Katy Perry vs. Taylor Swift: The Complete Timeline of Their Feud

The pop stars had been friendly for years and posed together at plenty of events, including this cheeky, now very famous shot from the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards.

Ahead of the release of her GRAMMY-winning 1989 album, Taylor revealed to Rolling Stone magazine that a feud with a fellow pop star inspired her hit song, "Bad Blood." "For years, I was never sure if we were friends or not," she told the mag. "She would come up to me at awards shows and say something and walk away, and I would think, 'Are we friends, or did she just give me the harshest insult of my life?' She did something so horrible. I was like, 'Oh, we're just straight-up enemies.' And it wasn't even about a guy! It had to do with business. She basically tried to sabotage an entire arena tour. She tried to hire a bunch of people out from under me.”

Several internet commenters then noted that Katy did lure a few backup dancers away from Taylor as she embarked on her own Prismatic tour in 2014. However, according to one of the dancer's agents, the dancers "exercised a 30-day out in their contracts and left Taylor, but Katy didn't steal them." "They just didn't want to tour with her anymore because there is basically no choreography or dancing in her show," the agent claimed.

Katy didn't shy away from commenting on Taylor's Rolling Stone tell-all. The next day, she tweeted, "Watch out for the Regina George in sheep's clothing..."

Katy confirmed that her pointed tweet from November had been directed at Taylor, telling Billboard magazine when asked about the social media post, "​​If somebody is trying to defame my character, you're going to hear about it."

Though this didn't end up being the case, in an interview with The Telegraph, Taylor vowed to never, ever talk about Katy again. "I'm not giving them anything to write about," she said when asked about about her nemesis. "I'm never going to talk about her in my interview. It's not going to happen." The Pennsylvania native did, however, confirm she had "enemies" in the business, saying, "It's not real if someone appears to never have any issues with anyone. I have my friends. I have enemies."

The pop star feud was resurrected when Katy jumped in on the Twitter beef between Taylor and Nicki Minaj over the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards nominees. "If I was a different 'kind' of artist, 'Anaconda' would be nominated for best choreo and vid of the year as well," Nicki tweeted about her VMA snub. “If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year." Taylor took the tweet personally, responding, “I've done nothing but love and support you. It's unlike you to pit women against each other.” Katy then chimed in with a devastating tweet referencing "Bad Blood," writing, "Finding it ironic to parade the pit women against other women argument about as one unmeasurably capitalizes on the take down of a woman..."

Less than one week later, Taylor seemingly trolling Katy during the Foxborough, Massachusetts, stop of her 1989 world tour. Her performance of "Bad Blood" curiously featured a cameo from a life-sized shark mascot -- a not-so-thinly veiled dig at Perry's Super Bowl dancer-turned-internet meme from earlier in 2015.

Taylor's ex-boyfriend, Calvin Harris, brought up the bad blood when he slammed the singer on Twitter. The DJ-producer was upset after Taylor's rep confirmed that the singer wrote his and Rihanna's summer hit, "This Is What You Came For," under the pseudonym Nils Sjoberg when the two were still a couple -- and while the country singer-turned-pop star was briefly dating Tom Hiddleston. "Hurtful to me at this point that her and her team would go so far out of their way to try and make ME look bad at this stage though," Calvin tweeted, after initially praising Taylor. "I figure if you're happy in your new relationship you should focus on that instead of trying to tear your ex bf down for something to do. I know you're off tour and you need someone new to try and bury like Katy ETC but I'm not that guy, sorry. I won't allow it." Katy later tweeted out a GIF of Hillary Clinton shooting out an epic "I told you so"-look shortly afterward, then added more fuel to the fire with a retweet her own May 2015 tweet, where she had said, "Time, the ultimate truth teller."

When a fan asked Katy if she would ever collaborate with Taylor, the "Swish Swish" singer surprisingly responded, "If she says sorry, sure!"

Katy once again rekindled the pop star feud while celebrating her 32nd birthday at Kanye West's concert in Inglewood, California, sharing a video of herself dancing along to the rapper's now infamous Taylor diss in "Famous." Interestingly enough, both ladies -- and their mutual ex, John Mayer -- attended the same birthday party earlier in the week, hitting up Drake's 30th birthday soiree at Delilah restaurant in West Hollywood.

