For a few brief minutes, Taylor Swift dropped a mystery on her fans after a sudden countdown appeared on her website and vanished as quick as it showed up.
The countdown reportedly pointed to May 2 at 1pm CT / 2pm ET and was only live for around 10 minutes before it disappeared. But that was more than enough to set social media on fire.
While fans are busy decoding the countdown, Swift was also making headlines for a candid interview with The New York Times, which named her one of the 30 greatest living American songwriters.
Taylor Swift on songwriting, criticism and fans
In the interview, Taylor Swift spoke honestly about how she writes her songs. As she shared that one of her most favorite songs and revealed that at the core of it all, she has always thought like a storyteller.
“I really have always just thought it would be so amazing to write books and it’s so exciting to have the challenge, could i get enough plot points in a 3-and-half minute song to where people felt like they read something after they heard it,” she told Times.
“Or just take you back to the bed time story, kind of ‘tell me a story,’ I want to be able to put my own image on these characters and it was really amazing when it opened up my world,” she added.
That storytelling instinct shows up even in how she draws from her own life. She shared that one of her most beloved songs, “love story” was inspired by an older man her parent didn’t approve of but then she made it very clear that she doesn’t like when people go too far with their guesses.
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“When it gets a little bit weird for me is when people act like it’s sort of like a paternity test. Like, ‘This song’s about this person.’ Because I’m like, ‘That dude didn’t write the song. I did,'” Swift told the Times, as per Variety.
She said she understands that intense fan reactions come with being a pop star, but she tries to stay focused on her own connection to her music. “You have to hold tight to your perception of your art and your relationship with it, and then you just have to kind of like, ‘There it goes, hope you like it! If you don’t now, hope you do in five years! And if you never do, then I was doing it for me anyway.’”
How criticism shapes her music
Swift also said that criticism has actually helped her create some of her best songs.
“There are so many songs in my career that would not exist, like ‘Blank Space’ would not exist if I hadn’t had people being like, ‘Here’s a slideshow of all her boyfriends,'” she told the Times.
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“And then ‘Anti-Hero’ is a song that I’m so proud of still, like that song doesn’t exist if I don’t get criticized for every aspect of my personality that people have a problem with.”
At the same time, she warned young artists not to get too caught up in online comments.
“Don’t go to the Notes app and post it. Like, write about it. Make art about this. Don’t respond to trolls in your comments. That’s not what we want from you. We want your art,” she said.
With a mysterious countdown already getting fans talking, this interview shows why she stands out.