Taylor Swift dialed in to Good Morning America on Wednesday (Nov. 25) to talk about her Grammy nominations, the filming of her just-dropped Folklore: The Long Pond Sessions documentary on Disney+ and which old song she’s most excited to be re-recording. “It was so crazy to create an album from my house, I’ve never done that before,” the singer said of the COVID-19-forced change of venue for the recording of the low-key, folky album tracked with The National’s Aaron Dessner and frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff.
“This was an experience unlike anything else and it really changed I think what this year would have been for me emotionally and mentally,” she said of writing and recording Folklore long-distance from her home. Perhaps more exciting, though, was finally getting to be in a room with Dessner and Antonoff for the first time to perform the songs recorded in isolation for the film, on which Swift makes her feature directorial debut. “One thing that’s so amazing about getting to create with your collaborators is taking those songs from the studio and getting to perform them and getting to connect with fans,” she said.
“And obviously we’re doing things a bit differently this year because concerts aren’t happening and so many times Jack and Aaron and I said, ‘wouldn’t it be so amazing if we could get in a room and perform these songs together’ and kind of feel that connection to the music in a live sense and provide a way to, in a way, do a concert for the fans?”
After quarantining “completely,” the trio set up six cameras in the studio and a robotic camera that roamed around in an effort to re-create what it felt like to listen to and record the album.
The singer, who was nominated for six Grammy Awards on Tuesday for Folklore and her work on the Cats soundtrack, chatted with GMA co-host George Stephanopoulos about what it feels like to be closing in on Stevie Wonder and Frank Sinatra’s record for most album of the year Grammy wins. “The Grammy news was absolutely unbelievable and in terms of those unbelievable records I try not to jinx things to quote Michael Scott from The Office,” she said of possibly adding to the two AOTY awards on her shelf to match Wonder and Sinatra’s record three.
“‘I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitious.’” Swift also talked about the difficulty of our long national quarantine and how it forced her to focus on what really matters to her in life. “It really does draw so much into profound focus, what matters to you, appreciating things that you have, appreciating your health, protecting it, trying to live in a way that is responsible for you and other people,” she said.
“The one thing that I knew I needed to keep me afloat was music and I’m really grateful that I had that and really grateful that the fans loved it in the way that they did and saw where I was coming from.” Oh, and if you haven’t watched it yet, the film totally reveals the mystery behind the shadowy Folklore collaborator William Bowery. But, Taylor said, you’ll have to watch it to find out.
And in a cute moment, super-Swiftie Elliott Stephanopoulos dialed in with a very important question for Taylor about which song from her old albums she’s most excited to be re-recording. “I’ve been having a really good time re-recording my older music and I think my answer to that, so far of the ones I’ve recorded I think it’s been the most fun doing ‘Love Story,’” she said of the 2008 single from her Fearless album, describing how on her oldest songs her voice is so “teenaged” and sometimes when she hears those vocals it makes her feel like a different singer now.
“It’s been the most fun to go back and re-record ones that I feel like I can actually possibly improve upon the song,” she revealed.
Check out the interview below.
