All language subtitles for Taylor.Swift.vs.Scooter.Braun.Bad.Blood.S01E01.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH

We love you, Taylor!

Taylor Swift is really unique in
that she is the first musician

to become a billionaire
just solely through music.

Yes!

I don't think it's an
overestimation to say

that Taylor Swift is the most
impactful songwriter of her generation.

Scott, right here.

Scott Borchetta, who
signed her to Big Machine,

he sold the label,

and with it her masters
of her early work,

to Scooter Braun, a very
high profile manager,

who managed at various points

Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande

and, of course, most
importantly, Kanye West

who Taylor had long viewed
as an antagonizer of hers.

This was a huge deal for her

I think psychologically
and emotionally,

turning this contractual
boardroom fight

into something much bigger,

which is about feminism,
it's about women's rights.

This was a battle of titans.

It wasn't David versus Goliath.

It was Goliath versus Goliath.

Taylor is very down to earth,
very genuine, very real.

To have this collection
of moments and stories

taken away from her and
sold without her knowledge

was truly like a gut
punch for her fans.

She knew Scooter expected her to sit
down and shut up and be a good girl,

and she wasn't going
to take it that way.

I do not see that he
did anything wrong.

He paid for his rights
fair and square.

The truth didn't matter.

She had the ability
to rally her fans.

She literally
called on her fans

to apply pressure on Scooter.

Did you maybe stop and
think about what it means

when you activate your
fans against someone?

We're talking about hundreds
of millions of dollars.

We're talking about the catalog of one
of the most beloved artists in the world.

There was a lot at stake.

♪ I tell my soul ♪

♪ Only love forgives ♪

♪ Only love forgives ♪

♪ Tell my soul ♪

♪ Only love forgives ♪

♪ Only love forgives ♪

♪ I've been through
flame And fire ♪

♪ It's got me In
a devil's noose ♪

♪ I tell my soul ♪

♪ My soul ♪

♪ Only love Only
love forgives ♪

- Taylor! Taylor!
- Taylor.

Taylor! Taylor!

It's 2019 Billboard
Women In Music event.

An industry crowd, insiders,

and Taylor is giving
a speech and says,

"My music was sold out
from underneath me..."

After I was denied the chance
to purchase my music outright.

My entire catalog was sold to
Scooter Braun's Ithaca Holdings.

None of these investors
have ever bothered

to contact me or
my team directly

to perform their due diligence
on their investment...

On their investment in me.

She seems genuinely in crisis.

She's upset.

You can tell that she is in
kind of freefall about this.

The fact that someone's
bought my catalog

without letting me know...

This isn't right.

This isn't the way
it should be done.

Taylor was very good
at turning something

that, to most people, is a really
incomprehensible, unrelatable situation

in which you are
fighting a boardroom,

you are fighting a music label,

and turning it into something
really understandable,

which is, "I've made the songs.

I've created them. I've
written them. I've sung them.

I deserve to own it."

Taylor, over the shoulder!

This became very
much a public dispute

and what is considered a kind
of Scooter versus Taylor field,

it really goes all the way back.

It actually has a lot
to do with Kanye West.

You look wonderful.

Over the shoulder, Taylor!

In 2009, Taylor is making

She was so young and,
you know, she's 19

and she's up against
people like Beyoncé,

who has the song Single Ladies,

which is one of the
biggest songs of that year.

I mean, you know, when
you're a teenage artist

who's crossing over, especially
from country to pop music,

this is a massive deal.

Yeah, it feels awesome
anytime I'm on the same list,

as people like Britney
Spears and Beyoncé.

It's like, I can't
even believe that.

I can't believe that I
get to be at the VMAs

and perform and be nominated.

It's a wonderful night.

So when Taylor goes up to accept the
award for best female music video...

Thank you so much for giving me
a chance to win a VMA award. I...

Kanye West comes on
stage, interrupts her.

Yo, Taylor.

I'm really happy for
you. Imma let you finish.

But Beyoncé had one of the
best videos of all time.

One of the best
videos of all time.

Taylor would talk
about this later,

about how, after
the VMA experience,

she was, of course,
a Kanye West fan.

I was really excited because
I had just won the award

and then I was really excited
because Kanye West was on the stage.

And then I...

Then I wasn't so excited
anymore after that.

So were you a fan before?

Yeah, it's Kanye West.

It makes sense that there
is this extra level of,

"Oh no, a hero of mine doesn't
think I deserve this award."

You know, she's a very
young woman at the time.

