Lead singer of U.K. rock band Blur and co-founder of Gorillaz Damon Albarn made a big mistake — he slandered Taylor Swift. And then musicians and world leaders alike came after him.
In a conversation with The Los Angeles Times, Albarn was ready to talk about his recent solo album, “The Nearer the Mountain, More Pure the Stream Flows,” his Icelandic citizenship, world politics and The Beatles.
But before diving into all that, he made a bold claim about T-Swift. “She doesn’t write her own songs,” he said.
- When interviewer Mikael Wood argued that Swift, in fact, did write her own songs and co-writes some of them, Albarn countered by saying, “That doesn’t count. I know what co-writing is. Co-writing is very different to writing.”
- “I’m not hating on anybody, I’m just saying there’s a big difference between a songwriter and a songwriter who co-writes. Doesn’t mean that the outcome can’t be really great,” he added, going on to say that Ella Fitzgerald never wrote a song in her life either.
- “When I sing, I have to close my eyes and just be in there. I suppose I’m a traditionalist in that sense. A really interesting songwriter is Billie Eilish and her brother. I’m more attracted to that than to Taylor Swift. It’s just darker — less endlessly upbeat. Way more minor and odd,” he said.
Everything was fine until Swift got the wind of it.
“I was such a big fan of yours until I saw this,” Swift shot back on Monday, tagging Albarn in her tweet. “I write ALL of my own songs. Your hot take is completely false and SO damaging. You don’t have to like my songs but it’s really (expletive) to try and discredit my writing. WOW.”
- “PS I wrote this tweet all by myself in case you were wondering,” she added.
By Monday morning the next day, Albarn posted an apology to Twitter. “I totally agree with you. I had a conversation about songwriting and sadly it was reduced to clickbait,” he wrote, adding, “The last thing I would want to do is discredit your songwriting. I hope you understand.”
Per CNN, musicians like the Anchoress, Maisie Peters, the Subways and Jedward all showed their support for Swift, along with many others.
Not sure why you @Damonalbarn would try to discredit Taylor's brilliant songwriting but as someone who has gotten to press record around her ...your statements couldn't be further from the truth...you're obviously completely clueless as to her actual writing and work process
— Aaron Dessner (@aaron_dessner) January 24, 2022
taylor swift could write song 2 but damon albarn could never write all too well 10 minute version
— maisie peters signed up for this (@maisiehpeters) January 24, 2022
Honestly, the number of dudes in this industry who have songs written for them (don’t ask) and no-one makes a peep about it. But women? Consistently undermined for their contributions on and off the stage/in the studio. Why? The patriarchy. @taylorswift13 is the real deal. Fact.
— The Subways (@thesubways) January 24, 2022
According to The Daily Beast, even the millennial president-elect of Chile joined the conversation, making sure Swift knows that she has supporters from the country.
Here in Chile you have a huge group of supporters who knows that you write you own songs from the heart. Dont take seriously guys that need to insult or lie to get attention. Hugs from the south Taylor
— Gabriel Boric Font (@gabrielboric) January 25, 2022