The internet is abuzz with all kinds of Taylor Swift theories with the pop diva’s April 19 Tortured Poets Department music closer than ever. All this Taylor-talk climaxed with potential track leaks of her upcoming record leaving Swifties at a loss for words (with the star still ironically trending online) on Wednesday, two days before the official 17-song album release.
The ‘TTPD Leak’ left many debating whether the tracks reveal was in fact real of another AI-generated stunt caused for the Tortured Poets Department chairman to stumble. Regardless of what the truth may be here, the alleged lyrics of a supposed Taylor song (now removed from X/Twitter) had her apparently declare “Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist.” (Read more about the tracklist leak here.)
Her alleged lyrics were mocked from several directions for different reasons. These online lashings may have targetted the Anti-hero singer, but fans of the K-pop boy band Stray Kids were already feuding with the other artist addressed in the said tune – Charlie Puth.
Here’s what happened.
What is the online Taylor Swift-Stray Kids-Charlie Puth Bermuda Triangle all about?
On April 17 (KST), Stray Kids‘ official X/Twitter account announced the 8-member boy group’s new digital single Lose My Breath, slated to hit streaming platforms on May 10.
While the fans rejoiced at the news of more music from the trend-setting group, they weren’t quite pleased with whom their favourites would be sharing the spotlight. Stray Kids’ Lose My Breath is a collaborative project, for which the octet has partnered with Charlie Puth.
The We Don’t Talk Anymore hitmaker is no stranger to K-pop. He’s previously shared the artistic space with BTS’ Jungkook for his 2022 single. The same year Puth sat down with the leading Korean music streaming site Melon for an interview. Sharing his love for K-pop music, he announced NewJeans and Seventeen as his favourite acts on top of his general admiration for the industry. He recently also “gifted” the song Like That to YG Entertainment girl group Babymonster for their first mini album, BABYMONS7ER.
The viral April 17 Stray Kids, with over 10 million views on X/Twitter at the time of writing, severely divided the boy group’s fandom as many got down to expressing their shared disappointment with the announcement.
Comments such as “Wait for Stray Kids ONLY version” took the spotlight and some STAYs (fandom) even decided on boycotting the collaboration altogether. What was the reason for these heated and disapproving claims? Charlie Puth.
Also read | Taylor Swift reveals TTPD Timetable; 2 o’clock brouhaha explodes, fans decode video
A mega thread citing Puth’s “Zionist and rape apologist” accusations and more subsequently took the microblogging platform by storm. Armies of K-pop fans have proactively raised their voice against the Israel-Palestine crisis since the conflict became more apparent after Hamas’ October 7 attack.
Charlie and his family have maintained their stance on the issue by sharing “I Stand With Israel” posts on social media every now and then. The Attention singer, who has openly expressed his support of Israel since 2015, also re-posted the pro-Israel rhetoric addressed by other celebrities, including Dwayne Johnson and Ben Platt in addition to liking a post by Stranger Things actor Noah Schnapp, who was particularly virtually cursed for his verbosity on the matter.
Impassioned allegations against the singer didn’t end there. Fans accused him of being a “rape apologist” in relation to his previous claims of envisioning Dr Luke as his “idol,” while centering his address around “the music.” The disgraced American record producer became a headline-making focus after Kesha’s 2014 lawsuit against him, alleging he abused her “sexually, physically, verbally and emotionally.”
Many other icky instances of Puth’s “problematic history” have again become the talk of the virtual world in 2024 as a lengthy thread by X/Twitter user @seokteas unleashed its fury on the platform. However, as the other side of the fandom barraged them with heavy criticism for raising their voice against the Stray Kids collab, their account has seemingly been lost to the online dump.
Other tweets like “jype keeps disappointing with associating the kids to zionists… coca-cola, tommy hilfiger, and now charlie puth???? there is no ethics in capitalism” sought to highlight the troubling issue. With Taylor Swift’s alleged TTPD lyrics out there, Puth’s name has once again found formulaic virality on social media.
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