Rule No. 1: Don't get on the Swifties' bad side. And now Zach Bryan knows it "All Too Well."
The "Bad Blood" between the country singer and Taylor Swift's fanbase kicked off with his post on X Tuesday night comparing the latter to Ye, the singer formerly known as Kanye West — with whom Swift has had a years-long feud.
Bryan's post also seemed to disparage Swift's boyfriend Travis Kelce, who plays for the Kansas City Chiefs and whose brother formerly played for the Philadelphia Eagles. The teams also matched up in the 2023 Super Bowl, with the Chiefs emerging victorious.
"eagles > chiefs. Kanye > Taylor. who's with me," the post read.
Swifties swiftly came in droves to defend the "Karma" singer and the three-time Super Bowl winner. Soon after, Bryan deleted the post and deactivated his X account entirely.
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But before he said goodbye, Bryan posted once more saying he loved Swift and had been listening to "thanK you aIMee" from her most recent album, "The Tortured Poets Department," when he "drunkenly tweeted that about Kanye." Swifties believe the song is a diss track to Kim Kardashian, Ye's ex-wife who is also apparently involved in the feud with Swift.
"If anyone took it serious please know I love both artists a lot and think we're in a really beautiful time of music," Bryan's post read.
Then on Thursday, Bryan took his apologies to Instagram, where he's recently posted various Ye songs. In a series of Instagram Stories, he again blamed the first X post on drunkenly listening to Swift and said it was simply a comparison of her and Ye's music.
"For the record guys I wasn't coming for Taylor the other night. I was drunkenly comparing two records and it came out wrong," his first Instagram Story apology read alongside a screenshot of Swift's song with Post Malone, "Fortnight." "I know there’s a lot of stuff that clouds around Ye and I was speaking purely musically. I love Taylor's music and pray you guys know I'm human and tweet stupid things often. Hope one day I can explain this to her. Twitter gets me in trouble too much and I'd say it's best I stay off it. I'm sorry to any Taylor fans I pissed off or let down. Love you guys and I'm trying my best!"
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In a second story, with Swift's "The Albatross" as its image, Bryan said he had "been going through a hard time in my own life and I think I was projecting a little." He shared his respect for Swift and twice said "Don't drink and tweet."
A third post on Instagram again spoke of his admiration for Swift, alongside an image of her song "Castles Crumbling." And with a fourth post concluding the apology, Bryan said he's been overwhelmed and "needed to get this off my chest."
"This year has been an awful lot on me in personal ways that no one knows and I've been trying to cope and balance too many things at once," the story read. "So I'm going to take a breather from tweeting stupid stuff, finish my tour, and ground myself somehow in the midst of all this. I feel very, very blessed each day. Not taking it for granted and holding onto it has been so important to me."
Although it may seem to be an attempt to save face in the moment, Bryan has previously voiced his support for Swift, telling fans of his favorite songs and posting about her album releases.
