Throughout an look on The Diary of a CEO podcast, the Hybe America CEO mirrored on his feud with Swift, and opened up about what he described as undeserved “hate” he obtained.

The drama between Braun and Swift, 35, started after the previous bought the singer’s catalog — together with her first six albums — when he purchased her former label, Large Machine Label Group, from Scott Borchetta in 2019.

“After I purchased Large Machine, I assumed I used to be going to work with all of the artists on Large Machine. I assumed it was gonna be an thrilling factor,” Braun, 43, informed podcast host Steven Bartlett. “I knew that Taylor — she and I had solely met 3 times, I feel in my life, three or 4 instances, and one of many instances, it was years earlier, it was actually an ideal engagement. She invited me to a personal get together. We revered one another. We had an ideal engagement.”

He stated between the time he final noticed Swift and when he bought Large Machine, he started managing Kanye West, and was additionally managing Justin Bieber. In accordance with Braun, he was conscious that his shoppers may very well be a problem for Swift.

“I knew she did not get together with them,” he stated. “I had a sense — that is the place my conceitedness got here in — I had a sense she most likely did not like me as a result of I managed them. However I assumed that when this announcement occurred, she would speak to me, see who I’m, and we’d work collectively.”

He continued, “The announcement got here out, I am calling Scott Borchetta, and saying, ‘Hey, ship me her quantity! I talked to Thomas Rhett, and he is excited. And I simply talked to this particular person, they usually’re excited. I am calling Florida Georgia Line subsequent.’”

Nevertheless, within the wake of the deal, Swift drew a transparent line within the sand, with the Grammy winner sharing a Tumblr submit, during which she referred to as Braun’s buying of her masters her “worst nightmare,” and claimed she “wasn’t given a chance to purchase.” She additionally accused Braun of “incessant, manipulative bullying” prior to now.

Braun stated he was “shocked” over Swift’s response.

“This Tumblr [post] comes out, and it says all these things, and I used to be simply, like, shocked,” he informed Bartlett.

“It has been 5, six years, I do not want to return into it,” Braun continued, earlier than reflecting on what he discovered from the general public battle.

“What I can let you know is every little thing in life is a present. Having that have permits me to have empathy for the individuals I labored with who I’d at all times say, ‘Yeah, I perceive,” he stated. “However I by no means knew what it was prefer to be on the worldwide stage like that. I by no means knew what criticism like that felt like.”

“The largest present that I bought from that was understanding that each one the reward I had obtained up till that second was not deserved,” he added. “All of the hate I bought after that second was not deserved, as a result of none of those individuals knew me.”

“She did not know me. This particular person did not know me,” he claimed. “This particular person met me 3 times. They did not know me. I can present respect for all of them as a result of I do not know them. So I can love them the place they’re at.”

Wanting again, Braun stated “the present of ache was consciousness,” earlier than including that when one thing is “deeply unfair” you’ve gotten “take a look at every little thing and understand the position you performed.”

He finally referred to as the expertise a “present,” and stated he is “grateful,” regardless of the backlash being “very exhausting” on his household, together with his now-ex-wife Yael Cohen and their youngsters: Jagger, Levi, and Hart.

“I do not wish to maintain any hatred,” Braun stated. “Everybody strikes on.”

“For me, I select to see it as a present,” he added. “I select to see it as having the ability to have a perspective that only a few individuals on the earth have of realizing what that is like. Of feeling that on a world stage.”

“Ache,” Bartlett stated, to which Braun replied, “Yeah … it simply felt unfair.”

Braun later bought Swift’s masters to Shamrock Capital in 2020. After Swift launched 4 re-recorded albums, she purchased again her music from Shamrock Capital final month, with the sale being a reported $360 million, in line with Billboard.

Following the information, Braun informed TMZ that he is “blissful for her.”

In the meantime, additionally throughout his look on The Diary of a CEO podcast, Braun opened up about his relationship with Justin Bieber, whom he found when the singer was solely 13.

After a long time of working collectively, he and the “Ghost” singer parted methods in 2023. This got here after Bieber bought his music catalog to Hipgnosis Songs Capital in 2022 for a reported $200 million.

Amid rumors of a rift between him and Bieber, Braun shared the place he stands with the Grammy winner. “[It’s] not the identical that it was,” he admitted.

“I feel there comes some extent the place, I perceive, he most likely needs to go on and present that he can do it. We labored collectively for therefore lengthy and we had such excessive success,” he continued. “I feel you get to a degree as a person the place you wish to present the world, you are able to do it by yourself. I fully respect that. I feel at this level that’s what he is doing.”

Braun — who retired from artist administration final yr — added, “At that time, it had been a pair years the place I knew I wished to do one thing else, and I wished to search out out who I used to be. I wished to experiment with, you understand, a distinct profession and we have been each speaking sufficient with one another. The writing was on the wall.”