Taylor Swift has hit out at Scooter Braun in her acceptance speech for Billboard’s woman of the decade award, slamming the ‘toxic male privilege’ in the music industry and the world as a whole.
The singer, 30, became the first ever honouree of the award, and told the audience about her struggles as a woman in the industry throughout the last decade, especially this year when she fought for the rights to the masters of her music.
She said in her speech: ‘When this decade began I was 20 years old. I saw that as a female in this industry, some people will always have the slightest reservations about you.
‘Whether a male producer or co-writer was the reason for your success, or whether it was a savvy record label [responsible for your success]. It wasn’t. People want to explain away a woman’s success in this industry.
‘All of a sudden they weren’t sure if I was the one writing the songs, because sometimes I had co-writers in the room. This is what happens to a woman in music if she achieves success beyond people’s comfort level.’
Taylor also called out the double standards of how men and women are seen in the public eye, adding: ‘Have you ever heard someone say about a male artist, “I really like his songs, but there’s something about him I don’t like?” No, that criticism is reserved for us.’
She also called out Scooter by name, alluding to the feud over the rights to her masters after he bought her old record label, Big Machine.
‘Lately there’s been a new shift that has affected me personally, and as your resident loud person, I feel like I need to bring it up. And that’s the unregulated world of private equity coming in and buying up our music as if it’s real estate, or an app, or a shoe line.
‘This happened to me without my approval, consultation or consent. Scooter [Braun] never contacted me or my team to discuss it prior to the sale.
‘[It’s] the definition of the toxic male privilege in our industry to say, “Well, he’s always been nice to me…” Of course he’s nice to you; if you’re in this room, you have something he needs.’
Taylor is now planning to re-record her back catalogue of songs so she will finally own the rights to her music from her first six albums.
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