Taylor Swift’s 2020 ‘Folklore’ and ‘Evermore’ collaborations started life as demos for Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and The National’s Aaron Dessner’s indie folk band Big Red Machine.
Vernon features on the ‘exile’ on ‘Folklore’ and the title track of ‘Evermore’, while Dessner is a producer and co-writer of several of the tracks.
And in a new interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Vernon insisted “all the glory” goes to Swift for hearing the magic in the rough demos.
He said: “I think we just needed to share it. And Taylor heard it.
“Again, all the glory goes to Taylor for hearing, as a songwriter, what music she wants to make. But those songs are Big Red Machine demos.”
Vernon was clearly blown away witnessing Swift and Dessner create magic in the studio together.
He went on: “Her genius was working with the genius of Aaron Dessner on making the strongest set of lyrics and songwriting that she’s ever had, really. And so during that process, I’m just sort of like watching it happen. And to me it was very much like seeing Taylor enter our whole universe. Of course there’s no one bigger and we all bowed down to her…”
Speaking about working on ‘exile’, he continued: “And then Aaron hits me up and is like, ‘So Bud-o, I think there’s a song that Taylor would like you to sing’. And I was like, ‘Taylor?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, I haven’t told you yet, but I’m taking some of the songs and she’s writing to them’. I was like, ‘Awesome. I’m not doing anything today’. So they sent it and I ended up adding a couple of little bits, but that’s how Aaron and Joe [Alwyn, Swift’s ex] and Taylor wrote the song, and I just sang it on an SM7 in my little makeshift studio.
“And it felt level to everything else. I mean in, it’s an exceptional song and an exceptionally popular song for a good reason. But it felt just so natural and I’m so thankful for that opportunity just to have, yeah, to have worked with such an amazing artist.”
The National have also very much entered Taylor Swift’s world as a result of working and performing together, with many Swifties becoming fans of the band.
Frontman Matt Berninger also featured on ‘Coney Island’ on ‘Evermore’, while Swift contributed vocals and lyrics to ‘The Alcott’, on The National’s 2023 album ‘First Two Pages of Frankenstein’.