Scooter Braun Admits He 'Never Truly' Understood His Feud With Taylor Swift: 'I Think I've Met Her 3 Times'

Scooter Braun is opening up once again about his years-long feud with Taylor Swift and why the entire situation still confuses him today.

During an appearance on the “Second Thought” podcast, the music executive reflected on the backlash he received after acquiring Swift’s masters through his purchase of Big Machine Label Group.

“[I] went from being like, loved and appreciated for over a decade to literally a villain the next night. I don’t want to go into that, but I will say something that will really sum it up that I don’t know if I’ve ever really said,” Braun shared.

He then made it clear that despite the public narrative surrounding the controversy, he barely knew the pop superstar personally.

“I don’t know Taylor Swift. I think I’ve met her in my life three times. I have never had a substantial conversation with her in my life. I one time got invited to a private party by her. She told me she had the utmost respect for me. I told her I had the most respect for her. You don’t spend $300 million buying a label that she’s on unless you’re excited at the opportunity to work with her. I will never truly understand that situation. To this day, I wish her nothing but the best,” Braun added.

The former manager of Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Kanye West said many people wrongly assumed he and Swift had a long personal history.

“I learned a tremendous amount from it. I chose to grow from it. I’m grateful for it at this point in my life. But I think there’s this big misconception that, like, we knew each other and we had this feud and I managed her for years. And people are usually shocked to find out that I legitimately don’t know her and didn’t have many interactions with her and never really knew her,” he explained.

Braun also recalled that the pair only had one meaningful interaction before the fallout became headline news.

“I think I spoke to her, really, once for like more than two minutes, but it was a very nice conversation. And beyond that, nothing ever. And then the three years prior to us buying Big Machine, she and I had no contact. I think it was two years. The party was like two years earlier or three years earlier, and then we never had any contact through the whole thing. So I’m just as confused that this is part of my life as you are. But I choose to learn and grow from it,” Braun continued.

Elsewhere in the interview, Braun broke down how master recordings typically work in the music industry and why artists have increasingly pushed for ownership over their own catalogs.

“Labels make bets on artists, and they own the masters and the artists own their publishing. Artists end up selling their publishing whether they need the money or decide they want to sell, and the labels are very, very well-funded so they don’t have to transact the masters. The majority, to this day, of masters are still owned by labels. As confusing as [the situation was] to me, I think what it did bring to light is that artists are going to start wanting to own their masters, and I think you’re seeing artists more and more do that, and I think that’s great,” Braun stated.

The drama first exploded when Braun’s Ithaca Holdings purchased Big Machine from Scott Borchetta in a $300 million deal that included ownership of Swift’s first six studio albums.

Months later, Swift publicly addressed the situation during her Billboard Woman of the Decade speech and accused Braun of never reaching out to her before the sale became official.

“And, of course, Scooter never contacted me or my team to discuss it prior to the sale or even when it was announced,” Swift remarked. “I’m fairly certain he knew exactly how I would feel about it.”

The “Speak Now” singer also used the moment to shine a light on the challenges many female artists face within the music industry.

“We need to continue to try to offer something to a younger generation of musicians,” Swift added. “Because somewhere, right now, your future woman of the year is probably sitting in a piano lesson or in a girl's choir. And, today right now we need to take care of her."