The New York Times Magazine polled more than 250 music insiders and gathered six Times critics to choose the 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters. One artist who made the list was Taylor Swift. The writer Joe Coscarelli met with Swift in Los Angeles to talk about the craft of songwriting. In this 30-minute interview, Swift explains her process, the stories behind some of her biggest hits, her love of a “rant bridge” and how life in the public eye informs the stories she tells in her songs
taylor being happy is tone deaf and unrelatable because the world is in crisis. taylor being sad and miserable is performative and unfounded because she’s a billionaire with every resource under the sun. so what then
I'm trying to gather my thoughts into something coherent, but right now my mind is just a slideshow. A flashback sequence of all the times I daydreamed about, wished for, and pined away for a chance to get to tell you This news. All the times I was thiiiiiiiiiiiis close, reaching out for it, only for it to fall through. I almost stopped Thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years of having the carrot dangled and Then yanked away. But that's all in the past now. I've been bursting into tears of joy at random intervals ever since I found out that this is really happening. I really get to say these words:
All of The music I've ever made...now belongs...to me.
And all my music videos.
And all The concert films.
The album art and photography.
The unreleased songs.
The memories. The magic. The madness.
Every single era.
My entire life's work.
To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it. To my fans, you know how important this has been to me - so much so that I meticulously re-recorded and released 4 of my albums, calling them Taylor's Version. The passionnate support you showed those albums and the success story you turned The Eras Tour into is why I was able to buy back my music. I can't thank you enough for helping to reunite me with this art that I have dedicated my life to, but have never owned until now.
All I've ever wanted was the opportunity to work hard enough to be able to one day purchase my muisc outright with no strings attached, no partnership, with full autonomy. I will be forever grateful to Shamrock Capital for being the first people to ever offer this to me. The way they've hadnled every interaction we've had has been honest, fair, and respectful. This was a business deal to them, but I really felt like they saw it for what it as to me: My memories and my sweat and my handwriting and my decades of dreams. I am endlessly thankful. My first tattoo might just be a huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead.
I know, I know, What about Rep TV? Full transparency: I haven't even recorded a quarter of it. The Reputation album was so specific to that time in my life, and I kept hitting a stopping point when I tried to remake it. All that defiance, that longing to be understood while feeling purposefully misunderstood, that desperate hope, that shame-born snarl and mischief. To be perfectly honest, it's the one album in those first 6 that I thought couldn't be improved upon by redoing it. Not the music, the photos, or the videos. So I kept putting it off. There will be a time (if you're into the idea) for the unreleased vault tracks from that album to hatch. I've already completely re-recorded my debut album, and I really love how it sounds now. Those two albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right, if that would be something you guys would be excited about. But if it happens, it won't be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have. It will just be a celebration now.
I'm extremely heartened by the conversations this saga has reignited within my industry among artists and. fans. Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their record contract because of this fight, I'm reminded of how important it was for all of this to happen. Thank you for being curious about something that used to be thought of as industry-centric for broad discussion. You'll never know how much it means to me that you cared. Every single bit of it counted and ended us up here.
Thanks to you and your goodwill, teamwork, and encouragement, the best things that have ever been mine...finally actually are.
2087
kianamaiart
germansingergirl
jacobvanloon
janainaart
areudirty
turnnoffyourmind
snowghoul
