Taylor Swift Wrote An Open Letter to Her Bullies, and Then Everything Burst Into Flames

Justin Bieber, you need to calm down.

Just a few weeks ago we were declaring "the conflict of our generation" ended, and cheering "peace in our time" thanks to the ceasefire between long-feuding pop stars Taylor Swift and Katy Perry.

Little did we know that was just the prelude to an all-out pop brawl that would see even bigger names coming to metaphorical blows than even those who starred in the video for "Bad Blood".

We never anticipated that Swift's Lover era would see this much social media violence.

Context: Overnight, Swift published an open letter to Tumblr—relatable—expressing her displeasure with the fact Scooter Braun had purchased the masters to her old albums.

Swift said she had previously made "the excruciating choice" to walk away from her old music when her former label tried to hold it captive, allegedly only offering to let Swift "earn" one of her old albums back for every new album she gave them.

The label has now sold those albums to Braun; a move Swift calls her "worst case scenario", because of his affiliation with clients Kanye West and Justin Bieber.

"I learned about Scooter Braun’s purchase of my masters as it was announced to the world," she wrote.

"All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I’ve received at his hands for years.

"Like when Kim Kardashian orchestrated an illegally recorded snippet of a phone call to be leaked and then Scooter got his two clients together [West, Bieber] to bully me online about it. (See photo) Or when his client, Kanye West, organised a revenge porn music video which strips my body naked. Now Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy. Essentially, my musical legacy is about to lie in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it."

After signing off "sad and grossed out", Swift’s defenders took to social media to make #WeStandWithTaylor trend, while dozens of musicians reportedly unfollowed Braun on Insta.

But then, Justin Bieber, the guy who recently challenged a man several decades his senior to "fight in the octagon", published a particularly misguided apology that nonetheless asked Swift, "What were you trying to accomplish by posting that blog?"

Justin Bieber via Instagram regarding the drama surrounding his deleted Instagram caption pic.twitter.com/4N6BdHN24L

— Taylor Swift Updates (@swiftsupdates) June 30, 2019

As the internet got to work telling off Bieber, Cara Delevingne—one of the last remaining members of Swift’s original squad—commented, "I am not sure you actually understand what an apology is."

"As a married man, you should be lifting women up instead of tearing them down because you are threatened," she noted.

Just to recap, all of this happened within the last twelve hours. In another twelve hours, who knows which mega celebrities will become ensnared?

All we know is that, refreshingly, the internet is picking a side in a pop music feud not because of tired tribal allegiances, but to defend a woman from industry bullies and to help her reclaim her art.

Dunking on Bieber is just a bonus.

Anyway, Taylor Swift's new album Lover arrives 23 August.

Header Image: YouTube (Tayor Swift)