She viewed it as a real
violation of her...

Moment in the
spotlight, for sure,

but also of her
artistic authority.

Here she was, she had
been chosen to win.

And here was someone saying that If you
didn't deserve it, somebody else did it.

So I think right
from the beginning

it's sort of framing this as Kanye
diminishing Taylor as an artist.

Kanye, over here, please.

Taylor hosted SNL
the week after.

You might be expecting me to
say something bad about Kanye...

and how he ran up on the stage

and ruined my VMA monologue.

But there's
nothing more to say

'cause everything's okay.

I've got security
lining the stage.

She had a great moment

where she's made a joke about it in
her monologue that she wrote herself

and nipped the whole
thing in the bud,

and Taylor moved on quickly
from the drama around that night

and just went back
to work and touring.

One of the things that made Taylor
different from almost anybody else

that American pop
culture had ever seen

is that she was initially
a teenager making music

really for people her own age.

And there have been
very few teenage stars

up until Taylor
that managed to grow

that level of success
into adulthood.

I first met Taylor
because we got seated

next to each other
at an industry dinner

right after she had signed her
record deal with Big Machine.

Coming into music row,
Big Machine is right here.

That was the building that Taylor
Swift and Scott Borchetta built.

So Big Machine is a label in
Nashville started by Scott Borchetta,

and Taylor is one of his
earliest acts that he signs.

I think he recognizes that
this is a special talent,

maybe a generational talent.

And Taylor's success, not
surprisingly, attracts lots of artists.

And the label is a success, and Borchetta
benefits greatly from that success.

It occurs to me how
lucky I am actually.

I get so excited about it and I
wake up with a smile on my face,

and honestly never thought
I'd get to do this stuff.

I never told you this before.

You have a very "easy
to talk to" stance,

and I don't think it's
anything you know you're doing.

- Yeah.
- But it's like, it's just like, really chill

- and like, we're just talking.
- Oh good.

- Well, that's what I'm going for. So...
- Yeah.

15-year-old Taylor
was very friendly

and very determined.

She knew how to talk to people,

she knew how to
connect with people.

She took songwriting seriously.

She wanted to put in the work
of learning to write songs

before she put in the work
of learning to be famous.

Taylor continued to
grow with her audience,

but also she began to add people

that didn't pay any attention
to her when she was a teenager.

And so she not only made
that successful transition

from teen pop star into
major adult music star,

she actually got bigger.

Do you need help with those?

No, I'm going to carry them as
long as they'll let me have them.

She found a way to
connect with people

who were just beginning
to hear her music

and turned them into fans

that felt like
they were friends.

Taylor Swift is the
world's best friend.

She's really good
at bridging the gap

between I am a famous
person and this is my music.

This is my prized Taylor
Swift merch collection.

This is a collector's
item that I got in 2012.

It's just a really
beautiful construction

of a young girl trying
to figure out her life

while everything is kind
of going wrong around it.

Taylor Swift is
hugely important to me

because her songs, her
albums and her tours

have really soundtracked the
major moments of my life.

For me. I think that, you know,
writing my own songs was a way to...

To, you know, create what I wanted
to create and music about my life.

And that way it kind of became
just a diary put to music

every time I put
out a new record.

Her unique skill
as a songwriter

and a performer is being able
to say something very personal

and make it feel very general
or universally applicable.

And so I feel hurt
when she's hurt,

and I feel happy
when she's happy.

And I think that's a really essential
part of being a Taylor Swift fan

is kind of living her
life alongside her.

Growing up as a young
gay man in Singapore,

those songs were really kind of like little
lullabies that sung me to sleep at night

when I wasn't quite sure who
I was or where I was going.

It is undeniable that she is the most
impactful songwriter of our generation

on par with The Beatles,
on par with Bob Dylan.

She has a desire to be
seen as a songwriter,

as someone who has a craft.

Women in pop have historically

and inaccurately been portrayed

as just cogs in the
machine, as not creative.

So Taylor Swift's real
push to position herself

as a songwriter first and foremost,
has been immensely impactful.

She is able to write
these very personal songs

that invoke imagery of writing in your
diary in your bedroom as a teenager.

And what's been so interesting
following her career

is the ways that
she's never lost

that intensely personal
way of writing,

even as her life has
got less relatable.

- Hello. Nice to meet you.
- Lisa. How are you?

I'm doing great. How are you?

I wish I hadn't put my... I just
took my heels off and now...

Oh! And then, a
giant walks up. Yeah.

