Kelly Clarkson has revealed Scooter Braun “took offense” when she suggested Taylor Swift re-record her back catalogue.
The singer-turned-talk show host took to Twitter in 2019 to tweet a suggestion the “Shake It Off” hitmaker created new versions of her early songs following the row over her master recordings when the music manager bought Swift’s former record label, Big Machine Records, and she’s now revealed the executive called her management to express his unhappiness about her wading into the row.
Clarkson tweeted at the time: “@taylorswift13 just a thought, U should go in + re-record all the songs that U don’t own the masters on exactly how U did them but put brand new art + some kind of incentive so fans will no longer buy the old versions.(sic)”
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Reflecting on the aftermath, the “Breakaway” singer told Andy Cohen on a SiriusXM Town Hall special: “I think Scooter took offence to it, because we ran into each other, and I think he reached out at the time to my manager. I was like, ‘It wasn’t anything against him.’
“When she came out and said that and I heard about it, I was like, ‘Whatever. Re-record them. Your fans will support you.’ Uh, they did. She has like every top record right now in the charts.
“He called my manager at the time I heard, and I don’t know what happened or what was said, but I think he thought I was attacking him. I was like, ‘I honest to God didn’t even realise who had the [rights].’ I didn’t even know all the information.(sic)”
Clarkson hailed Swift a “genius” and admitted she felt it was “wrong” the “Love Story” singer didn’t get the chance to buy her own master recordings.
She continued: “All I heard was, ‘Man, I really want to own,’ and I was like, ‘Man, that song… She writes everything. It’s so important to her. She’s a businesswoman.’
“It felt wrong that she didn’t have the opportunity. Right? That’s the thing. If you have the opportunity and you choose to not pay that much money, that’s one thing, but to not have the opportunity to own something that is really important to you [is another].
Clarkson continued: “I knew it was important to her, so I thought, ‘Why don’t you just re-record them? Your fans will support you.’ Literally, she’s a genius. Not only did she re-record it, she planned this ‘Eras Tour’ — like, this woman is brilliant.”
While Swift has so far recorded and released “Taylor’s Versions” of her early albums “Red”and “Fearless”, with “Speak Now” set to follow next month, and “1989”, “Reputation” and “Taylor Swift” to follow at later dates, Clarkson doesn’t think her suggestion had much influence.
She said: “I think she is brilliant. She would’ve come up with that on her own and she maybe already had before I even tweeted it.”
Braun later sold the catalogue to private equity company Shamrock Holdings in a deal reportedly worth more than $300 million.
