Damon Albarn is slated to perform at the Walt Disney Hall tonight in Los Angeles. Ahead of the one-off show, the Blur/Gorillaz frontman gave an interview to the Los Angeles Times. In it, he lofted praise upon Billie Eilish, saying that he thinks she’s “exceptional.” However, he didn’t think the same of Taylor Swift. Albarn said that “she doesn’t write her own songs.” And that “co-writing is very different.”

Swift caught wind of Albarn’s comments and responded on Twitter, saying: “@DamonAlbarn I was such a big fan of yours until I saw this,” Swift 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 fucked up to try and discredit my writing. WOW.”

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

Swift came up in the original article when the interviewer suggested that Swift was an example of an excellent songwriter, and Albarn disagreed: “That doesn’t count,” Albarn said. “I know what co-writing is. 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. Doesn’t mean that the outcome can’t be really great.”

Albarn continued: “And some of the greatest singers – I mean, Ella Fitzgerald never wrote a song in her life. When I sing, I have to close my eyes and just be in there. I suppose I’m a traditionalist in that sense. 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.”

Jack Antonoff, Swift’s frequent producer, also weighed in on the online feud, defending Swift by saying: “I’ve never met Damon Albarn and he’s never been to my studio but apparently he knows more than the rest of us about all those songs Taylor writes and brings in. herb.” And in a second tweet, added: “if you were there … cool … go off. if not … maybe …. shut the fuck up?”

Albarn quickly walked back his statement on Swift. In a response to Swift’s tweet, Albarn blamed the editors of the L.A. Times story for reducing his comments to “clickbait.” He said: “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.”

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