Taylor Swift has been an enigma as of late. Or rather, more of an enigma than usual. The "Look What You Made Me Do" singer scrubbed her social media prior to announcing her new record Reputation, and she's done zero press for the album, which comes out in a couple weeks.
Instead, she's taking us for a ride through Reputation on her own terms. She's going to be starring in a series of homemade videos called "The Making of a Song" that take us behind-the-scenes of her songwriting process. The videos will be hosted on Taylor Swift NOW, her partnership with AT&T.
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The first video below is for the song "Gorgeous." We see her at playing guitar, trying to get the chords down just right. As the video progresses, she's playing a piano and singing the lyrics, apparently trying to work them out. Each part of the video represents a later date in the creation of the song. Finally, she's in the studio with her guitar again, chatting with members of her band as they work out the full instrumentals.
It's really intriguing to see this side of Taylor, because it is one that we rarely get to see from pop stars. Her songwriting process is very old school. She works out the melodies and lyrics on analogue pianos and guitars, with chords that sound almost simplistic compared to the final result. Swift even painstakingly works out where her ad-libs are going to be, so they are placed carefully, even if they sound improvised.
It's a testament to Swift's hard work as a musician. We often assume that records, tours and music videos emerge fully-formed, because we don't see the work behind the scenes. Taylor Swift is peeling back that curtain for us, and we can't wait to see more. Reputation will be released on November 10, 2017.
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