Taylor Swift was not going to let another renowned musician throw shade at her work, especially something she has been defending for years –as if a young woman needs permission to succeed in the music industry. The singer responded to Damon Albarn’s sayings stating that Swift does not write her own songs.
The British musician, leader of bands like Gorillaz and Blur, talked to Los Angeles Times about his new work and the conversation got to the point of being asked by Mikael Wood, pop music critic, about modern musicians and songwriting. Wood argued that there are actual musicians that do great lyric work rather than just relying on the sound of it.
She may not be to your taste, but Taylor Swift is an excellent songwriter, said Wood. To which Albarn answered, “She doesn’t write her own songs”.
Wood immediately jumped to say that Taylor co-writes most of her songs. However, it was not enough what Albarn just said and continued to throw shade at Taylor.
“That doesn’t count. I know what co-writing is. Co-writing is very different from 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”, said Damon Albarn and added that he thinks Billie Eilish does a better job when it comes to songwriting “It’s just darker — less endlessly upbeat. Way more minor and odd”.
Of course, Taylor didn’t miss the opportunity to answer back and defend her work.
“I was such a big fan of yours until I saw this. 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 fucked up to try and discredit my writing. WOW”, wrote Taylor and clarified that she wrote that tweet “in case you were wondering”.
Damon Albarn answered back saying that what he said was taken out of context with the purpose of driving traffic and apologized to Taylor.
“I apologize unreservedly and unconditionally. The last thing I would want to do is discredit your songwriting. I hope you understand”, wrote Albarn in a tweet.
Taylor has been accused on several occasions of not writing her lyrics. As a response to those false claims, she decided that all the lyrics of her 2010 album “Speak Now” were going to be written for herself with no co-writers.
She has also been an advocate for artists owning the rights to their work. As a result, she is currently re-recording most of her past work.
