Jack White Clarifies Taylor Swift Comments After Backlash
Rocker Jack White is defending himself from the wrath of Taylor Swift fans, insisting he never called her music "boring."
The White Stripes musician issued a statement to Instagram on Monday after a comment he made about Taylor Swift in a new interview went viral. The post didn't stay up long, however, as he has since deleted it.
The drama began when, speaking with The Guardian, White was asked whether any of his music is "entirely autobiographical." It's then he invoked the name of Swift, responding, "Not too much. Now it's become very popular in the Taylor Swift way of pop singers writing about all of their publicly aired break-ups, which I don't find interesting at all."
Swift, of course, has made a very successful career out of writing about her high-profile relationships, often included hints in her lyrics as to which of her famous exes inspired her songs.
"I think it's a little bit boring for me to write about myself. Even if I've had a really interesting day, I feel like I've already lived that, I don't need to go through it every time I sing this song," White continued, adding that it's hard for him to put something "really painful" and personal out into the world only for "some idiot on the internet to stomp all over" it.
White Responds to Backlash
After saying all that, it didn't take long for headlines framing White's comments as criticism for Swift's songwriting style to pop up online. That was followed by backlash on social media from Swifties.
In an attempt to squash the conversation, the rocker took to Instagram on Monday to issue a statement clarifying his remarks.
"Putting this up for a day and then taking down to just put this to bed," wrote White in a since-deleted post.
"I didn't say that I think Taylor Swift's music was 'boring' or whatever click bait the net is trying to scrape together," he insisted. "What I was trying to say in an interview I did about poetry and lyric writing, was that I don't find it interesting at all for ME to write about MYSELF in my own lyric writing and poetry because I think that it could be repetitive for ME to always write about and It could be uninteresting for people who listen to my music to delve into, and that imaginary characters are more attractive to me as a writer."
White then said that Swift and other songwriters have had "tremendous success writing in their own styles," adding that he's "very happy for them that they've succeeded in engaging with so many music lovers in their own way."
"Just because I say I have a way of doing things doesn't mean that I think that EVERYONE should do it the same way," he wrote. "They should do what works for them, And they do, and it is obviously appealing to many people, and I'm glad to hear that."
White concluded his post by saying he's become "less and less interested in doing interviews" due to comments like the ones he made to The Guardian "being turned into drama" and "content."
Swift, meanwhile, has not commented on White's remarks.