It's okay, life is a tough crowd
32, and still growin' up now
Who you are is not what you did
You're still an innocent
And with those words....a year's worth of controversy and angst for Kanye West were washed away. Taylor Swift took the stage Sunday night at the 2010 MTV Video Music awards, the place that only a year ago could have been described as "the scene of the crime". With Taylor being the surprised victim and Kanye taking on the role of the villain as he stormed onstage during Taylor's acceptance speech for Female Video of the Year, grabbed the microphone from her and declared his choice, Beyonce, as "best video of all time".
video of Kanye-gate here
And ever since then, West has had to deal with the aftermath of his spontaneous, ill-advised behavior. Not only was he booed on stage, annihilated on Twitter and blogs from fans and celebrities alike, but even the President weighed in on his actions calling him "a jackass". Seems the only one not talking about it, was Swift herself. That is until Sunday night. As she has been known to do when she is skewered by someone in her life, she puts pen to paper. Just like those lost loves that she gained revenge on through song, she wrote and purged herself of any residual resentments or unforgiveness she had left for Kanye and the infamous moment. The result was a beautiful, emotional song, performed from the heart that finally gave her the voice she had kept quiet. As she has from the start of this overblown fiasco, she handled herself with grace and class and came out with the final word in the end.
West also performed Sunday night, closing the show with a ode of sorts to himself, toasting the "douchebags" and other graphic words, acknowledging people have been putting up with this antics for too long. Whether it was tongue in cheek or a true admission of coming to an understanding and accepting responsibility for his childish actions, I am not sure. Even after a year of damage control, Kanye still has a long way to go to prove that his actions were truly out of character. His career is still intact, his reputation, well that is indelibly tarnished.
Whether you believe this was the best thing to ever happen to both Taylor and Kanye, as it got them both more attention than they could have ever dreamed of or whether you still find it truly appalling or simply blown out of proportion, it is one moment of pop history that will continue to be talked about for years. While Kanye may never outrun it, for one night anyway, Taylor gave him that absolution he's been seeking since it happened. She found her voice and reminded us all that "today is never too late to be brand new".
2010 VMA Performance of "Innocent" by Taylor Swift:
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