Though Katy never mentions Taylor in her song, "Swish, Swish," the track is clearly slamming somebody, and of course, fans couldn't help but notice that that "swish" isn't so far off from Swift. "From a selfish or a sheep/ Don't you come for me/ No, not today/ You're calculated/ I got your number," she sings. "'Cause you're a joker/ And I'm a courtside killer queen/ And you will kiss the ring/ You best believe. So keep calm, honey, I'ma stick around/ For more than a minute, get used to it. Funny my name keeps comin' outcho mouth/ 'Cause I stay winning."

"I think it's a great anthem for people to use whenever someone's trying to hold you down or bully you," Katy told Jimmy Fallon about the song during her appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. "That's kind of what this record is about. It's just like [a] 360-degree liberation. ... I think 'Swish' represents the liberation from all the negative that doesn’t serve you." Of course, some of Taylor's pals definitely didn't see it that way, with pals like Ruby Rose taking to Twitter to defend Taylor.

Katy didn't hold back during her Carpool Karaoke segment with James Corden, addressing the beef head-on. "Honestly, it's really like she started it and it's time for her to finish it," she said after the Late Late Show host asked her to clear things up. "She wouldn't speak to me. I do the right thing any time that it feels like a fumble. It was a full shut-down and then she writes a song about me and I'm like, 'OK, cool, cool, cool. That's how you wanna deal with it?'"

"But, what I wanna say is that I'm ready for that B.S. to be done," she added. "Now, there is the law of cause and effect. You do something and there's going to be a reaction. And trust me, Daddy, there's going to be a reaction. It's all about karma." It should be noted that "Swish Swish," coincidentally, has a line about karma, where the California girl croons, "Karma's not a liar."

Though Taylor stayed silent regarding Katy's comments, the "Blank Space" singer announced that her entire song catalog would return to all streaming services at midnight on June 8 -- which is exactly when Katy's album, Witness, dropped. A few days later, the American Idol judge was asked about whether the move bothered her during an interview with the Today show's Natalie Morales, to which she replied, "I don't know, I can only do me." The Santa Barbara native also said that "Swish, Swish" was not about any particular person and that the idea that the song was a response to Taylor was a story other people were creating. "My story, which I know is true for me, is that I've had not just one person bully me or one person hold me down or met one troll," she explained. "All I need to say to [Taylor] is I love her, and God bless her on her journey. And that’s it."

In an interview with NME, Katy gave background on why she decided to address the feud on late-night TV. "I mean, I’m not Buddha -- things irritate me," she explained. "I wish that I could turn the other cheek every single time, but I'm also not a pushover, you know? Especially when someone tries to assassinate my character with little girls [her fans]. That's so messed up!"

Katy made it clear that she was ready to make amends during a conversation with Arianna Huffington, which was livestreamed to promote Witness. "I'm ready to let it go. Absolutely, 100 percent," she said of the longtime beef. "I forgive her, and I'm sorry for anything I ever did, and I hope the same from her, and I think it's actually... I think it's time."

"There are bigger fish to fry, and there are bigger problems in the world," she continued. "I love her and I want the best for her, and I think she's a fantastic songwriter, and like, I think that if we both, her and I, can be representatives of strong women that come together despite their differences, I think the whole world is going to go, like, 'Yeah, we can do this.' Maybe I don't agree with everything she does, and maybe she doesn't agree with everything I do, but like, I just... I really, truly, want to come together, and in a place of love and forgiveness, and understanding and compassion."

Katy backed up her conciliatory quotes by pointedly changing a few lyrics while singing "Swish Swish" during an outdoor concert for her fans. Instead of singing the line, "Don't you come for me," in the first verse, she sang, "God bless you on your journey, oh baby girl."

