Damon Albarn said he was “cast into the social media abyss” while addressing his spat with Taylor Swift at his Los Angeles concert.
The Blur and Gorillaz rocker incurred the wrath of the ‘Lover’ hitmaker by downplaying her songwriting ability in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, and she called him out on his “damaging” remarks.
During his solo gig at the Walt Disney Concert Hall this week, the 53-year-old musician told the crowd before performing ‘Song 2’ that journalist Mikael Wood had asked him to play the Blur hit “before he cast me into the social media abyss” with his question regarding Taylor.
He added: “You can judge for yourself. I think I’m becoming old-fashioned.”
The row ensued after the outlet promoted the interview in a tweet that 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.”
The 32-year-old pop star retweeted the post and fumed: “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.”
The Britpop legend – who has received death threats from Taylor’s fans -suggested his remarks had been sensationalised to attract readers and apologised “unreservedly and unconditionally”.
He 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.”
Everyone from Taylor’s collaborators, including Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, to Liam Gallagher and Jedward, and even the new President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, spoke out in support of the ‘Shake It Off’ hitmaker.
The latter tweeted: “Here in Chile you have a huge group of supporters who knows that you write you own songs from the heart. Dont take seriously guys that need to insult or lie to get attention. Hugs from the south Taylor.”