She's such a nice person.
She's such a kind person.

I got here and there
were all these signs

and people with pictures
of me like outside,

like all the fans
like screaming.

It was amazing.

She has always just put a
strong emphasis in her career

on rewarding those fans
and surprising them.

And if she's able to showing up and
being there for important moments

just to show the
connection and the love

that she has for her fans.

There is one secret that I
didn't trust any of you with.

It's a crazy story, but I
decided to propose to my husband

while I was listening to a song
from her albumReputation in the car.

The song is calledKing
of My Heart.

And so I just wrote her an
email just letting her know

that this song had
impacted me in such a way.

Hi.

Which ended up leading to her
coming to my engagement party

and singing the song on guitar.

All at once you are the one
I have been waiting for.

King of my heart.

Body and soul. Oh-oh.

We all are on this planet
looking for connection,

looking for love,
looking for happiness.

And she has such a skill at putting
those relatable feelings to music

that it makes the fans even more
feel like she's their champion.

You know when she's
singing about something

that was truly
heartbreaking or sad,

you do want to
pick up a pitchfork

and be like, "Who
hurt Taylor?"

Give it up for my friend Justin.

Give it up for Justin Bieber!

I think one thing to
understand is that

Taylor has a really long
history with a lot of people

that Scooter also has
a long history with,

and I think there's a lot behind
the scenes that we don't know about.

Justin Bieber is a singer and he's
also being managed by Scooter Braun.

Scooter Braun is a talent
manager and a businessman.

He was more than just a manager.

He was a father
figure to Justin.

I couldn't be more
happy that I met him

and he helped me
get to where I am.

That's so nice.

In Justin Bieber's 2011 concert
documentary, Never Say Never,

Scooter gave himself
a key supporting role.

And he talks about Taylor Swift

as this inspiration for Justin.

We got invited to meet Taylor
Swift at her sold out show.

First time she'd ever
sold out the Garden.

And I remember the kids are
waving their hands side to side

all around these stands.

A lot of managers are content

to kind of hang in the
background and be invisible.

But Scooter always wanted to be out
there and be in front of the camera.

And in clients
documentaries since then,

he's often made
himself a character.

I think he really
wants to be known.

You're in the second row.

Are you serious? Oh my God!

- You cry when you see him?
- We cried when we saw you.

He didn't just want to
be an artist manager.

He wanted to have an empire.

And he's made really
strategic business decisions

to help make that happen.

I am Heather Wirth, and I
was part of the 1989 Tour

with Taylor Swift as
her personal assistant.

This is my official badge.

I was going from state to
state, stadium to stadium,

hotel to hotel, driving her,

dealing with the paparazzi.

It's 24/7. It's
always go time.

You know, if she needs
you, you're there.

Taylor is very down to earth.

There's no fakeness to her.

Everything is very
genuine, very real.

Morning, Taylor.
You look beautiful.

Everywhere she went, she would write
down lyrics or thoughts or maybe ideas.

There was one time where I was
traveling with her on her tour

and she was sitting in
the back of her plane.

I could hear her just
throwing words together.

And then basically
in front of me,

she ended up writing...
Ready For It.

When that song came out, I
was like, I know that song.

She wrote that like,
right next to me.

It takes a while for Taylor
to let her guard down.

When I worked with her, it
took her a while with me.

- You wanted to get one?
- Of course I do!

These tabloids, they twist
things, constantly twisting it,

while all the paparazzi
and everything.

Can you get me too?

At the end of the day, Taylor
is just a normal person,

just like you and me.

Taylor! This side!

She has experienced
a lot of misogyny

in the ways that she was reduced
down to who she was dating.

The tabloids would
obsessively write about her.

She was positioned
as the bunny boiler.

She's only going to date you so
that she can write a song about you.

And this just reflects kind of
the immense double standards

of the ways that famous
musicians are spoken about.

She is not doing anything
different to how artists

like The Beatles or Harry Styles have
written about their romantic life,

but that's seen as cathartic

whereas Taylor Swift's
songwriting is positioned

as weaponized victimhood.

There was a time where it was
the butt of a lot of jokes.

Her dating life was
seen as a punch line.

You seem to have had more than
your fair share of breakups?

Yeah, there have been a few.

Who are you seeing
at the moment?

I don't really talk about that.

-I just kind of...
-Well, why not? What's wrong with it?

Because...

There was kind of a
cat and mouse element

to some of those
early interviews.

She would just stop talking
rather than say too much.

You think that you do maybe get
into a relationship too readily?

