Taylor Swift Tells Us How She Wrote 'Lover' | Diary of a Song

"Hello." “It's okay, it already happened. “We are in business.” "How is this?" "I like it, Alex." “Do you always keep instruments near your bed in case inspiration strikes?” "Well, I have a piano near me all the time and I always have a good...yes, the answer is yes." Singing: “Take me out and take me home. You are my, my, my, my

lover

.” “I've never been able to fully explain

song

writing, other than it's like this little bright cloud floats in front of your face and you grab it at the right moment. And then you go back to what you know about the structure of a

song

to fill in the gaps.” “Where were you when inspiration struck?” “It was, I was in bed.

I was in Nashville. I got out of bed. “I think it was really late at night and I tripped over the piano.” Voice note: “O.K., so I had this idea: I obviously don't know the verse, whatever it is yet, but I have a pretty interesting, really simple, beautiful chorus idea called 'Lover'.” “I've been thinking for years: God, it would be great to have a song that people in love would want to dance to, like a slow dance. In my head, I just had the last two people on a dance floor at 3 a.m., swaying.” “What did you have in mind?

Was it the title? Was it a letter? Was it a melody? “It wasn't, it was, can I go where you're going?” Can we always be so close? Singing: “Can I go where you go? Can we always be so close forever and ever? “I wanted the chorus to be these really simple existential questions that we ask ourselves when we're in love. "Can I go where you're going?" It's a very heavy thing to ask someone. “Can we always be this close?” He is very afraid, but also love.” "When did you come up with the word '

lover

'?" “Oh, I've always liked that word, but I've never used it in everyday life.

When people say, that's my lover or they call each other lovers, I've never done it, but I've always loved it in the context of poetry or songs.” “It is a polarizing word. Some people say, 'Ugh, that word makes me cringe.'” “Well, anything I do is polarizing. So, you know, I’m used to that.” "Sounds good to me. So, how much of the song did you finish that night playing the piano in Nashville? "The whole thing." “She sent me that voice note. Whether it's a full song or just a little thing of it, I feel a big jolt, I listen to it and block out the whole world for a minute.

Every lyric and melody was there. And I was like…” “…get on a plane. She came the next day. She played it right there. "Basically, I don't see it as a piano. I think it's that kind of dreamy, guitar-y throwback, but not like a camp throwback." "So..." "I thought." which was the perfect song, which is really interesting because it's almost like an even bigger duty to get it right." Singing: "You're my, my, my, my lover." "That seems so much better." "Yeah, I love it." "That really takes care of that part." "I love the walk." "That was the only thing that..." "I was trying to figure out, what the hell is going to happen there?

So..." it does much better. Singing: “My, my, my, my.” “When I work with Jack and Taylor, I work with two extremely creative people who exchange ideas very quickly. So my job is basically not to stop them in any way.” “Laura has been by my side on every album I've made practically since people started listening to any of my albums. “We are all, three of us are together in that process.” “We were like, ugh, like it was just fun. We are acting totally, completely on impulse. And we act on intuition and we act on emotion and oat milk coffees.” “I remember the first thing I did was go into the live room, which is right there.

And at that point I had been listening to a lot of Violent Femmes recently and I was excited by how much feeling you could get out of a box if it were a brush.” “And I just remember walking in and saying 'psh,' a paintbrush. I wasn't even really playing the drums. She only had a brush. I just... —We were using real reverbs and real tape echoes. It gives it a really special character that makes you feel nostalgic.” “The bass, which is a very, very, very special bass, belongs in the studio.” "I called him 'Paul bass'.

Is that Paul McCartney?" "Yeah." “My old bass Hofner, my little baby. Come on baby." "We were just referencing what Paul would do: W.W.P.D.? Humming: Brum, brum, brum, brum, brum, brum, brum. The bass line is actually the hook." "No, though. It's a real 'Paul bass.'" "It's not a real 'Paul bass' at all, but it's better at that 'Paul thump' than I ever got on the fiddle bass." Humming: "Brum, brum, brum, brum, brum, brum, brum, brum, brum." "The bass and the drums are like... if you just listen to those two tracks, I think the whole space is beautifully filled." “In the studio, I obsessively review each lyric and make sure that's what I want the final lyric to be.

So I'll finish, in my notes, just refine that, focus on that "Were there any lines that changed in that process?" "Yes Yes Yes. “I had toyed with the idea that we could leave the Christmas lights up until April.” Singing: “We could leave the Christmas lights on until January.” “Don't everyone leave their Christmas lights on until January?” “But it's not that it's crazy. It's about how mundane it is. It's about us being able to put a rug there. “We could do wallpaper or paint.” Singing: “This is our place. “We made the rules.” “When young adults go from living in their family to combining their life with someone else's, that's really the most profound thing.” “To just tell this story, I don't know.

It almost seems like an old story I've heard many times. I mean, I guess it is, people fall in love.” “Tell me about the importance of the bridge to you. I feel like you love a bridge. This is a special bridge. Tell me about it.” “I love a bridge. I love a bridge so much. I love trying to take the song to a higher level with the bridge.” “There are these kinds of hand-played strings and these kinds of flutes that are coming out.” "I wanted it to be the first time we introduced the idea of ​​votes." "Make it look like a small wedding." Singing: “Ladies and gentlemen, would you please stand?” “I love taking a common phrase and twisting it.

So for the bridge, I took all these common phrases we say about weddings…” Singing: “With every guitar string scar on my hand.” "I like to add something that changes the phrase." Singing: “I take this magnetic force of a man as my lover.” “Without a bridge, a song can almost seem like a jingle. You know when you're driving through beautiful landscapes and you're like mountains, trees. Oh my god, right? And suddenly you go through a tunnel and you think, what the hell? And then it comes back. Mountains and trees, how beautiful. It's like you need that third element to get you out of where you've been and that's why you're so excited to get it back.

Specifically on ‘Lover,’ when you come out of the bridge and come back to the chorus, you just go ‘ugh.’” Singing: “Can I go where you go? Can we always be so close, forever and ever? “And it was all done in that one day.” "Oh yeah." "I mean, I think we were all really excited when we left the studio that day." “Even if someone had said, I don't think this one is great, I would have said, 'Well, I reject your comments because I love this one.'” “It's the perfect song and it

tells

that story perfectly. and she takes me directly to where she wants me to be, as a listener.

You're my, you're my, you're my, you're my, you're my what? And then…” Singing: “Lover.” “Do you have guitar string scars on your hands?” “Well, I mean, I have extreme calluses. You probably can't see them, but they all are, and I have a few just from changing strings and not being very good at it. You know what I mean? Like some where you're tuning, tuning, tuning. Pop. Oh."