Taylor Swift Pokes Fun At Nemesis Scooter Braun After His Retirement Announcement

Taylor Swift seemed to take a playful swipe at her former music manager, Scooter Braun, during her Eras Tour stop in Cardiff, performing two of her diss tracks the day after Braun announced his retirement from the industry.

The 33-year-old pop superstar did a mashup of “I Forgot That You Existed” and “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” during the show’s surprise acoustic song segment. The lyrics of both tracks are widely believed to refer to Braun, with whom Swift has been embroiled in a years-long dispute over the ownership of the master recordings of her first six studio albums.

Videos circulated by fans in attendance showed Swift laughing heartily while singing the line “forgiveness is a nice thing to do” from “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.” She then remarked, “I can’t even say it with a straight face,” before continuing.

Swift did not explicitly mention Braun or their legal battle during the performance. But the timing appeared significant, coming just one day after the 41-year-old music executive issued a statement revealing he was stepping away from artist management after 23 years to focus on his family and role as CEO of HYBE America. Tuesday was also Braun’s birthday.

Their feud dates back to 2019 when Braun’s Ithaca Holdings acquired the masters to Swift’s first six albums from her former label, Big Machine Label Group. She condemned the $300 million deal, saying she was denied the chance to own her master recordings outright.

Braun’s company later sold the masters to private equity firm Shamrock Holdings in 2020 amid Swift’s public campaign against Braun. The singer has re-recorded those first six albums to establish ownership over new masters.

This wasn’t the first time Swift performed the two diss tracks on this tour, which kicked off in March. But their combination on Tuesday in Cardiff appeared to take on new meaning with Braun’s retirement bombshell just a day earlier.

The tour’s shows feature different surprise acoustic song selections, which Swift has said will differ at each stop to treat fans with rarer tracks and mashups. She continues the European stint this weekend with three shows in London.