Do you give too much
of yourself too soon?

Would that be why
this keeps happening?

I don't know why people think
that. People think that about me.

That's like I think...

Because you've had so
many breakups. That's why.

When I would see
people talking about,

"Oh, she's just going
from guy to guy to guy,"

I knew that I wasn't
seeing anything different

than when I was that age or
when my wife was that age.

When I talked to her
about relationships,

I don't think I saw how much hearing
those things would have affected her.

I didn't realize that
she was going through

a lot of the things that
she was going through.

Taylor is someone who very much
sticks to what she believes in.

She knows exactly
who her audience is

and what she wants to present
to them as a role model.

There are a lot of levels to how bad
the music industry can be for people

and deep rooted sexism that
she has faced in her career.

In 2013, she says that she was groped
by a radio DJ called David Mueller

at a meet and greet
and gets photographed.

She subsequently got
him sacked from his job.

He sued her for $3 million
and she countersued him,

saying it was essentially
sexual assault.

And it went to trial.

She actually stood
up and testified,

and a jury ruled in her favor,

and she asked that he pay
her one dollar in damages

as a kind of symbolic result

because it was more important
for her to win on the principle

rather than to get
any money out of him.

And I think that tells you
something about her tenaciousness,

but also about the fact that
she is willing to fight people

who have done her wrong

and just makes her even more
beloved in the eyes of her fans.

The music industry
runs on artists.

It also runs on managers
orchestrating deals,

who are helping artists
steer their careers.

And Scooter was very skilled
at navigating superstardom

on behalf of his clients,

and saw clearly how to create pop
superstars in a social media age.

I got to ask you. Kanye West,
eight Grammy nominations.

How is he doing?

He's a fantastic individual, and
I am blessed to call him my friend

and he's doing great.

In 2016, Kanye has
his song Famous

where there's a very
inflammatory line in there

where he says that he might
still have sex with Taylor Swift.

"Why? Because he made
that bitch famous."

And so, you know, nobody wants
to hear this rapped about them.

I mean, obviously, that's
playing into all kinds of

misogynistic tropes
about the music industry

that the only way
Taylor got there

was because of who she
had relationships with.

Southside that know me best.

I feel like me and Taylor
might still have sex.

- Why?
- I made that famous!

- Goddamn.
- I made that famous!

He ends up making
a video for Famous

where Taylor, along
with public figures

like Donald Trump and Hillary
Clinton, are seen as sort of like,

these naked wax figures,
basically all in bed together.

♪ All my Southside niggas
that know me best ♪

♪ I feel like me and Taylor
might still have sex ♪

♪ Why? I made that
bitch famous ♪

♪ Goddamn I made
that bitch famous ♪

This sets off everything.

Taylor immediately makes a
public statement about it.

She's very upset about the line
"and made that bitch famous".

She references it in her
album of the year speech.

I want to say to all the
young women out there,

there are going to be
people along the way

who will try to
undercut your success.

Or take credit for your
accomplishments or your fame.

She's using this moment
to sort of say, "Hey.

This is somebody trying to
take away what I've built,

what I've created,
and they're trying to

make you think
something else is true."

Stay with us, Taylor!

Kim Kardashian ends
up posting to Snapchat

a secret recording of Kanye
calling Taylor from his studio.

There was a controversy about
whether these clips were edited

to show Taylor in a bad light.

And when the full
recording comes out,

you can hear him asking permission
to talk about her in the song.

It has a very controversial line

at the beginning of
the song about you.

What does it say?

Okay. Can you brace
yourself for a second?

- Yeah.
- Okay. All right.

It says... Wait a
second, you sound sad.

Well, is it going to be mean?

No, I don't think it's mean.

"To all my Southside
niggas that know me best.

I feel like Taylor
Swift might owe me sex."

- That's not mean.
- Okay.

I mean, I need to think about it

because I just need
to, like, you know,

you hear something
for the first time

- and you just need to think about it.
- Yeah.

But like, oh my God,
the buildup you gave it,

I thought it was gonna be like,
"That stupid, dumb bitch."

Like, but it's not.

Now, the video doesn't show him asking
for permission for the line, however,

that is, "I made
that bitch famous",

which had been the source
of a lot of Taylor's anger.

But regardless, having
any sort of video footage

of Taylor proving any
part of Famous was enough

for people to flood her
Instagram with snake emojis.

For Kim and Kanye to call
it a win for themselves.

For Taylor to be seen
in a lesser light

than she'd ever
been seen before.

