Taylor Swift Reveals Her Songwriting Process | Letterman

I've been on the show before but I've never been able to sit here before, yeah, so this is really exciting, really exciting for you, yeah, no, no, it's exciting for me, you see how it goes. I couldn't be happier for you, it's just another concert, but For me, thank you and thank you again, oh wow, I love it, I love the view, you have a nice place here, thank you for having me, you are a very kind guest, uh, when you have a new CD and stuff. So, by the way, you're just a kid, right? I cant ask?

Yes, better not, how old are you? uh, 20 20. Yeah, you're 20, so when you won the Grammy for album of the year. How old were you then? I was 20. I see, yeah, when was that a couple of years ago? But when now that you have the music and how long does it take you to write enough stuff to put on a CD? It took me about two years. One of the things I'm really proud of about the CD. I wrote it by myself without any co-authors, so for two years I lived life and wrote in real time as I write.

In these moments in time, songs are written when I feel what I'm discussing in the song, so it's all done, uh, when it's happening and I was right when I alluded to the biographical nature of some. of the romantic circumstances described in the song, sometimes I wonder if that would be a deterrent if maybe a guy said "oh boy, I just don't want a song written about me", maybe you know what I mean, maybe maybe that that uh uh is that that will ever come up yeah but you know this is the third album I've been making so they had fair warning at this point and please don't take this the wrong way you smell like expensive wood.

What's that? It is the most unique compliment I have ever received and believe me, it is very good. I've never had a bit of that before. It's just very, very subtle, very nice. Do you remember you started this? You came here. Do you travel all over the world now because of CD and stuff? Oh yes, definitely. We traveled all over the world and this is actually the first international release where the CDs are released everywhere. I've been everywhere recently like Italy, France, Japan and England. We know, what a big star, you are in the United States and North America.

Is it comparable in all these other countries? It is fun. other countries. I love the fans there and we get to play in stadiums and it's really wonderful and sometimes I want to say it's interesting because you go there and they don't speak the same language as you, so I always try to adapt. I myself kind of learn a few phrases or whatever, I think it's a great thing to do well, sometimes it fails miserably, but like me, uh, but when I'm in Japan, I just speak in Japan in Japanese the whole show doesn't, no, yes, I don't sing in Japanese, but I speak in Japanese, you, you, you can actually, you speak Japanese, to pass like a 90 minute concert in Japan, well, I mean you. you just memorize some of it you find out what it means good like what you say how you go like osaka and then you say like arigato gozaimasu and nippon daisuki nippon psycho and kawaii like wow what did you say? first I said you're having fun osaka then I said I love Japan and I said um Japan is amazing and then I said nice, well the fans in Japan are more reserved than in other parts of the world no, they're amazing, come on. crazy yes they are amazing it's great I love all the crowds from other places and I really love when people get really excited because I'm a very emotional person I get excited very easily and when people come up to me and start to cry is that I don't know why I like that that's great, yeah, they're crying because they can't believe they're standing in front of you and I hope that's why, yeah.

It's not like you're standing on his feet, yeah, um, so you don't have free time because you're writing and traveling and what do you do? You have free time, if you had free time, what would you do? Well, me. I have had this. I have this phase of nature right now. I really like walking in nature and being outdoors. I'm a very seasonal person right now. I love fall and I love the fact that it's all about. It'll be winter and it's about to be Christmas, but I know what I know what this is about you, you grew up on a Christmas tree farm, that's right, yeah, yeah, so where's that?, where's that?

Upstate New York? Only to guess it was in Pennsylvania. I grew up on a Christmas tree farm and I thought there are two ways that can go as far as you know to shape who you are going to be in life. I mean, you can kind of end up being the person who likes bagels. their eyes at Christmas and say, "Oh, I've had so much Christmas that I don't care about Christmas anymore, is it really Christmas now?", or you can be like a really nasty girl in a Christmas sweater, gingerbread cookie, why not Raise your hand if you want? you're her, yeah, why not and maybe that's what I'm picking up, it's and this is going to sound horrible, but it's almost like a lot of Christmas trees, but not like a lot of Christmas trees, it weighs a lot on pine, that's not what this This is something completely different, but it's in the deciduous or pine family, it's not the deciduous Douglas fir that we sold, you know, they say you smell like a tree, it's what What are you, no, no, no, no, you know, they say that before you have a massive blow you smell like ham it's one of those deals so tell me, tell me, it's not that it's not like that, something is happening here and I'm right, okay?, yeah, there you go, there you go, okay.