With 10 Short Words, Taylor Swift Just Taught a Powerful Lesson in Control

It might go without saying that since I’m a card-carrying member of Generation X, I am also a fan of Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters. Meanwhile, as the devoted dad of a daughter who is into Taylor Swift, I’ve become a fan of her work as well.

So, I was bemused to realize that Grohl and Swift are apparently involved in a bit of a feud, but happy to realize there’s a lesson here for anyone who has to control a conversation and defend their reputation.

It started last weekend when Grohl, playing at London Stadium, called Swift out by name and suggested she doesn’t perform live music during every concert.

“We were joking about the Taylor Swift tour earlier,” Grohl told the crowd, which seemed to respond with boos at the mention of her name. Then he added:

I know that she’s on her “Eras Tour.” I’m telling you, man. You don’t want to suffer the wrath of Taylor Swift.

    So we like to call our tour “the Errors Tour,” because I feel like we’ve had more than a few eras — and more than a few [effing] errors as well. Just a couple.

    That’s because we actually play live. What?! 

    Just saying, we’re a live band. You guys like live rock ‘n’ roll music, right?”

Cue a thousand people on social media and elsewhere trying to decode if Grohl had actually meant what he literally said–suggesting maybe that Swift unfairly uses recorded tracks–or if he was just trying to create controversy, and surmising how Swift might respond.

The next day, Swift took the stage at the much larger Wembley Stadium in London (third night in a row). Sure enough, she fired back at Grohl, and she did so in a powerful way that took control of the conflict.

Immediately after a standing ovation from the crowd, she called the reception an unforgettable moment for “every one of my band members, every single one of our crew,” according to a video posted on Twitter/X, and added:

My band, who’s gonna be playing live for you for three and a half hours tonight, they deserve this so much. And so does every one of my fellow performers.

    And you just gave that to us so generously, we will never forget it.

Even as someone who was into Foo Fighters (and Nirvana before that) before Swift was an adorable little kid singing the national anthem at minor league baseball games, I think she did an excellent job of handling Grohl’s swing at her. 

It really came down to three key points:

1. First, she clapped back at Grohl without mentioning him by name or citing his comments. This, even though it seemed clear why she chose that show of all shows to point out that her band was “playing live for you for three and a half hours.”
2. Second, by shifting the focus to her band, Swift implied that Grohl’s comment was directed at them, not her. This is probably the most important part of her deflection because it suggested that Grohl was punching down, at a group of hard-working but largely unrecognized musicians, as opposed to punching up at Swift, perhaps the most-recognized performer in the world at the moment.
3. Finally, she praised the band members, pointing out the magnitude of their effort, and the crowd for its appreciation. It never hurts to praise the audience if you want to keep them on your side.

As a result of how Swift handled this, it’s now unlikely to be a story that lasts more than a few days. 

But it’s still a good opportunity to take a lesson from a woman who has done as good a job as anyone on the planet of building and controlling her reputation over a long time.

There was risk here. If the broader world had picked up on Grohl’s insinuation, and if it became a nagging question, it might have ultimately affected the value of the Eras Tour, which has apparently moved Swift over the line to become a self-made billionaire.

So Swift had to fight back, nipping the whole thing in the bud and controlling the story, even in the tempered, measured way she did here. If you ever have a similar problem in your business, I’d look back to those three points above.

In fairness, Grohl and Swift actually seem to like and respect each other (excluding this episode). Social media is full of vignettes of them saying good things about each other in the past.

So, I hope we can put the feud behind us–if not for Swift and Grohl’s sake, for my own. 

Because my daughter keeps asking to play Swift songs like 22 and Anti-Hero on long car rides, maybe a little more often then I might prefer. And with Fourth of July travel coming up, I’m looking forward to introducing her to more of her dad’s Gen-X music.

I think we’ll start with The Colour and the Shape. And in keeping with the theme, maybe I’ll dig up something from Live at Wembley Stadium as well.