Taylor Swift interview from the Useless Critic
Q and A: Taylor Swift!
First of all, I cannot believe this happened. Second of all, what a genuinely nice girl! In January, for some bizarre hyped-up reason, I thought I could email Taylor Swift for an interview. Then, one night, I came home and LO AND BEHOLD SHE RESPONDED.
I'd like to very much thank Taylor for taking the time to do this, and her record label, Big Machine. I'm not going to post a photo, because I have no rights to any photos of Taylor Swift whatsoever. But you can easily Google "Taylor Swift" and find a lot of photos, to fill that need you have.
1.) You just finished with a huge world tour, correct? What were your favorite spots on the tour? (I believe you went to Norway, Belgium, etc)
I just finished the first part of the tour in Asia and Europe, and it was just unbelievable. I got to sightsee a lot, which is one of my favorite things to do because I’m such a tourist and I like to take 1000s of pictures and record hours of videos. I’d never been to Norway or Belgium before so it was a new experience for me, I didn’t know whether anybody would show up for my shows, maybe it would be like 400 people? Yet every night the crowds were just huge and I couldn’t believe it, I was absolutely blown away by the loveliness and the hospitable nature of the people. Belgium was just so cute and antique, it looked like a little village, everything was just so quaint and the architecture was so old and it looked like it had a lot of history which I really love. Norway had such a friendly vibe and as well the architecture was just amazing… I’ve made some memories that I’ll never forget and I’ve met people who will always have a place in my heart too.
(NORWAY is awesome! shout-out to Annie!)
2.) You are touring the U.S. this summer/fall? What are your hopes for this tour? (looks pretty big)
I cannot wait for the U.S tour to kick off! We started rehearsals today and I’m just beyond excited, I’ve been looking forward to this since I completed the album! When you write songs and you make that decision for your albums to be like diaries, I think you open up a whole new world of possibilities for your tour, because you so clearly know how you want that particular song to be portrayed in concert, what emotions you want to spark. We just finished the Europe and Asia legs of the tour, and I’m so glad that we went out there and met all the fans and we really figured out what works well and what doesn’t. We experimented a lot with those first concerts, we tested out songs that aren’t going to be on the U.S set list, we heard what the crowds loved and what they didn’t. Now we’ve come back to the U.S with a lot more knowledge, and I’m really putting that to good use! I’ve completely shaken-up the set list, we’ve got dancers and more songs and new effects, and I really feel like this tour is going to be special. The Fearless tour was so much more successful that I’d ever dreamt, and I knew that we’d have to put together something spectacular to beat it, so I just hope that the Speak Now tour lives up to everybody’s expectations!
3.) I was surprised to find you're a Sigur Ros fan as well as a Mumford and Sons fan! (you just covered them!) What other artists/band are you a fan of that people might be surprised about?
Yes, I love Sigur Ros and Mumford & Sons! I listen to a wide variety of music actually, and I have quite a lot of music on my iPod that people would be like, “Taylor Swift, the Country artist, listens to THAT?!” I’m really into Rap at the moment, Nicki Minaj, Diddy Dirty Money, T-Pain, 2-Pac, but I do like a lot of other musicians like The Civil Wars, American Hi-Fi, Neon Trees, Jessie J… I’ve always said that I’ll listen to any music, regardless of who its by or what genre, as long as I think it is good music. I don’t think you should limit yourself by deciding you aren’t going to listen to country music because you like pop, or you aren’t going to listen to pop music because you like rap music, you know, I think you should keep an open mind when it comes to music, and just because it’s different doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad.
(JESSIE J! what is up with the singers with one initial now?)
4.) As someone from Pennsylvania to another former Pennsylvanian: do you come back to your hometown often?
I haven’t been back home to Pennsylvania for a while now, you know ever since the album was released things have really been cranked up a gear and my schedule has gone from relaxed to just completely full-on. I would like to come back sometime soon, I think having that knowledge of my background and where I’ve come from has kept me grounded a lot too because when I moved to Nashville I didn’t know anything about how the music business worked, I didn’t know how to build connections, I didn’t know where to start.
It has always been my mantra to remember where I came from, to remember that if you try hard enough you can achieve anything, even if you are an unpopular geeky kid from Pennsylvania who has never quite fit in.
(sounds like me to a certain degree....read that, McDowellian classmates who found this via facebook)
Yes I like to be very personal when it comes to my songwriting because the way I see it, I write about my life and what happens in my life, and so if you come along and break my heart or call me names or just put me down in any way, you are going to have a song written about you regardless of whether you like it or not. I tend to find myself gravitating towards writing about things that happen to me because I can feel it, I know what I need to say and exactly how I want the person to perceive the song, but I’ve been known to draw inspiration from anywhere! I got the idea for the song "You Belong With Me" in the hallway at school one day, one of my friends was talking to his girlfriend on the phone and she was just going on and on at him because he called her back 10 minutes late. I was thinking to myself, “Wow, if she is going to get upset about something as trivial as that, maybe you don’t belong with her…”
I went to one of my co-writing sessions with Liz Rose, and we turned it into this whole you-belong-with-me-she’s-popular-and-I’m-the-geek type of scenario, which was really fun. I always say this too, but love is such a huge influence on me. I’m just captivated by it, I’m absolutely obsessed and mesmerized with it because it’s just one of the only things that is limitless and you just can’t pinpoint the exact source of it, but then again I’ve always been the romantic type of girl!
