Why Is Billy Joel In Hot Water Over Taylor Swift?

Taylor Swift had a groundbreaking 2021, from releasing her first two re-recorded albums — "Fearless (Taylor's Version)" and "Red (Taylor's Version)" — to playing "Saturday Night Live" to obtaining a new record for the longest song to hit No. 1, thanks to her 10-minute version of "All Too Well." Given the various headlines she has made over the past year, many famous musicians of decades past are weighing in on what they think about Swift.

In November, none other than piano man Billy Joel opened up about the legendary act he considers Swift to be the contemporary version of — one that made her feel incredibly honored. "I might have hallucinated it, maybe we had the same hallucination, because I don't really know how to process words like that from someone like him, I'm a huge fan of his," Swift told Extra of her response. "That's an icon saying that. I don't know if that really happened, I need to see a video or something to prove it, 'cause whoa."

Although Taylor Swift has been relatively quiet in recent weeks, possibly to the holidays, she did upload a selfie wearing the merch of another large scale act: The Beatles. Her continued public affinity for the group comes just weeks after musician Billy Joel called Swift the modern millennial/Gen Z comparison of the band in an interview with USA Today. 

"Taylor (Swift) is also a very talented girl and she's productive and keeps coming up with great concepts and songs and she's huge," Joel said. "You have to give her high marks. She knows music and she knows how to write. She's like that generation's Beatles." But Joel's high praise was met with backlash from some on Twitter, including one user who wrote, "Please don't compare Taylor Swift to the Beatles. In any universe or reality." Swift fans, on the other hand, clearly agreed with Joel's assessment and came to Swift's defense.

Joel and Swift had also crossed paths previously in the press. During a 2014 interview with Billboard, the outlet noted that Joel had stopped writing such personal songs due to fans' intense analysis — a common reaction to Swift's songs — and the publication asked the singer-songwriter if her own personal life plays any affect on whether she wants to continue writing songs. "I've been dealing with it for so many years now that I expect the media to do it, I expect fans to do it," she said of the speculation into her lyrics. "Human curiosity is never to be underestimated. But I don't have anyone whose feelings are on the line except for me," Swift explained.