Taylor Swift Admits ‘I Do Sleep Well At Night’ After Slamming Scooter Braun In Vicious Billboard Speech
Jan. 21 2020, Published 2:01 p.m. ET
Taylor Swift is not apologizing for standing up for herself.
In a cover interview for Variety, the “You Need to Calm Down” singer, 30, revealed how she really feels about her empowering Billboard Women in Music Awards speech in which she slammed nemesis Scooter Braun.
“Well, I do sleep well at night knowing that I’m right and knowing that in 10 years it will have been a good thing that I spoke about artists’ rights to their art, and that we bring up conversations like: Should record deals maybe be for a shorter term, or how are we really helping artists if we’re not giving them the first right of refusal to purchase their work if they want to?” she said.
RadarOnline.com readers know Swift accused Braun, 38, of bullying her and trying to keep her from owning her own music. She said that with the helpof Scott Borchetta — who founded her former label Big Machine Records — he bought all her early albums and now has the rights to her creations.
While Braun and Borchetta, 57, say that the purchase of Swift’s music is a simple business deal that most artists go through, Swift insists she is being robbed of her music by two men who do not appreciate anything but power; and now, she plans to re-record her first six albums.
“And of course, Scooter never contacted me or my team to discuss it prior to the sale or even when it was announced,” Swift said in her 15-minute Billboard speech. “I’m fairly certain he knew exactly how I would feel about it, though, and let me just say that the definition of toxic male privilege in our industry is people saying ‘but he’s always been nice to me’ when I’m raising valid concerns about artists and their right to own their music. And of course he’s nice to you, if you’re in this room, you have something he needs. The fact is that private equity enabled this man to think, according to his own social media post, that he could ‘buy me.’ But I’m obviously not going willingly.”
While many fans and loved ones cheered Swift on after her emotional speech, others attacked her even more. Before she publicly bashed him, Braun even accused her of bullying him and creating a false storyline to fit her “narrative.” He also said that due to her harsh remarks about him, he and his family have been getting death threats from her fans.
“Obviously, anytime you’re standing up against or for anything, you’re never going to receive unanimous praise,” Swift said in her interview. “But that’s what forces you to be brave. And that’s what’s different about the way I live my life now.”
During her talk with the magazine, the singer also opened up about other aspects of her life, including the devastating news of her mother’s health crisis. She said that while Andrea Swift has been undergoing treatment for cancer for some years now, she was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor as well.
“So it’s just been a really hard time for us as a family,” Swift admitted.
Due to her mom’s ailments, Swift decided to cut her Lover album tour short. As readers know, the pop star released the song “Soon You’ll Get Better,” featuring the Dixie Chicks, about her mother’s health crisis.
“I mean, we don’t know what is going to happen. We don’t know what treatment we’re going to choose,” Swift said. “It just was the decision to make at the time, for right now, for what’s going on.”