Taylor Swift says she will use her ‘influence’ against disgusting political rhetoric
Singer Taylor Swift says in a new interview that it is her ‘responsibility’ to use her ‘influence’ against ‘disgusting’ [political rhetoric.
Look what you made her do.
Taylor Swift lashed out at Big Machine founder Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun after Borchetta sold the label and all of its rights — including Swift's entire past six-album catalog — to Kanye West's former manager for $300 million.
In a furious Tumblr post on Sunday, Swift, 29, accused Braun of "manipulative bullying," as well as being complicit with the bullying she claims she suffered at the hands of West. She also blasted Borchetta's business tactics regarding the masters to her first six records.
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"For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work. Instead, I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and ‘earn’ one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in," she wrote. "I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future. I had to make the excruciating choice to leave behind my past. Music I wrote on my bedroom floor and videos I dreamed up and paid for from the money I earned playing in bars, then clubs, then arenas, then stadiums."
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She added, "Some fun facts about today’s news: I learned about Scooter Braun’s purchase of my masters as it was announced to the world. All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years." To illustrate her point, she included a screenshot of Braun, Bieber and West that Bieber posted to Instagram in August 2016 that Bieber had captioned, "Taylor Swift what up."
The "You Need to Calm Down" singer accused Braun of being a party to Kim Kardashian's infamous recording of Swift and West's "snippet" of a phone call in which she appeared to give her blessing to the lyrics to his song "Famous."
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Kardashian posted the video to Snapchat after Swift denied giving West permission to use her name in the song. She later claimed she objected to being called "that b---h" in the track, a detail which wasn't mentioned in Kardashian's clip.
This all happened about a year after West and Swift appeared to publicly make up and reportedly even discussed a potential collaboration.
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Scooter Braun previously worked with Kanye West. West later said he "can't be managed," so he no longer had a manager. (Getty, File)
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In her furious missive, Swift claimed that Kardashian's video recording and release were illegal. She also pointed out that in the "Famous" music video, a wax figure of her likeness (and numerous others) appears nude, which she likened to "revenge porn."
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"Now Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy," she fumed. "Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it."
The singer described the predicament as her "worst case scenario" and lamented signing a record deal with Big Machine when she was just 15 years old. Swift also suggested sexism may have played a role in Borchetta's decision to sell the label.
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"When that man says ‘Music has value,’ he means its value is beholden to men who had no part in creating it," she wrote. "When I left my masters in Scott’s hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually he would sell them. Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter. Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words ‘Scooter Braun’ escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to. He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didn’t want to be associated with them. In perpetuity. That means forever."
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Swift signed with Republic Records in 2018.
She and West famously have feuded since he interrupted her at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
She later described her beef with him and his reality star wife as "lower than [she'd] ever felt in [her] life."
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Reps for Swift and Braun, whose roster currently includes Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato, among others, did not immediately return requests for comment, but Bieber, as well as Braun's wife, addressed Swift's claims.
Bieber posted a throwback selfie with Swift and claimed that Braun discouraged him from writing "Taylor Swift what up" on his Instagram caption. While the "Baby" singer was diplomatic, he also accused Swift, though gently, of trying to "get sympathy" with her blog post and that she used her platform to get her fans to bully Braun.
Braun's wife Yael concurred with Bieber's sentiment, but was harsher with her words, accusing Swift of being both a bully and a liar, as well as of blaming Braun for her feud with West. Yael claimed that Borchetta gave Swift and her father, Scott, who Yael wrote was on the Big Machine board of directors, advance notice of the label's sale to Braun.
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"Don't blame him because Kim caught you in a lie, it's embarrassing, I know — but adults own up to their mistakes," Yael wrote. "We learn and grow from them, we don't divert blame and blur the lines of reality to suit our needs."
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Swift's rep denied Yael's assertions, telling People in a statement, "Scott Swift is not on the board of directors and has never been. On June 25, there was a shareholder phone call that Scott Swift did not participate in due to a very strict NDA that bound all shareholders and prohibited any discussion at all without risk of severe penalty." The rep added that Scott didn't join the call to avoid withholding information from Taylor. She also noted, "Taylor found out from the news articles when she woke up before seeing any text from Scott Borchetta and he did not call her in advance."
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