Entertainment

Is Katy Perry's New Song About Taylor Swift?

by Maggie Malach

UPDATE: According to US Weekly, Perry's manager has denied the rumor completely. "Katy Perry's managers at Direct Management Group tell Us Weekly that the 'Roar' hitmaker has no plans to wage a musical battle with Taylor Swift." Thank goodness!

I'm about to make your day a whole lot better: Katy Perry reportedly just registered a new track called "1984," and it could be her next single. We already knew that Perry could be dropping new music this year, and this is definitely a step in the right direction. So what do we know about the song, if the song really exists? Perry is listed as an artist on the track, while the writers are Dallas Austin, Andreas Carlsson ("Waking Up in Vegas"), Patrick Collier and Nazerine Tokio. When looking at the meaning behind the title of the song, the two obvious connections are the dystopian George Orwell novel of the same name, and Perry's own year of birth. That second point leads us to another question: is Perry's alleged song directed at Taylor Swift?

Swift famously hinted that her song, "Bad Blood," is about Katy Perry. She described the feud to Rolling Stone, without providing a specific name, but the Internet dug up some circumstantial support to back the Perry theory. For Perry to use "1984" in response to Swift would be a clear parallel to the "Bad Blood" singer's fifth album, 1989. It would certainly be an explosive, headline-grabbing single — if that's what the song is about.

Of course, Perry could always pull the same trick Swift did with "Style." That is, write a song with a title that hints that it will be a straight-forward diss, only to play on the double-meaning and ultimately not throw shade at all.

Either way, we think now is an excellent time for Perry to put any rumors of a feud to bed. Swift famously doesn't reveal the inspirations behind her songs anymore, but she also famously drops copious hints as to their meanings. She's not exactly an innocent party. But with "Bad Blood" on the table, hopefully she's ready to move on. Perry burying the metaphorical hatchet would stamp out all hearsay, while also showing that she can rise above the rumored "Bad Blood" diss.

Can't we all just be friends and enjoy music for what it is?

Image: Giphy