Teach us, Taylor
A lesson in songwriting from Taylor Swift
With the release of Reputation, Taylor Swift let her fans into her songwriting process in a series of YouTube videos from AT&T called Taylor Swift NOW. The first in the series is for the single “Gorgeous,” which is written by Swift, songwriter Max Martin, who has worked with Britney Spears and Katy Perry, and record producer Shellback, who produced music for the likes of Lily Allen and Maroon 5.
The glimpse inside of Tay-Tay’s songwriting process is pretty involved. She starts with working on a simple chord progression and a series of rough lyrics. Throughout, she refines the music on guitar and piano, while re-arranging the lyrics to make her voice flow better from verse to verse. She then works with her producers and co-songwriters to give the song a few catchy hooks. The end result shows how hard Swift works to make the best possible song imaginable, while also showing that her music doesn’t simply come out of thin air.
The making-of video ends with a lyrics music video of “Gorgeous,” which might be, according to Forbes, about Swift’s current boyfriend Joe Alwyn, a British actor who starred as Billy Lynn in Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. As for the song itself, it’s a very sharp radio-friendly tune with an infectious melody that’s for sure going to be your next earworm.
“Gorgeous” is available now on Spotify and iTunes, while her new CD, Reputation, is in stores and online.
