25 January 2022

Damon Albarn has apologised to Taylor Swift “unreservedly and unconditionally”.

Damon Albarn has apologised to Taylor Swift

The Blur frontman incurred the wrath of the ‘Lover’ hitmaker by downplaying her songwriting ability in a recent interview, but after she called him out for his remarks, the 53-year-old singer insisted he never wanted to “discredit” her and suggested his comments had been sensationalised to attract attention

Taylor retweeted a Los Angeles Times interview about Damon’s interview which read: “Albarn also spills his thoughts on some of today’s chart-topping music artists.

“Billie Eilish? “I think she’s exceptional.”

“Taylor Swift?” She doesn’t write her own songs.”

She then wrote: “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***** up to try and discredit my writing. WOW.

“PS I wrote this tweet all by myself in case you were wondering.”

Damon replied: “I totally agree with you. i had a conversation about songwriting and sadly it was reduced to clickbait. I apologise unreservedly and unconditionally. The last thing I would want to do is discredit your songwriting. I hope you understand. – Damon”

In the interview, the ‘Parklife’ singer insisted he wasn’t “hating” on Taylor but suggested collaborating with other songwriters was “very different” to taking sole responsibility for her work.

He said: “She doesn’t write her own songs. 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.”

He went on to praise Billie Eilish, who writes her songs with her brother, Finneas.

He added: “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.”