Kelly Clarkson says Scooter Braun called her manager after she suggested Taylor Swift should rerecord her music: 'I think he thought I was attacking him'

• Kelly Clarkson said Scooter Braun "took offense" to her tweet about Taylor Swift.
• After Braun purchased Swift's catalog in 2019, Clarkson advised Swift to rerecord her old music.

Kelly Clarkson said that Scooter Braun "took offense" to her tweet about Taylor Swift, in which she encouraged the superstar to rerecord her old albums.

Back in 2019, Braun purchased Big Machine Records in a reported $300 million sale. At the time, the label owned Swift's first six albums, from her self-titled debut to 2017's "Reputation."

Swift condemned the sale and accused Braun of "incessant, manipulative bullying" throughout her career. She later said Braun wanted to "silence me forever" in exchange for the opportunity to "bid on my own work," a claim that Braun has denied. (He has since sold the master recordings to a private-equity company.)

Following Swift's initial statement, Clarkson tweeted a piece of advice that proved to be very prophetic.

"Just a thought, U should go in & re-record all the songs that U don't own the masters on exactly how U did them but put brand new art & some kind of incentive so fans will no longer buy the old versions," Clarkson wrote. "I'd buy all of the new versions just to prove a point."

In an interview with Andy Cohen on Wednesday, Clarkson said Braun reached out to her manager about the tweet — even though she didn't intend it as a personal attack.

"I think Scooter took offense to it, because we ran into each other, and I think he reached out at the time to my manager. I was like, 'It wasn't anything against him,'" she explained.

"When she came out and said that and I heard about it, I was like, 'Whatever. Rerecord them. Your fans will support you,'" Clarkson said of Swift. "Uh, they did. She has like every top record right now in the charts."

Indeed, just one month after Clarkson's tweet, Swift announced her intention to do exactly what Clarkson suggested.

Swift has since released two rerecorded albums, "Fearless (Taylor's Version)" and "Red (Taylor's Version)," which have outpaced the original versions in both sales and streams. She will release the third installment, "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)," on July 7.

Swift's rerecording journey has also been praised by critics for revitalizing her legacy, setting a new industry standard, and paving the way for artists to maintain ownership of their music (despite initial skepticism that it would be a fool's errand).

Clarkson said she never spoke to Braun directly about the incident. She also admitted she "didn't even know all the information" about the sale.

"He called my manager at the time I heard, and I don't know what happened or what was said, but I think he thought I was attacking him," she said. "I was like, 'I honest to God didn't even realize who had the [rights].'"

However, a source familiar with the conversation told Insider Friday that Braun didn't reach out to Clarkson's team because he was upset over her tweet, adding that he's since reached out to her "and cleared the air."

"After seeing Kelly's comments in the media, Scooter reached out to her manager with hopes that Kelly could assist in reaching out to Taylor as a friend, to help him get in touch with her to discuss selling back her masters," the source told Insider. "Scooter was told at the time that Kelly didn't have a direct relationship so the conversation was dropped, and Kelly was likely never made aware that this was why Scooter was actually reaching out at the time."

Still, Clarkson told Cohen that she stands by her original tweet because it "felt wrong" that Swift didn't own her music.

"She writes everything. It's so important to her. She's a businesswoman," Clarkson said of Swift. "If you have the opportunity and you choose to not pay that much money, that's one thing, but to not have the opportunity to own something that is really important to you [is another]."

Clarkson also described Swift as "brilliant" and praised the Eras Tour as a "genius" move, especially in conjunction with her rerecorded releases.

Clarkson added: "She would've come up with that on her own and she maybe already had before I even tweeted it."

A representative for Clarkson didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

June 23, 2023: This story has been updated to include a comment from a source close to the situation.