Do Pop Stars Write Their Own Songs?

Musician Damon Albarn apologized to Taylor Swift after claiming the pop star doesn’t write her own music.

Not giving credit when credit is due has led to some of the biggest battles in music history — and a public faux pas has reignited debates on social media about songwriting credits.

On Monday, musician Damon Albarn of the bands Blur and Gorillaz publicly apologized to pop star Taylor Swift after claiming the singer-songwriter didn’t write her own songs. It was a big slight to Swift, who takes major pride in her songwriting — and has been credited as songwriter and co-writer for all 11 of her albums.

But — to Albarn’s point about the prevalence of co-writing in pop music now— solo singer-songwriters are pretty rare these days.