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folklore: the long pond studio sessions out now!

with: @jackantonoff

@aarondessner

@boniver

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———

Jack: So, exile...

Taylor: I only wish our other two co-writers were here

Jack: Who?

Taylor: Justin Vernon

Jack: Right. Justin is just amazing and, who's the other one?

Taylor: August

Jack: Who?

Taylor: Jack...

[They all laughed]

Jack: August is fantastic

[Taylor smiles fondly at her glass of wine]

Taylor: She is. And August, she plays piano beautifully. And for the short period of time that I've known her, she has just been constantly playing music and writing new stuff. Beautiful stuff. And Exile was crazy, actually. 'Cause, it's a funny story actually. I was cooking I think, and I needed some background music, and what's better than your friend playing live music for you over FaceTime, right? And then August came up with that entire piano part like on the spot, the dananana nananana,, and she wrote the Bon Iver part, the 'I can see you standing honey with his arms around your body, laughing but the joke's not funny at all."

Jack: Really?

Taylor: Yeah, she was just singing it the way the whole verse is

Aaron: wow

Taylor: So, I was entranced and we kind of just worked on it together until we had the whole thing done right there... and, it was pretty obvious that it should be a duet, 'cause she's got such a beautiful, low voice and it sounded so good sung down there in that register, like seriously... she can sing low! And then... we're really, really big Bon Iver fans and as we know, Aaron knows him but I was too afraid to suggest it but I just— when I sent it to Aaron I was like 'Uh, this is hopefully a duet, I don't know who with...who would it be with? Who do you think would be good with this?' And Aaron was like, 'I think Justin would love this!' And I couldn't say it in words myself because if I would have suggested it and Justin would have said no, it would have hurt too much

Jack: interesting

Aaron: I think when we talked about it, I said I think he would be really inspired by this and then we sent it to him and he was and then the process of working on it and what he sent back and we didn't ask him to write anything but he wrote this like—

Taylor: Ugh! Yeah! He wrote this amazing bridge— So step right out, there is no amount

Aaron: So, Step right out, there is no amount—

Taylor: and like that whole bit. I kept thinking that this wasn't really going to happen and— mind you, August had no idea this was happening! I was just like, hey, can I have this song for the album? And she was cool with it. And honestly, between the two of us, she's the bigger Bon Iver fan, which is saying a lot, so while I was freaking out over the amazing song Justin was helping us with, and like I was just anxious about how this wasn't really happening. This wasn't my reality, Justin was gonna change his mind... but that just never happened. And I was also freaking out over how I was gonna keep this from August and what her reaction was going to be when she found out Justin sang her song, but yeah, he's on the album, and he's the coolest, and we both freaked out over Justin being on the album... I sent August an early copy of the album and she was so excited about it and... yeah, this is all so cool. That's what's happening.

Aaron: Yeah, kudos to August for making it happen, really

Taylor: Yeah... I think this whole album wouldn't have existed without her.

Jack: Why is that?

[Taylor is quiet for a few moments, staring down at the grass]

Taylor: I... well, I wasn't in the right mind to write anything for a while. With the whole world being so chaotic and there was a lot going on in my life too... she inspired me to sit at the piano and write something new, and to write the stuff that I wanted to write. Not for the sake of making a record that sells but for the sake of making a record that I liked. One that I liked making. And once the ball started rolling, it just never stopped. She's an amazing artist, and an amazing person and... yeah.

———

Taylor: so, betty is just... There's this trilogy, the holy trinity of Betty, August, and Cardigan and, we wrote them together and with Betty, I just heard August singing the whole chorus as it is in the song on another FaceTime call and I just kind of interrupted her and I was like 'Heeeeeyyyyyy'

Jack: You're like, 'I do this professionally! I'd love to have a conversation!'

[They all laughed]

Taylor: Yeah... I mean, August does this professionally now too— I, I think it's a step that we never would have taken together, 'cause, why would we ever write a song together?

Jack: I thought you were doing a bit when you said 'August and I wrote a song together' And I thought it was going to be like when two people write silly songs about their like pets in relationships— or you know, friendships

[Taylor burst out laughing]

Jack: and then you were like no, no, we wrote like an actual song, well, two songs, cuz I think you sent us Betty and Exile around the same time. And you sent it to me I was like really impressed.

Taylor: so, this was like, we were in quarantine, and there was nothing else going on. So, we just kind of sat and wrote songs, some of them together like Betty. So, August was singing the chorus of it and I thought it sounded really good and I really liked that it seemed to be like an apology from a male's perspective? And I've written so many songs from a female's perspective about wanting a male's apology, that we decided to make it from a teenage boy's perspective apologising after he loses the love of his life because he's been foolish

Jack: allegedly

Taylor: No, he's been foolish

Jack: No, according to the internet we don't know what it's about

Taylor: he's been foolish

Jack: No, I mean—

Taylor: we wrote it, and I'm confirming it, he's been foolish

Jack: Well, I don't really know who's this August—

Taylor: he was foolish! He's a fool!

[They all laugh again]

Aaron: So, August started writing the song... but you're singing it...

Taylor: Yeah! She was pretty cool about that, actually. Like I said, she's a cool person. She actually suggested that I should sing it and add it to the album... and then from it came the whole trilogy and that was just fricken awesome so... yeah, like I said before. This album would not exist without her!

———

...

Taylor: So, the thing about invisible string, it's just the theme of you know, fate, and you feel like your life's been tied to this person that you meet and you know, actually, I wrote this right after sending an ex a baby gift and... I was like man, life is great. And I remember thinking that like this is a full signifier that life is great. You have this thing that doesn't work out when you're younger, and then you grow up, and you meet someone new, maybe the someone that you were always meant to be with. And you send that ex a gift because it's just... that's life. You grow up. You follow this invisible string and it takes you to where you're supposed to be, eventually.

Aaron: or who.

Taylor: ... yeah. Or who.

———

👀