Damon Albarn apologizes for saying Taylor Swift doesn’t write her own songs
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(CNN) British musician Damon Albarn has apologized “unreservedly and unconditionally” to American singer Taylor Swift after claiming she didn’t write her own songs.
Albarn, best known as the frontman of the bands Blur and Gorillaz, made the comments in a Los Angeles Times interview with pop music critic Mikael Wood published Sunday.
Swift quickly replied after the newspaper shared Albarn’s remarks on Twitter.
“I was such a big fan of yours until I saw this,” Swift wrote to Albarn. “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****d up to try and discredit my writing. WOW.”
“PS I wrote this tweet all by myself in case you were wondering,” she added sarcastically.
Writing an apology on Twitter shortly afterward, Albarn said: “I totally agree with you. I had a conversation about songwriting and sadly it was reduced to clickbait,” adding, “The last thing I would want to do is discredit your songwriting. I hope you understand.”
Damon Albarn of Gorillaz performs on the Main Stage during Boardmasters Festival 2021 at Watergate Bay on August 14, 2021 in Newquay, England.
In the interview, Wood described Swift as an “excellent songwriter,” to which Albarn quipped that “she doesn’t write her own songs.” When the journalist restated that Swift writes her own songs and co-writes others, Albarn disagreed.
“That doesn’t count. I know what co-writing is,” he said. “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.”
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 — Damon Albarn (@Damonalbarn) January 24, 2022
Albarn instead said he preferred Grammy-winning singer Billie Eilish , calling her “a really interesting songwriter.”
“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,” he added.
Eilish co-writes most of her songs with her brother Finneas O’Connell.
“middle of the road.” It’s not the first time Albarn has come under fire for criticizing other artists, having previously described Adele as “very insecure” in a 2015 interview with the UK’s The Sun newspaper, and criticizing her “25” album as being"middle of the road."
However, in an interview with BBC Newsbeat later that year, Albarn denied the remark, saying he would “never ever call her insecure,” and that “her openness was her great strength.”
Albarn’s most recent remarks on Swift sparked a backlash on social media, with many on Twitter pointing out that Swift has written several songs entirely on her own across all her albums, including the whole of her 2010 album “Speak Now.” She also has a songwriting credit on every one of her songs.
Several high-profile social media accounts backed Swift on Twitter, including the official Empire State Building account, which tweeted : “No one does it better than you.”
What Is Damon Albarn’s Net Worth?
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Damon Albarn has been working in the music industry for decades. And throughout that time, the British rocker has been behind hit songs from his bands Blur and Gorillaz.
Damon Albarn | Roberto Ricciuti/Redferns
Damon Albarn is the lead singer for Blur and Gorillaz
Albarn was interested in music from an early age. He started playing guitar, piano, and violin in his childhood and quickly gained an interest in writing music; one of his compositions even received recognition at the UK’s nationwide Young Composer of the Year competition.
In the late 1980s, he formed the band that would eventually become known as Blur. They released their debut album Leisure in 1991. Throughout the 1990s, they popularized the Britpop genre both in the UK and around the world thanks to albums including Modern Life Is Rubbish, Parklife, and The Great Escape. The Parklife album included their smash hit “Girls & Boys”, which went on to reach No. 59 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart — their highest-charting song in the US to date.
By the time the group disbanded in the early 2000s, Albarn had already moved on to his next creative venture: the virtual band Gorillaz. As with Blur, Albarn served as the group’s lead vocalist. The group’s hit 2006 song “Feel Good Inc.” with De La Soul was a smash hit and even earned Albarn his first and only Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration.
Albarn was awarded the coveted Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his service to music.
Damon Albarn’s net worth in 2022
With more than 20 total projects to his name, Albarn has put in years of work in the music world. And since rising to prominence with Blur in the early 1990s, Albarn has racked up a sizable net worth.
According to CelebrityNetWorth, Albarn is worth an estimated $40 million today, or nearly £30 million in his home country.
Damon Albarn’s career in 2022
Today, Albarn has largely remained out of the spotlight. But in January 2022, his name was thrust into the headlines after he did an interview with the Los Angeles Times in which he alleged that Taylor Swift has some help when she writes her songs. “She doesn’t write her own songs,” Albarn said plainly, explaining that she uses co-writers.
Swift didn’t waste any time in responding on Twitter. “I was such a big fan of yours until I saw this,” she said. “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.”
Albarn defended himself in a tweet of his own. “I totally agree with you,” he admitted. “I had a conversation about songwriting and sadly it was reduced to clickbait. I apologize unreservedly and unconditionally. The last thing I would want to do is discredit your songwriting. I hope you understand.”
RELATED: Taylor Swift Made The Weeknd Uncomfortable By Petting His Dreadlocks When They First Met
Blur’s Damon Albarn Apologizes to Taylor Swift for Songwriting Comments | THR News
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Damon Albarn has apologized to Taylor Swift after she reacted to his Los Angeles Times interview, in which he claimed the “Invisible String” singer “doesn’t write her own songs.”
Damon Albarn’s Los Angeles Show At Walt Disney Hall: Review
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A chilly, boreal ambience is central to Damon Albarn’s latest solo album, The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows. Created during lockdown at Albarn’s Reykjavik home, the album serves as an orchestral interpretation of Icelandic landscapes, and as an ode to the beauty of the natural world in the face of climate catastrophe.
Yet despite drawing inspiration from receding glaciers, frigid ocean currents, and snow-frosted beaches, in the hours preceding his one-off show in Los Angeles, Albarn found himself in some very hot water.
One day before showtime, the Blur frontman and Gorillaz co-founder called into question Taylor Swift’s validity as a songwriter. The comments, made during an interview with Mikael Wood at the L.A. Times, sparked widespread backlash and a viral Twitter response from Swift herself, who called Albarn’s take false and damaging.
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Albarn quickly backtracked and issued an apology, but the debacle was likely fresh on the minds of many of guests who filed into the Walt Disney Concert Hall later that evening on January 24th.
Taylor Swift issues scathing message to rock icon Damon Albarn
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