This summer,Kelly Clarksonsuggested thatTaylor Swift re-record her songsas a way to own her masters following thedrama with Scooter Braun,the celebrity manager who recently purchased Swift’s music catalog. Now, during an appearance on a special Sunday edition ofThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the original American Idol opened up about her suggestion, and admitted where she got the idea in the first place — from her famous former mother-in-law!
“I wasn’t really trying to defend or offend anyone,” Clarkson told the host. “It was more like, Reba [McEntire] told me she did that. That was it. That was all… She wanted to own her masters. And I was like, ‘Well if it’s that important to you, like, find a way.’ And she recut all of her music and did it with the same musicians, the same everything. That’s where I got the idea.”
“Taylor is [an] artist, like she’s been writing since she was a little girl. So it’s kind of like her diary, so I get why she’d wanna [own her music],” Clarkson, 37, added. “I don’t really care about owning my masters or not. I’m just like, ‘Whatever, I’m going to sing them until I’m dead, it’s fine.’ Somebody can make money off of it, I don’t care. But hers is [different]. Like, I own half or a little more than half my stuff. And hers is 100 percent of it. So I can see how it would matter to her.”
Jaimie Baird/NBC
In July, just after Braun purchased Swift’s label, Big Machine Records, for $300 million, Clarkson tweeted at her fellow singer.
“@taylorswift13 just a thought, U should go in & re-record all the songs that U don’t own the masters on exactly how U did them but put brand new art & some kind of incentive so fans will no longer buy the old versions,” Clarkson said at the time.
TheIdolalum added that she’d be the first to purchase the songs if Swift decided to do so. “I’d buy all the new versions just to prove a point 💁🏼♀️,” she wrote.
After Swift claimed she learned of the Big Machine sale along with the rest of the world and accused the manager of “manipulative bullying” over the years via a Tumblr post, it’s been agame of he-said, she-saidbetween the singer, Braun and Big Machine co-founder Scott Borchetta, 57, who first signed the singer when she was a teen to his then-fledgling label.
RELATED VIDEO: PEOPLE Explains:Taylor Swift& Scooter Braun’s Drama
In July, Swift, 29,doubled down on accusationsshe made via her post that she “wasn’t given an opportunity to buy” her “life’s work.”
“Scott Borchetta never gaveTaylor Swiftan opportunity to purchase her masters, or the label, outright with a check in the way he is now apparently doing for others,”her lawyer Donald Passman told PEOPLEin a statement.
A source previously toldVarietythat Swift had to sign a deal that would bind her to Big Machine or its new owner for another 10 years in order to buy her masters or the label.
Neither Swift nor Borchetta have commented further about their failed contract negotiations — including the specifics of any offers that were made from either side.
Taylor Swift, Scooter Braun.Leon Bennett/FilmMagic; John Salangsang/Variety/Shutterstock
In his letter, Borchetta claimed the deal he offered Swift gave her “100% of allTaylor Swiftassets … to be transferred to her immediately upon signing the new agreement.”
“We were working together on a new type of deal for our new streaming world that was not necessarily tied to ‘albums’ but more of a length of time,” he added.
In her Tumblr post, Swift said the deal she was offered involved earning one album back for each “new one I turned in.”
Swift, whosenew albumLoverhit shelves Aug. 23, said learning that it was Braun who had ultimately purchased her masters from Borchetta was her “worst nightmare.”
Hours afterLoverwas released, the 38-year-old manager posted a messageon Twitter,calling the album “brilliant”and congratulating the pop star. “Regardless of what has been said the truth is you don’t make big bets unless you are a believer and always have been,” he wrote.
source: people.com
