 22nd, Taylor spoke about the meaning behind the song for the first time.

Read the full lyrics and detailed explanation below.

• Read more: Taylor Swift Fans Think Her 'The Alchemy' Lyrics Are About Travis Kelce

Is Taylor Swift's 'thanK you aIMee' about Kim Kardashian?

In the chorus, Taylor sings: All that time you were throwing punches, I was buildin’ somethin’ / And I can’t forgive the way you made me feel / Screamed ‘F–k you, Aimee’ to the night sky, as the blood was gushing / But I can’t forget the way you made me heal.

After the 'Famous' phone call incident with Kim and Kanye in which she was falsely accused of lying, Taylor retreated and removed herself from the public eye. She wrote Reputation in response, but the same time, she was falling in love and building a relationship with Joe Alwyn, away from the prying public and paparazzi. Despite the 'punches' Kim was throwing at Taylor, Taylor acknowledges that she also gained something from the whole situation.

In the third verse, Taylor echoes that sentiment, singing: 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.

As Taylor sings on 'Look What You Made Me Do', the whole Kim/Kanye feud sparked the death of 'the old Taylor' and the birth of the 'new Taylor' that has gone on to build an untouchable empire. Again, Taylor acknowledges that this might not exist if it hadn't have been for what happened. She turned an awful situation into an incredible legacy.

Finally, there's one specific lyric that fans have latched on to, believing it to be referencing Kim's daughter North West. In the bridge, Taylor sings: One day, your kid comes home singin' a song that only us two is gonna know is about you.

North, along with Kourtney Kardashian's daughter Penelope Disick, have both been seen in TikTok videos singing along to Taylor's songs, with Penelope also donning Eras Tour merch. Kim previously joined North in one of those videos, lip-syncing along to 'Shake It Off', which has now been deleted from their joint account.

Taylor has never explicitly mentioned Kim in any of her songs before but there are a handful of tracks and lyrics in Taylor's discography that allude to the infamous feud and her feelings about Kim.

Taylor performed the song live for the first time during her Eras Tour show in London on June 22nd. Before performing the track, she explained what it's about, and what prompted her to write it.

While she didn't directly address Kim, she did allude to all the negative comments that her detractors (Kim included) have hurled at her over the years.

Before playing the song, Taylor shared that she was grateful and thankful for the 88,000 people in the audience who "believed we could do this". She then added: "But on the other hand, it really makes me think about how every time somebody talks sh-t, it just makes me work even harder and it makes me that much tougher. So it also makes me incredibly thankful for those people."

Taylor also mashed 'thanK you aIMee' up with Speak Now's 'Mean', a song she wrote about the critics who put her down and criticise everything she does. Switching up the lyrics, she sang: Someday, I'll be / Singing this song at Wembley / And all you're ever gonna be is mean.

Read the full 'thanK you aIMee' lyrics here:

[Verse 1]
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 "F--k you, Aimee" to the night sky, as the blood was gushin'
But I can't forget the way you made me heal

[Verse 2]
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 "F--k you, Aimee" to the night sky, as the blood was gushin'
But I can't forget the way you made me heal

[Post-Chorus]
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

[Verse 3]
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— Thank you, Aimee

[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

[Post-Chorus]
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

Read more about Taylor Swift here:

• Taylor Swift Fans Think Her 'The Manuscript' Lyrics Are About Jake Gyllenhaal
• Read Stevie Nicks' Poem For Taylor Swift's 'The Tortured Poets Department' In Full Here
• What Are Taylor Swift's 'but daddy I love him' Lyrics About? The Meaning Explained
• Is Taylor Swift's New Album ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ About Joe Alwyn?
• Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ & Who Got Songwriter Credits

Listen live to Capital, and catch up on any shows you missed, on Global Player.