Did Taylor Swift really approve Kanye West's Famous lyrics?

Taylor Swift and Kanye West's ongoing feud has taken a bitter new turn after the rapper's wife, Kim Kardashian, released an audio recording of the Shake It Off star apparently approving song lyrics she later denounced as offensive.

The saga has had periodic flare-ups ever since West memorably interrupted Swift's acceptance speech at the 2009 Video Music Awards to say Beyonce should have won instead.

This new dispute centres on West's single Famous, the first from his highly anticipated The Life Of Pablo album, in which he raps: "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why? I made that bitch famous."

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The rapper claimed he had consulted Swift about referencing her in the track. However, a spokesperson for the singer said: "Kanye did not call for approval, but to ask Taylor to release his single Famous on her Twitter account. She declined and cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message. Taylor was never made aware of the actual lyric, 'I made that bitch famous.'"

But this weekend, Kardashian, who has been married to West since May 2014, released a recorded phone call between the pair in which Swift praises West for consulting her on his lyrics.

West tells her about the "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex" lyric, to which she responds: "Go with whatever line you think is better. It's obviously really tongue-in-cheek either way... And I really appreciate you telling me about it. That’s really nice."

Predictably, social media quickly erupted, with Kardashian dubbed the "Queen of exposing".

In response, Swift says that the line she objected to – "I made that bitch famous" – is never mentioned in the recorded audio and accused the reality TV star of attempting a "character assassination".