Tove Lo would like to see Damon Albarn and Taylor Swift mend their rift by collaborating.
The Swedish pop star – who has co-written hits for the likes of Dua Lipa, Lorde and Ellie Goulding – has spoken out in support of the ‘Shake It Off’ hitmaker and believes the Blur and Gorillaz frontman was misunderstood when he suggested she doesn’t write any of her songs, before issuing an apology.
Speaking to the Daily Star newspaper’s Wired column, Tove, 34, said: “I know Taylor writes and she is a great writer.
“I guess maybe he had a misunderstanding of that.
“I know when people see a lot of names on a song they think, ‘Oh did they do this or not?’
“But it’s rare for anyone to write their songs 100 % these days.
“The way we collaborate now, you send people stuff and say, ‘Hey can you find something else’.
“The fact that there is a lot of names doesn’t mean the artist isn’t involved.”
Asked whether the pair should get in the studio together, she replied: “That would be sick, join the genres. I would love to see some genre-blending.”
The row ensued following an interview Damon, 53, Gave to the Los Angeles Times newspaper.
The outlet promoted the interview with the tweet: “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.”
Taylor 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.”
However, Damon 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.”