First, Albarn. What was he thinking? He was asked by LA Times’ pop music critic Mikael Wood about an upcoming concert that would feature just him, a piano and a string section. The musician said that stripped-back concerts are hard because “you can’t hide behind anything”: they prove whether songs are any good, or whether they were only ever popular because of the “sound and the attitude” involved in performing them with a full band.

Albarn said, slightly pompously, that not much modern music could withstand such exposure. Wood then asked him if he thought a lot of modern musicians are relying on sound and attitude. “Name me someone who’s not,” Albarn replied. It was at this point that Wood said: “She may not be to your taste, but Taylor Swift is an excellent songwriter.” Then came Albarn’s assertions that she doesn’t write her own songs and that co-writing doesn’t count.

Apart from anything else, these comments are jaw-droppingly hypocritical. The liner notes on Albarn’s latest album, The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows, state that all tracks are written and produced by him. However, immediately underneath it points out that all but two of the LP’s 11 tracks feature “additional writing” by former Verve guitarist Simon Tong (who helped on nine songs), Gorillaz musician Mike Smith (who worked on three), and German conductor André de Ridder (two). Quite what the difference is between being an “additional writer” (fine with Albarn) and a “co-writer” (doesn’t count) is beyond me.

Indeed, Albarn is famously one of music’s great collaborators, be it with Gorillaz (he’s written with Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed and Savages’ Jehnny Beth), or Bobby Womack, or Malian duo Amadou & Mariam.

And he’s brilliant at it, which makes what he said so baffling. He also told the LA Times that he loves Billie Eilish. But she co-writes everything with her brother Finneas. Does she count?