The Blur and Gorillaz musician Damon Albarn spoke with the Los Angeles Times to promote the January 24 release of his new orchestral solo album, “The Nearer the Mountain, More Pure the Stream Flows.” Albarn was discussing the state of music today with Times interviewer, Mikael Wood. When Wood brought up that international pop star artist Taylor Swift is an “excellent songwriter,” Albarn scoffed at the idea, insinuating that she doesn’t write her own music. “That doesn’t count. I know what co-writing is. Co-writing is very different to writing,” Albarn said. “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.”
Swift was not about to have her name dragged through the mud, so she proceeded to clap back on Twitter. “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,” Swift tweeted. “You don’t have to like my songs but it’s really f***** up to try and discredit my writing. WOW.” Even Swift’s producer, Jack Antanoff, defended Swift by sarcastically tweeting about the situation. Albarn quickly tweeted back at Swift to get rid of the “Bad Blood” between them. “I totally agree with you. i had a conversation about songwriting and sadly it was reduced to clickbait,” Albarn wrote. “I apologise unreservedly and unconditionally. The last thing I would want to do is discredit your songwriting. I hope you understand.”
