Jack Antonoff has revealed details on how Taylor Swift‘s new single ‘Lover‘ was penned and recorded, revealing that the pop star “wrote every stitch” of the song.
- READ MORE: Taylor Swift – ‘The Archer’ track review: the elegant, restrained and reflective antidote to ‘Me!’
Swift released the swooning ballad on Friday (August 16), following on from her previous three cuts, ‘The Archer’, ‘You Need To Calm Down’, and ‘Me!’. These singles will appear on the star’s upcoming seventh album, with its tracklist also recently confirmed.
Following the arrival of ‘Lover’, producer Antonoff – who also helmed ‘1989’ and ‘Reputation’ – took to Twitter to offer an insight into the song’s creation. He wrote that the single was produced “entirely at Electric Lady [Studios] in NYC” with only Swift and a sound engineer in the room.
“Taylor wrote every stitch of this song and came in and played it for me – just a perfect moment to hear what she had done alone the night before,” Antonoff tweeted.
lover the song out today. did this one entirely at electric lady in NYC. only laura sisk and taylor in the room. taylor wrote every stitch of this song and came in and played it for me – just a perfect moment to hear what she had done alone the night before
— jackantonoff (@jackantonoff) August 16, 2019
when someone brings in a song that speaks so much just on a piano it’s rare to imagine production around. but then we started playing with space echo reverb on a snare hit really hard with a brush ….
— jackantonoff (@jackantonoff) August 16, 2019
from there the “paul” bass happened and the washy piano. melotron in bride to sound like a dream sequence wedding. but the part i’m most proud of is her voice drowned in verb. cuts right through and sits all around you at the same time.
— jackantonoff (@jackantonoff) August 16, 2019
worked that night for about 6 hours and besides the mix all the tracks and takes are from then. live drum, bass, acoustic, 12 string, upright piano and melotron. all going through copycat and space echo. big mess until it’s not
— jackantonoff (@jackantonoff) August 16, 2019
Recommended
The producer went on to describe the six-hour session for the track, which took place throughout the night. “When someone brings in a song that speaks so much just on a piano it’s rare to imagine production around,” he said, adding that they then began experimenting with space echo reverb for the drum sound.
“From there the ‘paul’ bass happened and the washy piano. Mellotron in [bridge] to sound like a dream sequence wedding. But the part I’m most proud of is her voice drowned in verb. Cuts right through and sits all around you at the same time.” See the tweets above.
Taylor Swift’s new album ‘Lover’ will arrive this coming Friday (August 23) via Republic Records. Three days after that, the star will take the stage at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards, her first performance at the ceremony since 2015. She’s up for 10 awards, tying with Ariana Grande for the most VMA nominations this year.