Taylor Swift Seemingly Shades Scooter Braun in ‘Karma Lyrics’: ‘My Pennies Made Your Crown’
Not over it. Taylor Swift is the queen of dropping Easter eggs in her song lyrics and with the release of her tenth studio album, Midnights, fans believe that “Karma” is about her feud with Scooter Braun. Keep reading for more details.
Is Taylor Swift’s ‘Karma’ About Scooter Braun?
Taylor’s song “Karma” is about just that as she sings about a person “addicted to betrayal.”
“You’re talking s–t for the hell of it / Addicted to betrayal, but you’re relevant / You’re terrified to look down / ‘Cause if you dare, you’ll see the glare / of everyone you burned just to get there,” the Grammy winner sings. “Spider boy, king of thieves / Weave your little webs of opacity / My pennies made your crown / Trick me once, trick me twice / Don't you know that cash ain't the only price? / It's coming back around”
Swifties took to Twitter to share their thoughts on who Taylor is taking aim at with her lyrics.
“Important info for fellow Swifties listening to ‘Vigilante Shit’ and ‘Karma’: Scooter Braun is an investor in 100 Thieves (“picture me thick as thieves with your ex-wife” and “king of thieves”),” one fan tweeted. “I know scooter braun is crying and throwing up right now lmao,” another wrote.
Why Did Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun Feud?
In June 2019, the “Bad Blood” songstress shared a lengthy message on her Tumblr account which detailed her outrage over the sale of her former record label.
“For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work. Instead, I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and ‘earn’ one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in. I walked away because I knew once I signed the contract, Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future,” Taylor wrote at the time. “When I left my masters in Scott’s hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually, he would sell them.”
“Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter. Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words ‘Scooter Braun’ escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to,” she continued. “He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didn’t want to be associated with them. In perpetuity. That means forever.”
She went on to explain that she learned Scooter had purchased her masters at the same time as the rest of the world, calling it her “worst case scenario.”
“All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years,” the “Lover” artist continued in her statement.
Six months after news of the sale broke, Scooter opened up about the drama at the 2019 Entertainment Industry Conference.
“I haven’t talked about this in six months. Not once. I haven’t made a statement about it,” he said. “When there’s a lot of things being said and a lot of different opinions, yet the principals haven’t had a chance to speak to each other, there’s a lot of confusion. I’m not going to go into details here, because it’s just not my style. I just think we live in a time of toxic division, and of people thinking that social media is the appropriate place to air out on each other and not have conversations. And I don’t like politicians doing it. I don’t like anybody doing it, and if that means that I’ve got to be the bad guy longer, I’ll be the bad guy longer, but I’m not going to participate.”
While Scooter ultimately resold Taylor’s masters in November 2020, Taylor made the decision to re-record her early work, releasing Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version) in 2021.
