Fans React to Taylor Swift’s Collaboration With Ice Spice, Say She’s Covering for Matt Healy

Taylor Swift’s latest release, a remix of “Karma,” featuring Dominican rapper Ice Spice, is making headlines. But not for the reasons you might expect.

The road to this “Karma” remix is long, twisty and sometimes confusing, but we’ve got the 411 on how fans are reacting to this new track.

Turns out that the remix is not getting glaring reviews. Instead, the internet is more concerned about the timing of the release as it relates to Swift’s alleged new beau, Matt Healy.

Taylor Swift’s latest remix is stirring up controversy

For more than a decade, Taylor Swift has given fans chart-topping tunes that have positioned her as one of the most prominent artists of her time.

The “Karma” remix is no exception. However, fans are more concerned about why Swift’s first collaboration with an Afro-Latina coincides with a moment involving her controversial, rumored-boyfriend, Matty Healy.

The connection between The 1975 singer and Ice Spice traces back to February of this year. Healy, notorious for his flagrant behavior, appeared on “The Adam Friedland Show,” a popular podcast by former “Cum Town” hosts Adam Friedland and Nick Mullen.

During the episode, Healy made some comments deemed offensive by listeners, especially when it came to Ice Spice. Friedland and Healy called Ice Spice “a chubby Chinese lady” and an “Inuit Spice Girl,” among other things, while also doing Chinese and Japanese accents.

Those are just a few of the comments Healy made during the show. But also the ones Swift’s fans are focusing on the most now that she actually has a song featuring Ice Spice.

Swift’s relationship with Healy goes back to 2014

When rumors of Swift and Healy dating surfaced earlier this month, Swifties went absolutely wild. They went as far as posting podcast clips until Spotify and Apple removed the episode. However, you can still watch the episode on YouTube.

In the minds of Swift’s fans, her association with Healy is disappointing as it conflicts with the views she espouses in her music and life. For them, someone who preaches positivity and inclusivity shouldn’t be with someone who represents the exact opposite of that.

However, Swift and Healy met nearly a decade ago, even though rumors of them dating didn’t surface until earlier this year. Although the alleged couple has not come forward to confirm the relationship, they aren’t denying it either.

The two brushed shoulders several times in the mid 2010s. However, their relationship became a source of speculation in 2022, when Healy confirmed he worked on “Midnights,” Swift’s 2022 album. Swift then fanned the flames after she performed at The 1975 concert in January 2023.

Now, it wasn’t until Swift’s breakup with actor Joe Alwyn in April that the rumors really started buzzing. By the next month, Healy was attending performances on Swift’s “Eras” tour. Paparazzi even spotted the two holding hands in New York City on May 11.

Swift’s dating life has been a source of entertainment for the tabloids in the past. But in contrast to other times, when Swift often faced controversy for her love life on her own, now she’s facing it for the man she’s dating.

Is Healy the exception? His defiant, unapologetically rock-n-roll behavior seems to be just a bit too much for the Swifties.

Now, Swift is facing accusations of using Ice Spice to take some of the heat off of Healy

Although Swift said, in a clip posted by Spotify, that Ice Spice’s team reached out to her to ask about a collaboration, some fans are a little suspicious of the timing.

Swift wasted no time getting Ice Spice on a track, saying “I immediately got her number and said, ‘Hey, would you want to do your version of ‘Karma?’ … She jumped in head first.”

Although Ice Spice herself has yet to comment on the situation, her producer says the idea for the collaboration happened months ago. Still, fans wonder, why release it now?

Take this social media user, for instance, who called the release “insidiously calculated.”

The same Twitter user criticized some fans for letting the whole thing go after Swift put Ice Spice on a song.

Another social media user called the move “calculated” and an example of “atrocious behavior.”

Another user pointed out how this whole incident is an example of “white feminism.”

One user suggested that Swift released a song with Ice Spice to manipulate Google search results to focus on the song instead of the controversy surrounding Healy.

Those who were already not the biggest Swift fans say this is yet another example of her willingness to ignore problematic people or ideas to maintain her image.