Given the current vogue for Nineties nostalgia, it was perhaps inevitable that 2022 would deliver a news story about a Britpop star involved in some needless musical beef. Step forward Damon Albarn, frontman of Blur and Gorillaz, who has whipped the internet into a frenzy by baselessly accusing noted songwriter Taylor Swift of not writing her own songs. I know it’s been a while, but isn’t Albarn supposed to realise when he’s sounding like a charmless man?
Swift, understandably, quickly took to Twitter to point out that she very much does write her own songs. “Your hot take is completely false and SO damaging,” she wrote. “You don’t have to like my songs but it’s really f***ed up to try and discredit my writing.” In response, Albarn offered a half-hearted apology that complained his comments had been “reduced to clickbait”. This would be an easier excuse to swallow if the exact back-and-forth hadn’t been printed in the LA Times.