I'd like to very much thank Taylor for taking the time to do this, and her record label, Big Machine. I'm not going to post a photo, because I have no rights to any photos of Taylor Swift whatsoever. But you can easily Google "Taylor Swift" and find a lot of photos, to fill that need you have.
1.) You just finished with a huge world tour, correct? What were your favorite spots on the tour? (I believe you went to Norway, Belgium, etc)
I just finished the first part of the tour in Asia and Europe, and it was just unbelievable. I got to sightsee a lot, which is one of my favorite things to do because I’m such a tourist and I like to take 1000s of pictures and record hours of videos. I’d never been to Norway or Belgium before so it was a new experience for me, I didn’t know whether anybody would show up for my shows, maybe it would be like 400 people? Yet every night the crowds were just huge and I couldn’t believe it, I was absolutely blown away by the loveliness and the hospitable nature of the people. Belgium was just so cute and antique, it looked like a little village, everything was just so quaint and the architecture was so old and it looked like it had a lot of history which I really love. Norway had such a friendly vibe and as well the architecture was just amazing… I’ve made some memories that I’ll never forget and I’ve met people who will always have a place in my heart too.
(NORWAY is awesome! shout-out to Annie!)
2.) You are touring the U.S. this summer/fall? What are your hopes for this tour? (looks pretty big)
I cannot wait for the U.S tour to kick off! We started rehearsals today and I’m just beyond excited, I’ve been looking forward to this since I completed the album! When you write songs and you make that decision for your albums to be like diaries, I think you open up a whole new world of possibilities for your tour, because you so clearly know how you want that particular song to be portrayed in concert, what emotions you want to spark. We just finished the Europe and Asia legs of the tour, and I’m so glad that we went out there and met all the fans and we really figured out what works well and what doesn’t. We experimented a lot with those first concerts, we tested out songs that aren’t going to be on the U.S set list, we heard what the crowds loved and what they didn’t. Now we’ve come back to the U.S with a lot more knowledge, and I’m really putting that to good use! I’ve completely shaken-up the set list, we’ve got dancers and more songs and new effects, and I really feel like this tour is going to be special. The Fearless tour was so much more successful that I’d ever dreamt, and I knew that we’d have to put together something spectacular to beat it, so I just hope that the Speak Now tour lives up to everybody’s expectations!
3.) I was surprised to find you're a Sigur Ros fan as well as a Mumford and Sons fan! (you just covered them!) What other artists/band are you a fan of that people might be surprised about?
Yes, I love Sigur Ros and Mumford & Sons! I listen to a wide variety of music actually, and I have quite a lot of music on my iPod that people would be like, “Taylor Swift, the Country artist, listens to THAT?!” I’m really into Rap at the moment, Nicki Minaj, Diddy Dirty Money, T-Pain, 2-Pac, but I do like a lot of other musicians like The Civil Wars, American Hi-Fi, Neon Trees, Jessie J… I’ve always said that I’ll listen to any music, regardless of who its by or what genre, as long as I think it is good music. I don’t think you should limit yourself by deciding you aren’t going to listen to country music because you like pop, or you aren’t going to listen to pop music because you like rap music, you know, I think you should keep an open mind when it comes to music, and just because it’s different doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad.
(JESSIE J! what is up with the singers with one initial now?)
4.) As someone from Pennsylvania to another former Pennsylvanian: do you come back to your hometown often?
I haven’t been back home to Pennsylvania for a while now, you know ever since the album was released things have really been cranked up a gear and my schedule has gone from relaxed to just completely full-on. I would like to come back sometime soon, I think having that knowledge of my background and where I’ve come from has kept me grounded a lot too because when I moved to Nashville I didn’t know anything about how the music business worked, I didn’t know how to build connections, I didn’t know where to start.
It has always been my mantra to remember where I came from, to remember that if you try hard enough you can achieve anything, even if you are an unpopular geeky kid from Pennsylvania who has never quite fit in.
(sounds like me to a certain degree....read that, McDowellian classmates who found this via facebook)
Yes I like to be very personal when it comes to my songwriting because the way I see it, I write about my life and what happens in my life, and so if you come along and break my heart or call me names or just put me down in any way, you are going to have a song written about you regardless of whether you like it or not. I tend to find myself gravitating towards writing about things that happen to me because I can feel it, I know what I need to say and exactly how I want the person to perceive the song, but I’ve been known to draw inspiration from anywhere! I got the idea for the song "You Belong With Me" in the hallway at school one day, one of my friends was talking to his girlfriend on the phone and she was just going on and on at him because he called her back 10 minutes late. I was thinking to myself, “Wow, if she is going to get upset about something as trivial as that, maybe you don’t belong with her…”
I went to one of my co-writing sessions with Liz Rose, and we turned it into this whole you-belong-with-me-she’s-popular-and-I’m-the-geek type of scenario, which was really fun. I always say this too, but love is such a huge influence on me. I’m just captivated by it, I’m absolutely obsessed and mesmerized with it because it’s just one of the only things that is limitless and you just can’t pinpoint the exact source of it, but then again I’ve always been the romantic type of girl!
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