The 15 Best Pop Music Shade-Fests Of 2014

Kathy Iandoli | December 22, 2014 6:00 am
2014'S BEST POP SINGLES
Idolator editors pick their 20 favorites from the past 12 months.

Oh boy, did the shade run rampant this year in music! Blame social media or blame the artistic ego, but whatever the reason, we got our fair share of beef happening in the streets. Sometimes it’s fun to witness — especially when it comes down to picking sides. But what happens when two of your favorites are going toe-to-toe with the insults? Whatever do you do? Events like the recent Diddy/Drake drama (who are apparently fighting over the reportedly stolen “0 To 100” track) got us thinking about all the other beefs that ran through this year!

The more famous feuds involved the dueling of prominent pop stars, so chances are you felt torn at least once this year when it came down to the now infamous brawls. Regardless of the side you were on, you were at the very least entertained. So we at Idolator have compiled a list of 15 Shade-Fests-slash-Beefs from 2014. From sassy pop divas to hip-hop legends, there was a ton of erratic behavior going on. You know you loved it all, though (and so did we). Check out our shadiest picks below!

Lady Gaga vs. Katy Perry

So what happens when the Little Monsters and the KatyCats go to war? Madness ensues. It all started when Lady Gaga’s “Applause” and Katy Perry’s “Roar” were pegged against each other in Summer of 2013 when the singles dropped on the same exact day — GASP! Mother Monster carried the drama into the next year when she performed in Austin, addressing the crowd with: “I don’t know what the f**k-all I have to do with Katy Perry. Our music is so completely different.” A few months after that she tweeted some snark about the singer’s Prismatic World Tour, stating “It looks like green hair and mechanical horses are the thing now.” Katy retaliated, making fun of Gaga’s fake-puking antics, as she exaggeratedly puked up paint during later performances at her tour. Clearly this was a tale of two icons, taking jabs at each other’s level of fame. Must be rough.

Taylor Swift vs. Katy Perry

Among many things, you can blame John Mayer for this one. Or just “Bad Blood,” really. Considering that both Taylor Swift and Katy Perry have dated the crooner, the knee-jerk reaction would be that this is over a guy. Well, apparently not! While the rumor mill swirled that Perry just wasn’t digging the “Blank Space” singer’s vibe, Taylor took it to the next level in the September Rolling Stone cover story, where she accused Katy Perry of attempting to ruin her arena tour. “She basically tried to sabotage an entire arena tour,” Swift says in her interview.

“She tried to hire a bunch of people out from under me. And I’m surprisingly non-confrontational – you would not believe how much I hate conflict. So now I have to avoid her. It’s awkward, and I don’t like it,” she continued. Taylor also said she couldn’t tell if they were ever friends or not. So how did Katy handle it? By sub-tweeting Swift with a Mean Girls reference. “Watch out for the Regina George in sheep’s clothing…” Perry tweeted. Now that’s fetch.

Iggy Azalea vs. Nicki Minaj

When Nicki Minaj blew up, she was under scrutiny by veteran female emcees like Lil’ Kim. Now that Nicki is the “O.G.,” she is rumored to be passing the shade torch onto the newbies. At the BET Awards this year, during her acceptance speech for the Best Female Hip-Hop Artist Award, she said: “What I want the world to know about Nicki Minaj is when you hear Nicki Minaj spit, Nicki Minaj wrote it.” The public reaction to this line was that it was a subliminal diss to Iggy Azalea, who has been using a ghostwriter for her rhymes. During Iggy’s performance of “Fancy” at that same award show, Nicki was awkwardly dancing in that “Guys, doesn’t she suck?” kind of way. That’s all that was needed to determine that there was a war budding between the two.

Nicki wasn’t pleased and took to Twitter as her podium, stating, “The media puts words in my mouth all the time and this is no different. I always take a stance on women writing b/c I believe in us!” She didn’t exactly say she wasn’t throwing shade at Iggy. Meanwhile the “Beg For It” rap diva hit Instagram with her reply, posting a graphic with a paragraph that closed with “Just let it go.” She even dropped some suggestions that the Illuminati was involved — wait, what? This beef was ultimately diffused when Iggy explained she never even met Nicki, but thinks they could be friends. Could they though?