Taylor Swift’s treatment of ex Calvin Harris has been branded “brutal” — by his best pal, John Newman.
“Love Me Again” singer Newman was by the DJ’s side throughout the messy split, which led to a war of words after it emerged that Swift had ghost-written Harris’ hit “This Is What You Came For.”
Fans discovered her involvement after Newman innocently tweeted his congrats on the song’s success to Harris, vocalist Rihanna and Swift — before deleting and reposting the message without mention of Tay.
The revelation sparked a public spat between Harris and Swift over why she was uncredited.
We caught up with Newman ahead of his Apple Music Festival gig at London’s Roundhouse. Talking about the tweet incident for the first time, he admitted he is no longer in contact with his pal’s ex.
He said, “From her side? Yeah, it did get brutal. I’m like Calvin, happy to take a back seat. I like my music to do the talking. When I tweeted that, there was a text almost immediately from Calvin. He was like, ‘Down. Now.'” Newman continued, “And then it all came out anyway. No I’m not [friendly with Swift anymore], I don’t agree with what’s gone on … but I shouldn’t comment further. I wouldn’t know her well enough, weirdly. She’s in another world.”
Newman, one of the nicest guys in the industry, seemed unfazed when we asked him if Harris was worried that queen of the revenge song Swift might go into uncomfortable detail about the pair’s relationship on her next album.
Laughing off our suggestion that she’d name her next release “The Calvin Chronicles” (we think she should, and follow up with “The Tom Hiddleston Tomes”), he said, “Let’s hope not. I really like her music so they’ll be great songs either way. But I’ve had uncomplimentary things sung about me by exes. You get on with it.”
Newman was in great form before his amazing performance as an opener for headliner Harris.
But since he was diagnosed in 2012 with a brain tumor, which was removed by surgeons, the tumor has now returned — and he told us this would be his last gig before an upcoming operation.
During his set, he premiered “Save the Last Dance,” about his health woes, telling the crowd, “I’ve not been going through the best of times recently.”
Newman told us he’s determined to return better than ever next year. He said, “As soon as my tumor came back I said, ‘Right, I’m gonna blitz this out, get myself feeling incredible and get the strength of mind to deal with this.’ If you go into an op like that feeling s— because you’re eating s— food and you’re fat and you’re unhappy with your success and you’re down about it, then it’s gonna hit you like a ton of bricks.”
He added, “Calvin is my main inspiration in all of this. The way he got so healthy and inspired and focused, his friendship has been everything to me. I’m changing my lifestyle forever. I want to come back with the best album I’ve ever made.”
We can’t wait to see him back and healthy.