The Godfather ****- Of course the NBA is full of references to “kissing the rings,” as in championship rings, but the pop cultural origin of the idea of kissing a ring to show respects stems from The Godfather trilogy. (Yoga, for example.) So it is worth pointing out that the idea of “karma,” referenced in both the lyrics and the single artwork, is indeed a central tenant of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and Taoism.įerragamo – In case you’re wondering, the pink Ferragamo sliders Nicki references are available for $195. In any case, the phrase seems to have bubbled up into the mainstream thanks to RuPaul’s Drag Race and really exploded with those memes involving Kermit the Frog unsuccessfully minding his business.Įastern Religions – Western culture has a habit of just jacking thing from Eastern Religions and completely forgetting where we got them from. Surprisingly, no one on the internet seems to have built a conclusive case into where the phrase originated, but it’s most commonly associated with black drag queens (though, unlike so many drag phrases that seem to be everywhere right now, this one isn’t from Paris is Burning, and likely has more Southern origins). There’s so much going on here in fact that we thought it deserved an in depth breakdown.īasketball – Probably just because Swift’s name sounds like “Swish” (the sound of a basketball going through the hoop without touching the rhyme) the track is forced full of NBA references.ĭrag Queens – The single’s artwork includes a receipt for a single “tea,” a reference to spilling the truth (or gossip). It’s less an organically created song, as it is some sort of lab creation out of an attempted hit factory. We realize this all even before Nicki Minaj hops on the track and drags her own headline-making feud - the one with Remy Ma - into the affair. The lyrics meanwhile include a hodgepodge of slang and hashtag-happy phrases assembled from sources as varied as Buddha to Whitney Houston to The Godfather. The backing track itself (produced by Noah “Mailbox” Passovoy, PJ “Promnite” Sledge and Duke Dumont) is pieced together, in part, from elements of three other songs. Look a bit deeper and the whole thing bursts open like a piñata filled with far flung references both lyrical and musical. Yet, there’s a whole lot more going on with the particular track. Indeed, little parts of the word salad Perry sputtered when Rolling Stone asked her point blank if she thought “Blood” was about her and if she had a reply track waiting are echoed in the song’s lyrics. The main talking point: it’s Perry’s long awaited retort to Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood,” and a continuation of a long-simmering feud between the two pop stars that neither has confirmed publicly, but is undeniably a thing.

Katy Perry‘s latest single “Swish, Swish,” a collaboration with Nicki Minaj, hit the internet like a bomb this morning.

Katy perry swish meaning