Damon Albarn, best known as the singer of the Britpop band Blur and one of the brains behind the Gorillaz, accused US pop star Taylor Swift of not writing her songs herself in an interview. However, Swift’s response to the allegations was not long in coming.
Albarn, who released his new solo album a few weeks ago, gave an interview to the Los Angeles Times. When music journalist Mikael Wood said Taylor Swift was an outstanding songwriter, Albarn replied, “She doesn’t write her own songs.”
The interviewer directly contradicted Albarn, since Swift did indeed co-write some of her songs. But the singer didn’t accept that. There’s a big difference between being a songwriter and being a co-songwriter, Albarn said. He went on to say that he prefers Billie Eilish’s music to Taylor Swift’s because it’s darker and “less endlessly optimistic.”
Shortly after the interview appeared on Sunday, it caused a stir. Mainly because singer Taylor Swift quickly got wind of the musician’s allegations. On Monday, she posted several tweets on Twitter in which she commented on the allegations.
Directly to Albarn, she wrote, “I was such a huge fan of yours until I saw this,” referencing the interview. Albarn’s statements are completely wrong. “I write ALL my songs myself,” Swift clarified. “You don’t have to like my songs, but it really sucks to try to discredit my writing.” In another tweet, Swift wrote: “PS: In case you’re wondering – I wrote this tweet myself.” Both tweets received over 500,000 likes within a few hours.
Several colleagues then protected Swift. Producer/songwriter Aaron Dessner (The National) wrote that Albarn’s statements “couldn’t be more untrue”. Producer Jack Antonoff also came to Swift’s aid, writing that it’s amazing that Albarn seemed to know more about Swift’s songs than anyone but had never been to his studio. Antonoff and Swift have been working together since 2013.
Albarn had to apologize to Swift
After the widespread support for Taylor Swift, Albarn also responded to her tweets – and apologized for his statements. The singer explained that he gave an interview about the songwriting and accused the newspaper of reducing his statements to so-called clickbait. He never wanted to discredit Swift’s songwriting skills.
Damon Albarn rose to fame in the 1990s with the band Blur. To this day he is one of the most influential British pop musicians. In addition, Albarn is also on the road as a solo artist. In November 2021 he released his second solo album NEARER THE FOUNTAIN, MORE PURE THE STREAM FLOWS.