Kelly Clarkson Claims Scooter Braun ‘Took Offense’ for Encouraging Taylor Swift to Re-Record Albums

While speaking with Andy Cohen during a SiriusXM Town Hall special, the 41-year-old singer recalled sending Swift a message on Twitter in 2019, in which she suggested Taylor “re-record” the songs she didn’t own the masters to. (See below.)

However, according to Clarkson, Braun appeared to take issue with her tweet.

“I think Scooter took offense to it because we ran into each other, and I think he reached out at the time to my manager,” Kelly told Andy. “I was like, ‘It wasn’t anything against him.’ I just, when she came out and said that [about her albums], and I heard about it, I was like, ‘Whatever. Like, re-record them. Your fans will support you.’ Uh, they did.”

After Clarkson noted that Braun didn’t speak to her directly, saying he called her manager, she continued, “I don’t know what happened or what was said, but I think he thought I was attacking him. … I didn’t even know all the information. All I heard was, ‘Man, I really want to own [my work].'”

The talk show host added that Swift “writes everything” and her music is “so important to her,” and called Taylor a “businesswoman.”

“It felt wrong that she didn’t have the opportunity. Right? That’s the thing,” she continued. “It’s like, 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.”

Clarkson pointed out that she’s “not a businesswoman at all,” but knew “it was important” to Swift.

“I thought, ‘Why don’t you just rerecord them, and your fans will support you,’ and literally, she’s a genius,” Kelly added, praising Taylor. “Not only did she re-record it, she planned it, like, with this Eras Tour where she gets to [perform everything]. Like, this woman is brilliant.”

And now that Swift has since re-recorded three of her albums, Cohen asked Clarkson if the pop star has reached out to her “thank” her for the “idea” to re-record her music. “No,” Kelly said. “She would’ve come up with that on her own, and she maybe already had before I even tweeted it.”

Swift, 33, signed with Universal Music Group in November 2018 ahead of her seventh album, Lover, specifically so that she could own outright all of her new work, which now includes Folklore (2020), Evermore (2020) and Midnights (2022).

In 2019, she alleged she received “incessant, manipulative bullying” from Braun in the past.

Taylor drew a clear line in the sand after Braun’s Ithaca Holdings bought her former label Big Machine Records. The deal included control over Swift’s masters from her first six albums, and she went public calling this a worst-case scenario for her because of her alleged history with Braun.

In November 2020, it was revealed Scooter’s company sold all the albums for $300 million to Shamrock Holdings. While Swift was speaking with Shamrock to try and work out a way to work with them, she claimed Scooter would continue to profit off her masters as part of the deal.

“I have recently begun re-recording my older music and it has already proven to be both exciting and creatively fulfilling,” she said at the time. “I have plenty of surprises in store. I want to thank you guys for supporting me through this ongoing saga, and I can’t wait for you to hear what I’ve been dreaming up.”

Taylor also confirmed at the time she was cleared to re-record her first five albums — Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red and 1989.

Swift released Fearless (Taylor’s Version) in April 2021, and Red (Taylor’s Version) the following November. Next month, she will drop the re-recording of her album, Speak Now.