{"id":637856,"date":"2026-04-29T06:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T06:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/637856\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T06:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T06:15:12","slug":"9-things-we-learned-from-taylor-swifts-revealing-nyt-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/637856\/","title":{"rendered":"9 Things We Learned From Taylor Swift’s Revealing NYT Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amid coun<\/a>t<\/a>less rumours about her impending wedding<\/a> to Travis Kelce and reports that she\u2019s filed to trademark her voice and likeness to protect against AI misuse, Taylor Swift has done an interview this week talking about what she\u2019s known best for \u2014 her songwriting.\n<\/p>\n

The Grammy-winning pop superstar<\/a> was featured in\u00a0The New York Times Magazine<\/a>\u00a0as one of the 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters (well deserved), and unpacked the stories behind some of her biggest hits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From her \u201cmost slept-on\u201d album and the controversial \u201cOur Song\u201d lyric change, to finally squashing the longstanding rumour about \u201cAll Too Well (10 Minute Version)\u201d, here are the biggest revelations from the 30-minute interview.<\/p>\n

\"taylor-swift-tina-fey\"Taylor Swift has been named one of the 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters \u2014 I know that\u2019s right! (Credit: Getty)<\/p>\n

She lost the original recording of \u201cAll Too Well (10 Minute Version)\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAll Too Well\u201d quickly became one of the most beloved songs in Taylor Swift\u2019s catalogue upon its release in 2012, thanks to its slow-burning power ballad instrumental and brutally honest lyrics that make you want to scream into a pillow.<\/p>\n

So, naturally, when it was hinted in interviews that the song was originally \u201c10, 12 or 15 minutes long\u201d, fans demanded that a longer version be released. Their wish was finally granted in 2021 when Taylor released an unabridged \u201c10 Minute Version\u201d<\/a> as part of her re-recorded album Red (Taylor\u2019s Version), but some fans were suss on whether the newly released track was actually the original version.<\/p>\n

Well, Taylor reflected on the song during her recent interview and confessed that she had to \u201cpiece together\u201d lyrics because she had lost the original recording that inspired it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was going back through diaries and finding little fragments of it, and I didn\u2019t have the old thing anymore,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I was looking through safes trying to find the CD, but I had to go back and piece together lyrics and stuff. But that was the most extensive restoration process I\u2019ve ever done on a song. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever experience anything like that again.\u201d<\/p>\n

@nytimes<\/a> <\/p>\n

Taylor Swift shares how she wrote \u201cAll Too Well (10 Minute Version).\u201d The director\u2019s cut rendition of a nearly decade-old breakup ballad, \u201cAll Too Well,\u201d reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart in 2021, simply because so many listeners wanted to hear even more of a track that made them feel bruised, abandoned and devastated. @taylorswift is one of The New York Times Magazine\u2019s 30 greatest living American songwriters. Interview by Joe Coscarelli. Video by @joshuacharow#nyt30greatest<\/a> #AmericanSongwriters<\/a> #TaylorSwift<\/a><\/p>\n

\u266c original sound \u2013 The New York Times \u2013 The New York Times<\/a> <\/p>\n

She called out a \u2018weird\u2019 fan habit<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be honest, most Taylor Swift fans have been guilty of trying to decipher which of her romantic interests inspired her songs. From whether \u201cDear John\u201d was actually about John Mayer to whether it was Jake Gyllenhaal\u2019s sister Maggie\u2019s house that she left her scarf at in \u201cAll Too Well\u201d, Swifties love to piece together clues<\/a> like they\u2019re solving a murder.<\/p>\n

While Taylor herself famously loves an Easter egg, she admitted that there are \u201ccorners of [her] fanbase that are going to take things to a really extreme place\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s people who are going to try to like, do detective work, figure out the details \u2014 who is that about? What is this?\u201d she shared. \u201cWhen it gets a little bit weird for me is when people act like it\u2019s sort of like a paternity test. Like, \u2018This song\u2019s about this person.\u2019 Because I\u2019m like, \u2018That dude didn\u2019t write the song. I did.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

She shut down Jack Antonoff feud rumours<\/p>\n

There has been plenty of speculation recently that Taylor and her longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff had fallen out after he wasn\u2019t involved in her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl<\/a>. Well, Taylor officially put those rumours to bed when discussing the pair\u2019s songwriting process.<\/p>\n

\u201cJack Antonoff is a collaborator of mine and one of my best friends,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She also talked about how she and Jack love to write what she calls a \u201crant bridge\u201d, as heard in \u201cOut of the Woods\u201d, \u201cIs It Over Now?\u201d and \u201cCruel Summer\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s basically like stream of consciousness, endless pouring-out of emotion, intrusive thoughts, blended with metaphor, with discussion, with shouting,\u201d she explained. \u201cYou want this rant bridge to feel the most intense of what that feeling is that you\u2019re trying to establish over the course of the song, and you want it to be kind of a crescendo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TaylorTaylor Swift and Jack Antonoff are still friends, people! (Credit: Getty)<\/p>\n

She admitted she\u2019s a \u2018massive\u2019 Sombr fan<\/p>\n

While Taylor used to regularly shout out artists she was a fan of on social media, her music recommendations are few and far between nowadays. During the interview, however, she shouted out Sombr and admitted she was a \u201cmassive fan\u201d of the \u201c12 to 12\u201d singer\u2019s songwriting.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis lyrics are so intensely confessional. \u2018I don\u2019t want another man\u2019s child to have the eyes of the girl I can\u2019t forget.\u2019 Are you kidding me?\u201d she said, referencing his song \u201cundressed\u201d.<\/p>\n

