Holy Shit It Actually Happened: Triple J Played Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake It Off’

Well, it’s finally happened — triple j have finally played Taylor Swift.

The momentous moment in Australian musical history went down as part of Requestival, the youth broadcaster’s week-long audience participation initiative.

Basically, triple j handed over control of the station to the listeners, who responded by choosing some of the strangest and most surprising songs imaginable. Everything from Crazy Frog’s magnum opus to a showtune from Wicked got played. It’s been pure pandemonium, and we’ve loved every batshit minute of it.

But none of that could have prepared us for Swift.

See, triple j have long held something of a vendetta against the artist. Back in 2015, a campaign started to get ‘Shake it Off’ into the Hottest 100 of the year. Triple j weren’t into the campaign, and so announced that the performer was banned from the vote, citing commercial interests in the campaign (KFC had gotten behind Swift, a big no no for the ABC). That decision in turn caused an outcry, as well as an interesting discussion on the music that the youth broadcaster plays, and whether that pool should be expanded.

In fact, so controversial was the relationship between the singer and the station that the whole discussion reared its head during the Hottest 100 of the Decade. Many users urged voters to write Swift in as a choice for the mega-countdown, and we all re-litigated the discussion once more.

Then, this afternoon, as Requestival was drawing to a close, there it was: ‘Shake it Off’, played in full.

And as soon as it happened, the internet rejoiced.

And now, finally, the long saga of Taylor Swift and triple j has drawn to a close.