The "Chained to the Rhythm" singer wasn't done trying to make nice. In an interview on Australia's Today show, Katy reiterated that she had love for Taylor, saying, "I mean, I love her, I always have. We've had our differences, but I just continue to say, 'God bless her on her journey.'" While Taylor never acknowledged those compliments, Twitter was abuzz that the ladies would finally put their beef behind them at the VMAs, similarly to what the blonde beauty did with Kanye at the 2015 VMAs when she presented the Video Vanguard award to the rapper and when she jumped onstage to open the show with Nicki after their Twitter feud that same year. Taylor did not end up attending the 2017 VMAs, however.

Like what Taylor did with her "Bad Blood" music video, Katy enlisted a slew of celebrities to star in the music video for her single, "Swish, Swish." The release came just ahead of Taylor dropping the first single off her album, Reputation, called "Look What You Made Me Do."

While Katy hosted the VMAs, Taylor got people talking with her shade-filled music video for "LWYMMD." The biggest dig came in the form of the GRAMMY winner being dressed up in a way that could be described as “Katy Perry-esque” while wrecking a car that had a Katy-cat in the front seat. After the awards show, Katy hung out with Taylor's ex, Calvin, during an after-party at West Hollywood's Poppy nightclub.

A longtime famous friend of Taylor's, Karlie Kloss opened up to The New York Times after fans started speculating that she was now Team Katy following the pair being spotted out together one month prior. "Don't believe everything you read," the model-turned-tech philanthropist said.

During a montage segment of Idol hopefuls auditioning for the panel, Katy's fellow judge, Luke Bryan, asked a scruffy, guitar-carrying singer who he looks up to as a musical artist. "I'm sorry for this Katy… Taylor Swift," the hopeful answered nervously. "Oh, you don't have to be sorry," Perry replied. "I love Taylor Swift," the contestant added, emphatically, to which Perry stuttered, "I love her, as a songwriter, as well," before shrugging indifferently.

The feud appeared to finally be over when Katy sent Taylor a literal olive branch along with a note, which Taylor shared on her Instagram Stories on May 8, one night before her Reputation tour kicked off. A closer look at the handwriting shows that Katy apologized to Taylor, with the note reading, "Hey old friend, I've been doing some reflecting on past miscommunications and the feelings between us, I really want to clear the air." Taylor was clearly pleased by the gesture, explaining in the video, "So, I just got back to my dressing room and found this actual olive branch. This means so much to me." The text on the video also read "Thank you Katy," along with pink heart emojis.



A source told ET that Katy gave her apology to the "Gorgeous" singer a lot of thought before sending it and that she has been wanting to bury the hatchet for a while now. “Katy planned a very personal, sweet apology and took time to write a kind note in hopes Taylor would see how much she cared about putting this behind them,” the source said. “Katy told friends if Taylor didn't accept this apology, she would keep trying because she is done holding on to the past and wants to be part of the change in today's society. She wants to set a good example for women, so she planned to never give up, if that is what it took. Katy hopes they finally can be supportive of each other's music and maybe one day soon even hang out together again. Katy realizes they need to take it one day at a time, but that this is a great start."

Katy tagged Taylor in an Instagram shot of chocolate chip cookies on a plate that read "peace at last" along with two peace signs. She captioned the photo, "Feels good ? @taylorswift," and geotagged the location on her post as "Let's Be Friends." The "ME!" singer later responded with heart emojis. ET learned that Taylor did, in fact, make the treats for Katy.

Katy made a surprise cameo in Taylor's star-studded "You Need to Calm Down" music video. Toward the end of the video, the "Never Really Over" singer -- dressed in the now infamous Moschino hamburger outfit she wore to this year's Met Gala after-parties -- unites with Taylor, who's dressed as French fries, and the two then hug it out. "This meal is BEEF-free #MeatFreeMonday ?♥️?," Katy captioned two stills of the pair in their fast food costumes.

In a new interview with BBC Radio 1, Taylor revealed that the two had been on “good terms” since Katy made the sweet olive branch gesture, but it was when they spent time together at a party that they truly reconnected. “When we saw each other, it was just very clear to both of us that everything was different, that we had grown up, and that we had grown past allowing ourselves to be pitted against each other, and it just was very, very clear that we remembered how much we had in common,” the 29-year-old singer explained. “So, both of us have been in a really good place for a while, but I don't think either of us really knew if we were ever going to talk about it publicly.”