At one point, the singers genuinely shared an amazing bond with each other, which all started when Swift asked Bieber to join her on tour at the start of his music career. Their relationship grew stronger when Bieber started dating Swift’s BFF Selena Gomez. However, after the couple broke up (multiple times), Bieber and Swift’s friendship also began to fall apart.

Then came the controversy between Swift and Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun, which forced him to pick a side and ultimately put an end to the pair’s friendship — possibly for good this time. So what really happened between Swift and Bieber? Keep scrolling to find out all the details.

In the early 2010s, Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber were actually good pals. In fact, the “Lover” hitmaker invited Bieber to join her on her Fearless World Tour in November 2009. At the time, Bieber was just beginning his rise to fame, so the tour was a huge opportunity for him. The young pop star even famously broke his foot while performing “One Time” at Wembley Stadium in London, but kept right on singing.

Two years later, the singers had more than just music in common after Bieber started dating Swift’s best friend, Selena Gomez. Not only were Bieber and Swift spotted dancing to Gomez’s “Love You Like A Love Song” at the 2011 Teen Choice Awards, but Swift also third-wheeled with the couple at the 2011 American Music Awards. Later that year, Swift also invited Bieber to sing “Baby” on her Speak Now Tour stop at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

However, after Bieber’s split from Gomez, things between him and Swift took a turn for the worse. Jelena eventually got back together, but in 2013, during the Billboard Music Awards, Swift was caught sticking out her tongue in disgust after Gomez kissed Bieber backstage. Unfortunately, at the time, no one knew this was the beginning of the end of Swift and Bieber’s friendship.

On May 23, 2016, Justin Bieber seemingly cleared up any suspicion that there was bad blood between him and Swift after he shared a video of himself lip-syncing her mega hit “Teardrops on My Guitar” from her 2006 self-titled debut album. It was a sweet shoutout that caught the singer’s attention (Us Weekly reported she liked the post).

However, the love fest was short-lived. Just a few months later, Bieber did something that irreparably damaged his friendship with Swift. With just four simple words, Bieber inserted himself into Swift’s feud with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West by shading the heck out of the singer on Instagram on August 2, 2016. He posted a photo of himself talking to Kanye West and manager Scooter Braun over FaceTime, alongside the caption: “Taylor Swift what up.” (At the time, this was equivalent to the 2016 version of Nicki Minaj’s infamous line, “Miley, what’s good?” from the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards.)

Justin Bieber’s shady Instagram came back to haunt him three years later. After his manager, Scooter Braun, bought Big Machine Records and became the new owner of Taylor Swift’s first six albums, Swift addressed the acquisition in an open letter published on Tumblr on June 30, 2019. In it, she accused Braun of “incessant, manipulative bullying” over the years and called Bieber out for teaming up with Braun and Kanye West to taunt her in that 2016 Instagram post.

In response, Bieber publicly took his manager’s side. However, he did apologize to Swift for that “hurtful” Instagram post and deleted the post’s original caption. “Hey Taylor,” he wrote in a new post. “First of all I would like to apologize for posting that hurtful Instagram post, at the time I thought it was funny but looking back it was distasteful and insensitive.”

The pop star also invited Swift to meet up to “resolve any conflict, pain or any feelings that need to be addressed.” It’s unclear if that ever happened, but it doesn’t seem like Bieber and Swift are on the best of terms these days. In October 2019, Bieber claimed that he and Swift were “homies” — but shortly after, Swift allegedly kicked Bieber out of a Los Angeles gym. Some friendships were just never meant to be.

Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez are BFFs for life. Through their friendship, both have seen the other go through terrible relationships, including Gomez’s messy love affair with Justin Bieber. And Swifties seem to think the Grammy-winning musician subtly threw shade toward Bieber’s mistreatment of Gomez in her song, “Question…?”

“Question…?” talks about a tumultuous relationship, but fans don’t think Swift is referring to one of her romances, but her besties. Swift sings, “Did you ever have someone kiss you in a crowded room / And every single one of your friends was makin’ fun of you / But fifteen seconds later, thеy were clappin’ too?” Swifties think this lyric refers to a viral video of Swift and Gomez running into Bieber at an award show where the “All Too Well” singer sticks out her tongue in disgust after Gomez kisses Bieber. Fans also pointed out that Gomez has a song titled “Crowded Room,” which Swift seemed to namedrop.

Another lyric that fans are convinced is about Justin is when Swift sings, “Did you lеave her house in the middle of the night? / Did you wish you’d put up more of a fight?” Many believe this is a nod to when Justin was caught by the paparazzi sneaking out of Gomez’s home after a reported breakup, per Seventeen. If the song is about the “Peaches” singer, it’s clear Swift is not messing around and only adds to her tiff with the musician.

Selena Gomez’s relationship with Justin Bieber left a bad taste in Taylor Swift’s mouth. Throughout their relationship, many speculated Bieber had cheated on Gomez. The “Sorry” singer even hinted that the allegations were true in an interview with I-D in 2015. When speaking about his romance with the former Disney Channel star, he said, “…it’s like trust and all this other stuff that starts messing with your mind. You’re on the road. And there are beautiful women on the road. And you’re just getting yourself into trouble.”

Although he never explicitly said he cheated on Gomez, Swift seemed to confirm the speculation when she liked a Tumblr post in 2019, according to Elle. Amid the Scooter Braun controversy, Justin Bieber was dragged into it when he decided to back his manager’s acquisition of Swift’s music catalog. This move didn’t go down well with the “Cruel Summer” singer — for obvious reasons — so she took to Tumblr to like a post that trashed Bieber and alluded to him having an affair. The Tumblr post read, “…you [Bieber] cheated on her best friend [Gomez] and then publicly sided with the man who made revenge porn against her was she supposed to invite you over for tea??? F**k outta here.” Swift’s approval of the post was enough to convince fans that the Biebs had cheated on Gomez, and the rest is history.