Big news from Taylor Swift yesterday – she announced on social media that she’s releasing a deluxe edition of her album, Midnights. Midnights (Till Dawn Edition) will be released tonight at midnight and feature remixes and new tracks from the vault, including one song intriguingly called “You’re Losing Me”. 

 

Naturally Swifties are now wondering whether or not “You’re Losing Me” is about Taylor’s most recent breakup with Joe Alwyn. Because, of course, leading up to the split, none of her fans were expecting it. Taylor and Joe seemed solid even during the promotion of Midnights last fall, as several songs on the album seem to be about him and their love story, and she talked – albeit vaguely – about their relationship when describing the songwriting process and the theme of the album. Given how confessional she’s been in her music, will “You’re Losing Me” offer some indication as to why they split? By this time tomorrow morning, the Easter egg analysis and lyric dissection will be all over the place, heads up. 

But there’s also gossip about another song on the new release. It’s the remix for “Karma” featuring none other than Ice Spice. She’s the hottest new artist of the last year, so a no-brainer for Taylor to collaborate with her. That said…

 

Even before the collaboration was announced, Ice and Taylor were already connected…through Matty Healy. I posted about this a couple of weeks ago when Taylor and Matty confirmed that they’re dating and everyone started talking about his past controversies…which aren’t even that “past”, because the most recent one happened earlier this year. First there was the Nazi salute and then the f-cksh-t that came out of his appearance on the Adam Friedland Show podcast. 

During the conversation with Adam and co-host Nick Mullen, Ice Spice came up with Matty talked about sliding into Ice Spice’s DMs, at which point Nick started referring to Ice as “Inuit Spice Girl” and called her a “chubby Chinese lady”, before he and Adam started mocking Asian accents while Matty laughed. In the same episode, they also talk about how Matty was busted for watching porn that degrades Black women. 

And now his superstar popstar girlfriend has Ice on a remix of her song…

 

Coincidence or conspiracy? 

Some people were already thinking, even before the confirmation that Taylor and Ice were collaborating, that Taylor was coming in with an assist to clean up Matty’s mess. And this news only reinforces that assumption. 

 

Still others are pointing out that looking to Taylor when it was Matty who f-cked up is sexist: 

There’s no one who better understands her own power and the power of perception than Taylor Swift. She’s keenly aware of what the discourse is around her, and she would 100% know how people have been reacting to Matty’s controversies and the fact that they are now together, given what she has claimed she stands for. Is she ultimately responsible for Matty’s behaviour? Of course not. But does she appreciate the message that people are interpreting from the fact she’s stepping out with him even as his f-ckery is coming to light? No doubt. 

 

At the same time, though, where the song is concerned, this isn’t just about Taylor. Ice Spice can make her own decisions, for her own reasons. Like even if you think that Taylor is using Ice to somehow absolve Matty or smooth that sh-t over, let’s not take away Ice’s agency. I mean, of course, in the industry right now, Taylor has more power and influence than Ice Spice, but it’s not like she can force the situation either. Ice Spice has options. She went with the Taylor Swift, and if we’re to respect Ice pursuing opportunities that she believes are right for her, can we also assume that behind the scenes, they’ve already worked through it? 

Now I’m wondering if we’ll hear about it in Ice Spice’s verse on the “Karma” remix. Which, of course, only adds to the anticipation. Somehow it always comes up Taylor. 

Attached - Taylor arriving at Electric Lady Studios in New York yesterday afternoon.