Indie Snobs, Furries, and Wubs: A Freewheeling Chat With Taylor Swift
“I’m still in bed,” Taylor Swift admitted when she answered the phone from her home in Nashville. She had just gotten back from Europe, and was a little jetlagged; her cat kept biting her in retaliation for the long trip. Sadly for the cat, Swift will be absent a lot in the next few months promoting Red (Big Machine), her fourth and poppiest album to date. The record has already earned Swift her first Hot 100 No. 1, for the sassy, Max Martin and Shellback-produced “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” It has also invited the traditional Talmudic reading of Swift’s lyrics and liner notes in search of boyfriends past.
Taylor Swift on Going Pop, Ignoring the Gossip and the Best (Worst) Nickname She’s Ever Had
At 22, Taylor Swift has the kind of career most artists chase for decades: six Grammys, countless chart-topping singles and more than 22 million albums sold. Here, the Nashville dweller—whose new album Red drops Oct. 22—lets loose with TIME.
TIME: I just heard your new song, “I Knew You Were Trouble.” Congrats on being the first major artist to fuse country and dubstep.
Taylor Swift: Thanks.How did that come about?
I actually came up with the melody on piano, and brought it to [producers] Max Martin and Shellback and said, I want to finish this, and I want to make it sound as chaotic as that emotion felt. I’ll sing the base line.