As the manager of Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato and Ariana Grande, Scooter Braun is one of the most powerful people in music right now. In a new Variety cover story, he talks about his relationship with his artists, who’ve gone through some challenging times in recent years.
Justin was open about his mental health struggles and past substance abuse in his YouTube docuseries, Seasons, executive-produced by Braun. Noting that Justin’s Purpose tour was cut short due to “depression and exhaustion,” Variety asks Scooter if he’s concerned about Justin’s well-being on his upcoming 2022 tour. Braun says no, for one major reason.
“Justin has his wife Hailey and she is such an incredible force in his life,” Braun explains. “He’s always had to tour alone, but it’s different now that he has his his best friend and they can see the world together. He’s never had that experience before.”
Variety also asks if there was “discussion” regarding Demi’s decision to come out as non-binary last month. Braun responds, “It was a discussion in that Demi wanted to do it, and I was happy to honor it. It’s not my decision to make. It’s how Demi identifies. Demi said, ‘I think this is where I am. I’m finding myself, and this is how I identify, and it feels real to me…and I want to do it.’ And I felt happy to support.”
As for his longstanding feud with Taylor Swift, Braun tells Variety, “I asked for her to sit down with me several times, but she refused. I offered to sell her the catalog back…but her team refused. It all seems very unfortunate.”
Variety notes that in November, Taylor claimed Braun “would never even quote my team a price” for her catalog; Braun disputes that.
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