This was the biggest controversy

that she had experienced
in her career.

At the time, hashtag KimExposedTaylor
was trending on Twitter.

It had a really big impact
on her mental health.

She moved countries.

She said she was afraid
to pick up the phone

because she didn't know
who she could trust.

This was a huge deal for her

I think psychologically
and emotionally.

During this whole Famous saga,

when she was really
affected by it,

Scooter Braun was
managing Kanye.

It seems that Taylor
viewed Scooter

as having something to
do with Kanye's behavior.

Scooter was good at helping
artists steer their careers.

Here's what you should do.
Here's what you shouldn't do.

There's a big
burst of publicity

from Kanye West's new album.

You know all publicity is good
publicity, as the saying goes.

In the documentaryMiss Americana,
Taylor talks a little bit

about what this experience with
Kanye had done for her reputation.

I'm just tired of the...

Just...

Just feels like it's more
than music now at this point.

And just most days
I'm like, okay,

but then sometimes
I'm just like...

It just gets loud sometimes.

This very vivid way that she
describes her own emotions,

allowing herself to give an
intimate experience of her life,

to her fans and to
people who follow her.

She's very upset about the
public really hating her

and really not
being on her side.

This was a period that
she has found to be

one of the darkest in her life.

Her entire career was at stake,

where she felt like she
might lose everything.

It wasn't unusual
for news outlets

to be running stories like,
"Taylor Swift is lying to you."

She was accused of constantly playing the
victim to try and get sympathy and pity.

Bieber! Justin!

At some point, Justin Bieber
gets involved, you know.

And there's this post where you sort
of see him on a call with Scooter,

and then he's asking
Taylor. "Hey, what's up?"

And then that just, for Taylor,
it kind of reinforces this idea

that these guys are
arrayed against her.

Justin has since apologized
for his behavior,

but Taylor found it really
traumatizing at the time.

Taylor's contract
lasted 13 years,

so she was bound for 13 years

to deliver these six albums for
Scott, the owner of Big Machine.

On behalf of Big Machine Records

and our partners, Universal
Music Group Worldwide,

we are so proud to present
to you this plaque.

You have to understand that when she
signed the contract, she was a teenager.

So she wasn't the Taylor
Swift we know now.

Y'all want to hear
some country music?

And so the recognition
should be that

that I signed a deal when I was
a teenager, when I was nobody.

But I have become on the
level of Michael Jackson,

you know, Elvis, Eminem.

All right, guys.
Look right here.

Think of music as having
different components

and different parties oftentimes
own those different rights.

The songwriter owns the publishing
the moment he or she writes the song.

Generally speaking, the record label
owns the master sound recording.

When you own your own
master recordings,

it's protecting
what you've created,

the ability to say no.

She wanted a fair
deal from Big Machine.

She wanted to get
her master's back.

Taylor comes to Scott
Borchetta and says,

"Hey, I'd like to
own my masters."

Borchetta says, according
to the story here,

"All right. Well,
how about this?"

We'll do a deal where you
make another album for me,

and then I'll give you the
rights back to your old albums.

And then we'll do it like that.

"You make several more album and
then you'll own your old ones again."

She's already been basically
a slave to them for 13 years.

She's delivered six of the
biggest albums of all time,

and they were using her desire
to get her recordings back

as some type of pressure point

to get more recordings from her.

So Taylor leaves Big Machine
and goes to UMG Republic,

Universal Music Republic,

where she strikes a deal
where she owns her masters.

Why they didn't just sell
her the masters, period,

without any strings attached?

That's a question for them.

The music industry is
very much a boys club.

All the top executives,
the people who have

the most money
and the most power

are overwhelmingly
white and male.

I think it is a very
misogynistic industry.

I'd always known
about Scooter Braun,

but in 2021, he sold his business
to HYBE for a billion dollars.

And I was like, "Wow,
that's a lot of money."

But it wasn't until I
started looking into him

that I realized
just how much power

and influence and money he had.

I was really excited
to write the piece.

I don't think there
have been any other

deep-dive investigations
into Scooter and his empire.

We spoke to over 50
entertainment insiders

who'd worked with Scooter.

People were nervous to
speak on the record.

I think people are quite
intimidated by Scooter,

and a lot of people
would only speak

if they were able
to be anonymous.

Scooter has always taken
pains to present himself

as this really good guy,

this philanthropist,
this family man.

But what we heard
over and over again

was that Scooter is one of the most
ruthless people in the business.

