What’s Going on With Scooter Braun?

Scooter Braun, music manager extraordinaire, isn’t having a very good day—and it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving guy. Braun has been dropped by his biggest clients: Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, and Idina Menzel have all parted ways amid rumors that Justin Bieber also wants to drop him as his manager. Aw, shucks Scooter! Say it ain’t so!

Braun, for his part, hasn’t commented on the firings yet, but that doesn’t mean other people aren’t:

It’s worth noting that Braun was liking tweets regarding Grande as of yesterday, so this is total speculation on my part but something tells me he wasn’t expecting her to drop him.

Braun has a reputation that isn’t particularly great (hold that thought), and seeing what could be the start of his downfall is frankly delicious.

Who is Scooter Braun?

Braun may be the only manager in the music business who is well-known outside of inner industry circles. He first came into the national spotlight when he discovered Justin Bieber, then 12 years old, on YouTube in 2008. Per the BBC:

He tracked the youngster down through his school, asking board members to put him in touch with Bieber’s mum, and signed him to a record label he had formed with R&B star Usher.

Bieber quickly became one of pop’s biggest stars, and Braun has steered his career through several ups-and-downs, including a period in 2013-14 where the singer faced a string of arrests for vandalism, dangerous driving and assault.

“I was not going to give up on him, I was not going to let him die,” Braun told the Guardian in 2016.

The above quote basically tells you everything you need to know, here, really. Braun essentially used the exploitation of a tween to make himself rich, and when said child was not equipped to be famous—because who is?—Braun went to the public to let them know he was in Bieber’s corner. You know, things adults do who can only make money off the exploitation of children and want to keep the gravy train going. Just ask Britney Spears.

What does Taylor Swift have to do with this?

If you’re taking glee in Braun losing his biggest clients, I can all but guarantee you Taylor Swift is happier about it.

Braun bought Swift’s entire back catalog out from under her in 2019. (You can read about it here.) As a result, Swift decided to re-record her first six albums in order to bypass Braun’s investment (he sold the back catalog in 2020), reclaiming the copyright for herself, with the intention that her fans would listen to the new “Taylor’s Version” albums. It’s worked out pretty well for her so far, and she has three more albums to re-release until she has complete control over her music. Per Variety:

What’s the advantage of Swift re-recording her catalog? Snatching income from the buyer by making sure that her new versions, and not the ones previously owned by her former label, are the ones played by fans and used in any number of commercial ventures, such as advertisements, TV shows, movies, games and other uses. The company buying master rights would still need clearance from a song’s publisher in order to license it for commercial sync use going forward.

Note: Taylor Swift owns all publishing rights to her songs.

Now as a Swiftie, it’s pretty clear that Swift has alluded to Braun in her music multiple times since 2019, notably with Mad Woman from Folklore in 2020 and Vigilante Shit from Midnights in 2022.

Here’s a sample verse from Mad Woman:

I’m takin’ my time
Takin’ my time
‘Cause you took everything from me
Watchin’ you climb
Watchin’ you climb
Over people like me
The master of spin
Has a couple side flings
Good wives always know
She should be mad
Should be scathing like me

It should be noted that Braun’s wife divorced him after this song came out.

Here’s a verse from Vigilante Shit:

While he was doing lines
And crossing all of mine
Someone told his white collar crimes to the FBI
And I don’t dress for villains
Or for innocents
I’m on my vigilante shh again

Swift has never come out and said either of these songs is about Braun, but come on. Some people are even suggesting Swift went to the FBI over Braun:

Naturally, her fans are celebrating already:

Seriously, what’s going on with Scooter Braun?

I wish I could tell you what exactly is going on with Braun, but the fact that three high-profile clients have dumped him within the span of 24 hours indicates the possibility that something big is about to come out about him, and they don’t want to be associated. This is obviously all speculation. However, Grande had been with him since 2013, Lovato since 2019, and Menzel since 2019.

It should be noted that the article in The Hollywood Reporter that initially broke the news of this wave of departures explicitly stated that Menzel parted ways with Braun in January, though a “source” close to her is only feeling the need to make that known now. You typically don’t go out of your way to make that sort of thing public knowledge unless you really, really, really don’t want to be associated with someone in any shape or form. Now, whether that’s just Braun being a jerk catching up to him or some real-life Vigilante Shit coming true, only time will tell.

(Photo collage: Photo by Michael Tran/Getty Images; Photo by Steve Granitz/WireImage)