Taylor Swift took to Twitter to defend her artistry after Gorillaz frontman and Blur member Damon Albarn insulted her by denying that she is a songwriter.
The “Feel Good Inc.” writer delivered a hot take on Swift’s musical abilities during an interview with the Los Angeles Times.
During the conversation Albarn was asked what he thought about the “All Too Well” singer’s songwriting. In response, he blatantly denied that she writes her own music. (Don’t worry; we were flabbergasted, too.)
When the interviewer conceded that she sometimes works with a co-writer (but also has indeed written many songs on her own), Albarn remained skeptical.
“That doesn’t count,” he said. “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.”
Albarn then proceeded to highlight Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O’Connell as “really interesting” writers, pitting them against Swift.
“I’m more attracted to that than to Taylor Swift,” he said. “It’s just darker — less endlessly upbeat. Way more minor and odd. I think [Billie’s] exceptional.”
It’s worth noting that Eilish and O’Connell often work together and co-write their songs. Yet, Albarn didn’t claim that the siblings aren’t writers due to their collaborative nature — just Swift.
Albarn’s bizarre songwriting sentiments made it to Twitter, where Swift picked up on them and promptly responded. By that we mean that she absolutely destroyed her detractor.
“I was such a big fan of yours until I saw this,” Swift wrote after directly calling out Albarn. “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 f—ed up to try and discredit my writing. WOW.”
She made it crystal clear that the dragging came courtesy of Taylor Swift (since her writing skills had been questioned, after all) in a follow-up tweet: “PS I wrote this tweet all by myself in case you were wondering.”
K.O.
Check out Swift’s scathing response below:
Albarn was quick to reply to Swift’s tweets and took an apologetic tone, attempting to push the blame onto the journalist who wrote the article.
“I totally agree with you,” he wrote. “I had a conversation about songwriting and sadly it was reduced to click-bait. I apologise unreservedly and unconditionally. The last thing I would want to do is discredit your songwriting. I hope you understand. – Damon”
Read Albarn’s tweet below:
Unfortunately for Albarn, the damage had already been done. Underneath his apology, fans called him out for claiming that his direct quotes were mishandled as click-bait.
“You said her songwriting doesn’t count as songwriting and then compared her to another female artist with a completely different style,” one user tweeted alongside a screenshot of the direct quotes. “Don’t gaslight and throw someone else under the bus because you never thought she’d call you out.”
Meanwhile, many of Swift’s collaborators came to her defense.
Jack Antonoff replied in a series of tweets. “I’ve never met Damon Albarn and he’s never been to my studio but apparently he knows more than the rest of us about those songs Taylor writes and brings in,” he wrote.
Others who came to her defense included the likes of Maren Morris, Aaron Dessner and Nathan Chapman.
Check out their responses below: