While Beyonce fans (mostly) loved her gritty new song “Bow Down,” featuring the lyric “Bow down b—hes,” Keyshia Cole was hardly impressed. “First ‘Women need to Stick together’ now b—hes better Bow,” the R&B singer tweeted, adding “smh” (aka, shaking my head). Queen B’s loyal Bey Hive immediately pounced on Cole, accusing her of being bitter and a hater. Somewhere, Beyonce laughed the whole thing off.
Give Kanye West a microphone and nobody is off limits – not even Justin Timberlake. The rapper took aim at the “Suit & Tie” singer, who collaborated with West pal Jay-Z on his new musical material, during a recent concert in London, declaring: "I got love for Hov, but I ain’t f—king with that 'Suit & Tie.'" While performing the song on SNL, JT responded by changing a lyric from "Aww, s— so sick, got a hit and picked up a habit" to "my hit’s so sick, got rappers acting dramatic." At the end of the day, though, "I absolutely love Kanye," he told Jimmy Fallon.
The tension between Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey is apparently so high, that the two divas barely look one another in the eye on the American Idol judges’ panel. Reports surfaced as season 13 auditions were being taped last fall that Minaj (allegedly) threatened to kill Carey and Carey (allegedly) feared for her life. Even President Obama weighed in on the much-blogged-about-feud, telling a radio show on the campaign trail: “I think that they are going to be able to sort it out. I am confident.” We are not.
Whether it’s a valet parking lot attendant or hip-hop rival, Chris Brown is prone to repeat displays of public feuding. Recall his bottle-throwing brawl with rapper Drake (an ex of Brown’s on-again girlfriend Rihanna) at a New York nightclub in June 2012. After police intervened, he said/he said accusations flew with Brown’s camp accusing Drake’s entourage of instigating a melee by hurling champagne (and sending a shard of glass into the eye of bystander/NBA star Tony Parker). Several months later, Brown was involved in an altercation with Frank Ocean over a parking spot at a West Hollywood recording studio. At this year's Grammys, the controversy magnet stayed in his seat as the audience stood to applaud the R&B It Boy's win for best urban contemporary album.
The Black Keys’ Patrick Carney learned a tough lesson this year: never wake the screeching beast that is Justin Bieber's fan base. After winning three Grammys in February, the hipster-drummer took the TMZ bait when asked whether Bieber was unfairly snubbed by the ceremony, telling the news outlet: “He’s rich, right? Grammys are for music, not for money … and he’s making a lot of money. He should be happy.” The Biebs was not amused, tweeting “the black keys drummer should be slapped around haha.” On command, hardcore Biebermaniacs galvanized on social media, spamming Carney’s account with mean tweets.
The rivalry between Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera was always more manufactured media hype than grounded in reality. But for a while, when both artists were young and bubblegum pop dominated the radio, the so-called Brit-Brit/X-tina feud prompted heated debate over who was more talented, who was hotter, who had the better song, etcetera. In the end, both women (and former Mickey Mouse Club co-stars) scored lucrative gigs on dueling reality singing competitions – but while Aguilera proved a savvy judge on The Voice, Spears bolted after one underwhelming stint with The X Factor.
Truth be told, Elton John has a real issue with Madonna. The pop legends’ long-time rift might have reached its apex in a recent interview on Australian TV, when John sniped of the Material Girl’s latest album and tour, "She’s such a nightmare. Her career is over, I can tell you that. Her tour is a disaster and it couldn’t happen to a bigger c—." Twisting the knife in further, he added: "And she looks like a f—king fairground stripper." Charming!
When Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, saying that Beyonce should have won “Best Video” instead, jaws collectively dropped: did he really just do that? Was he intoxicated? West might have been right (Queen B did deserve that award) but his rude behavior prompted an outpouring of public support for Swift, who naturally used the awkward moment as fodder for “Innocent,” aka The Kanye West Song.
The Epic Madonna/Courtney Love beef goes all the way back to 1995, when the Hole guitarist – in full-on trainwreck mode – interrupted Madge’s interview with Kurt Loder at the VMAs by hurling her compact at the pop queen. Quipped Madonna: “Courtney Love is in dire need of attention right now.” (View the amazing video evidence.) But the feud appears to be one-sided, as Love has continued to pile on while her rival could likely care less. “I like Madge but as a relevant musician it’s a joke,” she sniped years after Compact-Gate.
Madonna and Lady Gaga's sparring match during the summer of 2012 could perhaps go down as one of the cattiest catfights in pop star feudal history. While kicking off her MDNA tour in Tel Aviv, Madge made headlines for performing a mashup of Gaga’s “Born This Way” – which she once referred to as “reductive” – and her 1989 hit “Express Yourself.” She bookended the performance with the chant: “She’s not me.” Without naming names, Gaga responded by calling Madonna a bully.