Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn have “bonded over” their love of sad songs.
The couple collaborated on some tracks on her new Evermore album, and now the star has opened up on their process, including their similar “musical tastes”.
Speaking to Zane Lowe on Apple Music, she said: “Joe and I really love sad songs. We’ve always bonded over music. We write the saddest (songs). We just really love sad songs. What can I say? It was a surprise that we started writing together.
“But in a way, it wasn’t because we have always bonded over music and had the same musical tastes. He’s always the person who’s showing me songs by artists and then they become my favorite songs.”
Joe was credited as William Bowery on the record, and helped pen Champagne Problems, Coney Island, and Evermore on her newest release, while they had previously teamed up on Exile and Betty for its predecessor Folklore.
Opening up on their process – and the song Exile in particular – she added: “He’s always just playing instruments and he doesn’t do it in a strategic, ‘I’m writing a song right now’ thing. He’s always done that.
“But do I think we would have taken the step of, ‘Hey, let’s see if there’s a song in here. Let’s write a song together?’
“If we hadn’t been in lockdown, I don’t think that would have happened, but I’m so glad that it did. We’re so proud of that one.”
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Meanwhile, Taylor explained how their process on Evermore was very similar to Exile.
She said: “(I) walked in and he was playing that exact piano part. And all I had to do was follow the piano melody with the verse melody. So because the vocal melody is exactly the same, pretty much it’s mirrored with the piano part that he wrote.
“And we did the same thing with Evermore, where I’ll just kind of hear what he’s doing and it’s exactly, it’s all there. All I have to do is dream up some lyrics and come up with some gut-wrenching, heart-shattering story to write with him.”
