Scooter Braun Admits 'Arrogance' Led To His Very Public Beef With Taylor Swift

Scooter Braun has suggested his own “arrogance” was at the root of his very public beef with Taylor Swift.

Back in 2019, the now-retired music manager made headlines when it was announced he had bought Taylor’s old record label Big Machine, and therefore owned the masters to her first six albums.

Following this, Taylor famously released a statement calling the purchase a “worst-case scenario” for her, claiming she’d been on the receiving end of “incessant and manipulative bullying” from him and his former clients, namely Justin Bieber and Kanye West, “for years”.

The debacle inspired Taylor to begin re-recording her early albums, with “Taylor’s Version” re-releases of Fearless, Speak Now, Red and 1989 all coming out in the last few years.

Having since sold his stake in Taylor’s old works, and retired from music management, Scooter reflected on the much-publicised feud during a new interview on Steven Bartlett’s Diary Of A CEO podcast.

“When I bought Big Machine, I thought I was going to work with all the artists on [it]. I thought it was going to be an exciting thing,” Scooter insisted.

“I knew that Taylor, she and I had only met three or four times. And one of the times, years earlier, it was really a great engagement. She invited me to her private party, she respected me…”

He continued: “In between that time since I’d seen her last, I started managing Kanye West, I managed Justin Bieber. I knew she didn’t get along with them.

“This is where my arrogance came in. I had a feeling she probably didn’t like me because I managed them, but I thought that once this announcement happened, she would talk to me, see who I am, and we would work together.”

Of course, that is… very far from what happened, with Scooter claiming he was “shocked” by Taylor’s actual reaction to the news.

Just two weeks ago, Taylor announced that she had finally bought back the original masters for her first six albums, and was therefore putting the brakes on releasing a new version of her 2017 collection Reputation.

She did, however, say that she’d finished re-recording her self-titled debut, and that this would get its moment to shine “when the time is right”.