Taylor Swift releases a version of “Karma” with Ice Spice, and reminds y’all that Swift Action™ PR is ALWAYS in effect

Ice Spice is the it girl of the moment. So it should come as no surprise that Ice Spice is on a song with Taylor Swift.

Everybody likes to talk about how good a songwriter she is, what a ‘maneater’ she is, and how she loves playing the victim. But rarely do I see people talking about what a good business woman and PR spinner she is. Taylor Swift is savvy and always has been. And even when she trips and the backlash hits, she’s always able to follow it up with something which either pulls your attention from said trip or she refers back to it but from a different angle, because she knows it will keep people talking, but that enough time has passed for people to just acknowledge her reference and then just let it go.

So. Ice Spice on a song with Taylor Swift. The re-release of her clock album. Let’s lay it all out.

Taylor Swift doing a song with Ice Spice is absolutely about capitalising on Ice Spice’s popularity. No matter how big Taylor is, her doing something with Ice Spice still massively benefits her. But it also plays so well into everything else happening around Taylor right now.

Taylor Swift featuring Ice Spice - Karma | Taylor Swift

Taylor is rumoured to be ‘dating’ Matt Healey - that greasy haired, unwashed looking man of The 1975, who has come under fire for xenophobic and racist remarks; some of which were made directly about Ice Spice. Ice Spice also recently released a song with Nicki Minaj. And some may recall the controversy-but-not-really of the 2015 VMA’s, when Nicki had some words (shared via tweets) about her video not being nominated for video of the year, a category which Taylor won. Taylor responded to these tweets with a response which showed she kinda missed the point. Taylor made a comment about pitting women against each other, which many felt was rich given she had won her VMA for “Bad Blood”, which was a video where women were pit against each other, to a song over some ‘beef’ with Katy Perry. Katy Perry who would then release the song “Swish Swish” in response, with a feature from Nicki Minaj. Pop girl beef is just as ridiculous as rapper beef y’all.

And THEN (there’s more) Taylor re-releases Midnights, 2022’s best selling album, with not only a song with Ice Spice on it, but a new version of “Snow on the Beach” with additional vocals from Lana Del Rey. “Snow on the Beach” being one of the songs from Midnights which trended the most due to memes and comments of how little Lana Del Ray was on the original version of the song. And right now Lana is back in the pop media cycles in the wake of an album she released back in March and her father now becoming a celebrity.

And for the song “Karma” to be the single to kick off the re-release of Midnights and the song she puts Ice Spice on?

Swift Action™ PR knows EXACTLY what it’s doing.

Taylor Swift featuring Ice Spice - Karma | Taylor Swift

Luck most certainly plays a massive part in Taylor’s level of success. Regardless of how genius Swifites claim her songwriting to be, this alone cannot and will not make you successful. Success as a pop star isn’t something you can plan to replicate. But even so, Taylor has been extremely particular about business choices that she’s made, the optics of her friendships with certain celeb pals, how she interacts with her fans, when she releases music, and seizing opportunities, as controversial as they may. All things which reinforce her star power in an era of music where big pop stars are a rarity. And I don’t think enough people really think about the active part that Taylor has played in her own career outside of the music. Being a successful pop star is a long game, and Taylor knows how to play it masterfully, for better or for worse. It’s probably the best skill she possesses, far more than her song writing. She’s extremely aware. The Teenage Dream woman wasn’t completely wrong when she said ‘Watch out for the Regina George in sheep’s clothing’.

HENNYWAY.

I’ve said ALL that, and absolutely nothing about the song “Karma” or the music video.

I don’t like the song. Ice Spice adds nothing to it. This wasn’t the right song for her. There is no song on Midnights which would be right for her. But the song is irrelevant. The collaboration is causing conversation, and that’s all it was intended to do.

The music video is cool though. Taylor Swift is really showing her skill as a music video director and a creative. At first I thought the music video featured too many setups, as some of them were so good that Taylor could have made a full video out of any one of them. But “Karma” is such a boring song, that the the video moving through different setups so quickly helped hold my attention and make the song seem less boring than it is. So, she made the right call. And there are so many great freeze frame moments too. Something that a lot of music videos these days do not have.

It’d be cool to see Taylor directing more music videos for other artists, as there aren’t enough women directing music videos these days. There never has been.

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💿 Album reviews: Midnights | Lover