She went on to say that having a male artist be so diaristic is \u201creally good for the cause of women to be able to say stuff\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s any way we can make confessional songwriting a little bit more of something that isn\u2019t like, people take that as you were being messy. You have to be fair to everyone then,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\"Sombr\"Taylor revealed that she\u2019s a \u2018massive\u2019 Sombr fan. (Credit: Getty)<\/p>\n

She revealed her most slept-on album<\/p>\n

I recently sat down with a friend and ranked all of Taylor Swift\u2019s albums (something I encourage everyone to do at least once) and concluded that reputation is my personal favourite. Clearly, this isn\u2019t the case for everyone, as Taylor acknowledged that her sixth album \u2014 which came out in 2017 amidst controversies that tarnished her public image \u2014 is probably her most \u201cslept-on\u201d release.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI loved the reputation album. I was like, \u2018You guys say what you want. I know what I did, I love it, like, go with God, sorry. Like, you can come around if you want. It\u2019s okay if you don\u2019t\u2019,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then six or seven years later, people are like, \u2018Oh my god, like, \u2018\u2026Ready For It?\u2019 People slept on that song.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that she \u201cwanted to headbang [herself] through a wall\u201d when she wrote the bass-heavy track, as well as \u201cGetaway Car\u201d \u2014 which is arguably one of the best in her discography.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She wrote \u201cLove Story\u201d when she was mad at her parents<\/p>\n

Similar to how she felt about \u201c\u2026Ready For It\u201d, Taylor admitted that she didn\u2019t care what anyone thought about her song \u201cLove Story\u201d when it was released because she loved it so much.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She shared that she wrote the country pop banger at 17 in her bedroom when she was mad at her parents, Andrea and Scott Swift, because \u201cthey wouldn\u2019t let [her] go on a date with a guy who was too old\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why you need to discipline your kids, because they might write songs\u2026 that go number one,\u201d she remarked.<\/p>\n

Look, \u201cLove Story\u201d only peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US (ridiculous, I know), but still, she\u2019s got a point.<\/p>\n

\"TaylorIT\u2019S A LOVE STORY, BABY, JUST SAY YES. (Credit: Taylor Swift)<\/p>\n

She changed the lyrics to \u201cOur Song\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor spoke about \u201cOur Song\u201d as an example of how she often loves to include a plot twist at the end of her songs, and also revealed why she changed one of her most polarising lyrics.<\/p>\n

You see, in the song she sings: \u201cWhen we\u2019re on the phone, and you talk real slow \/ \u2018Cause it\u2019s late, and your mama don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the years, many Swifties have questioned why she used the word \u201cslow\u201d instead of \u201clow\u201d, which would\u2019ve made more sense in the context, and Taylor said it all came down to an unspoken rule of her songwriting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like to have a word end with the same letter that the next word starts with,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was supposed to be, \u2018When you\u2019re on the phone, and you talk real low,\u2019 but I was like, I don\u2019t like the \u2018real low\u2019. So it turned into, \u2018When you talk real slow\u2019. Certain words just fly for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, there you go!<\/p>\n

She felt \u201ccompletely washed up\u201d at 22<\/p>\n

Throughout the interview, Taylor got real about how the public\u2019s perception of her has influenced her songwriting over the years, including how \u201cBlank Space\u201d and \u201cAnti-Hero\u201d wouldn\u2019t exist if she weren\u2019t criticised for her relationships and \u201cevery aspect of [her] personality\u201d.<\/p>\n

She also said that she wrote her song \u201cNothing New\u201d, which was released on Red (Taylor\u2019s Version) in 2021 as a feature with Phoebe Bridgers, alone in a hotel room at 22 when she felt \u201ccompletely washed up\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds ridiculous, but at 22 years old, I felt completely washed up,\u201d she confessed. \u201cI felt like maybe the only thing that made me special was that I was this, like, \u2018teen phenom\u2019, whatever I was looked at as.\u201d<\/p>\n

The heartbreaking track includes lyrics like, \u2018How can a person know everything at 18, but nothing at 22\u2019, which she said was inspired by the sudden backlash she received after the success of her second album, Fearless.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really turned the tables on my perception of like, love can be quickly handed to you and then taken away, and it\u2019s this kind of strange thing with fame, and that was the first time I ever grappled with that,\u201d she remarked.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

She wrote \u201cElizabeth Taylor\u201d after a drive with Travis<\/p>\n

In addition to unpacking some of her older tracks, including how \u201cNew Year\u2019s Day\u201d and \u201cMirrorball\u201d came to be, Taylor spoke about how her latest single \u201cElizabeth Taylor\u201d<\/a> is an example of when a song \u201ccomes as if from nowhere\u201d.<\/p>\n

She explained that she was inspired to write her ode to the Hollywood starlet during a car ride with her fianc\u00e9e Travis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI go on and on, explaining to Travis why I love Elizabeth Taylor so much. \u2018She fought for artists\u2019 rights. She was exploited in so many ways, and yet she kept her humanity, she kept her humour, she kept her passion for life,\u2019 and I was just going on and on,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd like, her eyes were violet. Some people said they were blue, some people said they were violet, I think they were violet\u2019. And we arrive, we get home, he gets out of the car, and I\u2019m just in my head. I\u2019m like, this intrusive melody of like, \u2018I\u2019d cry my eyes violet, Elizabeth Taylor,\u2019 and I\u2019m just like, scrambling to open my record app on my phone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oh, what I would give to have access to the voice memos app on Taylor\u2019s phone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

BRB, gonna spend the rest of the day listening to Taylor\u2019s incredible discography (justice for reputation!).<\/p>\n