Love her or hate her, Ruby Rose's comments about Katy Perry's new song are proof that the Orange is the New Black actor doesn't hold back. Perry released "Swish Swish", which features Nicki Minaj, at midnight on Friday, and less than an hour later, Rose had already responded. Although Perry has thus far danced around her rumored feud with Taylor Swift, who is good friends with Rose, the song does seem to be targeted at the singer.
The title itself — "Swish Swish" — shares its first three letters with Swift's last name, and is suggestive of a slam dunk. The album cover for the single, too, is pointed. It shows a hand reaching forward, presenting a receipt for "Karma Coffee and Tea." It's as if Perry is promising that she "saved her receipts" from her interactions with Swift and warning her away from starting more beef. And that's before we even get into the lyrics. In short, it certainly seems like "Swish Swish" is a clap back to Swift's song "Bad Blood." Although it is, of course, important to note that Perry has made her stance on Witness clear, telling Entertainment Weekly, "I think [my new album is] a very empowered record. There is no one thing that’s calling out any one person."
But even if the two songs have nothing to do with each other, that's not how it's coming across to Rose. She thinks that "Swish Swish" is coming for her friend, and the fact that she had zero concerns about taking to Twitter to say so is one of the best things about her. The OINTB actor and model is tight with Swift, and she readily went to bat for her. Even though it meant pitting herself against one of the biggest names in pop music right now, Rose didn't bat an eye. She dropped three diss tweets in response to the supposed diss track, and held absolutely nothing back.
Rose covers a lot of ground in her tweets, and I feel varying levels of agreement with each one. The first one, above, is the one I roll my eyes at the hardest. She's making puns out of the Witness tracks that Perry has released so far, and striking at the quality of the songs themselves rather than their content. It's not a tactic that I necessarily agree with, but I can't help but appreciate Rose's unfiltered style.
Rose then brings up activism, just to make it even more clear who and what she's talking about. Katy Perry was active in Hillary Clinton's campaign and has described the music on her upcoming album as "purposeful pop".
And here, finally, is the tweet that I agree with most. Rose makes it clear that she's defending her friend against something she doesn't like. That doesn't mean everyone has to agree with her, or have the same reading of "Swish Swish." In fact, she even adds an "I think" into her tweet, to make clear that it's a personal opinion. The outspoken Australian is doing exactly what she says: following her heart. She's speaking up about something she believes is wrong, and she doesn't really care what anyone else thinks about it. Or her.
I truly believe that Rose is coming from a place of support for her friend. I don't necessarily agree with the way that that support manifested itself, particularly because "Bad Blood" came out before "Swish Swish." But hey, my opinion doesn't matter to Rose — the whole point of this is that Rose doesn't care what I think. She's not going to be swayed by popular opinion, or the promise of fame, or snarky responses on Twitter. She believes what she believes, and she's confident enough to put it out there without apologizing. And that, my friends, is a confidence that we should all work for, no matter our beliefs.
