Taylor Swift

Released: October 27, 2014

Songwriter: Ryan Tedder Taylor Swift

Producer: Taylor Swift

So over the years, a lot of people have asked me to sort of describe my song writing process from beginning to end. How long does it take, where do you write, what are the circumstances, do you start with music, do you start with lyrics, and my answer is always that it happens differently every time, and that's why I'm still so in love with song writing. So what I've done here is shown you three different examples of the beginning stages of these songs and how they each started, different ways. So I'll explain them to you and maybe that will help you understand kind of how I put songs together

I sent this voice memo to Ryan Tedder because I'd always wanted to work with him, and finally we scheduled some studio time. So I always wanna be prepared. I wanted to send him the idea that I was working on before we went into the studio just in case he wrote back and said "I can't stand that, I wanna work on something else, think of something else". So I just sat down with the piano, put my phone on top of the piano and just kind of explained to him where I wanted to go with the song, how I saw the melody sitting in and we ended up recording the song the next day and it ended up being on the record called "I Know Places". So this was the voice memo I sent to him the night before we ended up finishing the song

"Okay so this is kind of this rough idea thing:

Uh-uh-uh-oh, oh-oh-oh-i
Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-i
Oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-i-i-i

Na na na na waiting at the back door
They're around and the vultures come around
And you know that they won't, they won't us
Say what they want 'bout, say what they want 'bout us
And you come and sing and listen
I would not think about it but I'm not done
Every know that a thing or two about it, thing or two about it, I

Cause they got the cages, they got the boxes
And guns
They are the hunters we are the foxes
And we run

Baby, I know some places we won't be found
And they'll be chasing their tails trying to track us down
Cause I, I know places we can hide
I know places, I know places

Uh-uh-uh-i, uh-uh-uh-i, oh-oh-i, uh-uh-uh-i, know places

Or whatever. I don't know, but that's basically just like a dark, really dark lyric, like, bridge thing and it's about, like, everybody's, like, trying to get into and ruin a love or whatever, and it's like you just, whatever, you know, and the chorus would just go to that major and just be like ooh chorus. So I hope you like it, it wouldn't be a piano thing. It would be, like, [*vocalizing*]. Like, very, like, beat. Now I'm just making weird sounds. Hope you like it!

One of the defining artists of the 2010s, Taylor Alison Swift, born December 13th, 1989, is an American singer-songwriter and actress who has achieved success in both country and pop. Raised on a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania, Swift moved to Nashville, Tennessee at age fourteen to pursue a career in country music. Scott Borchetta signed Swift to his then-nonexistent label Big Machine Records after seeing her perform at the Bluebird Cafe in November 2004.

Swift debuted in June 2006 with “Tim McGraw,” an ode to a lover who would be leaving town. The song served as an introduction to her self-titled debut album, which touched upon topics like heartbreak and bullying Swift faced at school. Her honesty and relatability appealed to fans from all walks of life, and went on to become the longest-charting album of the 2000s, spending 227 weeks on the Billboard 200.

Swift’s sophomore effort, Fearless, came in November 2008 and cemented her status as a country superstar, while tracks like “Love Story” and “You Belong With Me” also garnered mainstream attention. Not only did the record become her first number one, but it also became the most-awarded country album of all time, winning accolades such as the Grammy award for Album of the Year. Until Billie Eilish’s 2020 win, then-20-year-old Swift was the youngest person to have ever received the honor.

more tracks from the album

1989 (Deluxe)

From the album

1989 (Deluxe) (2014)

Taylor Swift popular songs

I Know Places (Voice Memo)Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift

1989 (Deluxe)