A year ago, I'm not
going to say names

but another manager
in the business

said I was the worst music
manager in the music business

And it didn't bother me
because he's an asshole.

Around the time that
Scooter's client,

Ariana Grande was
dating Pete Davidson

and his other client,
Justin Bieber,

was engaged to Hailey Baldwin,

someone tweeted, "The
devil works hard,

but Scooter Braun
works harder."

It was in reference to the fact

that Scooter seemed to have

such vast influence
over pop culture

that two of the biggest
news stories in the world

were about his clients.

He's known for being really
good at playing the press

and shaping the media narrative.

When Taylor publishes
that first Tumblr post

in June 2019, she seems
genuinely in crisis.

"My musical legacy is
about to lie in the hands

of someone who tried
to dismantle it."

You can tell reading it

that she is in kind of
freefall about this.

This has happened
to her masters.

Scooter Braun now owns them
because he's successfully

completed his purchase of Big
Machine, her former label.

"Any time Scott Borchetta
has heard the words

'Scooter Braun' escape my lips,

it was when I was either
crying or trying not to."

And she goes on to say

that this is the worst
case scenario for her

because the person that
she describes as having

manipulatively
bullied her for years,

is now essentially
owning her work.

"Like when Kim Kardashian

orchestrated an
illegally-recorded snippet

of a phone call to be leaked

and then Scooter got
his two clients together

"to bully me online about it."

She uses this screenshot

that Justin Bieber had
put up on social media,

of him kind of laughing it
up with Kanye and Scooter

as kind of evidence that
here I've been bullied

by all these guys, but
specifically by Scooter.

Being at Billboard's
power event,

tell me about your biggest
power move from 2019?

Our biggest power move

is my new partner, Scooter
Braun, with Ithaca.

So we're having a great time,
and It's pretty powerful.

Scott Borchetta spoke
out about the deal

at the time and the
success that it was.

There are a lot of
aspects of this,

where it does come down to
a woman who trusted a man

who would sign her to his label

and promised her
this great career

and being ultimately
betrayed by him.

He was someone, who
for a very long time,

seemed like her
biggest advocate.

You didn't see it coming?

No.

So how did you find out?

I found out when it was online.

Like when it hit the news.

Nobody in your inner circle...

Nobody knew.

I knew he would sell my music.
I knew he would do that.

I couldn't believe
who he sold it to

because we've had
endless conversations

about Scooter Braun, and
he has 300,000,000 reasons

to conveniently forget
those conversations.

For Taylor, I think it was
a very personal betrayal.

I feel like there are
probably aspects of it

we won't understand about

why Scott Borchetta chose
to work with Scooter

other than money, other
than a very large paycheck.

Regardless of how the
industry is set up,

where you know, you get funding

to be able to make
that career happen.

At the end of the day,
the thought that your soul

can then be sold
to someone else.

It's like The Little Mermaid.

It's like having your
voice taken from you.

There were many times

where I did feel sorry for her,

Because not having those rights,

that's heartbreaking.

You come up with
something so awesome,

then you should be
able to keep it.

No matter how much you
want control of things,

there's always going to
be the big guy, the Man.

That song "The Man"?

That... is 100% spot on.

She was trying to say
that if she was a man,

that she would be able
to have more control.

♪ I'd be a fearless leader ♪

♪ I'd be an alpha type ♪

♪ When everyone believes ya ♪

♪ What's that like? ♪

The Man video is full of veiled
references to this whole thing.

It's pretty hard to view it
as anything but a response

to how she feels like she's
been treated as a businesswoman

and as a pop star throughout
her entire career.

Women are the engine
of the music industry.

That's who generates
the most excitement.

That's who sells
the most records.

That's who sells the
most concert tickets.

And yet, the music industry
is like many industries,

generally run by men.

In the months
following, of course,

Taylor is rolling
out her album Lover

and it's a big topic
of conversation

when she is talking
to the press.

And one thing that comes up
in a lot of those interviews

is what she plans to do.

Taylor playsGood
Morning America.

You know, TV Show.

And then in the interview
with Robin Roberts,

tells the world that
she's going to start

re-recording her early albums,

- Are you going to do that?
- Yeah, that's true.

And it's something that I'm
very excited about doing

because my contract says
that, starting November 2020,

so next year, I
can record albums

1 through 5 all over again so...

Oh, you'll do that.

I'm very excited about it.

When she first announces

that she is going to
re-record her albums,

there was a lot of questions

around whether this
was even achievable.

