On Monday night, as promised, James Corden delivered a new Carpool Karaoke primetime special starring Katy Perry. Fresh off the release of her song “Swish, Swish,” Perry has been at the center of renewed fascination regarding her relationship—or, more specifically, her long-running beef—with Taylor Swift. (Perry claims the song is a message against bullying in general, but it sure sounds a response to Swift, who famously is rumored to have written Bad Blood about Perry.)
During the Late Late Show special, Corden dutifully asked about the feud—and Perry happily delivered a narrative from which we’re guessing Swift would very much like to be excluded.
“I want to talk to you about some famous beef,” a chipper Corden offered. “Because there’s Taylor beef . . . When are we going to clear that beef up?”
Perry could have demurred, as she has in the past. Instead, she responded straightforwardly to Corden: “Honestly, it’s really like, she started it, and it’s time for her to finish it.”
Carpool Karaoke might be fun and games for viewers, but for several celebrity guests, it’s also served as a pit stop on an obviously well-planned P.R. tour. Consider, for instance, Justin Bieber’s first Carpool Karaoke, which helped redeem him ahead of Purpose, an album designed to rehabilitate his public image. (It was not, in fact, too late to say “Sorry.”) Even when Michelle Obama got her freak on with Corden and Missy Elliott, she took a few beats in between grooves to talk about her “Let Girls Learn” initiative. It’s unclear whether Corden asked Perry about the Swift beef because of her new song, or if he was externally nudged to do so. But either way, Perry got her message across.
As Perry confirmed—with a “Can you believe this?” air—on Monday, the feud was spurred by rumors that Swift was angry at Perry for poaching some of her back-up dancers. Since then, it’s been an ongoing parade of shady tweets and thinly veiled dis tracks. But according to Perry, the whole thing was a misunderstanding—one she tried to clear up. Swift, she told Corden, was the one who refused to communicate.
“I tried to talk to her about it, and she wouldn’t speak to me,” Perry said on Carpool Karaoke. When Corden tried to confirm that Perry had reached out via phone call, Perry continued: “I do the right thing any time that it feels like a fumble. It was a full shutdown, and then she writes a song about me, and I’m like, O.K., cool, cool, cool, that’s how you want to deal with it? Karma! But what I want to say is that I’m ready for that B.S. to be done. Now, there is the law of cause and effect. You do something, there’s going to be a reaction, and trust me, Daddy, there’s going to be a reaction.”
“I find it weird when you call me ‘Daddy,’“ Corden replied. Then, Perry adopted a familiar line of argument: “It’s all about karma, right? I think personally that women together, not divided, and none of this petty bullshit, women together will heal the world.”
Swift, too, has adopted the language of feminism to deflect perceived slights in the past. But platitudes aside, until Swift shoots Perry a text to end this fight, we’re guessing there are probably a few more musical subtweets on the horizon.
