MUMBAI: Don’t tell Taylor Swift to calm down.
On Monday, Jan. 24, the Grammy winner spotted a tweet that featured a quote from artist Damon Albarn. While the Blur and Gorillaz front man was quick to call Billie Eilish “exceptional,” he was less than complimentary to Taylor. “She doesn’t write her own songs,” he told the Los Angeles Times.
As it turns out, Taylor decided to defend herself and have her voice heard.
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“@DamonAlbarn I was such a big fan of yours until I saw this,” she wrote on Twitter. “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–ked up to try and discredit my writing. WOW.”
She added, “PS I wrote this tweet all by myself in case you were wondering.”
Soon after, fans began rallying around Taylor and praising her work, beginning with her first self-titled album released in 2006. Damon then took to Twitter and apologized for his words.
“I totally agree with you,” he wrote. “I had a conversation about songwriting and sadly it was reduced to clickbait. I apologize unreservedly and unconditionally. The last thing I would want to do is discredit your songwriting. I hope you understand.”
In the article, formatted as a Q&A, journalist Mikael Wood pushed back against Damon’s accusation, saying that Taylor co-writes some of her songs. Damon said it “doesn’t count.”
“I know what co-writing is,” he said. “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.”
Ultimately, Taylor received support from other singers in the industry. Jack Antonoff, who has produced and collaborated with the “Shake It Off” singer, wrote, “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 all those songs Taylor writes and brings in. herb.”
“If you were there … cool … go off,” he added. “If not … maybe …. shut the f–k up?”
Her folklore and evermore collaborator, Aaron Dessner, also came to her defense on Twitter. “Not sure why you @Damonalbarn would try to discredit Taylor’s brilliant songwriting but as someone who has gotten to press record around her,” he said. “Your statements couldn’t be further from the truth…you’re obviously completely clueless as to her actual writing and work process.”
And Maren Morris—who was featured on Taylor’s 2021 song “You All Over Me”—appeared to weigh in on the conversation by stating, “Writing songs with songwriters means you’re a songwriter.”