It's an astronomical project,

and there was an atmosphere
of disbelief amongst the media

or that this would be a
real failed vanity project.

There is a standard agreement
in record labels historically,

that prevents
re-recording of recordings

you deliver to the record label.

She had the right after the
re-recording commitment expired

to re-record her music,

but she couldn't re-record
her masters before 2020.

When that re-recording
prohibition terminated.

And Scooter, I believe, was
still coming very wealthy

off of her work
in an unfair way.

Later in 2019, Taylor sort
of tells the world that...

she has been barred from
performing some of her old music

on the American Music Awards.

"Scott Borchetta
and Scooter Braun"

have now said that
I'm not allowed

to perform my old
songs on television

because they claim that would
be re-recording my music

"before I'm allowed
to next year."

"Scott Borchetta told my team

they'll allow me to use my music

only if I do these things:

If I agree to not re-record

copycat versions of
my songs next year...

and also told my team

that I need to stop talking
about him and Scooter Braun.

She goes on to say that

my songs are being held hostage

and I feel like I'm being
punished for speaking out

about this whole
Taylor-Scooter saga.

Saying that the message
to her is very clear:

"Be a good girl and shut up."

From Taylor's perspective,

Scooter wanted to
control a woman

through the use and
ownership of her masters.

And this is an important moment

because this is
where she sort of,

as she says it, turns
to her fans "for help."

It was one of those moments

where I suddenly was like,
"I know what I can do.

I will fix this for her."

It was another challenge where it
just felt like, "What is enough?"

When can she finally
win without facing

all of these hills that
she has to climb over?

I think fans really united
around. Like, a #IStandWithTaylor

is a big way of
letting people know

like, you're not going
to push her around.

The IStandWithTaylor
hashtag starts trending,

female musicians start
posting about it,

and it becomes this whole
kind of a big moment

where Taylor is
defining the story

of what the masters
dispute is about.

It's about, um, a
woman having the nerve

to speak out and
being shouted down.

It's about, uh, men controlling
women's artistic output.

It sets this-this real kind of
moment in time for her to be

the David in the David
versus Goliath story.

It's now about a woman trying
to have creative control

versus an entire music industry

that is not set up
to support women.

First up, it's Taylor Swift.

All eyes are gonna
be on the pop star

at tonight's American
Music Awards,

where she's slated to record
a medley of her greatest hits.

Taylor opens the AMA's with
the performance of "The Man."

She turns up wearing this
oversized men's white shirt

with the names of all her
albums plastered on it.

And it is a big
pointed statement.

♪ I'm so sick of running
as fast as I can ♪

♪ Wonderin' if I'd get there
Quicker if I was a man ♪

You know, it's about a woman
who is being controlled

artistically by men
in the music industry.

And the albums are kind of
like shout-out to the fact

that these are the albums
that are currently in dispute.

So It's kind of a visual masterstroke
because it's turning this

contractual boardroom fight

into something much much
bigger, which is about feminism.

It's about young girls.

She's starting up on stage,

and being empowered and
being able to make choices

about what they do with their
work, their lives, their careers.

♪ And I'm so sick of
them Comin' at me again ♪

♪ 'Cause if I was a man ♪

♪ Then I'd be the man ♪

♪ I'd be the man ♪

♪ I'd be the man, yeah ♪

♪ 'Cause I'd be the man ♪

♪ I'd be the man ♪

I think we all can deduce

who she was singing
to in that moment.

It was a moment for her

to stand on her two feet

after she had gotten permission
to perform this music.

And assert her
power very publicly.

But she was not able, really,
to express that moral outrage

without kind of catching
the same old, boring,

like, misogynistic
critique of, well,

you are being too loud or
you're being too annoying

or you're feeling
too much in public,

and that's kind of the whole
Taylor Swift experience.

The most rage-provoking
element of being a female is...

is the gaslighting
that happens when,

you know, for centuries
we've been just expected

to absorb male behavior
silently. Right?

- Silent absorption of whatever any guy decides to do.
- Yeah.

She has spoken out to Aaron
Dessner, her producer,

about the way that
women are not allowed

to have a kind of response

to an emotional situation without
being viewed as the villain.

There's been situations with,

recently with somebody
who's-who's very guilty

of this in my life, and it's
a person who makes me feel,

or tries to make me feel
like I'm the offender

by having any kind of defense...

-Yeah.
- to his offenses. It's like...

"Oh, I have absolutely no
right to respond or I'm crazy."

I have no right to
respond or I'm angry.

