A Timeline of Ye & Taylor Swift’s Relationship

The ever-evolving saga of Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Taylor Swift‘s public relationship seems to be a nonstop roller-coaster ride, starting with West interrupting Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, continuing to their public reconciliation and then devolving all over again thanks to some lightning-rod lyrics and a recorded phone call.

That infamous phone call has even involved West’s now ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, with the reality star claiming in her 2016 GQ cover story that the pop superstar had “approved” of the “Famous” lyric that refers to Swift as a “b—h.” The drama then made its way into an episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, with the SKIMS founder defending “talking s–t” about Swift, and insisting that husband West is “always so honest.”

The feud only escalated from there, when in July 2016, Kardashian — who finalized her divorce from West in November 2022 — shared video footage of that recorded call on Snapchat, with the clip seemingly showing Swift considering the “b—h” lyric to be a compliment. The pop superstar fought back, noting that the video never shows her approving of the line in question and that she couldn’t have given the thumbs-up to a song she hadn’t even heard.

The call and the feud continued to make headlines in the coming years, with Swift addressing the situation in a 2019 Rolling Stone profile, and yet another leaked video of the call arriving in 2020 showing that the pop star didn’t give her permission for the “Famous” lyric, and the “Anti-Hero” singer speaking out about how it impacted her life in a TIME profile after being named the magazine’s Person of the Year for 2023.

Take a look back at Taylor Swift and Kanye West’s whirlwind history below, starting with that fateful night in September 2009.

It was the awkward awards-show moment heard ’round the world, as West rushed the stage after Taylor Swift was awarded best female video at the MTV Video Music Awards for “You Belong With Me.” He infamously told her that he would let her finish, “but Beyonce had the best video of all time.” A dumbfounded and upset-looking Swift left the stage, only to triumphantly return later in the evening. At the time, backlash against West was quick and severe, with even President Obama calling him “a jacka–.”