Taylor Swift slammed for ‘copying Beyonce’

Well, it’s fair to say Taylor Swift’s much-anticipated appearance at the Billboard Music Awards did not got to plan.

Fans have accused the ME! singer of copying Beyonce during Swift’s much-hyped performance in Las Vegas today.

Beyonce’s social media followers — AKA the “Beyhive” — branded Swift a “pastel-pink rip-off” and accused her of presenting a “gentrified” version of Beyonce’s record-breaking Coachella set.

Fans pointed out similarities including that, like Beyonce, Swift’s featured a high-school-style marching band and she wore a catsuit.
 

The Look What You Made Me Do singer, 29, opened the Billboards — held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena — wearing a rainbow-coloured fringed one-piece for the performance of ME!, her duet with Brendon Urie, 32, of Panic! at the Disco.

Ironically, the lyrics to Swift’s song ME! includes the line: “I promise that you’ll never find another like me”.
 

TAYLOR SWIFT JUST BIT TF OUTTA BEYONCE ON THE BILLBOARD AWARDS ... I’m ???????? where is the beyhive???? pic.twitter.com/hWvRcKK4an

— Jamilah Michelle (@jamilahmichelle) May 2, 2019

Taylor Swift need to consult with Beyoncé regarding the marching band performance #BBMAs pic.twitter.com/jyVrCilkFb

— 3Y3SWIDE0P3N (@Neosoul1189) May 2, 2019

Is it just me or did Taylor Swift just rip off Beyonce's Homecoming performance?

— Ear (@ratchetraisin) May 2, 2019

I see that Taylor Swift watched Beyoncé's "Homecoming" more than once. #BBMAs

— Erin Ashley (@ellhah) May 2, 2019

Viewers were not impressed, flooding social media to point out comparisons between Swift and Beyonce’s performance at Coachella last year — where she became the first-ever black woman to headline the festival.

It was the subject of Beyonce’s recently-released Netflix special and live album, Homecoming.

“I don’t know if y’all are seeing this but Taylor Swift is gentrifying Beyoncé’s Coachella performance right now,” one social media follower said.
 

“Taylor Swift, imma let you finish but, Beyoncé had the greatest drum line of all time,” another added.

(This was a reference to Kanye West, who famously interrupted Swift’s 2009 MTV Video Music Awards acceptance speech when she won Best female Video over Beyonce’s Single Ladies).

Others accused Swift of lacking originality.

“How dare Taylor Swift copy off of Beyoncé’s Homecoming with the Marching band !!! Have some originality, you can be inspired but don’t just straight up copy it.

“If Homecoming wasn’t out she would not have done this and we all know it.”

Swift had described her Billboards’ performance as a “fun explosion of glitter, pastel colors, and people flying through the air” in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

In a US TV interview last week, Swift said ME! was a “song about embracing your individuality, and really celebrating it, and owning it”.

“With a pop song we have the ability to get a melody stuck in people’s heads and I just want it to be one that makes them feel better about themselves.”
 

Last month, Beyonce released a Netflix doco, Homecoming: A Film by Beyonce, about her Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival performances, dubbed “Beychella”.

“It’s my first time back home on the stage after giving birth. I’m creating my own homecoming and it’s hard,” Beyonce said, of the performance.

“There were days that I thought I’d never be the same, I’d never be the same physically, my strength and endurance would never be the same.”