Ever since Brazilian songwriter Noel Rosa aimed his testy samba Rapaz Folgado at Wilson Batista’s Lenco No Pescoco in 1933 (look it up), feuds have commanded attention in pop music. Artists are sensitive people and clashes are bound to happen, for what is music if not an expression of personal philosophy? (Also, if you’re Drake, sometimes you just want to make a joke about Kendrick Lamar’s height.)
But in today’s saturated musical landscape, where attention is the most coveted commodity, the pop feud is a proven way to boost yourself to viral stardom. In 2024, this is how you make it count.
Let the battle begin: in 2024, the pop feud is the quickest way to a viral hit. Credit: Bethany Rae
5. The casual call-out (aka, Dave Grohl vs Taylor Swift)
When Dave Grohl told a stadium of Foo Fighters fans that he grunts live unlike a certain pop star on her Eras Tour, he was upholding a long tradition of cheap shots. Kurt did it to Axl, Mariah did it to JLo, even Jimi Hendrix did it to the Beach Boys when he labelled them a “psychedelic barbershop quartet”. The sly jab in the press, or during a concert, is the pop diss at its most basic.
It might’ve looked spontaneous, but Grohl’s playful banter was cunning – considering every other hand at the concert was holding a phone, he would’ve known his tossed off slur would get noticed beyond Foo friends. And yet, in times like these a cheap call-out will only capture the news cycle for a brief moment. Time to up the stakes.
4. Engage the stans (aka, Nicki Minaj vs Megan Thee Stallion)
If you have a dedicated army of parasocial fanatics, you might as well utilise them. After Megan Thee Stallion dropped Hiss, which featured a line aimed at Nicki Minaj’s husband’s past criminal conviction, Minaj retorted with the brazen Big Foot, a song so chilling in its rage-blanked rawness that you couldn’t help but giggle.
And still, Big Foot was somehow not as chilling as Nicki’s fans, the Barbz, who went on to actively dox anyone who dared criticise it online. What I’m saying is: get you an army that will dox your nemeses, and you will be the Genghis Khan of pop feuds.
3. Parody is the coldest form of pettiness (aka, Taylor Swift vs Olivia Rodrigo)
If you’re going to invest your time in a pop feud, you might as well get creative with it. Taylor Swift is old hat at stoking feuds, having turned her poison pen to meta-textual intrigue way back since Mean. But her particular skill for recording songs in the style of her nemeses is brutal.
She did it on Dear John, evoking John Mayer’s blissed-out blues licks on a song that decried how he callously corrupted her innocence. On Tortured Poets Department, she tried a similar gambit twice: Guilty As Sin? uses one-time lover Matty Healy’s avowed enthusiasm for the Blue Nile’s Downtown Lights to outline how unsatisfied he left her; and Imgonnagetyouback borrows its key motif from Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts, the teacher aping the upstart – whose money she already tapped with the Deja Vu credits imbroglio of 2021 – for added cruelty.