In 2015, Taylor Swift’s Girl Squad was all-time. Consisting of Gigi Hadid, Serena Williams, Blake Lively, Karlie Kloss, Martha Hunt, Lily Aldridge and Cara Delevingne – to name but a few – the women would attend red carpet events together, appear on stage at Swift’s concerts and post doting Instagrams about one another. But, after the group was slammed for being elitist and – for the most part – incredibly blonde, white and leggy, Swift and her team of women slowly stopped screaming about their friendship from the rooftops. But quietly there might’ve been something else at play that helped to cool things off: a friendship breakdown between two former besties, Karlie Kloss and Taylor Swift.
Now, it appears that Swift has addressed her bestie breakup with Kloss in two new songs released overnight: “it’s time to go” and “right where you left me,” which are bonus tracks from her (second) quarantine album, ‘Evermore.’ “it’s time to go” has triggered the most fan speculation on social media with lyrics that read: “When the words of a sister, come back in whispers, that prove she was not, in fact, what she seemed, not a twin from your dreams, she’s a crook who was caught.” Meanwhile, “right where you left me” also opens with a poignant lyric: “Friends break up, friends get married,” which some Swifties think is in reference to Kloss’ marriage to Josh Kushner in 2018, which Swift famously was absent from.
So, what happened to Taylor Swift and Karlie Kloss’ friendship?
After being almost inseparable for years after meeting in 2013 – so much so that they appeared on the cover of Vogue together and were subject to rumors of being more than just friends – Swift and Kloss’ fans started noticing the lack of time the model and musician were seemingly spending together in 2016. At the same time, Swift was taking a break from the spotlight and was in the middle of another public battle with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, who have ties to Kloss. Then, in 2017, the first hint at a fallout came in one of Swift’s music videos. In one of the scenes of her “Look What You Made Me Do” music video, Swift left Kloss’ name off a t-shirt despite including everyone else she’s famously close with, such as Selena Gomez, Martha Hunt, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, Gigi Hadid, Lena Dunham and Ed Sheeran.
By 2018, the confusion about what happened between Kloss and Swift reached an even bigger level when Jennifer Lawrence said that the apparent feud was keeping her “up at night.” While speaking to the New York Times about her new film, Red Sparrow, Lawrence said, “I’d like to know what’s going on with Karlie Kloss and Taylor Swift, that’s the honest to God truth,” Jennifer said. “Is nobody else curious? It’s keeping me up at night. What happened?”
For her part, Kloss had tried to dispel rumors of a fallout with Swift multiple times, while Swift has stayed pretty silent on the matter. In March 2018, Kloss told the New York Times that she and Swift still spoke frequently, saying, “Don’t believe everything you read.” Kloss also supported Swift at one of her Reputation stadium tours in August 2018, posting a selfie with Swift backstage. That October, Swift joked about Jennifer Lawrence’s concerns about her and Swift’s friendship, joking during 73 Questions with Vogue, “Jen, don’t worry — Taylor and I are still really good friends.”
When Kloss first married Kushner in October 2018, Swift was traveling, but fans noted that she wasn’t in attendance for Kloss’ second wedding – a much bigger affair – in June 2019, either. It’s also worth noting that Kloss is managed by Scooter Braun, who Swift has had a very public falling out with over her masters.
As for what really went down? Looks like we’ll need a few more surprise Swift album releases with lyrical hints before we figure this one out…
