Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato are saying “Thank U, Next” and “Sorry Not Sorry” to Scooter Braun, the talent manager who previously made headlines for his yearslong dispute with Taylor Swift. The singers’ exits were reported Monday within hours of each other.
Billboard was the first to report that Lovato left Braun’s company, SB Projects, last month and has been shopping for a replacement ever since. She reportedly made the decision long before since-debunked rumors emerged that Justin Bieber was considering breaking with Braun.
Braun and Lovato started working together in 2019. They still appear to be on good terms ― Braun reportedly wished her a happy 31st birthday Sunday. Grande, meanwhile, left Braun after 10 years with SB Projects.
Grande’s split with Braun was first reported on Twitter by Puck News co-founder Matthew Belloni and confirmed to multiple outlets by sources close to the situation. Her exit arrives nearly 10 years to the day after Braun’s label released her debut studio album “Yours Truly.”
Braun was with Grande for her entire music career after her former line of work as a Nickelodeon actor on shows like “iCarly.” She has since released six albums, five of which hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and became the most streamed female artist of the 2010s.
Representatives for Grande and Lovato did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Both Grande and Lovato decided on managerial changes at important times in their careers. Grande is releasing a 10th-anniversary edition of “Yours Truly” on Friday and Lovato saw her last album “Holy Fvck” hit stores to a meager 33,000 sales in 2022.
Left: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP; Center: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images; Right: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Lovato is now working on an album aptly titled “Revamped” that will turn some of her most beloved pop hits into rock songs.
While a source told Billboard that “she was thankful for her time with SB Projects,” not all of Braun’s business relationships ended as amicably.
While he was not Swift’s manager, Braun infamously acquired the master recording rights to her first six albums through his Ithaca Holdings company in 2019 and later sold them to private equity firm Shamrock Holdings.
In 2020, Swift chose to re-record her albums after deriding Braun in a statement.
“I know this will diminish the value of my old masters, but I hope you will understand that this is my only way of regaining the sense of pride I once I had … and also allowing my fans to listen to those albums without feelings of guilt for benefitting Scooter,” she wrote at the time.
Swift has since released re-recorded versions of “Fearless,” “Red” and “Speak Now” with “Taylor’s Version” in the album titles. Swift’s newest re-recorded album, “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” hits stores in October.
She also recently concluded the first leg of the most anticipated and successful tour of her career — which Grande and Lovato have presumably noticed.