Taylor Swift has nothing on Michael Jackson, according to Neil Tennant.
The Pet Shop Boys vocalist took a swipe at the global superstar while comparing her to the late King of Pop during a livestreamed conversation with the Guardian Monday.
“Taylor Swift sort of fascinates me as a phenomenon because she’s so popular, and I sort of quite like the whole thing, but then when I listen to the records … for a phenomenon as big [as she is], where are the famous songs? What’s Taylor Swift’s ‘Billie Jean’?” he asked onstage at Kings Place in London.
When music critic Alexis Petridis interjected to mention one of Swift’s many signature songs, “Shake It Off,” Tennant doubled down, “I listened to that the other day, and it’s not ‘Billie Jean.'”
The “West End Girls” singer, 69, clarified that he thinks the Eras Tour performer, 34, has “a great voice,” but he believes her catalog leaves much to be desired.
“I like the fact that it brings all these people together, even multigenerational, but I think the one disappointing thing is the music — not the lyrics, the music,” he said.
Tennant’s comments came three days after Swift released her 11th studio album, “The Tortured Poets Department.”
Page Six reviewed the 16-track record as a “pièce de résistance,” writing that the “All Too Well” singer is “more of a heartbroken savant turning her pain into poetry than a scorned woman filling out a burn book.”
The album covers Swift’s 2023 breakups from her longtime boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, and her subsequent fling, Matty Healy, and also includes nods to her current beau, Travis Kelce.
“To have a successful pop career now, you have to have a series of relationships, which are amazing, and then break up tragically,” Tennant opined Monday.
Since its April 19 release, “Tortured Poets” has broken several records, including becoming the first album in Spotify history to surpass 300 million streams in one day.
Swift celebrated her success earlier this week, writing on social media, “And that’s the closest I’ve come to my heart exploding,” using a lyric from the title track of “TTPD.”
The 14-time Grammy winner, who got her start in music in 2006, was recently named a billionaire.
