Morrissey says Miley Cyrus wants off a song they recorded; 5 other big music scandals that made headlines

Morrissey has some not-so-pleasant news this holiday season. The British singer-songwriter has claimed that Miley Cyrus wants her name off a song that they recorded for his album. He also revealed that he has split with his management and label.

Over the past weekend, the ex-Smiths lyricist and frontrunner took to his website and shared two posts. In the first one titled ‘Roll On 2023’, he shared that he has parted ways with Maverick/Quest management. Adding on, he revealed that he has also voluntarily split with the label Capitol Records (Los Angeles) with whom he is yet to release any album. The next day, in another post titled ‘Miley Is A Punk Rocker’, he wrote, “Miley Cyrus now wants to be taken off the song I Am Veronica for which she volunteered backing vocals almost two years ago. “

In November this year, Morrissey shared that his album Bonfire of Teenagers which was supposed to release in February 2023 was not on schedule and that its fate is ‘exclusively’ in the hands of Capitol Records. Nothing about the album’s release has been said now. The same month, Morrissey was in the news as he upset his fans after walking off stage only 30 minutes into his performance at the LA Greek Theatre. In the past, his statements on race and immigration had also attracted flak.

Well, Miley and Morrissey’s controversy is not the first to make headlines and it most certainly won’t be the last. Scandals in the music industry are no novelty. Several big names have often found themselves entangled in the midst of controversies. Speaking of which, let us revisit a few of them that had everybody’s attention, shall we?

5 biggest music scandals of all time:

1. Taylor Swift and Kanye West

Regardless of whether you are a listener of either Swift’s or West’s music, you must have heard of their infamous, and unfortunate interaction at the 2009 MTV VMA, albeit in passing. So, here’s what happened. Just as 19-year-old Taylor accepted her award for the Best Female Video, Kanye stormed onto the stage, took the mic from her, and announced that Beyonce had the best video, leaving Taylor visibly stumped. This started the on-and-off feud between the two artists. Next year, Taylor performed Innocent at the VMAs – a song that is said to be about West. In 2016, the rapper took a dig at Taylor in his rather ‘infamous’ song, Famous.

      2. Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun

The Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun controversy is one big mess. But it mainly centers around one thing, and that is, the ownership of Tay Tay’s first six studio albums and masters with her former label Big Machine Records. In 2019, it so happened that the then-new owner of the label Scooter Braun sold all of Taylor’s first six albums and music catalog for USD 300 million. Following this, Taylor called out the label’s CEO Scott Borchetta and Braun, and claimed that they have barred her from performing her old songs at the AMA, and also from using footage from her old songs in her documentary Miss Americana. Big Machine Records negated these claims and accused Swift of distorting facts. After fans stood up for Taylor and celebrities took sides, Big Machine Records finally let Taylor play her songs at the AMA. Taylor then went on to rerecord her previous albums and songs with ‘Taylor’s Version’ written in parentheses.

     3. Britney Spears, her public breakdowns, and conservatorship

In the early 2000s, Britney Spears gave several hits like Oops!... I Did It Again and Toxic, before her life became an ugly public spectacle. Following her divorce from Kevin Federline and losing custody of her two children in 2007, Britney had public meltdowns which raised concerns about her mental health. In 2008, she was admitted to the hospital twice under a temporary psychiatric assessment ruling. The court set up a temporary conservatorship that allowed her father Jamie Spears to be in charge of her estate and financial affairs, and of her as a person. Later that year, the conservatorship was made permanent. In 2019, Jamie stepped down as her personal conservator citing health reasons. In 2021, he was suspended as her financial conservator. Britney and her lawyer chose an accountant to replace her father.

      4. Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction

The 2004 Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy involving Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake is another scandal that will go down in the pages of history. Jackson was performing a medley of her hit songs at the Super Bowl. Later, she was joined by Timberlake and they performed a duet on his song Rock Your Body. This is when Timberlake tore off a part of Janet’s costume, briefly baring her breast. This incident birthed the phrase ‘wardrobe malfunction’ as Jackson’s spokesman Stephen Huvane later clarified, “a malfunction of the wardrobe; it was not intentional... He was supposed to pull away the bustier and leave the red-lace bra.”

     5. Chris Brown assaults Rihanna

Rihanna and Chris Brown were at the prime of their careers and very much in love. And then, in 2009, before the night of the Grammys, Brown assaulted Rihanna in a Lamborghini, leaving her with multiple facial injuries – a busted lip, a black eye, and bruises - for which she had to be hospitalized. In his documentary, the rapper recalled the fateful night and revealed that Rihanna had just found out about him being unfaithful and started ‘hitting’ him. He said, “Like I remember she tried to kick me, just like her beating s-t, but then I really hit her. With a closed fist, like I punched her, and it busted her lip, and when I saw it I was in shock, I was ‘fu*k, why did I hit her like that? So from there she’s…spitting blood in my face, it raised me even more. It’s a real fight in the car, and we driving in the street.”

 

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