For several years now, the cold war between Taylor Swift and Katy Perry has been widely regarded as the most intractable and entertaining celebrity feud on the market.
Theories about what exactly sparked the rivalry vary widely from one source to the next.
Some say Katy and Taylor beefed over backup dancers.
Others claim the bad blood had to do with the fact that both women dated John Mayer (at different times).
Whatever the case, this feud was no mere invention of the tabloid press — Swift and Perry legitimately and openly disliked each other for a long time.
But now, seemingly out of nowhere, both singers have decided to put all that behind them — in surprisingly sweet fashion:
That may look like a simple tray of cookies with an icing message scrawled across the rim — and it is.
But it’s also a historic peace offering, an olive branch so significant that "tray of cookies" might come to replace "olive branch" as the preferred peace offering metaphor.
The pic above was posted by Katy on her Instagram Monday night.
Again, at first glance, it’s nothing special.
But the caption quickly made this one of Katy’s most-liked posts of the year.
"Feels good @taylorswift," Perry wrote.
She tagged the post with a simple but profound slogan: "Let’s Be Friends."
Katy is leaving it to her fans to piece together the clues — and it’s a task they’ve undertaken with aplomb.
Obviously, the feud between Swift and Perry is officially over.
And many fans believe Katy was teasing a collaborative song entitled — you guessed it — "Let’s Be Friends."
The past four weeks have seen multiple hints that the pop icons might be ready to bury the hatchet.
It all started back on May 8 when Katy sent Taylor a literal olive branch:
The move was so on-the-nose that many fans assumed it was a joke.
But then, Swift followed that up with a significant gesture of her own, adding Perry’s song "Never Really Over" to her Apple playlist on May 31.
Shortly thereafter, Katy’s longtime BFF (and former friend with benefits) Robert Pattinson hung out with Taylor and Perry made it known she was totally cool with it.
Now, we have the tray of cookies as the final nail in the coffin of one of history’s greatest feuds.
We’d be lying if we said we won’t miss it — but we also love how it ended.
Sending a tray of cookies to squash a beef is so insanely on-brand for Taylor.
Besides, as far as we can tell, the Taylor vs. Kim Kardashian feud is still going strong.
And thus, our lives still have meaning.
