Now that her feud with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian over "Famous" is once again dominating the headlines, it's easy to forget Taylor Swift is also embroiled in a much sillier scandal, one involving the producer Calvin Harris and a songwriting secret. It was revealed last week that Swift co-wrote Harris and Rihanna's hit single "This Is What You Came For" under the pseudonym Nils Sjoberg, a pen name she chose so her contribution (and relationship with Harris, which is now over) wouldn't overshadow the song's performance. Everyone had a good laugh about Swift adopting the name of a Swedish man to write hits in silence, but the fun might be over: Swift is shaking Sjoberg off.
According to TMZ, the BMI database now lists Swift's name instead of Sjoberg's in the credits for "This Is What You Came For." (The change hasn't yet appeared in the ASCAP database, a similar hub for performance rights and credit listings — it still has Sjoberg's name.) It's unclear why Swift decided to put her own name back on the song, though she has no obvious need for the cover Sjoberg provided now; if everyone knows she had a hand in writing the song, why bother continuing to list it under a different name? For what it's worth, I will personally mourn Nils Sjoberg's hypothetical passing, if only because I'm on record celebrating its brilliance as a songwriting pseudonym. I have a sneaking suspicion Swift's other problem will be a little more difficult to resolve.
