Once again Taylor Swift finds herself having to defend her existence to some man. Pathetic.
On Sunday night, the Los Angeles Times released a profile on Damon Albarn, the rocker who fronted Blur and was the mastermind behind the cartoon band Gorillaz. He’s something of a songwriting icon, with Blur’s clever hooks making him one of the faces of the Britpop scene in the ’90s. But in an interview about his new solo effort, he chose to use that weight and throw it around at “modern” music, slamming Taylor specifically — with the brazen accusation that she doesn’t really write her own songs!
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Speaking about performing a concert completely by himself, he sang his own praises, declaring:
“But it’s actually quite hard, doing a whole concert on piano. It’s not hard playing in a band… You can’t hide behind anything. You learn whether the songs are any good or whether they were popular at the time because of the sound and the attitude. It’s a day of reckoning — and one, to be honest, that not much modern music could withstand.”
The interviewer responded by asking if he meant that modern musicians are relying on sound and attitude. Albarn replied:
“Name me someone who’s not.”
That, of course, led to the name drop of Taylor, whom the interviewer called “an excellent songwriter.” Damon was not having it. The singer responded:
“She doesn’t write her own songs.”
Whoa. What??
That’s some accusation! What does he even base that on?? When the interviewer noted she co-writes most of her songs (she wrote Speak Now entirely by herself because during touring she didn’t have time to collaborate with anyone), Damon dropped the ridiculous hot take:
“That doesn’t count. 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. Doesn’t mean that the outcome can’t be really great. And some of the greatest singers — I mean, Ella Fitzgerald never wrote a song in her life. When I sing, I have to close my eyes and just be in there. I suppose I’m a traditionalist in that sense.”
Sorry, but what in the hell is he even talking about? All the songs he wrote with Blur are credited to the whole band, Girls & Boys, Song 2, Parklife. When he was with Gorillaz, he collaborated with Del The Funky Homosapien and De La Soul. These are all “co-writing” efforts. Despite this inane drag on people who collaborate, he did point out someone who is working for him these days:
“A really interesting songwriter is Billie Eilish and her brother. I’m more attracted to that than to Taylor Swift. It’s just darker — less endlessly upbeat. Way more minor and odd. I think she’s exceptional.”
Yeah, she’s definitely exceptional, but listen to yourself, man! Billie AND her brother Finneas! You said it yourself! That’s co-writing! WTF??
We weren’t the only people flummoxed by this ridiculous take. Taylor herself took to Twitter just hours after the article hit to blast Albarn directly. She tweeted:
“@DamonAlbarn 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 f**ked up to try and discredit my writing. WOW.”
Seriously! She added sarcastically:
“PS I wrote this tweet all by myself in case you were wondering
“
Ha!
PS I wrote this tweet all by myself in case you were wondering ????
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) January 24, 2022
Something tells us Damon’s mentions are an absolute S**TSTORM right about now! And you know what? Hot take: after this nonsense he kiiiiinda deserves it.
[Image via Nicky Nelson/WENN/Greg Henkinhoff/Avalon.]
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