Using her voice. Camila Cabello was one of the first people to publicly support Taylor Swift amid the “Me!” singer’s drama with Scooter Braun, and now she is explaining her decision.
“She is my friend,” the “Señorita” singer, 22, said in Variety’s “Power of Young Hollywood” issue, published on Tuesday, August 6. “And someone in her position — which is, like, on another level — I can’t imagine how many times she’s been let down by people, or gotten disappointed by friends who were just using her, or people who just wanted to be friends with Taylor Swift or whatever. I’m happy to be there for her as a person. Like, ‘Even when it’s not popular, I’ve got you. I’m, like, your real friend.’”
Braun, 38, made headlines in June after purchasing Swift’s former label, Big Machine Records, from founder Scott Borchetta for a reported $500 million. In turn, he also acquired the “Shake It Off” songstress’ master recordings from her first six albums. Swift, 29, called the sale her “worst case scenario” in an explosive Tumblr post, in addition to accusing the music manager of “incessant, manipulative” bullying.
At the time, Cabello, who opened Swift’s 2018 Reputation tour, tweeted, “I don’t know a lot about what’s going on but I will say I really believe artists should own their own life’s work.” The former Fifth Harmony member explained in her Variety interview that she “one hundred percent [felt Swift’s] frustration.”
“An artist of her caliber just being f–ed over like that, and not being able to have her masters? That sucks. It’s heartbreaking for her,” she continued. “And I do believe a lot of the systems in place for the music industry are kind of … messed up. When you think about how artists have to slave to make these things, and then you don’t own them, that is kind of a ridiculous concept.”
Several celebrities got involved in the drama, including Borchetta, 57, who claimed in a blog post on the record label’s website in June that Swift “chose to leave” despite having “every chance in the world to own not just her master recordings, but every video, photograph, everything associated to her career.” Her lawyer Donald Passman later told Us Weekly, “Scott Borchetta never gave Taylor Swift an opportunity to purchase her masters, or the label, outright with a check in the way he is now apparently doing for others.”
