It seems Green Day stand with Taylor Swift. The rock band’s frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong, hinted that they are gearing up to cover a Swift song during their performance at the 2019 American Music Awards.
“AMA rehearsal!!” Armstrong, 47, wrote on his Instagram Stories on Thursday, November 21, alongside a photo showing a piece of paper with handwritten lyrics to the pop star’s 2015 single “Bad Blood.”
“Cause baby now we got bad blood / You know we used to be mad love,” the paper read. “So take a look what you’ve done / Cause baby now we got bad blood.”
Naturally, the cryptic post drove Swifties wild. “SO THE RUMORS ARE TRUE AND SOME ARTISTS WILL JOIN TAYLOR ON STAGE AND PROBABLY GREEN DAY ARE PERFORMING BAD BLOOD WITH TAYLOR WE ARE GETTING BAD BLOOD IN ROCK,” one fan tweeted. Another Twitter user wrote, “If it is true that she’s having other people help perform her songs then she’s either really smart or really listens to her fans or BOTH.”
The status of Swift’s performance at the AMAs, which will coincide with her Artist of the Decade win, has been up in the air since she claimed her former label Big Machine Records’ top executives, Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun, tried to block her from doing her old hits as part of a medley. The “Shake It Off” singer, 29, left Big Machine for Republic Records in November 2018, and Braun, 38, subsequently acquired her back catalog of master recordings.
“I just want to be able to perform MY OWN music. That’s it,” she wrote in a message posted on her social media platforms on November 14. “I’ve tried to work this out privately through my team but have not been able to resolve anything. Right now, my performance at the AMA’s, [an upcoming] Netflix documentary and any other recorded events I am planning to play until November of 2020 are a question mark.”
The label denied blocking Swift, saying in a statement that the “narrative [she has] created does not exist.” Her spokeswoman, meanwhile, told Us Weekly, “Scott Borchetta, CEO and founder of Big Machine Label Group, flatly denied the request for both American Music Awards and Netflix. Please notice in Big Machine’s statement, they never actually deny either claim Taylor said.”
In the wake of the drama, a source told Us exclusively that Swift allegedly “had to plan a different performance for the AMAs because Big Machine has not waived the rerecord restriction provision and they have claimed the rebroadcast would be a breach of her contract.”
A second insider said the 10-time Grammy winner “will not stand for bullying and wants to ensure this never happens to another artist,” adding, “Her art is her life and she will continue to fight for it.”
Braun broke his silence on the feud on Thursday while speaking at the 2019 Entertainment Industry Conference. He begged Swift to “go behind closed doors and see if we can have a conversation.” The next morning, he took to Instagram and claimed his family has received “numerous death threats” since Swift spoke out. He also wrote that she “can and should perform any songs [she] would like at the AMAs.”
The 2019 American Music Awards air on ABC Sunday, November 24, at 8 p.m. ET.
