Why Taylor Swift Fans Think She Was Shading Scooter Braun With Mashup of Diss Songs at Cardiff Show

Taylor Swift played a mashup of two diss tracks during her show in Cardiff, Wales, which just so happened to fall on Scooter Braun’s birthday and one day after he announced his retirement as a music manager.

During the guitar portion of the surprise song set at the Tuesday, June 18, show, Taylor, 34, performed “I Forgot That You Existed” and “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” from her albums Lover and Reputation, respectively. While both of the songs weren’t necessarily written about Scooter, 43, fans pointed out the noticeable timing of when the pop star decided to perform them together.

“taylor said f–k you scooter i forgot that you existed but you’re why we can’t have nice things,” one fan wrote on X, while another added, “i forgot that you existed? As in the first song taylor swift ever owned? Right after the news that [scooter] is retiring broke? Oh taylor swift the woman that you are.”

Many Swifties also cracked up at the long laugh Taylor let out during the bridge of “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things.” The lyrics feature her singing, “Here’s to my baby, he ain’t hearing what they call me lately, and here’s to my mama, who had to listen to all this drama, and here’s to you, because forgiveness is a nice thing to do,” before bursting into laughter. However, the laugh at the Cardiff show was noticeably drawn out compared to what’s on the recorded version of the song.

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When Scooter purchased the rights to Taylor’s masters from her original record label, Big Machine, in 2019, the “Fortnight” singer openly spoke about the years of issues she’d had with the executive. Scooter previously managed Kanye West and Justin Bieber, and Taylor accused him of “bullying [her] on social media when [she] was at [her] lowest point.” She was referencing when Justin, 30, posted a photo of himself on FaceTime with Ye, 47, and Scooter with the caption, “Hey Taylor what’s up,” amid the Grammy winner’s feud with Ye over his song “Famous.”

“When I left my masters in Scott [Borchetta]’s hands, I made peace with the fact that eventually, he would sell them,” she wrote on Tumblr in 2019. “Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter. Any time Scott Borchetta heard the words ‘Scooter Braun’ escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to. 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.”

Taylor has since been in the process of rerecording her first six albums, which are the ones she put out before switching record labels and earning the rights to her own work. So far, she has released four of the rerecorded albums, with just Reputation and Taylor Swift (debut) left to share.

Meanwhile, Scooter confirmed on Monday, June 17, that he would be stepping away from his position as a manager to artists. “It’s a strange feeling because I think I have wanted this for a while, but I was truly afraid to answer the question ‘who would I be without them?’” he explained in an Instagram post. He also confirmed that he would be joining the board of the entertainment company Hybe and serving as CEO of Hybe America, while also focusing on his role as a father.