Not even Taylor Swift dodges criticism for her work as a singer-songwriter. Some takes can be boiled down to musical tastes being subjective. Others are outright false, from sweeping assumptions that all of her lyrics are about a breakup to Damon Albarn of Brit-pop legends Blur infamously questioning whether or not Swift even writes her songs.
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A regular Swift collaborator since 2012, Jack Antonoff reflected back on the Albarn controversy and other dismissals of his friend as a songwriter in his recent LA Times feature.
"[If] you come after my friend Taylor, you're toast to me," Antonoff said, adding that questioning Swift's songwriter cred "is like challenging someone's faith in God. You just don't go there."
The Albarn controversy began with his 2022 interview with the LA Times. In it, he confusingly questioned the validity of Swift or anyone else who writes songs with collaborators and not on their own.
"I was such a big fan of yours until I saw this. I write ALL of my own songs," Swift tweeted at Albarn after his quotes went viral. "Your hot take is completely false and SO damaging. You don't have to like my songs but it's really f---ed up to try and discredit my writing. WOW."
Swift signed off her series of responses with "PS I wrote this tweet all by myself in case you were wondering."
Albarn later apologized to Swift via Twitter.
"I totally agree with you," he wrote in response to Swift. "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."
Even if Albarn's criticism of co-songwriters held water, Swift wouldn't be a strong example. Over 60 of her songs are solo writes.
