Demi Lovato has split from her manager Scooter Braun, according to both Variety and Billboard.
The decision was mutual and amicable and that Lovato, 31, is currently seeking new management, according to a source at Variety.
Lovato signed with Braun’s company SB Projects in May 2019. “Reposting this pic from @ddlovato. She is a special person and a special talent. I’m… we… are honored,” he wrote via Instagram at the time alongside photos of the duo. “Welcome to the family Demi.”
Since joining Braun’s team, Lovato released two albums: Dancing with the Devil… the Art of Starting Over in 2021 and Holy Fvck in 2022. The singer is also set to release her new album REVAMPED in September, which consists of re-recorded rock versions of her biggest hits from earlier in her career, including the popular song “Confident.”
The news of Lovato’s split from Braun comes only three days after reports surfaced that Justin Bieber had also parted ways from the music executive, 42. Following the claims, however, reps from both parties confirmed to Us Weekly, “This is not true.”
Braun famously came under fire in 2019 when Taylor Swift called out him and Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta after learning they acquired her back catalog of master recordings.
“I walked away because I knew once I signed that contract, Scott Borchetta would sell the label, thereby selling me and my future,” Swift, 33, wrote on Tumblr at the time. “I had to make the excruciating choice to leave behind my past. Music I wrote on my bedroom floor and videos I dreamed up and paid for from the money I earned playing in bars, the clubs, then arenas, then stadiums.”
She continued: “Never in my worst nightmare did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter. Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words ‘Scooter Braun’ escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to. He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didn’t want to be associated with them. In perpetuity. That means forever.”
Amid the drama, Lovato showed support for Braun at the time. “I have dealt with bad people in this industry and Scooter is not one of them. He’s a good man,” she wrote on her Instagram Story in June 2019. “Personally, I’m grateful he came into my life when he did. Please stop ‘dragging’ people or bullying them. There’s enough hate in this world as it is.”
Nearly three years after their feud and Swift announcing her plans to re-record her old albums, Braun reflected on the ups and downs during an April 2022 interview with MSNBC. “I think Taylor has every right to re-record. She has every right to pursue her masters,” he said at the time. “And I wish her nothing but well, and I have zero interest in saying anything bad about her … The only thing I disagree with is weaponizing a fanbase.”