- I have no right to respond or I'm out of line."
- Yeah.

She's talking about
how she's been framed

to a certain kind
of characterization

that she feels, like,
isn't exactly accurate,

but this is what happens to
women who speak their mind.

Good morning to you guys.

It was an early birthday
present for Taylor Swift,

who turns 30 today.

She accepted
Billboard's first-ever

"Woman of the Decade" award
at an event in Los Angeles.

And the pop star didn't
hold back in her speech.

That speech that she gave
was such a strong moment.

She spoke up in front
of a room of his peers

to show that she wasn't scared.

That is an act of vulnerability.

She is being vulnerable
about that moment

and how hurtful it was.

She told you exactly
what she's feeling,

and she's letting you
know that, like...

Let's go.

And let me just say
that the definition

of the toxic male privilege in
our industry is people saying...

"But he's always
been nice to me,"

when I'm raising valid
concerns about artists

and their rights
to own their music.

And, of course he's nice to you.

If you're in this room, you
have something he needs.

The fact is that private equity
is what enabled this man to think,

according to his own
social media post,

that he could "buy me."

But I'm obviously
not going willingly.

Over the course of
the months following,

there was more kind
of drama unfolding

behind the scenes as
she was trying to,

basically, get back
control of her music.

And she alleges that she was
blocked from buying this music

that means so much to her.

According to Taylor, in the
process of trying to buy back

her master recordings
from Scooter Braun,

she wasn't even allowed to
see the financials of the deal

before she would sign an NDA,

basically saying that
she would never say

anything bad about
Scooter Braun ever again.

By now, you've probably
heard about this.

Taylor Swift
Scooter Braun drama.

Variety reported this week

that Scooter Braun's
company, Ithaca Holdings,

recently sold the master rights

to the pop star's
first six albums

to an investment firm for
more than $300,000,000.

It went everywhere.

Every single news
outlet covered it.

Scooter Braun sold Big Machine on
to another private equity firm,

but with the caveat that he
would still keep profiting

from Taylor's masters. Like,
that is a specific clause

that he demanded to be included.

Taylor had posted
her own statement

in response to this,
talking about her disgust

that she had tried to negotiate with
Scooter to buy back her masters.

And so, therefore, it
was another set of hands

that were now in control
of Taylor's music.

"As soon as we started
communication with Shamrock,

I learned that
under their terms,

Scooter Braun will
continue to profit

off my old musical
catalog for many years."

Scooter Braun continued
to share in revenue

under his deal with Shamrock,

even going forward.

That was a big deal for her.

Taylor actually
addressed Shamrock

in one of her posts,
saying that, you know,

I would have been
happy to work with you

with respect to my
recordings. But...

what has happened is so unfair.

I'm going to be re recording
my original recordings.

"I know this will diminish
the value of my old masters,

but I hope you understand
that this is the only way

to regain the sense
of pride I once had

when hearing songs from
my first six albums,

and also allowing my fans
to listen to those albums

"without feelings of guilt
for benefiting Scooter."

There was kind of a conversation
started amongst fans themselves

when this happened about
whether it was truly ethical

to be listening to her old
work at all at this point.

Because the theory goes

that you are indirectly
lining Scooter's pockets

and adding to the
insult of Taylor,

by continuing to
stream this music.

I think Taylor has shown
throughout her entire career

that in the face
of any adversity,

do not think that you can outwit
or outsmart or outplay her.

She has shown so many times

that she will stand
up for what's right.

She's turned it
into a moral battle.

She made everybody
look at what was right.

It's about Taylor Swift's right

to be in charge of her legacy.

It's turning this
contractual boardroom fight

into something much bigger,

which is about feminism.
It's about women's rights.

It's about artistic women

being able to have control
over what they produced.

When push comes to shove,

Taylor is really not
afraid of taking a stand,

and she is willing to pursue
it to the very last avenue.

Legally, Scooter had
the absolute right

to buy this asset.

The truth didn't matter.

She had the ability
to rally her fans.

Tell Scott and
Scooter how you feel.

Well, if you know
Taylor Swift's fan base,

one could imagine any
number of reactions.

When it gets to a place
where there's death threats,

I just think it's
got out of hand.

♪ I tell my soul ♪

♪ Only love forgives ♪

♪ Only love forgives ♪

♪ Tell my soul ♪

♪ Only love forgives ♪

♪ Only love forgives ♪

♪ Tell my soul ♪

♪ My soul ♪

♪ Only love, Only
love forgives ♪