How Calvin Harris Is Exposing Taylor Swift

Calvin Harris went off on Taylor Swift via social media in July 2016, making him the first of her exes to take such a public relations risk. What did we learn from his Twitter tirade?  

Per Harris' own account, he and Swift worked together on his hit song featuring Rihanna, "This Is What You Came For," but at the time, they both reportedly wanted to keep the collaboration a secret to avoid distracting from the song. That's why, Harris tweeted, Swift used a pseudonym in the songwriting credits. When Ryan Seacrest later asked Harris if he'd ever collaborate with Swift, he answered, "You know we haven't even spoken about it. I can't see it happening though," which was perfectly in line with their agreement to keep their collaboration anonymous.

But somewhere along the line, Swift apparently changed her mind about that collaboration, and it reportedly became the relationship's breaking point. TMZ said the only reason Swift is determined to get public credit for the track now is because her "her squad is sick of Calvin trashing Taylor and feel he should be thanking her for quietly giving him a smash hit." Because, you know, he didn't have a slew of those without her already, right?

Swift started a feud with pop rival Katy Perry when she threw the "Teenage Dream" singer under the bus for allegedly stealing her backup dancers—a claim that was largely disproved by one of the dancers. Undeterred, Taylor continued her vendetta by making her "Bad Blood" song and video, starring her squad of sycophants. Though plenty of insiders say the track is about Perry, Swift has coyly refused to confirm or deny, telling Rolling Stone that the song is about a female artist who "did something so horrible," that Swift "was like, 'Oh, we're just straight-up enemies.' According to Swift, said nemesis, "basically tried to sabotage an entire arena tour. She tried to hire a bunch of people out from under me. And I'm surprisingly non-confrontational—you would not believe how much I hate conflict."

Harris weighed in on that feud via a string of since-deleted tweets that suggested Swift actually thrives on conflict. "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." Harris basically told the world that Swift throws other people under the bus for her own amusement. Somewhere, Nicki Minaj and Kanye West are probably nodding quietly.

If you think Swift is a master media manipulator, well, Harris thinks you're right. When news hit that Swift did, in fact, co-write "This Is What You Came For," Harris pointed out that the singer was going out of her way to vilify him for no discernible reason—all after she paraded around the planet with her new boyfriend just weeks after dumping the Scottish DJ. Harris tweeted, "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."

That comment makes it very clear that even while madly in love with new beau Tom Hiddleston, Swift still has her Google Alerts on. What's more, Harris' comments lend some credibility to the theory that he did, in fact, leave comments on Instagram insinuating the same a few weeks ago—despite his camp saying his account got hacked at the time.

Harris' insinuation that Swift and her team love to manipulate the media to make her look better may well extend itself to her feuds with other celebs. Remember how Kim Kardashian told GQ that Swift signed off on Kanye West's song "Famous" though Swift claimed that was completely untrue. Swift's constant denials, followed by her highly publicized attempts to seemingly "rise above" her self-proclaimed victimization, coupled with her very public lovey dovey photo-ops with Hiddleston scream that she is trying to control the message. She's using the media to extend the narrative that she's a heroine in distress. That's a narrative she's drawn out longer than anyone else on the planet, from her 2010 MTV Video Music Awards performance of "Innocent," to her myriad song lyrics, to the the fact that she has a framed photo of West's infamous 2009 VMA interruption in her home. Let it go, girl.

Think back to Swift's ex-boyfriends. Other than Joe Jonas' retort to her claim that he broke up with her in a "27-second phone call," and John Mayer's song "Paper Doll," how many former flames have spoken up about her post-split? This may well be what Harris meant when he tweeted, "I'm not that guy." He's not Jake Gyllenhaal, Harry Styles, Taylor Lautner, Conor Kennedy, or any other number of famous men Swift's dated who have said nothing but respectful things, if anything at all, about her. It seems Swift is careful to date men who aren't on the same level of fame as she is, or who don't have the same regard from the general public, so that when she bashes them in her songs or shades them in her interviews, they keep mum about her. They simply can't take her on. Unfortunately for her, Harris is a huge solo star in his own right at the moment, and he's not intimidated.

One of Harris' tweets, in particular, raised eyebrows about Swift's motivations for being so public with Hiddleston. Harris wrote, "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." If Swift really was happy, she likely wouldn't need to verbally tar and feather every single guy who's ever treated her to a latte in her lyrics and in the press. She'd simply move on and be too busy counting her money and enjoying her life to dwell on who may or may not have slighted her. She may want to follow Harris' advice: "Please focus on the positive aspects of YOUR life because you've earned a great one."