Taylor Swift has chosen a great evening to sing two songs that some iconic takedown lyrics. Both “I Forgot That You Existed” by Lover and “That’s why we can’t have nice things” by Call are fierce tracks that denounce those who have wronged the pop star, so you can imagine the burden they carried when Swift sang them together as Surprise songs. Now, Swifties have also realized that she chose to combine these two tracks on a significant day, suggesting that she may have offended Scooter Braun with this performance.
While Swifties continue to speculate about Taylor Swift’s upcoming projectsthey’re also paying close attention to the choices she makes on the Eras Tour. We know she places Easter eggs all over her work, so it’s not far-fetched to think she’s sending a message with this surprising song combination. Plus, she sang these two songs calling out the people who mistreated her in Cardiff on Scooter Braun’s birthday.
Coincidence? Fans don’t believe it, because @pieceofurheart posted:
I forgot you existed x. So we can’t have nice things on Scooter Braun’s birthday? #CardiffTSTheErasTour pic.twitter.com/Nc39vaqZhZJune 18, 2024
Many fans have noticed this coincidence and believe that the performance may have been intentional. Swift and Barun were apparently in dispute for years. When Braun bought Big Machine Records, the singer’s former label, in 2019, he gained majority ownership of her master recordings. This resulted in “The Man” Singer re-records her first six albumsand she has made it pretty clear through her music and her performances how tired she is of this deal.
As I mentioned, fans quickly noticed how much the song selection could be associated with Scooter Braun, as @take0utcoffees wrote:
Aside from the fact that this happened on his birthday, there are a few other coincidences surrounding this performance that support the persistent theory that Swift was trying to insult Braun with this mashup.
On the one hand, it is to be launched in autumn 2023 split from Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato and other long-standing customers. Then, a few days before the singer’s performance in Cardiff, the music mogul announced on Instagram that he would retire from music management.
Also a documentary film entitled Taylor Swift vs. Scooter Braun: Bad Blood Premiere on TV schedule 2024 today (19 June) for those with a Max subscription.
📹 | FULL video of Taylor performing “I Forgot That You Existed” x “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” 🔥 pic.twitter.com/atdBhioVSrJune 19, 2024
Basically, there are just a lot of things that fit together to suggest Swift may be challenging Braun. While it’s not confirmed in the slightest, there’s no doubt that these are a lot of interesting coincidences. And watching the performance (which you can see above), hearing all of the lyrics together really reiterates her feelings of being wronged, and one of the biggest wrongs she’s been wronged by was the former music executive.
We’ll probably never get official confirmation about this mashup and who it was about. However, these Swifties have made a convincing case that it could have been a reference to Braun. The singer loves her dates and Easter eggs, so it really could go either way.