For the past year or so, many Taylor Swift stans have been convinced by a conspiracy theory about a friendship turned sour. Conan Gray, a successful singer-songwriter nearly ten years Swift’s junior, best known for hit songs such as “Heather,” has long been a self-proclaimed Swiftie. Gray has cited Swift as an essential part of his own musical DNA, as well as an essential source of inspiration for Gen Z artists.

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In early 2022, Gray praised Swift as “raising an entire generation of songwriters,” in an interview with GQ, yet later in the same year, many Swifties would view the 24-year-old as a vocal critic of the fellow singer-songwriter, and even a potential nemesis of the star. So what exactly happened for this drastic change in public perception to occur?

Why do Swifties believe Taylor Swift and Conan Gray are feuding?

It mostly stems from Conan Gray’s close friendship with fellow Gen Z artist, Olivia Rodrigo, and her supposed feud with Taylor Swift. Rodrigo has since quashed the rumors about the feud, informing Rolling Stone that despite “many Twitter conspiracy theories,” “I don’t have beef with anyone, I’m very chill, I keep to myself.”

Like Gray, Rodrigo has previously been very open about being inspired by Swift, and Taylor herself reciprocated that love, as shown on social media platforms. When promoting the re-recording of her 2009 hit single “You Belong With Me” back in 2021, Swift recruited Rodrigo and Gray to reenact the music video and sent them an advanced copy of the song. “I sent my two kids Olivia and Conan my new version of ‘You Belong With Me’ and THEY ARE SO CUTE IT PHYSICALLY HURTS ME,” she wrote on her Instagram story.

Later that same year, Olivia Rodrigo added songwriting credits to two songs off of her debut album, Sour, to Taylor Swift and her frequent collaborator, Jack Antonoff. Her song, “1 step forward, 3 steps back” interpolates Swift’s 2017 track “New Year’s Day”, and the bridge of “deja vu,” according to Rodrigo herself, was inspired by “Cruel Summer.” Rodrigo’s comments resulted in an additional credit being added for Swift and Antonoff, as well as Annie Clark (commonly referred to by her stage name, St. Vincent) several months after the song’s release, which cost an estimated $500,000 in royalties for the co-writers behind “Cruel Summer.”

In December 2022, Conan Gray’s comments on The Zach Sang Showturned heads, after he revealed he had not yet listened to Swift’s record-breaking album, Midnights. “I’ve been on tour all year and especially with new albums,” Gray explained. “[Midnights is] the type of album that you wanna listen to all the way, sit down and do it diligently.”

While it seems that Gray clearly respects the artistry of Midnights before he has even listened to it, and wants to dedicate time to soak in the album, many Swifties weren’t convinced. As he has previously gone on record many times to express how big of a fan he is of Swift’s songwriting, some thought this statement was out of character.

Taylor Swift ran,so Conan and Olivia could walk.

just saying 🙃

— Ella Rose🪩 (@MeEllarose) December 7, 2022

It's been a month and for someone who used to pretend to be the biggest swiftie ever should've had the time to listen to it

— Betty (@cowboylikebett) December 7, 2022

Olivia n Him used the Taylor love train to boost their careers and Im not mad he hasnt listen is just the way he says it is a bit weird and seems just fake. Like the way they where full on fans and putting it out there and then this lol he is so fake

— ۩ஜMøønlight_Đręamsஜ۩ (@_MoonlightDream) December 7, 2022

Does Conan Gray actually feel animosity towards Taylor Swift?

This week, Conan Gray talked willingly and at length about Taylor Swift for an interview with Teen Vogue, when he was asked about who his biggest inspiration is.

Conan explained that, “Even if you don’t realize it, [Taylor]’s defeinitely influenced all of the music around you, and if you write songs yourself, she’s definitely influenced you, even if you don’t know.”

The singer also added that the fans know the answer he’s going to give, as he’s been asked this “a thousand times” throughout his career. The thumbnail of the video also includes images of Taylor and Olivia juxtaposed together, and it seems that he isn’t upset about that. If Gray has a strong dislike of Swift, he’s pretty good at hiding it, and seems very comfortable with complimenting his idol – a title she still seems to hold to this day.

In all likelihood, if Rodrigo has no feud with anyone in the music industry, and has gone on record to state that she she feels no animosity, it seems unlikely that her bestie would disagree with her. At the VMAs just a few weeks ago, Swift was spotted clapping for Rodrigo’s performance of her single, “Vampire”, seeming to quash the rumors of tension once and for all, while also disproving the claims that the song is about Swift and the songwriting credits drama.