Calvin Harris and Zayn Malik fought on Twitter for half an hour after Malik retweeted a meme about Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus on Monday, Aug. 17. The meme featured quotes by Swift and Cyrus on their differing views about music sales. It was first tweeted by @FemaleTexts, a Twitter user.
“Music is art, and art is important and rare. Important, rare things are valuable. Valuable things should be paid for,” said Swift in an interview with TIME. “It’s my opinion that music should not be free, and my prediction is that individual artists and their labels will someday decide what an album’s price point is. I hope they don’t underestimate themselves or undervalue their art.”
Taylor Swift performing at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan on May 30, 2015.
“You know, I’ve made my money. If no one buys my album, cool. It’s fine. I’ve got a house, and I’ve got dogs that I love. I don’t need anything else,” said Cyrus in an interview with W Magazine in 2014. “Maybe they succeed because they don’t have anything to prove. They’re just doing it because they love it. I hope I’m like Dolly—where I’m just still going at 75.”
The meme included excerpts from both Swift’s and Cyrus’ interviews. Its caption read, “the difference is astounding.” Harris, Swift’s music producer boyfriend saw the meme as an attack on his girlfriend and acted quickly on it to defend her. He also spoke out on behalf of struggling musicians.
“You’ve made your money?” lashed 31-year-old Harris. He asked Malik what he thought of “the 99% of musicians who depend on these services to survive,” along with uses of profanity.
Harris told Malik and the Twitter user @FemaleTexts that if they do not understand “what it means when a successful artists uses their celebrity to benefit every other musicians and songwriter in the industry,” to “stay out of things” they do not understand. Harris was referring to Swift’s decision to pull of Spotify, a music streaming service.
Zayn Malik at the Aria Music Awards at Australia on November 2014.
“You just made an absolute fool of yourself mate. You clearly didn’t understand what I just said either, so I suggest you calm your knickers before them dentures fall out,” tweeted 22-year-old Malik. The British singer also let Harris know that he is one of the many songwriters in the industry, along with uses of profanity.
The feud died after 32 minutes of back-and-forth banters by Harris and Malik. It ended with Harris letting Malik know that he was not angry with him, but with the quote. Harris wished Malik the “best of luck” and complimented his “great voice.”
